Columbus-based wedding and event venue company closing, will not return deposits

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Dock 580, a company that owns three wedding and event venues near downtown Columbus confirmed on Facebook it is permanently closing and will not give back any deposits.

Julie Wood was supposed to get married at one of Dock 580’s venues in November and paid a $10,000 deposit.

“I had expected something to come about because of COVID, that we were going to be postponed, that maybe we weren’t going to get to have all of our family and friends there, that it would have to be whittled down to a certain amount, or something to that effect,” Wood said. “I did not expect for them to close.”​

Wood said she received this email from the company:

Unfortunately, the company will not be able to repay those deposits that it received for upcoming events . . . we relied on the deposits to pay payroll and other expenses . . . no one could plan for the coronavirus, and we were simply not set up to handle a government-forced shutdown.”​

Dock 580 email to Julie Wood

NBC4 reached out to Ohio Attorney General Ned Yost’s office, which responded by saying any consumers harmed by this closing should file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Section, which protects Ohioans from predatory and illegal business practices. With authority granted by the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act and other statutes, the section enforces laws that prohibit unfair and deceptive practices including but not limited to: false advertising, shoddy workmanship, and failure to perform services or to deliver goods.