Cancellation fee for hiring a minibus

[Iwishicouldflyhigh]

Hello, hoping for some advice here.
On the 21st Jan, i booked a minibus for the 3rd Feb - over text/phone. No mention of TOB's or cancellation fees.
On the 22nd Jan, i was sent an invoice with a link to TOB's. I thought that they looked onerous and very one sided.
On the 24th Jan, i emailed to cancel the booking as by that time, someone had pulled out in any case.

To confirm, i did not pay, nor did i respond to the initial email (with the invoice/TOB's) to say that i accepted the invoice.

They responded to say that 75% cancellation fee was due, but they'd try and fill the minibus.

I responded saying that i was not told about the cancellation fee until i was sent the invoice, so i had not accepted them.

They've now sent me a court summons (i don't know the technical term, but basically they've applied to the County Court).

Does hiring a minibus (with driver) fall under the Consumer Act (with the 14 day cooling off period) and do they have a leg to stand on?

Would 75% be considered unreasonable (given i cancelled the next day and they have not proved that they have suffered a fundamental loss?

Thank you!!

The Consumer Contracts Regulations are what gives consumers the right to cancel within 14 days. That does not apply to vehicle rental contracts such as this. Given that you cancelled only 10 days before the date you had booked, there is a good chance that the courts would regard a 75% cancellation fee as reasonable. However, if they haven't written to you and given you a chance to pay, they should not have started legal action. Your choices now are to offer to settle and possibly see if they will agree a reduction, or take your chances in court.

Many thanks. I cancelled a day after receiving the invoice and I suppose my point is that I didn’t know there was a cancellation charge when I booked it so how could I accept those charges? Also my understanding is that company has to show a material loss…..ie if a printing company has spent money.
thus is not the case here….and they have nit demonstrates that they turned down other bookings.

It is often repeated that a company has to show a material loss, but it isn't necessarily true. The cancellation fee can cover loss of profits and administrative costs, for example. So, if they expected to make a profit of 75% of your fee and they have not been able to recover that by renting the minibus to someone else, the cancellation fee is probably reasonable.

Since their terms and conditions were on their website and you could, presumably, have checked them before booking, I doubt your argument that you weren't aware of the cancellation fee before booking will carry much weight.

You can certainly try these arguments if it goes to court. They may work. But it is by no means guaranteed.

Can I ask if you are legally trained and no for sure a taxi hire is classed as vehicular hire as upon further research that appears to be more for actually hiring a vehicle itself.
also, it appears that if a trader believes their service is excluded for the consumer rights act, they have to specifically state that.

my argument will be that I had no idea the booking was classed as binding and subject to a cancellation fee, and if I had been told in tge phone, my actions would have been different.

im sure you’ve booked a taxi in the past and amended/cancelled it……woukd you expect to pay 75% of the cost if you did so?

Are consumers purchasing a service through one medium (phone in this case) expected to use another medium (website) to acquaint themselves with T&Cs, even if the provider does not direct them to do so?

I’m not disagreeing, just asking out of interest because that seems quite onerous.

a taxi hire is classed as vehicular hire as upon further research that appears to be more for actually hiring a vehicle itself

Since you talk about hiring a minibus, I assumed you were hiring a vehicle. However, if you booked a taxi, that is also exempt from the 14-day right to cancel as it is a passenger transport service.

if a trader believes their service is excluded for the consumer rights act, they have to specifically state that.

Not sure where you are getting that from, but we are not talking about any exclusion from the Consumer Rights Act. The right to cancel a distance contract comes from the Consumer Contracts Regulations which are nothing to do with the Consumer Rights Act.

my argument will be that I had no idea the booking was classed as binding and subject to a cancellation fee, and if I had been told in the phone, my actions would have been different

As I say, you can try that argument in court if you want (assuming you can't reach an agreement with the minibus provider). It may be that no contract was formed, but it is impossible to tell without reading their terms and the contents of their email in full.

‘Exceptions to the Cooling-Off PeriodThe 14-day cooling-off period does not apply to everything. The Consumer Contracts Act sections 6 and 28 list specific exceptions to the right to cancel a contract within 14 days.
However, it should be noted that the information requirements do still apply.
This means that a seller must advise the customer that the cancellation does not apply because the goods or services are excluded. ‘

this is what I’m referring to, and I agree that a minibus hire (with driver) is excluded.

ill definitely be fighting it, because I genuinely believe it to be unfair.

I also thing that 75% is unreasonable after less than 48 days and given that no one else booked the minibus (apparently) over the next 2 weeks, I think it’s unlikely that they turned diwn a booking (and they haven’t said they did).

if they had sent me the invoice with tobs and I’d paid it, I would deem that I’d accepted the contract because I’d paid whilst in full receipt of what I’d have to pay if i cancelled, however because I received the tobs with the invoice (with no prior advice of their terms….nor did they refer me to their website to check their terms), I think it’s unreasonable of them to expect me to pay.

if a travel agent sent you an invoice for a holiday and with with a link which said you had to pay a 75% cancellation and upon discussion and thought, 2 days later you inform them you didn’t wish to take the holiday, woukd you expect to have to pay 75% of the holiday cost, even though you didn’t accept those terms in the phone and didn’t kniw they existed?

because that’s what has happened here.

I also think the tobs are unreasonable because they can cancel right up to the last minute with no reason and with no comeback, but that’s a mute point here.

thank yiu so much fir your imput, I really appreciate it x