The biggest mistake when creating terms and conditions

Big mistakes often happen in relation to the small things like being too harsh in what you expect from your brides and grooms. For example, having a cancellation period of 24 hours, or a no refund policy before any work has actually been carried out, or limiting your liability to less than the value of the contract.

Whilst you can take steps to protect yourself such as creating terms and conditions for your business, you still have to be reasonable.

Reasonable I hear you say?

Reasonableness will depend on the type of goods or services you are providing – one size does not fit all.

Many small wedding businesses and sole traders go online when creating terms and conditions. Internet sites offer all sorts of templates but just downloading them to save money on legal fees without really understanding them can cause significant problems. We all heard about the government shipping contract based on pizza delivery terms.

We might have laughed at the government at the time but lots of businesses do it – download terms which might be subject to American law even though they only operate in the UK.

Can I create my own terms?

Doing it yourself may save money in the short term but it’s when things go wrong that we rely on the terms and conditions and not including certain provisions for distance contracts can result in you not getting paid for work you have done even when nothing has gone wrong, the consumer brides and grooms simply have a statutory right to cancel.

Get a free terms and conditions health check

Every business should have terms and conditions in place. If you would like a free health check to review yours to see if they meet what you need please contact Courtney Hawkins at c.hawkins@waldrons.co.uk or call 01384 811 811.

About our relationship with Waldrons

Waldrons Solicitors are our recommended supplier of legal services. We do not share endorsement commissions. Our relationship is purely for mutual benefit so wedding businesses can gain access to high-quality legal services, which in turn minimises risk and the probability of claiming.

Need insurance for your wedding and event business? Call 0121 550 2380 - 9 am to 5 pm, Mon to Fri or request a callback.