Deposit refund?!

llw96

Hi all, 
basically I was booked to get a tattoo with someone back in March.. I paid a £50 deposit before the appointment was to go ahead in March. The tattoo artist cancelled this appointment as she was sick and so were her kids which being a parent myself is a valid reason. So it was eventually rescheduled like a month later.. to which she cancelled again because she had her wedding reception a few days before and still felt ropey.. I was a little annoyed but just said okay to rearranging. We then rearranged for may 13th to which the morning of she cancelled AGAIN as she had “double booked” and said I could go the following day on Saturday instead.. Saturday 14th comes and she cancelled my appointment again.. her friend went into labour 13 weeks early and she was going to the hospital like she did on Friday even though she told me she cancelled Friday because she double booked.. she offered to return my deposit to which I said yes please. It’s now been coming

llw96

Continued… 

coming up 4 weeks and she still hasn’t returned my deposit and I’ve messaged about it and she said “she’s getting through them” what can I do?
I’ve had the tattoos done by someone else now but I would still like my deposit back after she cancelled me 4 times and offered it back. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Given the amount in question, all you can really do is keep reminding her and be patient.  A letter before action threatening small claims action might focus her mind, but are you really going to go through with it for £50?

llw96

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Given the amount in question, all you can really do is keep reminding her and be patient.  A letter before action threatening small claims action might focus her mind, but are you really going to go through with it for £50?

I’ve seen posts about it before on the Facebook page about people asking for their deposit money back and the reason she admitted she couldn’t give it back straight away was because she actually spent the money for her wedding. i could understand if she wasn’t getting appointments but she seems to be filling appointments pretty quick. It’s just a shame as I only really got the tattoo as I used gift money as I wouldn’t normally be able to afford something extra like that and as I presumed I was getting the £50 back I spent £50 of my own money for a deposit for someone else to do it. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Sounds a bit Ponzi to me.  She appears to be taking new deposits from which she hopes to refund previous deposits she's already spent on herself.

pinkshoes

I would start with some posts on her social media pages pointing out she has cancelled X amount of times so could she please refund your deposit within 7 days.

If that fails then a letter before action giving her 14 days to lay before court action. 

llw96

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Sounds a bit Ponzi to me.  She appears to be taking new deposits from which she hopes to refund previous deposits she's already spent on herself.

I sent a message again to her and asked when I’m going to be receiving my deposit back and her reply was I have over £2000 to refund and I’m off with covid at the moment so I’m still making my way through them. I feel for her I do but it’s also not my problem? She can’t just hold onto peoples money in my opinion? 

llw96

pinkshoes said:

I would start with some posts on her social media pages pointing out she has cancelled X amount of times so could she please refund your deposit within 7 days.

If that fails then a letter before action giving her 14 days to lay before court action. 

I sent a message again to her and asked when I’m going to be receiving my deposit back and her reply was I have over £2000 to refund and I’m off with covid at the moment so I’m still making my way through them. I feel for her I do but it’s also not my problem? She can’t just hold onto peoples money in my opinion? So she still hasn’t given me a time frame as to when she’s going to return it? 

I debated writing a review on the page but the last “bad” review got given a right mouthful back🤔 

DE_612183

2000 divided by £50 is only about 40 transactions - using online banking I could knock out that in a day.

I think you and the other 39 people are being had - she's hoping the vast majority won't continue to complain and she gets free money.

As someone else said before - let her know in no uncertain terms you are not going to go away, be that court action or public shaming.

born_again

Time to turn up on the door step and get a refund in person...