Entertainment ruined my sons party

[Feys]

Hello I need some advice
I booked entertainment for my sons 1st birthday. This consisted of a bouncy castle, ball pit, light up numbers and balloon arches. And tables.
This company was supposed to arrive at half 12, they didn't show up until almost 4pm. By which time most of my guests and their children had left. The party that I had planned for so long had been ruined.
She still wants paying the full amount. Am I wrong to refuse?

Of course YANBU. I also think people should know who they are so no other poor unsuspecting person gets the wool pulled over their eyes. A good business person wouldn’t even be a minute late never mind 3 hours+.
They would be there before you and have everything set up.
Obviously things happen that can’t be avoided from time to time but surely you’d bend over backwards to apologize and be offering a free or at least discount for another time and if not then you certainly wouldn’t be demanding payment for a service that you’d not provided. What are these people thinking of. They must know you’re going to talk.

That’s neither here nor there.
It doesn’t matter if the party was a for a donkey’s first birthday.

The service requested. wasn’t provided and now they’re stamping their feet and spitting their dummies out for payment

When ever I've booked an entertainment for kids party, they are local. How can they be 4 hours late?

Tell her you won't be paying her, she was 3 hours late, the party was over when she got there. Suggest her insurance cover her if she was late for an insurable reason, but it's not your problem to solve for her. Very unprofessional.

It doesn't matter if OP was celebrating her dogs birthday or her childs, a first birthday or a 21st birthday... they didn't turn up - the party was ruined end of

We once had an entertainer turn up about half an hour late for one of DD's party's. He let us know there was a problem so we did the party games we'd planned for later while waiting, did a brilliant party when he finally arrived and offered us an activity we'd not previously booked for no extra charge (balloon modelling - kids loved it). He did offer us a discount but we didn't feel it fair to take it as really the lateness had been no fault of his own and he'd done such a good job.

DO NOT PAY! Children’s parties start on the dot and finish on the dot. She is absolutely in the wrong.

If the start time was 12.30, she should not have "just left to come to me". If she was attempting to get there on time, she should have phoned you before 12.30 to say 'gunna be late, there's traffic'. What sort of 'traffic' was there? A delay of 3 1/2 hours is pretty serious. Did a passenger jet crash on the highway? If she was that late due to 'traffic' it should be national news at least.

Sorry posted in wrong thread. :( On this - do not pay the bitch a penny as the required service was not provided!

How far away was she coming from?

They overbooked. Don’t pay as of course you wouldn’t turn them away whilst the party goes on…

calculate how long they were suppose to stay. How much they were indeed there and take away a portion again for your loss.

so if they were supposed to stay 5h for £250 and they stayed 1= £50 minus your loss so give them £30. There…For their gas and attitude.