Friend owing money for a holiday

em6485

Hey guys,

Wondering if you can help me out.

Myself and a group of mates (10 alltogether) are going on holiday in July. We booked through cottages4you for a place in Cornwall for a week. Its costing 177.70 per person.

We booked the holiday in October under my name and are paying on another persons card (who is also coming on the holiday). I made each person sign to say that they owed my friend the money for the holiday.

Its due a week on saturday and one girl has dropped out a couple of days ago. I am at a loss with what to do. She signed to say she'd pay, shes not given enough notice for us to get someone else to come AND to pay the money at such short notice and its not fair to expect everyone to pay more just because she doesnt want to go!

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Emma

Tixy

Hi

What has she said about paying the money? It will probably be difficult to make her pay it back but can you either persuade or guilt her into paying?
If it gets difficult you could threaten her with small claims court (saying you'll use the signature as evidence) but in reality for such a small amount it probably wouldn't work out worthwhile (but may scare her into paying up).

Could you tell her to pay and say that if you can find someone else to take her place before July then she can get her money refunded from the replacement person.

bouncydog1

Moral of the story - always collect the money up front! However that's too late here so what are your options?

As Tixy says threaten small claims court, but this will likely reduce your friendship to non-existent. I would have a quiet word with her and find out why she is no longer coming - perhaps she has financial difficulties that nobody knows about or problems at home/with boyfriend etc.

If she has simply changed her mind then I would point out to her that she signed to agree she would pay and you could pursue the debt if you were mindful to do so.

For an extra £20 each I would ask the others to pay as you will all have a bit more space etc. I assume that no-one else has dropped out - what will you do if more drop out before the deadline?

SailorSam

It depends whether or not you want to keep her friendship. if you do as bouncydog says you'll need to stand the extra cost between you.
If you don't care about her friendship for the future, i would take her to the small claims court, i'm sure lots claim for a lot less than she owes you.

tabskitten

Sounds like exactly the reason I steer clear of anything like group holidays or things where people have to pay you back- i know so many ruined friendships.

em6485

Cheers for the help.

Shes actually a friend of one of my friends coming on the holiday, so Im not bothered about her (sounds nasty!) But shes the reason that I made everyone sign to say they would pay. Everyone else has nearly paid in full.

She doesnt reply to my texts etc. Shes passed the message through the mutual friend. Shes not coming because she wants her band to play a gig. If shed dropped out sooner, im sure we could have got someone else to take her place and pay the money.

I think ill kindly remind her that shes signed for the money and see where that gets me!

Thanks again

Emma

Wutang_2

em6485 wrote: »

Cheers for the help.

Shes actually a friend of one of my friends coming on the holiday, so Im not bothered about her (sounds nasty!) But shes the reason that I made everyone sign to say they would pay. Everyone else has nearly paid in full.

She doesnt reply to my texts etc. Shes passed the message through the mutual friend. Shes not coming because she wants her band to play a gig. If shed dropped out sooner, im sure we could have got someone else to take her place and pay the money.

I think ill kindly remind her that shes signed for the money and see where that gets me!

Thanks again

Emma

Ring the venue where her band is playing and tell them the band have dropped out...:kisses3:

bacard1

take her to court if she has signed, as it a fixed amount use this site

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco/index.jsp

In the mean time i would explain to the others that there holiday has gone up because of her, and it will cost them more. I would also explain you are reclaiming the money through the court and will refund them the extra when you win. Hopefully she would get wind of this and may even pay

bouncydog1

For £20 each small claims is not worth the hassle - she's not a friend of yours - she's a friend of a friend - you might like to tell the mutual friend what an unreliable person she is and how she will not be welcome at anything you all do in the future. Why would she cough up for a holiday she's not going on?

Don't waste time thinking about her - she's simply not worth it - if you try and sue her for the money and it's not all settled before you go on holiday you will spend the time worrying about it and she will spoil your holiday even though she's not there.

Why don't you ask your other friends going if they have someone they know who might want to come along? And all have a great time!

ste_coxy

what a !!!!!

em6485

Thank you so much for your help guys.

A small reminder of the piece of paper she signed seems to have done the trick! Glad I didnt have to take it further.

Emma