Ethical question

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I had this happen to me recently.

I had woman book with me for her wedding for a date this year, and she contacted me recently saying that she wanted to change the venue and also the date of the function.

Luckily for me, I had availability, but the date she wanted to change to is rapidly becoming the busiest date of the year (5 booked already!)

So, my question is, if you could not do the date she asked to change to, would you charge a cancellation fee if it was in your contract?

Would you keep your deposit/advance payment/booking fee?

The booking in question is not until August.

[Dragonfly]

i would keep the booking fee as that is indeed what it is a booking fee and a booking had been made and confirmed .

[A1DL]

I had this happen to me recently.

I had woman book with me for her wedding for a date this year, and she contacted me recently saying that she wanted to change the venue and also the date of the function.

Luckily for me, I had availability, but the date she wanted to change to is rapidly becoming the busiest date of the year (5 booked already!)

So, my question is, if you could not do the date she asked to change to, would you charge a cancellation fee if it was in your contract?

Would you keep your deposit/advance payment/booking fee?

The booking in question is not until August.


We treat cancellations & rebookings in different ways depending on whether a payment has been received.

If a payment hasn't been received, and if the function were greater than one month in advance, we would simply cancel the first job and raise a new booking, probably at the same cost, maybe slightly higher to cover administration, depending on the circumstances.

If a booking fee has been received, this would typically be lost, but a slightly reduced price applied to the subsequent rebooking as a gesture of goodwill. We also raise a credit to contra the original sales invoice and raise a zero rated invoice for the cancellation charge, as no VAT is due because the payment received is not now in respect of a supply of goods or services. Not everyone is aware of this, (VAT guide section 8.13) and it can be worth a few quid over the course of a year.

If a full payment has been received, similar to the above, with a refund cheque processed as a bank payment.

[spin mobile disco]

Same here deposit is to cover your admin costs in dealing with booking calls etc. as you have already doen this the fee would be considered already spent.

[ian8limelight]

Dependant on the date, I would charge either an admin. fee or a cancellation fee. You shouldn't lose out on the work that you have done so far to secure the booking.

[colinm345]

A1DL wrote
If a booking fee has been received, this would typically be lost, but a slightly reduced price applied to the subsequent rebooking as a gesture of goodwill.

Top marks great idea:)

[andyw]

if we could do the date we would just change the date,if we could not because we are already booked we would keep the booking fee.

[Corabar Entertainment]

if we could do the date we would just change the date,if we could not because we are already booked we would keep the booking fee.Ditto

[Shaun]

So, my question is, if you could not do the date she asked to change to, would you charge a cancellation fee if it was in your contract?

Would you keep your deposit/advance payment/booking fee?



In the event of a cancellation the booking fee paid is non returnable (as stated in the terms and conditions). If I could do the date I would just apply the booking fee already paid to the new date.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

In the event of a cancellation the booking fee paid is non returnable (as stated in the terms and conditions). If I could do the date I would just apply the booking fee already paid to the new date.

And what would happen if the date was on you couldn't do and was within your cancellation period?

Would you then charge?

[Shaun]

Under normal circumstances the booking fee wouldn't be returned. However, if the cancellation was done not long after actual booking, and I hadn't recieved any additional enquiries for that booked date, I'd possibly return the booking fee as a goodwill gesture.

It all depends on the situation. Normally booking fees are non returnable though.