Non Refundable €2,000 Deposit for a wedding dress

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Pugmister

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Hi All, looking for some advice on the following situation.

My fiancée put a deposit down in a well known wedding dress shop. This particular shop are the only stockists of a particular designer. The store told her that if she gave a deposit it would secure a 15% reduction off the retail price of any dress from this designer so she handed over 2000 euro.

My fiancée has now seen a dress she prefers in a different shop. We have asked for the deposit back but the shop owner said this may not be possible and we were told that deposit is non refundable.

My argument is we never actually picked out a dress, so we haven't actually put a deposit on a particular item. We rang the shop a number of weeks ago and spoke to an assistant who we think mistakenly told us the money was not given to the dress designer either. This leads me to believe that we have effectively given the shop a loan of money.

Do we have any grounds here to demand the deposit back. No contracts, documents have been signed. No specific dress was picked out let alone ordered but we have received confirmation of paying a deposit to the shop not the designer.

Any advice would be appreciated
 
how did you pay the "deposit"?, if it was by credit card you may have grounds for a chargeback via your bank.
 
thedaddyman said:
how did you pay the "deposit"?, if it was by credit card you may have grounds for a chargeback via your bank.
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The deposit was paid by debit card. I will contact the bank to see if we have any kind of comeback.

l have a feeling that could be a drawn out process and with wedding costs coming thick and fast in the not to distant future I was hoping for a speedy resolution.

Unfortunately I dont think this matter will be so simple
 
It seems to me that in exchange for a €2k deposit, you got something valuable - a 15% discount. Now you have changed your mind.

I suspect that the shop is within its rights to retain the deposit.

As it's a debit card, you should contact the card company.

They will probably refund it to you but they might not.

If they do, the shop might come after you , but then again, they probably won't bother.

Brendan
 
What does the deposit confirmation slip say re the deposit? Based on the information provided appears to me that you are fully entitled to the return of your deposit. Any reference to the 15% off is irrelevant, your consumer rights do not change.

If you have exhausted verbal means of getting the deposit back I suggest that you write a formal letter requesting return of your deposit and send by registered mail. Say in it that you require the deposit back with 3-5 working days. If they fail to return it than contact your bank and send them a copy of your letter requesting return of the money. Request that the bank chargeback. Be careful with the language that you use in your letter, keep it formal and brief. No need for lengthy explanation.

I fail to see why people use debit and not credit cards for these types of transactions. I never use a debit card for a transaction other than a very routine one. Your rights and entitlements with credit cards are far superior than with debit cards. hence why banks push debit cards!
 
Just saw your reply Brendan. My view would be different if the deposit was paid against a particular dress with the designer, as in that case it would be a contract to buy.
 
Thank you all, I think we will proceed with a formal letter initially rather than the chargeback route. Hopefully keeping things amicable but at the same time formal might yield better results rather than jumping into chargebacks etc.

Will update on the outcome
 
The dress was excessively expensive but was factored into the budget for the day.

I spoke to the owner of the shop today and they said they need to speak to their accountant. I get the impression a refund is possible but the shop wants us to cover the courier costs they incurred in flying over dresses to try on. These costs come to 800 euro.

The way this works is when u book an appointment they ask you what dresses you want to see. My fiancée gave a list of dresses and when she went to her appointment none of them were there so the shop had to pay to get the ones originally requested sent over again.

It's all getting a bit messy, I firmly believe we cannot be held responsible for a shops costs particularly if
 
Just a personal view, but based on your last post, I don't believe that they should refund you the money. This wasn't just a case of a deposit being blindly paid.
 
Yes, if they incurred costs to show you the dresses, well they certainly have a case.

Curious to know what designer they were!!!
 
The designer is Inbal Dror.

I really do not agree that they have incurred costs that should be passed on. It was their mistake ordering the incorrect dresses for the appointment in the first place.

I do agree Gordon that this wasn't a blindly paid deposit. I would say it was a rush of blood to the head when a bride to be sees her dress. My fiancée should have been more sensible in handing over that kind of money particularly so far in advance of our wedding. The wedding is in Nov 2017 and this was paid in Feb 2016.

I'm purely looking at this from a substance over form point of view. If I walked into a shop and said I'm going to buy something but haven't decided what yet it would effectively be me giving a loan of money to that shop. Can a discount be classified as an intangible asset ?
 
I should also mention that I believe we should contribute to some of the shops shipping costs as a sign of goodwill. I think they have been exceptionally good to my fiancée throughout her dealings with them. I also do t want to tarnish the relationship should she want to purchase a different dress from them in the coming months
 
Generally, such deposits are non-refundable unless the supplier cannot deliver. By paying a deposit, you have entered into a contract, in this case, you are now looking to break out of that contract. I know it's too late for you now, but never hand over 2k without agreeing in writing what the T&Cs are.

See Consumer Help for more.
 
Pugmister said:
1.The store told her that if she gave a deposit it would secure a 15% reduction off the retail price of any dress from this designer so she handed over 2000 euro.

2. My fiancée has now seen a dress she prefers in a different shop. .
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I quoted the above two sentences from the original post.

1. 15% reduction offered off a future purchase offered and accepted by paying the deposit.
2. Fiancée now welshes on the agreement.

I can see no case for a refund.
 
It seems to me that the deposit was paid to secure a discount on a dress that would be chosen.

No dress was chosen. Dresses were not available at chosen time to try on.

I would not be happy in this situation to lose a deposit.

Contact eccireland.ie immediately. If deposit paid in the EU




Marion
 
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Marion said:
It seems to me that the deposit was paid to secure a discount on a dress that would be chosen.

No dress was chosen. Dresses were not available at chosen time to try on
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A red herring. A deposit was paid and dresses were requested. They didn't arrive on the right day, but no issue was made of this. They arrived on another day. That's not the issue though. The bride to be has "changed her mind". Fine, but say goodbye to your €2k. Why did she pay the deposit in the first place?!
 
Do we know that no issue was made when the list was sent in and no dresses available?

Pugmister might be able to inform us of the dialogue that took place.

Marion
 
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