Online wedding directory suing own customers

UKbride says the businesses signed a digital contract with full terms and conditions

An online wedding directory has been given the go-ahead by a court to sue more than 100 of its own customers.

UKbride sells advertising space on its website to small businesses in the wedding industry.

Many businesses claimed they were cold-called by UKbride with offers of free trials or discounted subscriptions, but not told they would be billed up to £2,000 if they failed to cancel in time.

UKbride, based in Boston, Lincolnshire, said the businesses signed a binding digital contract with full terms and conditions.

Following a test case, a county court judge has ruled that UKbride’s terms and conditions were fair and has lifted a pause on more than 100 businesses being sued by the company for not paying their fees.

'Legal action'

A Facebook support group for businesses to share their experiences now has 1,500 members.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours, Tom Weller, who owns Kite at The Red Hart gastropub in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, said: "We signed on to what was sold to us as a six-month free trial.

"‘No obligation, try before you buy, completely free of charge’. That’s the language that was used in the call.

“We received approximately 80 enquiries… we also replied, to the best of our knowledge, to every single one of them and we didn’t get a single response.”

Mr Weller’s free trial renewed over the Christmas period when, he said, he forgot to cancel. In January 2024, he received an invoice for approximately £2,000.

“It wasn’t a discussion then around part-paying. It wasn’t a discussion around not paying at all. It was simply ‘No, you have to pay the whole bill in full or we’ll immediately take legal action against you',” he said.

Gary Penkethman says he was threatened by UKbride with legal action

Gary Penkethman, a DJ, said he was cold-called by UKbride in 2019 and offered a discounted subscription for the year, costing about £330.

Mr Penkethman, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, said he was told this would provide him with leads – the names and contact details of people getting married who were looking for a DJ.

“I was getting thousands of leads with nobody coming back to me saying they wanted to book anything. I was getting a lot of abuse online about how I got their contact details.

“They [UKbride] told me over the phone I was free to cancel… which I thought was my cancellation.”

'Very stressful'

But after his 12-month subscription ended, Mr Penkethman received a bill for a further 12 months, because he did not follow the cancellation instructions in the terms and conditions.

He said he was also threatened by UKbride with legal action.

“It was very stressful. I’d lost most of my business due to Covid," Mr Penkethman said. “They weren’t bothered about me as a client… all they were bothered about was just making money.”

UKbride said it gathered leads from Google, Facebook, visits to its own website and "various other platforms".

The company said it could not guarantee success for every business but said many had found "significant value" in its services.

'Crying hysterically'

Maria, a former UKbride employee who worked for the company for six months, said she took hundreds of phone calls from businesses who claimed they had no idea what they had signed up to.

“I remember one particular lady, she was employed by a hotel group… she’d actually signed up four of the hotels in the group on what she thought was a free advertising campaign… and she was crying hysterically down the phone… the invoice was £2,000 each.”

UKbride said it would not respond to false information provided by a former employee.

The company said it was "striving to enhance” its website and “refine the clarity of the contract".

'Not unfair'

In May, about 114 small businesses were being sued by UKbride. Approximately 76 of those cases are in Lincoln County Court.

Judge Tariq Sadiq paused all the cases in order to examine whether UKbride’s terms and conditions were fair.

He concluded that the renewal terms under UKbride's terms and conditions were not “unfair, unduly onerous or unusual".

The pause on the cases being sued has now been released.

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