Known your consumer law rights if venues, suppliers don’t refund because of coronavirus
Engaged couples forced to postpone or cancel their weddings because of coronavirus restrictions may face more stress, with some suppliers flouting consumer law. Here’s what you’re entitled to.
Lifestyle
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Engaged couples forced to postpone or cancel their wedding after the government banned non-essential mass gatherings because of coronavirus may face more stress, with some suppliers flouting consumer law.
Melbourne wedding venues this week began contacting couples set to marry in the coming months with the option of postponing, cancelling or proceeding with reduced guest numbers.
Earlier this week Prime Minister Scott Morrison cancelled all non-essential mass gatherings — including weddings — of more than 100 people indoors and 500 people outdoors to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Further restrictions announced today must allow for 4 sqm per person for gatherings of fewer than 100 people.
Mel Tancredi and fiance Adam Kowalski were set to lose “thousands” after some of their suppliers refused to move agreed services for the couple’s June 7 wedding to the new date on December 27.
HAVE YOU CANCELLED OR POSTPONED YOUR WEDDING? CONTACT: KARA.IRVING@NEWS.COM.AU
“I ended up calling the ACCC at the start of the week and found I was well within my rights of retaining our deposit,” Ms Tancredi said.
Ms Tancredi said she was told by her supplier that they treated postponements as cancellations and would retain her deposit according to the business’ terms and conditions.
However Ms Tancredi argued she’d never seen the terms and conditions when she paid the deposit for the service online.
She said the ACCC told her she’d been given misleading information and the supplier was entitled to honour the agreement and supply the service on her new wedding date.
Ms Tancredi said her supplier will now honour the couple’s original agreement.
“I found the ACCC very helpful, I was proactively making changes to our wedding well before the government made the announcement (about banning mass gatherings),” she said.
The bride-to-be is sharing her story so others don’t experience anything similar.
“I should have been more diligent (in making sure we’d seen the terms and conditions) at the time. It’s made me think it’s not just me and I’m lucky to have dodged a bullet,” she said.
Couples hosting a wedding that has been cancelled by the venue or event organiser because of coronavirus should receive a refund or other remedy, such as a credit note or voucher, an ACCC spokesman said.
“However, if the event is cancelled due to government restrictions, this impacts your rights under the consumer guarantees,” the spokesman said.
This is because the supplier or venue also has the right to defend the cancellation of the event — and retain the deposit — as the government restrictions were outside of its control.
An ACCC spokesman said all contracts between couples and venues or suppliers were unique and the refund terms would be outlined in your contract.
“You may be entitled to a refund under the terms and conditions of your venue hire and catering order agreement,” the spokesman said.
“If you decide to cancel the event because you have concerns about coronavirus, this may be treated as a “change of mind”. In these circumstances, a consumer’s ability to obtain a remedy will depend on the event organiser’s cancellation policy.”
“Consumers should check the terms and conditions to see if they are entitled to a remedy such as full or partial refund, credit note or voucher.”
The ACCC encouraged all businesses to treat consumers fairly, given the exceptional circumstances.
Florist Ben Nguyen, of Flower Head Events, said he’s given couples more time to cancel or reschedule his services for their wedding.
“If they want a refund, we’ll give them a refund up to 10 days before their event. Our initial deadline was 14 days before,” he said
Mr Nguyen said the coronavirus mass gathering clampdowns had drastically impacted his business.
“We’ve seen 30 per cent of our customers reschedule their weddings, 60 per cent have put the wedding on hold and a small percentage has cancelled,” he said.
“Some brides are downsizing and still going ahead. This weekend we’ve got nine weddings.”
The Maple Group told couples with upcoming weddings at either of its venues — Fenix in Richmond or Hawthorn’s Leonda by the Yarra — could proceed if they had fewer than 100 guests.
Events exceeding that guest threshold will either need to be postponed or reduced in size.
The Maple Group will reassess this process at the end of May.
Wedding industry insiders are encouraging couples to postpone rather than cancel their big day.
Wedding directory website Easy Weddings conducted an online survey of 1900 members and found 22 per cent of couples getting married between March and May this year would postpone, while 35 per cent would go ahead as normal, while another 35 per cent would wait to see what happened.
The Easy Weddings data also found of the couples who’d planned to marry between June and August, about half would continue as normal, 33 per cent would wait to see what happened and two per cent would cancel or elope.
Of the couples getting married in September and beyond, 74 per cent would go ahead as normal and 18 per cent would wait to see what happened.
Wedding planner Laura Wills, of Wanderlust Creative, told her clients to hold off until later this year if they’d previously planned to marry before June 30.
“Unless the venue allows you to hold an event for less than 100 people, I’d say this weekend your wedding is going to be postponed,” she said.
“Weddings are an event where you are hugging, kissing, dancing and drinking — it’s one of those events where you’re in contact with more people than any other. Unless it’s a small elopement, I’d be postponing.”
“All couples that are booked from September onwards, it’s full steam ahead.”
Weddings by Jess celebrant Jess Kerr is marrying a couple this weekend, but won’t be hugging them.
“I’ll be disinfecting my equipment like my microphone and not sharing that with the bride or groom,” she said.
“I won’t be giving my couples a hug after they get married. It’s better to be safe.”
Ballarat bride-to-be Mel Dunne, 30, is hoping to still marry her finance Matt Skontra, 32, on April 18 but fears there’ll be more mass gathering clampdowns.
“We’d still really like to go ahead but realistically it won’t happen,” she said.
“At the end of the day everyone elses health is more important than Matt and I getting married.”
After the Rock wedding planner Georgie Karloci said couples hoping to get married in the coming months should hold tight.
“Communicate to all your guests and vendors on how you’re feeling,” she said.
“If the wedding includes a lot of international guests, understand they may no longer be able to attend and postponing may avoid a lot of stress.”
Ms Karloci said if couples weren’t sure whether to proceed with their wedding, given the dynamic environment, they should choose a date in the future when they’ll make that decision and stick to it.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
— If you’re hosting a wedding that’s cancelled by the venue, you should be entitled to a refund, credit note or voucher.
— If the event is cancelled because of government restrictions, this impacts your rights under the consumer guarantees (ie: the venue can defend the right rights of keeping your deposit as the government gathering restrictions were out of its control.)
— If you decide to cancel the event over concerns about coronavirus, this may be treated as “change of mind” under some contracts.
— Consumers should always check the terms and conditions to see what they are entitled to, including a remedy like a full or partial refund, credit note or voucher.
— Contact the business direct to request a refund or other remedy.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED
— If you can, postpone rather than cancel your wedding.
— Remain in constant contact with your guests, venue and suppliers.
— If you’re marrying in the next couple of weeks, reduce your guests or consider eloping.
— If you’re marrying in the next six months, consider postponing until September.
— Couples uncertain about cancelling or postponing their wedding should set a date in the future to make that decision, with the hope of more government direction on the issue.
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