Entitlement to deposit back

the_syco

Teach30 wrote: »

Now due to restrictions wedding cannot go ahead. We have chosen a new date but band unavailable.

Can they play on the original date? If not, don't see why they can't give you the deposit back.

Teach30 wrote: »

Really the problem is that we when I ring them to tell them we have had to change date to next year and they can’t accommodate us, so it’s our fault not theirs.

See above. it's their fault that they can't accommodate you for your original date. You gave them another date, but you say that they're busy then as well?

B.A._Baracus

anewme wrote: »

You are clearly living in the VERY DISTANT past.

Professional Wedding Bands are an industry in themselves....the "nixer" days are long gone.

Wedding Bands do Weddings and Corporate Events. it is serious money.

Boys from the Blackstuf type Economy was filmed in the 1980's.

You couldn't be more wrong.

L1011

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

You couldn't be more wrong.

Take your concerns to Revenue. Stop talking about them here until you have

Cabaal

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Fecking hell :pac:
Think I've heard it all now... A contract with a wedding band? :pac: haha.

But op let the band know the exact date.

Band we had at our wedding had a contract, maybe its just Mickey mouse outfits that don't do a contract. After all it exists to protect both partys.

OnYerPike

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

... And I'm Elvis Presley.

Don't suppose you'd be free to cover the new date, Elvis? You're probably just lying around doing nothing anyway?

Can't see the band 'coffin' up the deposit too easily though so I'd be off to the SCC as advised.

Darc19

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Because for most it's a nixer.
I work with someone who does wedding gigs on the side. Do you think he is paying tax? He isn't his bollocks

I also worked with another lad a couple of years ago who also did it. Had videos on YouTube of him singing at weddings. Even a website. All a nixer. No tax.

So do you think people who are on nixers are gonna create 'contracts' ?


You said the word 'foolish' - that's ironic.

Foolish is the right word...

... To describe your post.

Nonsensical, stupid and ridiculous are other words.

Weddings are an industry. Many Wedding bands are full time at that.

"nicer" No Chance. Especially as you may have read that money was paid into the band's bank account. Bona fide accountable transaction.



As for OP, band has not said they are not refunding. You need to approach this right as there's no fault on either side.

Pleasant and understanding their situation. But emphasize that you have lost sooo much at this stage, that it's causing financial headache.

Ask if they could recommend another band - possibly transfer the deposit to them?

The right attitude will get the most positive response

TomTree

Teach30 wrote: »

Same here but..

Hotels are giving deposits back if they don’t have a suitable date.
Unfair that the bands is slow to offer.
To.

Hi have you heard of many hotels giving back the deposit?

Teach30

Right sent them an email yday explaining the situation and our new date.

email back from then saying it’s unfortunate they can’t play our new date.

no mention of deposit...

They’re a big band on the pub/wedding scene obviously v popular they are booked out for weekends next year.

They said if we change our minds about next years date to let them know..

anewme

Teach30 wrote: »

Right sent them an email yday explaining the situation and our new date.

email back from then saying it’s unfortunate they can’t play our new date.

no mention of deposit...

They’re a big band on the pub/wedding scene obviously v popular they are booked out for weekends next year.

They said if we change our minds about next years date to let them know..

Sorry to hear that. You can respond now and ask them where it stands with the deposit. You could also ask if they could recommend another wedding band for your date?

Agree with the other poster to be nice and polite about it.

AndrewJRenko

Teach30 wrote: »

Right sent them an email yday explaining the situation and our new date.

email back from then saying it’s unfortunate they can’t play our new date.

no mention of deposit...

They’re a big band on the pub/wedding scene obviously v popular they are booked out for weekends next year.

They said if we change our minds about next years date to let them know..

Now get a buddy to contact them from a different name/email address and ask them about the same new date, just to double-check that there is nothing dodgy going on.

Teach30

anewme wrote: »

Sorry to hear that. You can respond now and ask them where it stands with the deposit. You could also ask if they could recommend another wedding band for your date?

Agree with the other poster to be nice and polite about it.

Yea we have another band got they sent a list to us but none of them available either. We’ve picked a busy date.

Definitely agree with being polite.

Thanks everyone for advice

Cupatae

Teach30 wrote: »

Hi looking for some advice on the following, I booked a wedding band and paid deposit. Now due to restrictions wedding cannot go ahead. We have chosen a new date but band unavailable.

Am I entitled to deposit back seeing as it is because of restrictions they can’t play? Band don’t know about our new date, we just asked them to forward on when they are free and I checked.

We haven’t cancelled our original date yet, but it won’t be doing ahead. Just wondering what the best way to try if any to get back a rather large deposit.

Thanks.

100% entitled to your deposit back, shot situation for all involved but u did nothing wrong and tried to rebook

anewme

Teach30 wrote: »

Yea we have another band got they sent a list to us but none of them available either. We’ve picked a busy date.

Definitely agree with being polite.

Thanks everyone for advice

That is a valid point about checking the date via someone else. I mean what is to stop people keeping deposits but keeping the date free for a new enquiry.

I know most people would not do that, but I would check to be sure.

Dav010

Cupatae wrote: »

100% entitled to your deposit back, shot situation for all involved but u did nothing wrong and tried to rebook

There is no entitlement to any refund of a deposit. How do you make out that a refund is 100% due?

From ccpc website:

If I change my mind about buying the item or service, can I get my deposit back?

The obligations of the contract work both ways so the business doesn’t have to return your deposit if you change your mind. For example, if you paid a deposit to a shop to hold an item for you and you later decide you don’t want the item, the shop may not be obliged to refund you your deposit. If you signed a contract, there should be details in the terms and conditions about paying a deposit and whether a refund is possible

The op may be entitled to a refund because the band could not perform through no fault of there own, but they are offering other dates. It certainly isn’t a 100% situation.

The point of a deposit is that the service provider is protecting themselves against sunk cost and lost opportunity, in case the client cancels, obviously.

Here, neither party were in a position to fulfil their obligations to each other, due to circumstances outside their control. In law, the contract has been frustrated.

In the absence of an agreement to the contrary (one which assigns risk to one or other or both parties on a joint basis) the deposit should be returned.

NB not legal advice.
,

tscul32

Strictly speaking they were hired to play music in a certain room in a certain hotel at a certain date/time. Whether you are there or not should be irrelevant. So it's them that cannot fulfill the deal - albeit because of the virus. So they should offer alternatives, but if that doesn't suit, it would be my opinion that they should refund the deposit.
If you paid a deposit on a sofa and then the shop came back to you saying they couldn't get it, they would usually offer an alternative or refund the deposit if the alternative was not suitable.

Dav010

tscul32 wrote: »

Strictly speaking they were hired to play music in a certain room in a certain hotel at a certain date/time. Whether you are there or not should be irrelevant. So it's them that cannot fulfill the deal - albeit because of the virus. So they should offer alternatives, but if that doesn't suit, it would be my opinion that they should refund the deposit.
If you paid a deposit on a sofa and then the shop came back to you saying they couldn't get it, they would usually offer an alternative or refund the deposit if the alternative was not suitable.

That would be a different situation where the fault lies with the shop for not having the stock they were advertising.

Cupatae

Dav010 wrote: »

There is no entitlement to any refund of a deposit. How do you make out that a refund is 100% due?

From ccpc website:

If I change my mind about buying the item or service, can I get my deposit back?

The obligations of the contract work both ways so the business doesn’t have to return your deposit if you change your mind. For example, if you paid a deposit to a shop to hold an item for you and you later decide you don’t want the item, the shop may not be obliged to refund you your deposit. If you signed a contract, there should be details in the terms and conditions about paying a deposit and whether a refund is possible

The op may be entitled to a refund because the band could not perform through no fault of there own, but they are offering other dates. It certainly isn’t a 100% situation.

I don't care about that nonsense we aren't in a court room, the decent and right thing to do, is to refund the money... The OP should 100% let it be well know this is how the band treats it's customers if the refund isn't given and most people would think twice before hiring them as it's simply bad form to not refund.

Give the situation and circumstances it d be a very poor move by the band to not give a refund and would likely cost them other gigs down the line I know I certainly look at reviews before booking and if it's a level headed negative reviews I'd certainly think twice before hiring

Dav010

Cupatae wrote: »

I don't care about that nonsense we aren't in a court room

Then it is better to avoid using the phrase “100% entitled”.

I agree with you that morally the band should not hold on to the deposit.

Darc19

Don't forget that the band are suffering too. Every gig they have from March to September is canceled. Zero income.

There's simply no right or wrong in this situation by either party. There's no precedence either.

Maybe one of the original posts is the best outcome and suggest half deposit back? But I'd first ask if the deposit can be returned. - looks like the op hasn't actually asked them yet. If you don't ask, you won't receive.

Teach30

Darc19 wrote: »

Don't forget that the band are suffering too. Every gig they have from March to September is canceled. Zero income.

There's simply no right or wrong in this situation by either party. There's no precedence either.

Maybe one of the original posts is the best outcome and suggest half deposit back? But I'd first ask if the deposit can be returned. - looks like the op hasn't actually asked them yet. If you don't ask, you won't receive.

Quick update

Deposit is non refundable I have been informed via email. As our new date does not suit them we are not entitled to any money back they say. Also they won’t be offering money as a gesture of goodwill as they can’t afford to.
So basically it’s our fault. Won’t be recommending them to any one else. The tone of their email was not nice. Very much a go f yourselves.

We expected it so aren’t massively upset just annoyed.

anewme

Teach30 wrote: »

Quick update

Deposit is non refundable I have been informed via email. As our new date does not suit them we are not entitled to any money back they say. Also they won’t be offering money as a gesture of goodwill as they can’t afford to.
So basically it’s our fault. Won’t be recommending them to any one else. The tone of their email was not nice. Very much a go f yourselves.

We expected it so aren’t massively upset just annoyed.

So sorry to hear that.

JL555

Dav010 wrote: »

That would be a different situation where the fault lies with the shop for not having the stock they were advertising.

I would have thought that it would simply be a case of the shop not delivering on the product (sofa) agreed upon, in the same way the band are not delivering on product (live music) they agreed upon. However these circumstances are very different.

Some interesting reading on frustrated contracts in the links below:


https://www.mccannfitzgerald.com/knowledge/covid-19/covid-19-commercial-contracts-and-frustration


https://www.ucc.ie/academic/law/restitution/archive/ukstatutes/fca1943/fca1943.htm

Juwwi

Teach30 wrote: »

Quick update

Deposit is non refundable I have been informed via email. As our new date does not suit them we are not entitled to any money back they say. Also they won’t be offering money as a gesture of goodwill as they can’t afford to.
So basically it’s our fault. Won’t be recommending them to any one else. The tone of their email was not nice. Very much a go f yourselves.

We expected it so aren’t massively upset just annoyed.

Very poor form from them , I wonder how many deposits are keeping ,greed is an awlfull
thing .

Is there anywhere online that you can leave a review of your experience with them ,even copy and paste the email .

Yakult

Darc19 wrote: »

Don't forget that the band are suffering too. Every gig they have from March to September is canceled. Zero income.[?b]

Zero gig income yes, but you can be sure they are getting their COVID 19 payments each week. Like a lot of people.

Teach30 wrote: »

Quick update

Deposit is non refundable I have been informed via email.

Was this made clear to you when making the original booking? That deposits are non-refundable?

AlanG

tscul32 wrote: »

Strictly speaking they were hired to play music in a certain room in a certain hotel at a certain date/time. Whether you are there or not should be irrelevant. So it's them that cannot fulfill the deal - albeit because of the virus. So they should offer alternatives, but if that doesn't suit, it would be my opinion that they should refund the deposit.
If you paid a deposit on a sofa and then the shop came back to you saying they couldn't get it, they would usually offer an alternative or refund the deposit if the alternative was not suitable.

This is 100% the case - it is them that cannot fulfill their obligation. If you have no contract you should legally have no problem getting your money back but it could be a long road if they don't agree. Most likely they will not want their affairs brought up in court bringing negative publicity, revenue attention and social welfare attention if they are claiming to be unable to work.

Trigger Happy

Can you tell us the name of the band? Be helpful for people to know to avoid them in future.

JL555

Teach30 wrote: »

Quick update

Deposit is non refundable I have been informed via email. As our new date does not suit them we are not entitled to any money back they say. Also they won’t be offering money as a gesture of goodwill as they can’t afford to.
So basically it’s our fault. Won’t be recommending them to any one else. The tone of their email was not nice. Very much a go f yourselves.

We expected it so aren’t massively upset just annoyed.

This is bad form, but I don't think they're correct as it is them who cannot provide the product to you on the date you want. Personally I would pursue it just out of principle and to give them a good spanking, then donate the money to charity or something

Cupatae

JL555 wrote: »

This is bad form, but I don't think they're correct as it is them who cannot provide the product to you on the date you want. Personally I would pursue it just out of principle and to give them a good spanking, then donate the money to charity or something

Make em play pick a random date, and make em come to ur front garden and play music for u.. fk lettin em off with the money. If you arent gonna persue it at-least inconvenience em people like that deserve to be messed with.

Dav010

Cupatae wrote: »

Make em play pick a random date, and make em come to ur front garden and play music for u.. fk lettin em off with the money. If you arent gonna persue it at-least inconvenience em people like that deserve to be messed with.

And have to pay them the balance? I doubt that would inconvenience them at all, but it would cost you a lot more.