Paid ₹7.4 lakhs to a wedding event planner in Bangalore — now dealing with poor service, mismanagement, and being ignored. What legal options do I realistically have in India?
We hired an event planner for 5 wedding events (engagement, haldi, mehendi/sangeet, muhurtha, cocktail party) after being promised premium quality, stress-free execution, and complete vendor coordination.
The reality was completely different.
During the wedding, we personally had to manage and coordinate:
- DJ
- Bartender
- Lighting
- Generator
- Venue owner
- Vendor extensions/overtime
- Mehendi artist issues
- Last-minute problems
The planner behaved more like a decorator than an actual planner.
Some of the major issues:
- Poor DJ and vendor quality
- Hidden/additional charges during events
- Lighting removed during the function
- Speaker delays for over an hour
- Bartender stopping service early
- We literally had to serve drinks ourselves later
- Poor quality despite premium pricing
- Several promised elements were missing
It became stressful and embarrassing in front of guests and family, which completely defeats the purpose of hiring a planner.
The bigger issue now is communication after the wedding. We’ve tried resolving this professionally and patiently, but responses have been delayed, inconsistent, and we’re being left hanging without any proper resolution.
We’ve now drafted a formal legal notice and are considering consumer court proceedings for deficiency of service, misrepresentation, and mental harassment.
I wanted to ask:
- Has anyone dealt with a similar issue with wedding planners/vendors?
- What realistically works in India for recovering compensation/refunds?
- Is consumer court effective for cases like this?
- Any practical advice before escalating legally?
We have payment proof, chats, photos/videos from events, and detailed documentation of the issues.
Would really appreciate any help with consumer/legal matters and getting our money back. Please let us know what to do.
Thank you.