Is she in the wrong?

shoe*diva79

My SIL booked a weeks break away with 2 of her cousins and their children. The 2 cousins have been a bit of a nightmare giving her their share of the cost - one made her wait almost 6 weeks despite confirming they would be transferring fund the day holiday was booked and the other has now said she isn't going and refuses to pay her share.

My SIL has now had to cancel the holiday as she was unable to cover the additional cost and has been incurring bank charges from late payment from cousin 1 and no payment from cousin 2 as she has been juggling the household bills.

The cancellation fee was £50. She has refunded cousin 1 their share minus the £50 and told cousin 2 they would need to give cousin 1 (the cousins are sisters if makes a difference) the remaining £50 as why should my SIL have to cover the cost of being messed around.

All been fine for about a week and all of a sudden cousin 1 is now demanding the remaining £50 from my SIL because her sister is refusing to give it to her.

Thoughts?

Tigsteroonie

In the same way that the cousin refused to pay for the holiday, your sister should refuse to subsidise the refund further.

shoe*diva79

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

In the same way that the cousin refused to pay for the holiday, your sister should refuse to subsidise the refund further.

Thats what she has done, refused to give the further £50 as she doesn't see why she should be out of pocket (she already is a little from bank charges). I agree with her but not sure what the legal standing would be.

fairy_lights

I would be mightily pee'd off if people messed me around like that and would certainly want to make them cover any extra charges. I think it depends how much she values her relationship with her cousins though, they don't sound like the nicest of people and this could easily escalate.

shoe*diva79

fairy_lights wrote: »

I would be mightily pee'd off if people messed me around like that and would certainly want to make them cover any extra charges. I think it depends how much she values her relationship with her cousins though, they don't sound like the nicest of people and this could easily escalate.

I think she is so fed up of it that if she wasn't to see them again it wouldn't bother her. She was in tears to me earlier as she feels like she is being called a thief when she really does not think she has done anything wrong.

What do you mean by escalate? In what way?

fivetide

I would tell them to foxtrot Oscar. She has been messed about for no reason.


They should have been grateful and I hope your SIL won't be making the same mistake again.

fairy_lights

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

I think she is so fed up of it that if she wasn't to see them again it wouldn't bother her. She was in tears to me earlier as she feels like she is being called a thief when she really does not think she has done anything wrong.

What do you mean by escalate? In what way?

It might escalate in to a full on family row, if the two cousins are sisters they might both turn against her, if they're already making her feel like a thief the potential drama might not be worth it for the sake of 50 quid. I would be tempted to refund the money just for the sake of a quiet life, but never, ever trust either of the cousins again.

shoe*diva79

Thank you. She is adamant she isn't paying the £50 as she is already £35 out of pocket due to charges. Her share of the holiday was only £86 so its like she would have paid it and not be going because of her cousins.

She did say that never ever again will she be booking anything for anyone until she has cold hard cash in the bank. I do feel sorry for her, I feel she has been taken advantage of.

meritaten

nope - don't give it her! and if she still insists, say she is charging £100 cancellation fee. What a bluddy cheek!

Flossie.

Urgh, these cousins sound awful!

If I was your SIL, I would give the £50 to the other cousin, and say this is conditional: you can have this on the condition that you NEVER contact me again. I'm done with you. Both of you.

Puts me in mind of that saying that goes something like:

"If you lend someone fifty pounds, and you never see that person again; it was probably worth it!"

Families eh?

On the positive side: at least you didn't have to go on holiday with them! Sounds like they would have been a nightmare!

shoe*diva79

meritaten wrote: »

nope - don't give it her! and if she still insists, say she is charging £100 cancellation fee. What a bluddy cheek!

I like your idea! The £70 she refunded to cousin one (their total cost was £120) she done as soon as the refund hit her bank. I told her she should have made them wait the 5-6 weeks they made her wait. She is to nice, bit of a soft touch.

Main thing I was concerned about was that she isn't breaking any laws.