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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to expect a refund.

106 replies

sodorisland · 30/06/2016 14:42

I had a makeup trial done for £30 and then paid a deposit to secure our booking for my wedding £50.

My makeup artist has just cancelled saying its a personal thing and she's leaving the country and doesn't know when she will be back, my weddings in 12 weeks.

Fair enough though if she's not here she can't do it so I asked her to refund the trial and deposit.
She's agreed to the deposit but not the trial as the trail has been done.

Aibu to ask again For the trial money back as I will have to pay for new one and we only had the trial with her as she was available on the day of our wedding.

OP posts:

Original poster

sodorisland · 30/06/2016 23:55

She's gotten back to me.

She will return the trial and the deposit after I explained why I felt it was reasonable to ask for both back.

Although I need to wait on her being paid so I'm still not sure when I will be paid.

OP posts:

dowhatnow · 01/07/2016 08:14

Well done. Good news.

This is another thread that has just shown me how different people's minds work. I just can't see how anyone in their right mind could say the op was being unreasonable, but they are obviously out there. Very, very strange people.

dowhatnow · 01/07/2016 08:16

I'm not so sure you will actually see the money though. Is the trip abroad permanent or temporary?

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 01/07/2016 08:25

It's reasonable because the trial was for you to assess whether you were happy for her to do your make up on your wedding day. You would never have paid for the trial had you known that she would be unavailable on your wedding day, and therefore the trial was missold. You will need to hold a new trial with someone else, so will be out of pocket because of her new unavailability.

The deposit was a deposit for a service that she can no longer provide so again, it is no longer owed.

If she doesn't have a signed contract from you that agrees to limit her liabilities, she's lucky that you're not pursuing her for the difference in cost between her and someone who is now free on your wedding day.

Her reluctance to refund makes me wonder if she has adequate insurance. I might enquire about that if she doesn't give you an idea of when to expect pay and then settle up promptly.

user1465823522 · 01/07/2016 08:57

I honestly cannot accept that people think expecting a refund for the trial is acceptable.

Personal circumstances change - she informed you with months to go. Your trial was hardly expensive (only 30 quid from your post) and if you are so tight that you are squabbling over that then you can't afford to get married. and if you are so miserly that you want a refund from this woman's time and skills when she gave you months of notice (i'd look over it if it was the day before, but come on, be serious here) then you need to take a good long look at your life.

I'm actually upset that this woman gave in to your bullying - and would say that she only refunded to shut you up - unfortunately at some stage every one of us comes across a customer like you and it's soul destroying that some people can be so petty.

Apologies for the rant everyone, I'm just seriously shocked at the sense of entitlement being flaunted here.

TheFlyingFauxPas · 01/07/2016 09:14

If end product is withdrawn it simply becomes a makeup session not a trial for something bigger. Trial untaken and paid for on understanding if client wishes not to go ahead then fine. Not for vendor not to go ahead for whatever reason!
No flaunting of entitlements whatsoever. £30's £30 too much if it's taken unfairly.

monkeywithacowface · 01/07/2016 09:18

Would you like to trial a grip User1465? When people going to stop with the gratuitous use of the word entitlement on MN? There are other words people.

user1465823522 · 01/07/2016 09:19

it goes both ways - if the groom had dropped down dead and the wedding was off and the makeup artist wanted paid for the job she would have done that day everyone here would be up in arms about it.

user1465823522 · 01/07/2016 09:20

Would you like to trial a grip User1465? When people going to stop with the gratuitous use of the word entitlement on MN? There are other words people.

When it is entitlement then that is the word I shall use. I won't foralise my language or word choice over it.

SoupDragon · 01/07/2016 09:24

I won't foralise my language or word choice over it.

Foralise?

KoalaDownUnder · 01/07/2016 09:26

Oh my god, user - that is not bloody 'entitlement' at all! So sick of the misuse of that word on this site.

I can only think you have no idea about consumer law. The OP had a contract with this makeup artist. The makeup artist couldn't fulfil her end of the bargain. Yes, the circumstances were outside her control, but they were also outside the OP's. In cases like that, someone is going to be out of pocket, and the law says it's the person in breach of the contract (i.e. the makeup artist).

The OP derived nothing of value from this, and in fact wasted her time: why on earth should she pay?

Everyone who runs a business that provides a service understands this, so I'm not sure why you don't.

You post is rude and ignorant (in the true sense of the word); calling the OP miserly and a bully, and insinuating she can't afford to get married, is way out of order.

SoupDragon · 01/07/2016 09:30

If you paid for an interior designer to come and produce and subsequently carry out a design for your home, would you expect to pay the consultation cost if they then said "no, can't do it" and you were left with nothing?

user1465823522 · 01/07/2016 09:32

KoalaDownUnder

If you bought a donought from Tesco and didn't eat it before the expiration date would you expect a refund then too?

Like I said, if it had been short notice then I would have said that the OP should have got a refund. But it was MONTHS and hey, shit happens. It's squabbling over £30!

MargaretCavendish · 01/07/2016 09:38

Presumably you've not ever tried to book wedding make-up? Nor have I, but my understanding is that three months is actually pretty short notice: OP is going to have a lot less choice than she originally had. I had quite a last minute wedding (where I did my own make-up!) and you have to compromise a lot: popular hairdressers, florists and photographers often book a year in advance. My understanding is that make up artists are the same.

Also, aren't both sides 'squabbling over £30' here? If the make-up artist can't afford to write it off then maybe she doesn't have a viable business?

dowhatnow · 01/07/2016 09:42

It doesn't matter if it is £30 or £3000. The principle is the same.

I like the interior design analogy.

yumyumpoppycat · 01/07/2016 09:53

I think £30 for the trial is to cover those brides going to lots of different makeup artists using their time, resources and potentially taking ideas with no intention of going with that person. This isn't what happened here, the OP had agreed to go with the bride, the bride has infact wasted the OPs time.

SoupDragon · 01/07/2016 09:58

If you bought a donought from Tesco and didn't eat it before the expiration date would you expect a refund then too?

How is that the same in any way at all?

SoupDragon · 01/07/2016 10:01

Imagine you had to pay to test drive a new car. You agreed to buy that car on the basis of the test drive and then they said "actually no, you can't have it" Would you be happy?

yumyumpoppycat · 01/07/2016 10:02

Sorry the makeup artist has wasted the brides time!

Food analogy doesnt work, I have bought food, taken it home realised it was out of date when I bought it and brought it back and been given a £10 goodwill gesture - this is actually much closer to what has happened to the OP than buying something and not using it in time.

user1465823522 · 01/07/2016 10:03

Presumably you've not ever tried to book wedding make-up? Nor have I, but my understanding is that three months is actually pretty short notice:

It's really not.

And trying to say it is just adding to the general hysteria that happens around weddings.

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 01/07/2016 10:08

it goes both ways - if the groom had dropped down dead and the wedding was off and the makeup artist wanted paid for the job she would have done that day everyone here would be up in arms about it.

No, it really doesn't.

If the groom had died, everyone involved in the wedding would still requirement payment, as OP would be cancelling. Unless OP had wedding insurance, she would not get a refund (although in those circumstances, some suppliers may show some compassion and not expect full payment).

As it's the MUA who has cancelled, the penalty is theirs. They offered a trial for a service that they cannot deliver, so the trial was missold and a refund is due.

There is nothing confusing or entitled about that, whatsoever.

The doughnut analogy is ridiculous. If you didn't eat it in time, it would be your penalty - you failed. If it went off before it was supposed too, it would be the bakers penalty, because they failed - through the shop, in this case, but that's because the analogy is stupid.

and if you are so miserly that you want a refund from this woman's time and skills when she gave you months of notice

The MUA offered her time and skills for the OP's wedding day. They did a trial, where the MUA was paid, to check that the OP and the MUA were both happy to work together and had a good idea of what look was required on the day and what products would be needed. Now her time and skills are not available on the day - so the trial is refunded.

It would be the same if she'd promised to officiate the wedding and now couldn't attend after attending the practice sessions, or make the wedding dress and then decided after the fittings that she couldn't do it.

As for "bullied" - there are no words. She is liable, she was trying her luck by not refunding.

user1465823522 · 01/07/2016 10:10

I think there is a huge amount of naivety and disregard for someone's time and skills going on here.

yumyumpoppycat · 01/07/2016 10:10

User what if other makeupartists that may have been second or third options for the OP are now unavailable, this would be esp annoying if she had paid for trials with them. The OP has lost out and the MUA should be aiming to maintiang her reputation by refunding the money otherwise people could charge for trials knowing full well they were unavailable to do the wedding makeup. If the MUA who cancelled is some kind of expert then people prob would willingly pay £30 for ideas only (with mutual undertanding of what was being paid for) then ask someone else to copy the ideas on the day but I am assuming this is not the case.

yumyumpoppycat · 01/07/2016 10:12

User, you are disregarding the OP's time.

user1465823522 · 01/07/2016 10:18

User what if other makeupartists that may have been second or third options for the OP are now unavailable,

I seriously doubt that in 3 MONTHS the OP can't find another make up artist.

And even if they don;t, is that REALLY the end of the world? Millions of women every year manage without one. It's not the necessity that celebrity culture and trashy mags have us believe.

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