Friends asking for their money back

It's not the OP's fault.. its the CF friends and I think its good to have a sounding board like this when people are pressing you. She knows its not right, but its good to get opinions which might help her strengthen her argument.

Posts like this one wouldn't make me leave. I've found them helpful insights in the past when similar situations have cropped up.

OP what event is it? Maybe someone on here would be interested in going to it with one of the additional tickets (doesn’t help your hotel problem though).

I’m sorry your friends let you down, that really sucks. I think that is really hurtful, but to ask you for a refund of the £30 each on top of that is really taking the piss. They definitely aren’t thinking about the fact you were saving them money by using your points, or that you could have used those points for something else if they hadn’t planned to go to this event with you.

I’d be tempted to reply and say “just to clarify, you want me to pay you two for the “privilege” of now going on my own to this event, in a location that was picked for YOUR convenience, for a hotel room that wouldn’t have cost me as much if I’d booked it for just me, or wouldn’t have needed at all if I’d been going closer to home had I known you were both going to flake on me at the last minute”.

Do they have history for flaking or is this a first? That would determine whether I put flake or cancel in the message.

This is a classic case of it being better to get the money from the friends before booking and not to use those precious points in a situation like this. If this had happened I highly doubt they’d be feeling poorly right now.

Ask them for their full shares of the hotel cost and if they refuse then bin them off. They should be selling their tickets, not you.

Do they somehow think you are going to use 3 beds in the hotel?
No.
Therefore they owe you for the cost of their 2 beds.
How can they not see that?
It's irrelevant whether you used points or money. They owe you!

yes.... You paid for a large portion of it in points... which everyone knows are not refundable.

I think my question here is why are you having to do the donkey work to sell the tickets? They can't go - they should be trying to do that and you just need to facilitate it? Don't cave on the £30 either! Good luck!

@Silvers11 "I also wonder if you had only been paying for yourself at the outset, would it have cost you less? I'm assuming that you paid for a room big enough for 3 of you to sleep in, rather than individual rooms, given the price you are quoting?"

I understood it that OP could have gone to the gig local to her anyway, so no hotel costs incurred for her, but agreed to go elsewhere so that all 3 of them travelled to some extent, to equal it all out!!

The more I read, the more irritated I'm getting with these so-called 'friends'!

How is THIS thread the final straw for you? Have you even read any of the others? Have you seen what some people can do with a single chicken?

If you call the hotel and explain your 2 friends have cancelled, see if they can you downgrade to a smaller and cheaper room and get a refund for the difference?

Just be clear the hotel was non refundable, therefore no refund available.

Unless you booked everything without checking costs etc with them (which sounds highly unlikely) YANBU.

If you don't want to just say a simple 'No', you could tell them you've looked in to cancelling the hotel so you can sell your ticket too, but it's completely non-refundable so there's no way to get the money back for them.

I wouldn't be booking anything with them again

I would be sending them a message like this! Your points have a value that have lost because of them. If their tickets sell, I would be keeping the value of my points before only refunding them what’s left after that.

This thread is the final straw that I need to get off this site - why on earth would you pay them, for what? I’d love to book hotels. Holidays. Hair appointments and two days before cancel and get a refund. I mean in what world!?!?

It's one of those isn't it? How poorly are they? If it they had an all-expenses paid holiday to Greece, would they catch the flight?

Might they change their mind when they realise nothing is refundable and that the tickets didn’t sell?

"The room is not refundable. I've already subsidised you by using £200 of my points that I could have used for a family trip, so I'm afraid I won't be refunding you, or this room will have cost me £290."

"as regards the £30 you asked for, I will happily give you each one third of any refund from the hotel" which is nothing

This friendship is over really, but I'd pay them back and if they ever suggest anything like this again, ask them to do all the admin/paying. Or just say no.

They are right tight cheeky fuckers. I'm sorry OP.

You should keep any funds from selling the tickets, if they do sell, to offset your costs on travelling and the hotel! Cheeky buggers.

Jeez these people are your friends? Disgraceful! Points are still money paid that could have been used elsewhere. I agree with PPs - say actually I've decided I don't want to go alone. So given hotel room cost me £260 and you've paid £30 each you now owe £70 more each, given none of us are able to go now as you two have dropped out, which means I will lose £200. Hopefully that will help them get it. If not and they're still whinging I'd struggle to stay friends with them.

How old are your children?.Are they old enough to enjoy such an event?
As for the points, you earned them. They were not handed to you on a silver platter.

But as others have said, just because you used points doesn't mean it hasn't COST you for the room. Those points were worth money to YOU and you used them as a help to your friends, which was generous of you

I also wonder if you had only been paying for yourself at the outset, would it have cost you less? I'm assuming that you paid for a room big enough for 3 of you to sleep in, rather than individual rooms, given the price you are quoting?

I would tell them that you have tried to get a refund, change etc and you can't get a refund on the cash or the points as it was fully not refundable, that you are still out of pocket as a result even if it is points, which you now can't spend on something else, and you don't owe them anything, given the outcome and in fact, if you were being mean, they actually owe you and that you are not asking them for anything more at all.

I would also point out that if you can't resell the tickets they won't get anything back from you either!!

Even if they are genuinely both too ill to go, (which I doubt), it's their problem, not yours!! That's what holiday Insurance is for (even in this country). Most of us don't take that out if we are attending something in the UK, but it does exist!!

They seem to be mistaking you for an insurance company.

In effect, they are asking for a refund for a non-refundable room. And they're expecting you to pay for all of you! Don't pay them.

I’ve called the hotel and it is non refundable I’m afraid so we won’t get any money back whether it’s used or not so I can’t refund anything to you because there’s nothing to refund I’m afraid.

If their tickets sell - great, if not it really isn’t your problem.