Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

Wow... I never thought I would have to do this, but here I am...

I am a regular poster, but needed to do this because of possible lurking eyes....

Has anyone had to cancel a contract with your catering facility?

If so, did you get back your refund? Part of your refund?

Would you find it odd if the contract for a catering hall said 'No Refund of Initial Deposit Under Any Circumstances?'


TIA for your responses....

Re: Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

Thanks to AKAMrsT, I know that there is a LAW in Suffolk county that requires the refund of the deposit (minus $100) as long as it is more than 6 months before the event.

Is your hall in Suffolk?

Re: Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

My catering hold said that if they found a replacement for my day that it would be just 100 dollars....or yes, you would lose deposit, which is usually 500 dollars....I dont know, I love my catering hall, so I dont have problems! FM me if you need to talk!

Re: Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

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Posted by Shorty McBride

Thanks to AKAMrsT, I know that there is a LAW in Suffolk county that requires the refund of the deposit (minus $100) as long as it is more than 6 months before the event.

Is your hall in Suffolk?

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That's good to know....does the same hold true for Nassau or NYC?

Re: Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

I didn't know that there was a law for that.
I put $500 deposit for a hall in suffolk 1 year ago. we decided to postpone the wedding, and they would not refund the deposit. Is it too late to fight this i wonder/

Re: Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

Here's the thread where kdrainey/akaMrsT helped me out! http://www.liweddings.com/chat/topic.aspx?ID=231114

Re: Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

Yes there is a law, but some halls don't always abide by it (which they should!!). A bride on the 06 board who chose to swith halls is having difficulty getting her deposit back...now the County Exec is getting involved in order to try to get her deposit $$ back. Good Luck and definetely fight to get your money back if the hall is in Suffolk and the date you booked is not within 6 months, by the county law, you should get your money back.

Re: Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

Re: Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

Thank you ladies so very much for your responses... the hall I speak of is unfortunately not in Suffolk County, but we will nevertheless try to get at least part of our deposit back ($2,000+ was deposited... yeah, makes you want to faint).

Through all of this I've come to truly appreciate the power of research... not falling for a good sales pitch... but most importantly, I've learnt to always listen to my intuition, even if 95% of the time it turns out to be nothing, the remaining 5% is well worth it....

I am so praying for the favor of God (G-d... for my Jewish friends ) on this one.

Re: Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

well...is 2000+ worth moving your reception? i know for DW and I moving our reception 2 weeks prior to the weddign was the best thing that ever happened to us. we were ready to give in. wedding and for that fact, life is not about money...if you can afford to 'temporially' lose it (they may book it again), then go for it. the stress that you will go into that day knowing that you don't want to be there is going to get to you

Re: Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

You hit it on the button... while it is a lot of money, as my dad said, 'we can't be penny wise, and pound foolish'. I would prefer to loose all of that than have to dish out thousands more to give to a place that I am very unhappy with at this point.

Thank again to all of you!

Re: Nullifying Contract with Catering Hall...

Well I changed halls twice before finding the best hall for me. One was in Suffolk and I did get my deposit back minus $100 - I didn't care since I wanted out.

The other was in Nassau and I got no deposit back but got my contract cancelled (actually, they cancelled it and never even told me...so when I called about 7 months before my wedding to go in and start the planning process since I had booked about 3 years earlier I was informed that my room had been given away 2X and my contract was not in the books). At that point, I didn't care that I would lose money - I just wanted out! Honestly, THAT was the best decision ever made. After my experience and reading recent bride's experiences with them I know my wedding would have been awful there.

So I say all that to say, your dad is very smart. Try to get the contract cancelled so that you won't be responsible for the 'party', worry about the $$ later.

Good luck!