Do I have to give back deposit?

[Tim.d]

Hi every one, I have my own chocolate fountain hire company I recently took a booking for a job the client paid a £50 deposit and we told them final payment was due 2 weeks before the event. 2 weeks arrived and I emailed the client but never heard back from them,after holding place for a week some one else wanted the date so I gave it to them. The original client called 3days before their event so I told them I was sorry but they had missed their payment date and I couldn't attend any more.theybclaimed they were having problems with their email.the conversation ended and I thought that was that but now they are emailing me demanding their deposit back.the thing is stupidly when I wrote the email I never put the deposit was non refundable. Do I have to give it back because I missed this off?not too sure where I stand and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Tim

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Unless you stated the deposit was non returnable they are entitled to it back. Also you can't really claim any loss as the reason you didn't complete was that you had taken another booking.

I have to ask though why didn't you telephone rather than just email? Seems odd way of doing things.

You need a complete set of terms and conditions drawn up, and need to refer people to this when booking (I would reccommend sending a pdf copy)

 

[arcon5]

Is this customer a consumer ? If so all you are entitled to as a result of their breach or contract is your probable losses, anything more would be classed as a pEnalty and unlawful. You filled the date so cannot argue loss of profits, so it really comes down to whether filling the space cost you anything in terms of additional advertising or something.

If not, simply deduct say £10 to cover admin fees and refund the rest.

 

[Tim.d]

Yes the customer is a consumer, and usually I do say it's a non refundable deposit although this time I dropped the ball and rushed my reply and didn't state this.i couldn't call her because she never left her phone number in the phone number box on her order form,am now going to speak to my web guy to make this a mandatory field I think,I never did before because I didn't want to look too pushy. I emailed her numerous times and just got no reply

 

[OldWelshGuy]

I would advise you mark the reason for the tel no being a required field.

e.g. 'we need your number so we can get hold of you if your email goes down for any reason.

 

[Tim.d]

That's a good idea, I hate it when I have to give my number as a mandatory it really does make the people look pushy and needy in my opinion. Although not doing it has now led me to this dilemma. I'm torn on if it's for the best or not.

 

[arcon5]

To add... Merely having 'deposits are non refundable' in your terms doesn't change anything. It would only be non refundable if it was a true estimate of losses if the other party was to breach the contract, otherwise would just be seen as part payment.

There's a good OFT guide on deposits when dealing with consumers, might be worth taking a look.. I'll post a link later if I can find it

 

[Deleted member 27344]

For the sake of £50 I would refund the deposit with a brief 'sorry we couldn't be of assistance in this instance' letter and include something like a pack of vouchers offering them 10% for any referrals they pass your way.
They're more than likely never to be used but they'll put you in your (non) customers good books.

As for 'problems with email' - rubbish. If I was the customer and had email issues, I would have rung you to check you're still delivering.

 

[tony84]

Dont make it a requirement if you dont want to, but once it comes to discussion and taking payment then ask for a number.

Get proper terms drawn up, dont just write it in the email.

refund the £50, you never lost any money, although you probably have done now by dragging your feet. You could have made that a good sales opportunity by agreeing to refund going the "extra mile" and you MAY have got refferals on the back of it.

Dont always think about the here and now, think about how people perceive you/your business and it may generate more money in the long run... thats my theory, not that im rich so maybe im doing it wrong and i should just be thinking about the money?

 

[internetspaceships]

The short version.

You didn't state non refundable.

You still got a booking so you're not out of pocket.

Pay them the £50 back, sort your systems out, and move on.

That's the mature way of dealing with it.

 

[MikeJ]

The short version.

You didn't state non refundable.

You still got a booking so you're not out of pocket.

Pay them the £50 back, sort your systems out, and move on.

That's the mature way of dealing with it.

Unless you've given a discount to hire the fountain out at short notice.

 

[internetspaceships]

Unless you've given a discount to hire the fountain out at short notice.

I don't think that's been mentioned by the OP so I'm working on the info given.

We could hypothesise all day about what might or might not be the case, and that's where some threads end up going round in circles Mike ain't it Sir?

 

[mobyme]

The short version.

You didn't state non refundable.

You still got a booking so you're not out of pocket.

Pay them the £50 back, sort your systems out, and move on.

That's the mature way of dealing with it.

That would be my take on it as well. I cannot understand why anyone would try to hold on to a deposit when they haven't lost out financially. Who do think you are Ryan Air?

Seriously go a step further sympathise with them about technology always letting us down when we need it most and give them a £5.00 voucher against their next hire.