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- Wedding Organiser Has Gone Bust. What Are My Rights?
Wedding organiser has gone bust. What are my rights?
Credit cards offer great protection especially when making big purchases, including events like weddings. Find out how best to use your credit card to protect your purchases and what to do if your goods don’t turn up, are not what you expected or the service isn’t delivered.
If you pay for goods or a service costing more than £100 but less than £30,000, paying by credit card offers extra protection if things go wrong.
Normally the seller should compensate you if the goods or service are not up to scratch, but if it refuses - or has gone bust having taken your money - the credit card protection cuts in.
This is provided by section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act and means your credit card company has to compensate you in full.
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Weddings and catering – what are my rights?
Question: “I paid the deposit for a caterer for my wedding on my credit card but the supplier has gone bust. What are my rights and can I get my deposit back?”
Answer: If you paid for any items for your wedding on your credit card, whether goods or services, and the supplier has failed to deliver, you may be able to get your money back thanks to section 75.
And you don’t have to have paid for the full wedding on credit card - you might have only paid the deposit. It’s the full price of the goods or service that triggers section 75. It must be between £100 and £30,000. Even if the price is more than £30,000 you may still be able to claim.
How does paying on credit card protect my money?
Using a credit card gives you Section 75 protection. This means your card provider may be equally responsible for compensating you as well as the retailer or supplier.
This law (part of the Consumer Credit Act 1974) protects you if you use your credit card to buy something costing over £100 and up to £30,000.
You may be legally entitled to get some, or all, of your money back if:
the product or service is faulty
the company you bought from breaks their contract with you
the company you bought from does not deliver what they promised
You will have to prove the details to get the credit card company to provide the compensation and it is usually quicker and easier to complain direct to the seller, but if that fails, section 75 can be helpful.
How does credit card protection for weddings work?
If you order something for your wedding and the retailer goes bust you're entitled to all your money back through your card provider. It's that simple.
As with anything financial the process of making your claim and actually getting your hands on the money could be complicated, but the legal basis is safe. Just make sure you quote Section 75 when you're making the claim. You can do this by contacting your credit card provider and explaining the situation.
Crucially Section 75 is limited to claims over £100, and no more than £30,000.
Is Section 75 the only protection I have?
For a service like catering Section 75 is your best bet. Other legal coverage, such as the Sale of Goods Act and Distance Selling Regulations, apply to goods, not services.
If you've paid by debit card another possibility may be chargeback. Chargeback is basically a way of reversing a charge, but as it's not subject to the same legal enforcement as Section 75 it's not guaranteed.
You can also try putting forward a chargeback claim for credit card purchases under £100.
