My sister, a recently single mum, has just been on holiday with a newish friend, also a single mum and their kids. My sister's DS is 2 and a bit, the friend's DS is 18months. Neither of them had ever been on holiday with their LOs before.
I know my sister had done a bit of basic research before into hotel reviews and general prices so they had an idea what they were looking at, don't know about her friend. They agreed on an approximate price and then booked up a holiday, together. My sister was the one who physically booked it as the other girl couldn't afford to pay for it until the week they went, so my sister paid for it and put it in her name then accepted post dated cheques from her (doing a favour really?) but they were in the other girl's house, using her laptop, and she was present and equally informed.
There wasn't an obvious breakdown in costs when booking, but they knew the 1 year old would fly half price as he'd share a seat and my sister double checked with his mum she was happy with that, or did she want a full price seat for him? She was happy, and when the room prices came up it appeared that she (who knows why?) was being charged more for her room than my sister so they agreed to split the cost of the holiday 50-50 as it was easier than doing a full complicated breakdown.
HOWEVER, whilst there, they discovered through talking to others that under 2s go free on holiday, something neither of them had known. So technically my sister with the 2 yr old should have paid more by nearly £300. This wasnt clear at all when booking, so is a genuine mistake. The other girl now expects her to pay it and my sister is in quite a state. She couldn't afford this much, she eBayed half her stuff to afford it in the first place, so it is not an exaggeration to say the money if paid back would come out of her Christmas and emergency savings. I know it is irrelevant really where the money came from, but the other girl had her holiday entirely paid for by her family so is not in such an extreme situation.
I'm really not sure what's right here, but this other girl seems to hold my sister responsible for this error as she was the one who technically booked it but, in my view, the other girl was there as well, she was in complete agreement at the time and any questions or research by her should've been done before the holiday! I don't see why she just expects my sister to know more than her about her own child. She is equally to blame for the mistake and so I feel it's too late to be rectifying it now. If she had been the one to put it in her name, undoubtedly the same decision would have been made to split it equally. I feel my sister is being punished for having done her a favour by facilitating her holiday in the first place. My sister is worried the other girl seems to think she has been deliberately conned as there is such a presumption she should have known better from the other girl - this is very definitely not the case.
That said, the other girl's argument is that she has now paid for half my nephew's holiday, which granted doesn't sound fair. I prefer to look at it that she paid for her DS when she didn't need to because she didn't adequately inform herself but I think it's a tricky one, admittedly!
Of course I'm biased toward my sister and feel bad for her that what should've been a lovely happy holiday for her after a really crappy couple of years has essentially been ruined by this. But I'd like to know what all you unbiased lot think so I can advise her as to whether or not to pay this money back?
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AIBU?
To think she shouldn't have to pay back this money, altho she technically owes it?
18 replies
WhatKatieDid · 06/07/2011 18:49
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