Anyone got eny experience of this situation?

[Loosehead]

I am secretary of a private club, last July we had our centenary dinner. We hired a prestigous location and caterers. To cut a long story short the catering was appalling terrible food cooked badly, not the agreed menu. incompetant staff and organisation. Bar staff barely able to understand English and had clearly never served drinks before. Anyway we have refused to pay part of their bill and they are taking us to court over it. We are in the process of taking legal advice but I just wondered if anyone has any expereince of this sort of situation? Anyone point me at a precident? Any views on our chances of defending this? Could we/should we counter sue for the costs of the whole (ruined) event? How do you think a judge would look at this? Any input welcome, thanks.

[hectic]

As far as I am aware, you are still liable to pay the bill as they provided a service. The only way around it unfortunately is to go thorugh their normal complaints procedure which may have been the best route to try first as they may have given a discount on the original price but as you have "bulldozed" in as such first by not paying in full, I don't rate your chances very highly of winning in the small claims court and you may actually end up paying more as if they win you will incurr their costs as well as your own!

[JJ1969]

You 'could' counter claim the same amount, for poor service under The supply of goods and services Act 1982.

You will need to seek legal advice on this but I am pretty sure, that if you have followed the proceedures, ie letting the caterer know your dissatisfaction immediately, and stating the reasons for your complaint.

I would have a think about this, ask your clud members to provide written statements which outline their version of events and then seek legal advice.

The SoGaS Act is a handy piece of legislation that alot of people forget about., people tend to think that because a product we recieve is not tangible ( ie food) there is no come back for shoddy service.
!!

Good luck

[Loosehead]

hectic, thanks for your response, clearly you have made some incorrect assumptions. We are here because we have exhausted the normal complaints procedure. We have not "Bulldozed" anything.

JJ1969: yes we are in the process of getting legal advice, the SOGAS act seems appropriate.

I was really trying to find some sort of precident for this situation, I though perhaps there may be someone with direct experience.