Bill paid by third party

Dubh Geannain

This is a messy one that thankfully I'm not involved in personally but would like advise on on behalf of one of the parties. Hopefully this is the correct forum.

Standard practice with weddings is that the wedding party get complimentary rooms on the night of the wedding. Grand.

Now, on the grooms insistence all the groomsmen stayed the night before and the night after the wedding. 2 of the groomsmen paid their way for the other nights. The 3rd was not able to afford it and decided to not stay. But the groom insisted and offered to pay the bill for him.

Grand, all was settled until a couple of weeks ago (family feuding :rolleyes:) the groom now wants the money back for the room (in excess of € 1,000). Apparently he was late checking out after the 3rd night too.

It was booked in the groomsman's name so he rang to the hotel to query the figure and request an itemised bill. The hotel said they were instructed by the bride and groom not to disclose the information.

The main question: Can the groomsman insist on seeing the bill from the hotel since it was in his name? I'm telling him he should otherwise he should tell the groom to produce it (which he seems reluctant to at the moment).

RossieMan

Is this even a question? You can't pay for something without knowing what you're paying for. Of course he needs his exact bill for that room. The problem being here I'd say is the room was probably complimentary and the groom is looking to pull a fast one.

lawred2

The bill is in his name. He is entitled to ask what he's being asked to pay for..

Dubh Geannain

Oh don't worry, I've told him not to pay a penny until he sees the bill from one or other of the parties. And if it is the groom that produces it I 'd run it by the hotel to verify its authenticity.

Even then, we're into a different area of whether he should pay it back at all having been deceived into staying in the room on the other nights when he clearly couldn't afford it.

There's no written contract between groom and groomsman regarding any money owing.

RossieMan

It'd be pretty ****ty of the groom to demand payment given he said he'd cover it. Now ofnyer man said he'd pay it back, that's a different story. Its crappy enough of both parties.

Dubh Geannain

There was never an agreement to pay it back. The groomsman had made alternative arrangements for accommodation. He had no intention of paying the price of a room in the hotel due to the cost but stayed on the insistence of the groom who said he'd cover it. That's the end of that story.

Can anyone confirm definitively that the hotel must present the bill to the groomsman?

Caranica

If the groom has already paid the bill, as per the OP, there is no onus on the groomsman to reimburse. Unless the groom wants to sue and somehow prove that the groomsman promised to pay him back he has no case.

Glass fused light

The groomsman and the groom need to settle whatever sparked the family feud if it is just between them. It other people started it and neither or just one were involved they both need to say that they are adults and not get involved in other peoples arguments.

The groomsman has no right to see the bill as the booking would be in the bride and grooms name with him just being allocated a room. He also has no obligation to pay for the room as it was a gift, given without the expectation of repayment by the giver.

emeldc

Don't tell us the groomsman got jiggy with the bride

coylemj

This is a dispute between friends, it's not a consumer issue.

L1011

Asking about the hotel is a valid consumer query. If the room was booked to be paid by the bridal party from the off I'd see no reason for the hotel to be required to tell the guest

seamus

Although the room was in the groomsman's name, the bill was settled by the groom, which would suggest the contract was between the groom and the hotel.

The guest's name on the hotel manifest and the person with whom the hotel has a contract don't necessarily have to be the same person. It's very common in fact for one person to cover multiple rooms, but each of those rooms will have a specific name on it. I think hotels have to do this for insurance purposes.

In any case, as others have said, this is neither the groomsman's problem nor the hotel's problem. The groom offered to pay for the room, he can't decide after the fact to change his mind. End of story.

If the dispute is about late checkout charges, then the onus would be on the groom to present proof, not on the groomsman or hotel to obtain it.

BeardySi

This isn't a consumer issue, it's more of a case for Judge Judy! If the groom has paid for the room then that's the hotel's involvement done. They won't want anything to do with a family row and won't disclose any details to a third party (even if they were the one actually in the room).

The groom can demand all he wants, the groomsman is equally entitled to tell him to go take a running jump. If he didn't want to pay for the room, he shouldn't have paid it on the day. He can't change his mind after the fact.

meep

The groomsman decided not to stay in the hotel for the two extra nights as it was going to be too expensive. To make this determination, surely he would need to know what the cost was going to be (in advance of the event). What was the proposed cost that caused him to balk?

Further, can he enquire of either of the other two groomsmen who paid their own way as to what their outlay was for the extra nights?

There's several options there that would possibly help guage the veracity of the repayment request.

splinter65

meep wrote: »

The groomsman decided not to stay in the hotel for the two extra nights as it was going to be too expensive. To make this determination, surely he would need to know what the cost was going to be (in advance of the event). What was the proposed cost that caused him to balk?

Further, can he enquire of either of the other two groomsmen who paid their own way as to what their outlay was for the extra nights?

There's several options there that would possibly help guage the veracity of the repayment request.

The groomsman should say and do absolutely nothing. Irish weddings are now obscene displays of ostentation with sometimes absolutely no evidence of being in a position to finance the whole shindig.
The groom lost the run of himself before the wedding insisting that his team had to stay night after night in the hotel and wildly offering to pay for one guy who was on his uppers.
Now the wedding is over and the bills are rolling in and the regrets are many. The lavish cake. The super lavish flowers. The magician in the hotel lobby that no one paid any attention to. The wedding favors strewn around the floor under the tables at the end of the night. The bridesmaids embroidered monogrammed silk housecoats. The grooms men’s monogrammed coat hangers. The videographer. The doves outside the church. The harpist playing between the speeches and the band.
€35000 gone up the Swanee in one hellish day.
Now the family row, cast aside in the fake lovey dovey build up to the big day, has reared it’s ugly head and the groom sees his chance to recoup a grand or so.
Ignore ignore ignore. While he’s at it he might as well ring the monkey suit hire shop and say he didn’t want the top hats and tails after all and can he have his money back.

emeldc

splinter65 wrote: »

The groomsman should say and do absolutely nothing. Irish weddings are now obscene displays of ostentation with sometimes absolutely no evidence of being in a position to finance the whole shindig.
The groom lost the run of himself before the wedding insisting that his team had to stay night after night in the hotel and wildly offering to pay for one guy who was on his uppers.
Now the wedding is over and the bills are rolling in and the regrets are many. The lavish cake. The super lavish flowers. The magician in the hotel lobby that no one paid any attention to. The wedding favors strewn around the floor under the tables at the end of the night. The bridesmaids embroidered monogrammed silk housecoats. The grooms men’s monogrammed coat hangers. The videographer. The doves outside the church. The harpist playing between the speeches and the band.
€35000 gone up the Swanee in one hellish day.
Now the family row, cast aside in the fake lovey dovey build up to the big day, has reared it’s ugly head and the groom sees his chance to recoup a grand or so.
Ignore ignore ignore. While he’s at it he might as well ring the monkey suit hire shop and say he didn’t want the top hats and tails after all and can he have his money back.

Jeez, that’s some amount of speculation!

splinter65

emeldc wrote: »

Jeez, that’s some amount of speculation!

Irish weddings are a particular bug bear of mine. I never waste an opportunity to get a dig in about Irish weddings.

Dubh Geannain

emeldc wrote: »

Jeez, that’s some amount of speculation!

It is but did give me a laugh.

Someone asked about the room costs. It was 240 per night or thereabouts. It was extra then for a fold up bed for the childminder they brought along for their newborn. I think 80 extra. So it was 320 x 4 because the groom seemed ti casually ignore the wedding night was part of the overall package and apparently the hotel charged a 4th night due to late checkout.

I didn't include those details initially as that's outside consumer stuff and into the realms of possible fabrication on the grooms part.

As as update it looks like the groom has seen sense and backed down but it's left a bitter taste.

CeilingFly

Give the bride the name of a good solicitor.

She'll need it for the divorce.

WildCardDoW

Hotel are being dickish with the late checkout charge and €80 for an extra bed to a wedding party regardless of how dickish the groom was being!

L1011

You would need to check out ridiculously late and after repeated warnings to get out before somewhere would charge for another full night normally. Either that or I'd like to know what hotel, to avoid using it!

seagull

If the groomsman was late enough to be hit with charges for an extra night, he was taking the piss, and I'd expect him to cover that. The rest is up to the groom.