Hi,

I hope this is in the right section.

I was looking to hire two butlers for an event

phoned around and got a quote of £184 for two hours which I thought was okay.

The company emailed me the quote and told me to fill out a booking form which I did and then they would send me an invoice.

I got the invoice a few hours later and realised they meant £184 each so with vat the bill was over £400.

I emailed back and said sorry thats way too much please cancel.

Received an email this morning saying I cannot cancel without paying £100 plus vat for the considerable amount of time they have invested(?). If I dont pay in two days it will go up to £184 plus vat.

I have not signed an agreement and there are no terms and conditions on their website

(they did send me them after I filled in the booking form online).

Any advice please?

they are talking utter cobblers unless you booked them for the same day.

A verbal agreement is a contract but you are protected by consumer contract law that allows you to cancel distance contracts giving 14 days notice.

so was your event within the next fortnight?

Booking form is not a contract, it is an "intitation to treat".

Imagine you went into a clothes shop and asked for a pair of trousers for about £100.

The assistant got a pair of nice chinos down from the shelf

you tried them on

said that you liked them, how much?

he said £200

you reminded him of your budget

his answer is

"well you tried them on and said you liked them so that is a contract to purchase"

you would think him mad and rightly so.

the same applies here.

The contract only forms when there is a "meeting of minds" as the judges quote often gets relayed in the textbooks

Ultimately this is a frustrated contract,

they cannot supply the people at £184 for the 2 people so you are not obliged to pay for something different.

Thanks for the quick reply,

I thought it was not a contract but its always better to get someone with more knowledges advice.

The event is in 18 days and as soon as I realised the error I let them know.

Maybe I misheard the guy but I genuinely thought it was a total of £184 plus vat and not double that or I would not have filled in the form.

I will let the guy know about the initiation to treat and see if that stops him in his tracks.

Thanks again.

Just had this reply:

Regretfully you appear to have misunderstood that completing a booking form is entering a contract.

Please see attached our agreed terms and conditions, I have also highlighted the relevant section below for your convenience.

6. Cancellation

6.1 Without prejudice to any other right or remedy available to it the company shall be entitled to cancel the contract or suspend

any further performance under the contract without any liability on the part of the company or the talent.

6.2 The client shall not be entitled to cancel the contract without the prior written agreement of the company.

I am trying to help reduce your costs, and would maintain my offer of a reduced fee if you decide to cancel.

If you decide to not respond as detailed in your previous email this will be handed across to our debt recovery team, at which point the full amount will be charged and you will be liable to pay additional fees implimteded by STA Debt Recovery.

It's not entering into a contract. And they're threading you with a scary? Hahaha. Pathetic. They also can't add anything else on because there wasn't a contract and theres no terms.ans conditions to allow it.

Dsr overruled whatever they think they can do. Perhaps politely tell them to read it in full. Your statutory rights cannot be overruled.

Just like you can order bt or sky and cancel without penalty in the first couple weeks.

Can you name.the company please.

The company is envisage promotions.

What should I do next - ignore or respond?

When did you get the T's & C's in relation to returning the booking form?

Did the booking form include the price at "£184 x 2"?

Were you running the event as a business or a consumer? This will affect if the DSR's apply.

When did you get the T's & C's in relation to returning the booking form?

 

Did the booking form include the price at "£184 x 2"?

 

Were you running the event as a business or a consumer? This will affect if the DSR's apply.

When I spoke on the phone I told them what I needed and the guy said £184 plus vat and gave me a quote reference which he also emailed me. The email had no prices but did have a t&c attachment and said to fill in the booking form online so they could raise an invoice. They then sent the invoice and I realised the price difference and told them by email that I wanted to cancel as we must have got our wires crossed regarding prices.

There were no prices on the booking form - it wanted to know dates, times locations etc and the nature of the event.

All communication was through my personal email account but I completed the booking form with my husbands business details as it was for his event.

2017 Envisage Group Terms & Conditions.pdf

No prices on the booking form & price not being made clear before = "no certainty".

I'd say "no contract formed" as a result.

their terms arent legal and cant be applied retrospectively even if they were.

Now, no more phone calls, no emails. You communicate by letter post only and put your email setting to bounce his messages back. The threat of using a dca tells me that he knows that there is a problem with his agreements and to futher that he makes it clear that he is acting as a middleman so cant actually speak for the others with any authority.

Ignore anything other than a court form from now on

No more than an Invitation to Treat, certainly no contract.