My fiancée booked her 30th birthday at a local event venue in September of last year. Contract was signed, price agreed to by both parties, and the deposit was paid (with a check).

A few months later the owners of the venue sold it to someone else. Nothing was to change with her booking.

She checked her banking transactions last night to discover the new owners charged her full price on the agreed upon due date (on her debit card) and did not deduct the deposit.

She messaged them today with the information and a copy of the cashed check. They refused to honor the deposit claiming “It did not show up on the books the previous owners gave us so there’s nothing we’ll do”. She tried again later in the day with the same result.

Her bank won’t do anything to help (of course). We reached out to a friend who owns another venue that offered to let her use that space free of charge.

What is the best option? My thoughts were small claims court to recoup the deposit, and possibly the entire cost as a breach of contract or something. Would it be better for our case to cancel the current venue and accept the free offer, so that we don’t end up with a “oh you received your services” type of scenario?

She’s at work currently so I haven’t had a chance to review her contract. I plan on doing that this evening. I feel as though it’s not our responsibility for their books to be accurate. We have absolute proof the deposit check was cashed with her memo on the memo line and the old owners signing the back.