Any chance of meal deal?

I booked a meal for family who are coming over from Australia. I paid £100 deposit (£10 per person). But three people have pulled out and I’m worried others will too. Can I ask that the unused deposits are taken off the final bill? If you were issued with paperwork, check the terms and conditions. If not, speak to the manager to explain you will still have a big party, just not as large as you’d anticipated. Ask for the deposits to be deducted as a goodwill gesture.

Tragic Steven lost his fight with the illness three months after his shock diagnosis last year.

But Claire, 32, has faced a no t her ba t t l e a f t e r a landscaping firm downed tools while completing a memorial garden for her late husband.

The mum of three said: “As a family, we are struggling to come to terms with what has happened, never mind having to deal with this as well.

“I wanted to create a safe place for the children to play and a memorial with a tree in the centre where we could scatter Steven’s ashes. But the garden is a mess and I have no idea if the work will ever be completed.”

Claire, of Penilee, Glasgow, employed First Response Garden and Tree Care Services, based near Perth, in October after spotting their ad on Facebook.

She said: “We’d moved into a house with a garden, the first we had ever had, and I wanted to spend a bit of money to make things nice for the children.”

The firm gave her a quote of £ 2500, which she thought seemed reasonable.

Claire, a mum to Marc, 15, Abi, nine, and two-year- old Logan, said: “They told me I’d have to pay for the materials up front for the work to start.

“The job included decking in the back garden, a memorial garden and a new fence in front of a dwarf wall.

“I paid £1600 by bank transfer, then a further £900 in cash.

“I later paid £ 280 for decking spindles and a handrail, which hadn’t been in the original quote.”

But the workers lef t on November 2 and now cannot be contacted.

She said: “I kept expecting them to come back but there’s no we auntdied, to When my agreed had redshe alongwith discove repairs ntflat. nal roof teneme commu ather the owners y.Surely other propert the thebill? selling Weare owner asthe hasto foot detail new lawyer of sale. toyour part Speak outas to ironed who agreed , will be owner started lly the hasn’t Norma even if it payme nt. The work, ed the sible for deduct respon would is be before money sale price from the estate is her uted. distrib