Money Moral Dilemma: Should my mates pay me back for Glastonbury tent booking?

PurpleSalsa

In the absence of a discussion to agree terms with said mates prior to requesting a ticket only refund, Id say they are not obliged to pay extra for the voluntarily vacated space and they can have the comfort of a bigger tent.  

Fairness_and_Decency

Nope...You've changed your mind about going and that's fine. You've received a refund so that's good too. Now, let your friends go and have fun and keep the tent as you've backed out of the trip. They get to have a bit more space and you get to keep your friends!

skull

What F_a_D said above. Think of it this way, if you had all booked a caravan/villa for a holiday, and you back out you wouldn't expect them to get a smaller caravan/villa would you? You have your ticket refund, you just have to accept the rest. You can't expect them to cough up and pay more for their share, because you decide not to go. 

Pollycat

elsien said:

This has been posted before in another bit of the forum. 

Just to save us all repeating ourselves.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6311474/i-want-to-cancel-a-group-booking-but-my-group-doesnt-want-to


As posted, this is missing some extremely relevant information about the tent booking terms and conditions.

And here is the original post with much more information as Elsien says - posted 2 months ago with 5 pages of replies:

adbacus said:

Hi, 

I would really like your advise and thoughts about my situation .

I secured Glastonbury 2020 tickets for me and my mates. We decided at the time to get a pre-erect tent, which was big enough for 6 people for 4 of us - worked out at £250 each.

When Glastonbury cancelled 2020 and then again this year, they allowed us to roll-over our festival ticket and tent booking, or cancel either/both for a full refund.

At the end of September Glastonbury announced that the festival would be taking place next year, in the announcement they once again advised that our tickets would be valid, or we could cancel either/both for a full refund, until the end of December.

In light of this, I decided to tell my mates that I no longer wished to be a part of their Glastonbury experience (even though my reasons were because we had fallen out/no longer close, I kept the detail to a minimum). I suggested that they have the option to keep the big tent for themselves, in which case they should reimburse my share. Alternatively, if the tent is too expensive between the 3 of them now, they can cancel the tent booking completely for the full refund and try to book a smaller tent in the resales.

They are refusing to pay me back my money, claiming that I had made a commitment. They don't want to give up the tent, as they may not be able to get a cheaper one (even though they were not guarenteed a smaller one to begin with).

I do appreciate we were lucky to secure a tent at the time, just as we were lucky to get hold of the festival tickets to begin with. However, I know that even if we didn't manage to book the tent, they would have still gone to Glastonbury. 

I'm angry about the situation as I feel it's 3 against 1, and even though Glastonbury are offering a full refund, I have lost my consumer rights.

What can I do?

brhosjm

Can you cancel the tent ypurself and give them back their share. Then they can book another tent for themselves.

honestcove

I can see this is causing tension. The portents are not good, but if you are intent on pursuing this you must be content with full effects of the resultent.
This advice might differ for yurts or wigwams.

tain

The important information here is that they're not guaranteed to get a smaller tent. If they could, then you've got no issue demanding your share back. Without that guarantee, then it's not for them to make up your share as you've changed your mind when no partial refund is available. You always knew that a partial refund wasn't possible, so you need to lump it unfortunately. 

graymanuk

As has been mentioned, there's a lot of missing info here.  How many people are involved and what are the costs of the bigger / smaller tents?  Is it even possible to re-book?.  Looking at the Glastonbury website, pre-erected tents come in 2, 4, 6 and 8-people sizes so if there is an even number of you then you'd still need the same size tent if one dropped out.  For odd numbers, in some cases it would be cheaper all round to downsize, in others it's marginal.

If it would be cheaper (and possible) for the friends to re-book a smaller tent and they still refuse, then that's not very friendly!  If the change would cost them money, then they have a point as the OP chose to cancel, it wasn't an illness or emergency.  Is there a history of the OP cancelling on commitments?  We just don't know.

Pollycat

graymanuk said:

As has been mentioned, there's a lot of missing info here.  How many people are involved and what are the costs of the bigger / smaller tents?  Is it even possible to re-book?.  Looking at the Glastonbury website, pre-erected tents come in 2, 4, 6 and 8-people sizes so if there is an even number of you then you'd still need the same size tent if one dropped out.  For odd numbers, in some cases it would be cheaper all round to downsize, in others it's marginal.

If it would be cheaper (and possible) for the friends to re-book a smaller tent and they still refuse, then that's not very friendly!  If the change would cost them money, then they have a point as the OP chose to cancel, it wasn't an illness or emergency.  Is there a history of the OP cancelling on commitments?  We just don't know.

It's a Money Moral Dilemma.
There's always lots of missing information in MMDs.
And no further clarification.
For more information read my post a few above yours that has the original post posted on Consumer Rights board.

Here is the link to that thread:
I want to cancel a group booking, but my group doesn't want to - Page 5 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

TripleH

The event it was booked for was 2 years ago. A lot can happen in that time especially due to peoples perceptions changing over covid.

It's not as if the festival is taking place in 3 months.

I disagree with the majority here am afraid, your mates are being a bit selfish here and need to refund your share. They can enjoy the extra room or do something about filling the tent.

The only criticism is you maybe should have given them the chance to find someone to buy your spot from you (I have no idea re transferability of tickets).