Noted : Thank you Andy as always for your professionalism and support !

No we were never provided with a document which was signed and they have none as we never signed one the only agreement we has was in meetings in 2019 and we paid them the money and they sent a confirmation in 2019 stating contract on top left, thats all, they have now added new figures to the same document and stated this is the new contract, but this again was for 350 guests, they can never give the service for such in any event. 

12 minutes ago, The GodMother said:

They could argue a unsigned contract was a second copy held.

I know when credit agreements were signed and sent buy post they would say sign both copy's and keep one then send one back to us. How many ppl actually sign the copy the kept. Tho it would be the same copy. 

 

We have no copies of any signed Contract they have submitted to us from 2019 or at all !

Thank you altosbestos, I thought so, its this Friday 9 July, but they have made up facts  in the defence so its looks like we agreed a new contract (they cancelled and postponed in March 2020 and refused a refund) and have not supplied any documents or a signed contract to vary they terms and conditions or agree to anything, only two emails, which they have supposedly sent to us.

Their legal representatives DWF have submitted the documents and what concerns us is that these law firms are taking the mockery out of the Justice system and abusing the Court process for their own and their greedy clients, where the general public is then forced to go to Court to get the money back or

- this clown wants a 75% cancellation fee:  for postponing the event when they could not perform the contract,when they confirmed the postponement/cancellation of the event and then forced us to postponed the event from  March 2020, at that time he misled us as he informed us that he was within the law to refuse a Refund - he lied in the defence and stated we never asked for a refund in March again untrue,  stated we changed the contract, all of course not truthful and no documents submitted to us or court to confirm this at all.

I can confirm we have put them to strict proof but we wanted to highlight what is going on as the Forum needs to know this is happening and we have been put through the hoops by this defendant since March 2020, as can be seen from threads,  the defendant then signed up the witness statement as truthful, its shocking!

Its just unbelievable 

Thank you for that clarification GodMother, its incredible how they can just make up facts and documents and leave out others which they should have included and confirm the true facts, its not that we dont agree they should have their own version but surely their version must be actual copies and documents and signed contracts, (which they do not disclose or have as they were never signed or agreed), but lets hope that Judge will see through their actions to date, and Justice is served.

I had thought that they would need to have all documents not select ones they feel supports only their version of their defence and/or make up their defence when they never were part of the discussions,  However, we have confirmed in our statement and included the actual full copies of the emails they did not disclose, which shows the full facts in the matter.

Please can the Forum advice if a defendant in his witness statement makes the following statement as a disclaimer in the first two paragraphs 

1.  I am the owner of the Defendant business in the above matter.  I make this witness statement in support of the Defendant's defence.

2.  The contents of this Witness Statement are based upon my own personal knowledge unless the contrary appears , in which case the source of my information is provided and contents are true to the best of my knowledge, information and belief.  Attached to the Witness Statement is a bundle of documentation marked as ........

The defendant has then gone on to change the facts, miss out important facts and documents including by lying to the Court, he has also denied us the original Contract and made up a new contract, which has never been seen by us or signed by anyone party to the Contract.

He then goes on to totally ignore the claim particulars we have raised since March 2020 and changed the timeline of events and submitted documents to support only his version.

He has then gone on and stated we cancelled the event when it was the Venue which cancelled this so again untruthful and he has made up things to gain from the claim - this is wholly against the principles of Justice and we wish to draw this to the attention of the Judge, we have concluded our witness statements and with help from Andy also prepared for the case, but we wish to put this into the Forum as this behaviour of the Defendant is further supported by a LAW firm DWF which has been mentioned on the forum now a number of times.

We have been put through 15 Months of lies and hell by this defendant and now he is lying to the Court and this is the kind of behaviour that makes people ill and these people simply do not give a damn, without this forum where would we be?

Any advice appreciated as I am at this stage of the matter so angry that this type of injustice continues in this day and age!

Thank you Andy I will prepare as confirmed to post up on Monday, I am not sure what evidence I need to include, so would be grateful if I could be advised or just list the dates and times I spent on each part of the claim from Letter before claim to the Heating - by date - Ref and number of hours spent - will this be sufficient ?

Thank you for the Link to BankFodder I will read through this on Monday on my return and hope to post up on Forum by Tuesday or Wednesday.

Hi I will start preparing for LIP costs for the time I have had to spend in claiming for this matter, please can I be directed to the relevant law and the principles of what is and is not allowed, I do not intend to claim the £90 per day, and would like to keep it simple and in line with the 19.00 per hour, but I am not sure of the layout and what documents I need to send with the costs statement.

Do I need to send all the  contact with Court and the orders or just issue the dates and time spent including on writing to the other side and to the Court about the claim and the applications, I have to date now spent over 46 Hours on this matter including time on the Forum for advice and my own research for the claim.

On Friday when the Hearing takes place and any other work in addition to this is still to be added to the above, I am mindful of keeping costs to a minimum for fairness and proportionality but do want to claim for everything as I have been forced to take this to the court, when the defendants own contract allowed a refund, if they Varied/postpones the contract under their own clause of 5.1 and they misled us to believe we can not have this right up to the Court Hearing.

Thank you

I also advise you read and become familiar with the following :

UK Government rules: Exhibit’s CMA law guidance

Exhibit 8:  2 March 2016 - CMA Guidance to the Wedding Sector dated 2 March 2016 (regarding unfair T&Cs)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wedding-and-event-venue-providers-letter-from-the-cma-on-contract-terms

Exhibit 9: 23 March 2020 – “stay at home” all events cancelled. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-to-the-nation-on-coronavirus-23-march-2020

Exhibit 10: 30 April 2020 - “Contracts that cannot go ahead due to lockdown laws” – frustrated contract – consumers should be entitled to a full refund.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cma-to-investigate-concerns-about-cancellation-policies-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic

Exhibit 11: On 28 August 2020 - Government Guidance. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cma-to-investigate-concerns-about-cancellation-policies-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic/the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-consumer-contracts-cancellation-and-refunds

Exhibit 12 :7 September 2020 - Where lockdown laws prevent (or prevented) a wedding from going ahead as agreed, the consumer should be offered a refund.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wedding-services-coronavirus-covid-19-cancellations-and-refunds/wedding-services-affected-by-covid-19-statement-of-the-cmas-position-on-cancellation-and-refunds

Exhibit 13: 26 November 2020 - The CMA warned wedding Venues about unfair practices and misleading customers over refunds. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-refunds-cma-warns-wedding-firms-over-unfair-practices

Supporting Legislation

Consumer Rights Act 2015:  https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/contents/enacted

Unfair Trading Regulations (2008):  https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277/contents/made

Frustrated Contracts law:  https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/6-7/40

SOMETHING LIKE THIS BUT WAIT FOR ADVICE AND CHANGE TO YOUR OWN VENUE:

I write in relation to contract reference  xxxxx : venue hire for a wedding reception of 350 guests; a total payment of £7,700. This amount was paid in full by me on 02/04/2019. The contracted event is unable to take place due to current Government guidelines and a full refund is requested.

Below is a timetable of recent key events:

1.      On 20/03/2020 xxxxxx advised our original booking for 23/05/2020 had to be postponed in line with Government guidelines. A request for a full refund was disregarded and Goosedale insisted we postpone our event.

2.      Due to our hands being tied as xxxxxx held our full £7,700, we reluctantly agreed to post-pone to 18/07/2020.

3.      In line with Government guidelines, wedding venues remained closed on 18/07/2020 therefore a further date was secured for 08/10/2020.

4.      Goosedale have advised us that weekend bookings require a higher payment, however despite 08/10/2020 falling on a weekday, we were not offered a price reduction.

5.      Since 17/04/2020, we have received one email on 03/09/2020, with a letter attached requested a further “£250 security bond for the event on 08/10/2020”.

6.      The current Government guidelines highlight that wedding ceremonies allows for up to 30 guests at a sit-down wedding reception which came into effect from 15/08/2020. As detailed above, our current contract and payment has been for 350 people. Goosedale are not in a position to provide this service.

I draw your attention to the following legislations:

·         GOV.UK – Competition & Markets Authority Guidance – Statement on coronavirus (COVID-19), consumer contracts, cancellations and refunds dated 28/08/2020.

·         The Consumer Rights Act 2015 Unfair Terms - ss.61-76

In line with the detailed legislation and guidance, you are unable to carry out a service that I have paid for; subsequently the contract has been frustrated. Therefore, I request a full refund of £7,700 within the next 14 days.

In closing, I would draw your attention to paragraphs 15 and 16 of the Practice Direction which gives the courts the power to impose sanctions on the parties if they fail to comply with the direction including failing to respond to this letter before claim. 

Should I not receive a response to my letter within this time frame then I anticipate that court action will be commenced with no further reference to you.

Yours sincerely,

For guidance look at the LBC i sent and then approach Andy on the forum for further advice.

Please keep your head up and we are with you, dont despair your one of hundreds they are doing this to and your no longer on your own

then follow the advice and start your LBC and claim as they are twisted fools who will not listen unless forced by a Court of law, at the moment there is not law only guidance and the CMA are not ones who will take up your claim on a one to one basis, please do not delay as come August 2021 you may still be in a restricted wedding arena, the longer they hold your money and the longer this goes on the more chance they go bankrupt then you lose everything!!

Now that you have their response you really need to issue a LBC confirming that you were asked to postpone in 2020, and that the Venue could not fulfil its contract since that time, you postponed and were never offered a refund, under the CRA 2015 you can not be forced to pay cancellation charges or be subject to unfair practices, in the end the matter will need to proceed to Court its not a difficult thing to do, yes its very disheartening but it has to be done to get justice for you and your fiancé.

The starting point is the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the frustrated contract, both these will override any terms in a contract, then you must confirm to them that they postponed the event in 2020, not you and then ask them to verify their charges under the CRA 2015.

After this come back to the forum and take further advices I can only go by my situation, they are leeches and here you will get the support but most of the work will need to be done by you, with help from senior members as I am a Novice I can only ask you to read the above and my claims currently in Court, it will not be a easy way but in the end if the laws are anything they should protect people like you and me, if they dont then I will be very dissapointed as the Smalls claim courts are supposed to be consumer friendly.

Hundreds of Couples are in the same Boat, its shocking what is happening and there are laws which should protect consumers, which are being flaunted by greedy venue owners!

My Fiancé and I were due to Marry May 2020 after receiving a late cancellation booking Jan 2020.

- £500 deposit for the booking as per contract, via bank transfer.

- Due to COVID, we were advised that the venue could not host and we were only offered postponement, This was re-arranged for 4th August 2021. 

Hi Reading the above this is no different to what we are facing, the Venue cancelled all events for April/May 2020, they forced us to postpone, technically unless I am wrong this was a Contract like ours under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, accordingly they postponed and you just changed the date as they refused to refund, is this correct?

The fact that they cancelled the event left you in a position which was not clear and you safeguarded your money to allow the venue to provide a alternative date, which you agreed to be in 2021.

However Andy is correct you must ask for the refund, based on the original contract being postponed/cancelled by them and you being like many other couples agreed to the the postponement to safeguard your position.

The venue charged you date change fees, this is unreasonable under the CRA 2015.

They have then refused to refund you, when in fact they had to postpone in 2020.

Accordingly this is your starting point, please read the thread on Goosedale again, this is very similar indeed, but if there is something I am missing please let me know so I can help?

OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF .............- DWF ARE LAWYERS? WHAT A JOKE

Yes of course Andy I just put up the main body, on the forum to save me redacting it,  but thank you for your reminder, as always you have helped me so much I am grateful to the Forum and the advices to have got this far.

Dear Sir/madam

I will send this Andy tomorrow morning 09.00 am if its confirmed as OK by you,  thank you

Dear Sir/madam

Please find attached the email addresses and the Contact numbers for the

1st Claimant tel  0000000

Email  :

2nd Claimant  tel 000000

Email

We are to join the Hearing at the times specified in the Court order on July 9 2021, for 10 minutes before the Hearing.

Please note - 2nd Claimant 

The 2nd Claimant is currently out of the County and in order to proceed with Hearing and in line with the order, she will join the Hearing from abroad if this is allowed, if this is not allowed or there are problems connecting from abroad, due to telecom or connection issues, then she wishes to request permission of the court and inform parties that her evidence will be considered as submitted to the Court and the Defendant and his legal team at DWF pursuant to CPR 27.9

Thank you

Hi Andy I am going to send the below to the Court for the emails and contact numbers I just need to run it past you, in regards the contents please can you confirm this is ok so I can submit before 02 July 2021 to court and defendants.

Dear Sir/madam

Please find attached the email addresses and the Contact numbers for the

1st Claimant tel  0000000

Email  :

2nd Claimant  tel 000000

Email

We are to join the Hearing at the times specified in the Court order on July 9 2021, for 10 minutes before the Hearing.

Please note - 2nd Claimant 

The 2nd Claimant is currently out of the County and in order to proceed with Hearing and in line with the order, she will join the Hearing from abroad if this is allowed, if this is not allowed or there are problems connecting from abroad, due to telecom or connection issues, then she wishes to inform parties that her evidence will be that as submitted to the Court and the Defendant and his legal team at DWF.

I refer to the below:

Non-attendance of parties at a final hearing

27.9

(1) If a party who does not attend a final hearing–

(a) has given written notice to the court and the other party at least 7 days before the hearing date that he will not attend;

(b) has served on the other party at least 7 days before the hearing date any other documents which he has filed with the court; and

(c) has, in his written notice, requested the court to decide the claim in his absence and has confirmed his compliance with paragraphs (a) and (b) above,

the court will take into account that party’s statement of case and any other documents he has filed and served when it decides the claim.

Thank you

First Claimant

Second Claimant 

Hi Andy I have sent a  PM as its sensitive, I hope it assists you and the forum and people in a similar position with venues.

Hi Andy Documents have been served in the County Court Leicester, Goosedale and Their representative 

I attach the confirmation from the Court, we will not be posting the documents to save costs and have indicated this on the Service of the documents. I thank you for your support and will keep you updated over the next few weeks.

Thank you Andy I will make the submissions as soon as I can, after my meetings on skype as I am working from home now until 3.00pm 

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Hi Andy please can the above be confirmed so they can be submitted to court by 4pm Deadline, if there are an amendments I will sort these out on my return at 12 to 12.15.

Thank you

Hi Andy I will be at work tomorrow from 07.45 until 12pm I will complete and send the documents to Court and the other side after your final approval tomorrow. Thank you