can you be charged for a service you cancelled?

[white35]

Hi,

I booked a DJ fro my husbands birthday party (in september) back in June. In August we decided to cancel the party because we couldnt afford it. I emailed the dj to cancel but he said we still had to pay the full amount as stated on the booking form i signed. He said we could just change the date of the party adn i said I'ld get back to hm. after a month he emailed back to see if we had re-arraged the party. I didnt reply as we can't afford to pay him. He sent us an invoice recently fot £210 saying if we dont pay he'll take us to court. We really don't have the money. can he really charge us the full amount for doing nothing? It doesnt seem fair. We offered to pay him half as advised by citizens advice beaureu but he refused saying we need to come up with something better.

We desperatly need help with this as legal websites are so confusing!

thanks

vix

[Conniff]

What does it say on the contract you signed about cancellations?

[white35]

terms and conditions~cancellations of the booking can only be made in writing and will require full payment

[Conniff]

That sounds like an unfair condition as it lets him out of attempting to find an alernative booking.

If he didn't cancel a booking so that he could attend your party then it sounds rather like a penalty charge.

 

I will see what I can find and others will be along to assist, they may know the definative answer.

Edited December 10, 2008 by Conniff

[white35]

i didnt think it sounded right. i can understand paying a percentage for a cancellation but not the full amount.

thanks for looking into it for me!

[Conniff]

The OFT has the following in the Unfair Terms in Contracts:

 

 

"Therefore a term penalising consumer cancellations in all circumstances,

whether by loss of deposit or other means, will be open to challenge. "

 

It does say in qualifying though - "Cancels with justification".

 

Not being able to afford it may be justification to me and you, but it looks unlikely that it would be to the OFT.

 

You could write and say that you believe that it is an unfair term under EC Directive in unfair terms in consumer contracts (93/13/EEC), and that you are asking the OFT their opinion of the fairness of the contract to see if that will change his mind.

 

You could ask him for time to pay or you could let him take you to court, if he does go that far, and ask the judge for time to pay setting out what you can afford ie; £25 per month.

[raydetinu]

If this was booked over the telephone would the DSR apply?

Was a deposit paid. I would certainly think it was an unfair term as you have given him plenty of notice.

If he sticks to his word I would think it would be worth fighting as you would have nothing to loose really.

[white35]

it was booked over the phone, then i signed a form he sent me. I offered to pay a deposit but he said it wasn't needed.

[Gilbert_O'Sullivan]

terms and conditions~cancellations of the booking can only be made in writing and will require full payment

 

Sounds rubbish.

 

Whats the point in having a cancellation clause if the customer still has to pay for it in full anyway?

 

can you find out if the dj worked elsewhere that night you booked him?

[raydetinu]

If you signed the terms and conditions then it may be difficult to resist except on the grounds of being unfair due to notice you gave him etc.

Has he sent you an invoice or any demand for payment.

If he wont agree to a reduced payment, up to you what you think is a reasonable sum ( put in writing ), court will see you have tried to resolve, let him take you to court and see what happens. Then as Connif says pay in very small installments, if you loose.

[raydetinu]

Good point Gilb, Ask to see his booking schedule or records to confirm if he did find another gig.

[assisted blonde]

I would let him take you to court, I suspect that he wont, if he does and the mags find in his favour you can offer a small monthly payment. I would also suggest contacting the local paper in your area (especially if he advertises in it) they may write an article or you could just write to the letters page under the guise of warning others to be careful when booking this guy(be careful what you say) I dont think all publicaity is always good publicity

[white35]

yesterday we received an email saying he would take it to courts this morning if we didn't pay up. My husband emailed him back with the responses you suggested, this was his reply:

 

This cancellation caused more than an 'inconvenience' & there was no 'rebooking'. I had no work for that evening because I turned down all other enquiries as I was already booked. Therefore I have lost the full price of an evenings entertainment (minus a few running costs). Why should I absorb this cost when it was you that cancelled?

I can understand your reluctance to pay full price for a service you have not received, however this was not my fault & I gave you the option to receive this service on another date. After promising to think about another date, I got no reply.

I did not dismiss your offer of £105, I just said you'll have to do a bit better. I don't like involving the courts any more than I like taking money without first having a good evenings disco. But I have to make ends meet.

Why not just call me & we can work something out? My contact number is on my paperwork

 

my husband will give him a ring today. I'll let you know what happens.

[bobbyh99]

Lets just say you did pay a deposit normally 10-20% (thats £21-£42). Normally I would expect to lose that deposit on cancellation of a DJ.

 

You have offered him £105 (50%). I think the DJ is a getting above his station saying "you'll have to do a bit better".

 

Considering he says he didn't have a job that night, then £105 for doing diddly!!!! nice work if you can get it.

 

BobbyH

[thecteam]

he sounds a bit expensive to me in the first place.

 

normally we take a deposit of half the amount in the shop. this is no refundable. we used to only take £20 for every booking, but when you lose 4hours of work and only get £20 it does suck a bit. but we only do this if they cant give us 48hrs notice.

 

giving over a months notice well i would gladly give all of the deposit back. im sure i would get another customer within 4 weeks for the date cancelled.

 

makes you wonder how good he is, if he didn't get a request for work within that month for that weekend.

 

i would see him in court for sure.

[white35]

he has changed his mind and accepted the £105. Still a rip-off as hes got £105 for absolutly nothing! but at least its done with.

thanks everyone for the help!