Recently my wife’s mom wanted us to do wedding photos with the family (we didn’t do a real wedding or anything, aside from a small thing in Vegas). Kind of a pain, but these are the things you do for family I guess, and her mom said she’d pay for it.
My wife reserved this place in Yokohama, over the phone. They mentioned wanting us to come in for a fitting. When we did that, it was kind of shocking to us how much they were trying to price gouge (5000 yen for a bouquet, 3000 for rental shoes, etc etc). Anyway the final bill was something line 70000 yen. Expensive, but again I don’t have to pay for it so it’s fine.
But after my wife talked it over with her mom, they decided it might be best to look at another place. She called the business to ask if cancellation was possible, and the woman on the phone basically said the cancel fee would amount to something like 30000 yen if we go through with that.
This is the first time we had been informed of a cancel fee, though it does looks like it’s on their website in the terms section. We haven’t actually signed anything, and haven’t registered a card yet, but I’m wondering if we just ignore their request for a cancellation fee if they can actually do anything.
(Fwiw, there’s a good chance we’ll just continue with this place anyway to avoid the hassle, but I’ve always been curious if Japanese businesses that ask for a cancellation fee can legally make you pay it if you never signed anything or gave your payment info)
by 430beatle