Bride wants to Cancel

[kmaynard]

I have a bride wanting to cancel with me 10 days before her wedding. I sent her a text message saying I could refund her in full if she would like to go that route. Today she texted me that she wants her refund. I sent her an email with a copy of the contract she signed stating she forfeits her deposit. Are text messages legally binding? I am out the money on her wedding and any other wedding I could have photographed on that day....

Thanks for your help! This is my first contract issue I've dealt with.

[BigFuzzy]

Short answer is yeah, if she wants to get legal about it, you may have a problem with your text. It's as if you absolved her of the contract. Not sure why you did that considering you had the contract?
What did she say when you sent her the contract? Did she send you any more money besides the deposit? You can maybe say you were mistaken and meant you'd refund her in full anything beyond the deposit...
Still, rookie mistake, might be a "lesson learned" case.

[wulf]

I agree with Al that your text message may stand against you. It may depend partly on what payment you have received already. If she has only paid the deposit, then it is hard to see any way to see your offer of a refund other than returning it. If she paid the deposit plus some or all of the balance then I could see that an argument could be made that a full refund consists of only of the excess and that the limitations of text messaging account for the fact was a less than crystal clear response.

It might also be worth considering the reason for the cancellation. If the wedding is going ahead and she has just decided to go with a different photographer, it would be worth fighting your corner (assuming you are holding more than the deposit and don't mind giving the excess back). The other guy might have undercut your price but she would need to count that quote with your deposit fee on top.

However, if it is some other reason - for example the wedding is off because something has come to light about the groom or postponed because of a family disaster - I would be inclined to be more lenient. There's a chance that she and her friends might consider you in future for other events whereas you may well make it onto their permanent blacklist, so you could count the loss as "advertising".

Wulf

[windrider86]

oops. Thats why I dont allow pre-payments. I've also had to learn my lesson the hard way. Let us know how it turns out

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by wulf

It might also be worth considering the reason for the cancellation.

However, if it is some other reason - for example the wedding is off because something has come to light about the groom or postponed because of a family disaster - I would be inclined to be more lenient. There's a chance that she and her friends might consider you in future for other events whereas you may well make it onto their permanent blacklist, so you could count the loss as "advertising".

Wulf

I think this is the key here..... what is the reason that they are canceling your services?

Should have kept the down payment... 10 days before the wedding? that's BS.

[andyw]

Originally Posted by kmaynard

I have a bride wanting to cancel with me 10 days before her wedding. I sent her a text message saying I could refund her in full if she would like to go that route. Today she texted me that she wants her refund. I sent her an email with a copy of the contract she signed stating she forfeits her deposit. Are text messages legally binding? I am out the money on her wedding and any other wedding I could have photographed on that day....

Thanks for your help! This is my first contract issue I've dealt with.

I don't understand why you said you could refund in full if the signed contract said she forfeits her deposit??

Yes, your txt or e-mail would be held against you should you keep the deposit and go purely by the contract.

10 days prior you should have either been paid in full by then or had at least 50%.

There is virtually zero chance of booking another wedding at that sort of notice.

[dipperdd]

I think you are sunk because of the text message. But the bigger thing to remember is how mad do you want to make her? A ticked off ex-customer can do a wold of damage if you were to try and go against your text now. A happy customer brings 3 new customers and mad one deters 10. If you collected more than the deposit you have more ground to stand on with the contract. Of course there are some people you are never going to make happy. Good Luck.

[Izzy]

My contracts always read 1/2 up and 1/2 due at delivery. AND a $200 non refundable deposit no matter what (included at the time of the first 1/2).

The contract is to protect you from them and them from you. Now that you have texted her and seemingly absolve her of the contract you are pretty much done. Because you have agreed to do so give her the money back (per your text agreement) and chock it up as a learning experience.

Funny - 80% of my past clients are now divorced

One was even divorced/ annulled before I could deliver the final product.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by kmaynard

I have a bride wanting to cancel with me 10 days before her wedding. I sent her a text message saying I could refund her in full if she would like to go that route. Today she texted me that she wants her refund. I sent her an email with a copy of the contract she signed stating she forfeits her deposit. Are text messages legally binding? I am out the money on her wedding and any other wedding I could have photographed on that day....

Thanks for your help! This is my first contract issue I've dealt with.

If you received no other enquiries for that day.. you didn't lose anything, now if you DID turn away another Wedding, and you have proof of it, you have a valid defence IMHO.

If your contract was written by you, it's probably not legally binding anyway, and her lawyer (should she go that route) will tear you up over it.

How much was the non refundable deposit?

I personally would give her the money back and walk away with clean hands.. or you could hang onto a few hundred bucks, and then spend it all on lawyers fees and medication for your newly formed stomach ulcers.