Want to claim against a wedding company

[1970]

Hi,

My daughter got married recently and one of the companies that provided table and chair decorations made a real mess of everything.

Here are the facts:

At an exhibition they the company displayed a table setting which had silk chair bows and matching sequined table cloths. The arrangement was stunning and they ordered the service for the wedding day.

The cost was £700 which includes the hire of the stuff and cost of the labour to have a team of people come down the night before the wedding and set everything up in the marquee.

We arrived at the marquee on the night to sort some things out and the company were there attempting to set everything up.

The material had just been flown in from somewhere and was taken out of the packaging straight onto the table.

Here are the problems:

The table cloths were not ironed and were placed ont he table straight from the packet and looked a mess.

A number of the cloths were damaged and had whole strips of sequins missing.

One table cloth had blood stains on. Another had a tyre track across it as if it had been on the floor and had been driven over.

The staff did not know how to tie the bows on the back of the chairs and were making a real mees of it. The three blokes that turned up to dress the tables had no idea and were tying a double knot on the back of the chair instead of the bows that we'd seen at the exhibition. Being silk it looked like a piece of string attached to the back of the chair.

We had a number of family members present who took over the job to make it look presentable while the three blokes stood and watched. It was a lot of work at there were over 160 chairs.

We've written and asked for a refund and had no reply. We've also sent a 14 day LBA.

So it looks like the next option is court action.

We have a load of photographs of what happened.

Can we sue and get a refund for a service we were totally unhappy with?

Cheers,

1970.

[1970]

Any ideas?

[Lula]

I would say that you have a very good chance of winning a case in court, especially as you have pictures of their shortcomings (very wise). Other people on here will be able to advise on the statute to claim under, and as it is Small Claims court the cost will be quite small, and added to your claim when you win.

Good luck!

[1970]

Hi, we have hashed together a POC and wondered if someone could look over it. I'm not sure we have got it right here.


In summary the company made a mess of the wedding table layout and have not refunded the full deposit. I've tried to make sure it doesnt look like a claim for damages. We just want a full refund as we did not get what we paid for




PARTICULARS OF CLAIM

1. On the 2nd of February 2008 the claimant attended the UK wedding show at the Excel Arena, London. The defendant was exhibiting a number of wedding table settings for hire. The Claimant entered into an agreement with the Defendant on the 7th February 2008, whereby the Defendant was to supply red sequined table linen, white chair covers and red sequined bow chair decorations for the claimants wedding on the 14th July 2008. The agreement was for the hire and the setting up of the decorative items. The claimant’s selection was based on an outstanding display at the wedding exhibition

3. The claimant agreed to pay £700.00 plus a Refundable Security Deposit of £150.00. A deposit of £100 was paid to secure the reservation, on the 7th February, another payment of £250 was paid on 18th April, and a final payment of £500 was paid on the 28th May.

4. An arrangement was made for the defendant to attend the wedding venue on the evening of the 13th July 2008 in order to set up the table linen and chair decorations.

5. Two days prior to the wedding, the defendant called the claimant to say that the material ordered was held in customs. The material was finally released by customs and delivered to the wedding venue on Friday 13th July. The material was tightly packed in air freight packaging.

6. Upon inspection, the table linen was not fit for use. It had been tightly packed in plastic and was creased. The table linen was extremely creased and did not represent the display shown at the UK Wedding Exhibition. Three of the table cloths had large patches of sequins missing. One of the table cloths was blood stained. The defendant did not have alternative material available and was unable to rectify the situation.The chair sashes were not attached to the chairs as demonstrated at the wedding exhibition. The defendants employee’s stated they did not know how to attach the bows as displayed at the exhibition. As a result members of the bridal party who were in attendance were required to undertake setting up the venue.

7. The defendants Terms and Conditions Section 1.8 states that the refundable deposit would be returned within 2 weeks after the goods had been collected/returned and inspected for losses or damages. A partial deposit of £114.75 was returned 4 weeks after the goods had been collected. A balance of £35.25 remains unpaid.



The Claimant claims

(1) The balance of the security deposit £35.25
(2) Hire cost £700.00
(3) Court costs

[1970]

Anyhelp on this one would be appreciated.

[Bookworm]

You haven't stated under which legal grounds you are claiming.

Also, you mentioned in your previous post tyre tracks but haven't mentioned it in your POC, is that intentional?

And you're not claiming the Statutory interest at 8%, you should.

[patdavies]

Take the word "blood" from "blood-stained". You don't know that the staining was blood.

[Lula]

do you also have a picture from the exhibition and a picture from the wedding to highlight the differences?

[raydetinu]

Why do people pay all of the money up front; You should only have paid a deposit with the final payment after they performed a satisfactory service!
gripe over!
Your have a claim but I doubt you would get all your money back as at least part of the service had been provided.

[legalpickle]

I recommend you read this thread:
court papers from wedding venue

Compensation is claimable for damages to a wedding day. In this case the OP's wedding had been seriously damaged by the wedding venue, so he refused to pay the whole amount they wanted. They have issued court proceedings against him and he is defending it and making a counterclaim against them for damages.

There is a lot in there that is relevant to this, and it would surely help you if you read it in detail, specifically the last 2 and a half pages.

Once you have read that if you redo your PoC, I will try and help by proofing it, but if you read that thread you may not need my help!