QUESTION
Can a merchant keep a deposit if no services were rendered and there was no written contract?
Asked on Dec 29th, 2013 on Contracts - New Jersey
More details to this question:
My fiance paid a $200 deposit to reserve a reception hall at a hotel. The price for renting the hall would have been $1500 and would have required us to sign a contract with them. We have since changed our minds about the venue and wish to have our $200 refunded. The hotel says they will not refund the money. Are they allowed to keep the money if there was no signed agreement?
1 ANSWER
The issue is what was your agreement, written or not. Did the parties have an understanding, explicit or implicit (for example, from prior dealings or standard terms in the industry) that the deposit was non-refundable?
Answered on Dec 30th, 2013 at 12:51 PM