Advise needed on obtaining a refund
The other week, me and my wife finally celebrated our wedding reception with all our friends and family after deciding to do the legal formalities during 2020 when there was restrictions on guest count. We had a fantastic day, however we got badly let down by the caterer for the wedding.
The caterer was due to serve the carvery for the breakfast at 5pm, and was putting out a cold spread of sandwiches and standard buffet items. When he arrived at around quarter to 3 to start his prep, he told me he was running 15 minutes late. Not the end of the world and we can accomodate the slight delay.
Quarter past 5 came, I went and spoke to the caterer and he said it was going to be around 6pm and apologised. At this point we did the speeches before dinner rather than after, so again accommodated the further delay. The speeches finished just before 6pm and the caterer said it would be out in 10 minutes. it was 10 to 7 when the meal began being served, with our evening guests showing up from 7pm for the party.
The caterer didn't even put an option on for the vegeterians or pescatarian despite being informed of this before hand 3 times. We also ended up having about 10 of our guests who weren't staying for the evening had to leave and didn't get fed at all. One of these has diabetes and basically had to graze on pick and mix to keep them going. So overall, around 16 of our 78 guests didn't eat at all. On this note though, the food tasted great and there was no issues with that.
The caterer spoke to us on the night, and accepted he had a bad day and things didnt go to plan. He offered us a partial refund of around £200. We paid around £650, we got a very good deal as he had only just started up his business when we booked him 3 years ago. We have also used his services before, and never had a bad experience. I spoke to him on the phone about 2 weeks ago, where he said he would send us the money via bank transfer but he hasn't sent it. I have messaged him since to chase but nothing has been received back.
So my question is, where do me and my wife stand? We have been more than decent with the caterer and certainly more than patient. We don't necessarily have a written agreement from him that he will refund partially, this was only confirmed verbally in person and on the phone. Thats the part my wife is concerned about, but me and my wife aren't the types to write snotty reviews or complain, so we dont even know what avenues to go down to get our money refunded, maybe more than agreed now due to the broken promise.
Anybody able to assist?