AIBU to not pay for lesson

[Tunsey]

My DS goes to music lessons each week. He really enjoys it and he likes his tutor. The tutor runs a private business and asks for notice if we’re unable to attend (fair enough). So, when we’ve had school trips or holidays we’ve always given him at leat two weeks notice that DS won’t be attending.

However on two separate occasions we missed the lesson because of a traffic accident and bad traffic. So I called to let him know, apologising but obviously letting the tutor know that circumstances are out of our control. On both occasions he’s been rather rude saying we don’t value his time. On the second occasion he said that we’d need to pay for the lesson we’ve missed.

I don’t think that right because a) he’s never stated this before; b) my DS has been having lessons for over 18 months; and c) we can’t control traffic.

Am I being unreasonable- should I pay for the missed lesson?

You don't need T'C's to know you should pay, just manners and respect for someone else's time!

This must be a wind up...

Of COURSE you should pay! And the only person at fault here is YOU.

Of you know traffic is an issue either leave earlier or book a later lesson.

People baffle me.

I love semi rurally

I love semi rurally too :p

I love semi rurally too :p

It’s definitely the way to go, mixed with a visit to love in the city every now and then

YABU - you should pay regardless of the fact that traffic /accident etc caused you to be unable to attend

That was YOU frolicking semi-clad (and partially frozen) in that field of cow-infested turnips!

I knew it!

Yabu, which you now know. Own up and pay. Every activity my Dd does is paid for in advance and this is why

You’re a cf for not offering to pay for the first issued lesson imo, let alone the second

Why can’t you book a later lesson? You may have to wait for an available place, however, it seems like a no brainer to me. No way would I be booking a private lesson I may not get to. I also agree with the consensus. Absorbing the fee as a one off sounds very fair. But not going forward.

From: "He really enjoys it and he likes his tutor"
To: "My DC doesn’t recieve that type of service" !

You asked if YWBU everyone has yes YABU- some more politely than others! I would take on board the music concert analogy and then suck it up and pay the guy!

FWIW.....YABVVVU!

Of course you should pay. Otherwise he's fully within his rights to find someone who can show up on time for that slot.

Yes YABVVU.
If you don't like it go elsewhere.

Sorry - that was directed at Jaques and Dreamz!

The dirty, muddy, cowpat-covered, hypothermic stop-outs!

(You've really got to be fond of a treat . . . )

A few no the ago I left for the airport at the usual time. I checked if there was any hold ups to see if I need to leave any earlier. None reported.
I left with enough time for any reasonable delays, going through security and then a bit of relax time.
However a massive accident happened and it took nearly 2 hours to get through the traffic.
I missed my plane. It wasn't my fault but it wasn't Lufthansa's either.
I had to suck it up, pay for a new ticket and thank my stars that I wasn't directly involved the the collision.
The ticket cost me another £110 on top of the £40 I had already paid.
That's how life sometimes rolls.

Yabu

YABU to not think you should have to pay, it's the teachers income and not like he can give your lesson time to another paying customer at that point.
HIBU to get stroppy and rude with you for circumstances that can't be controlled if it's not a regular occurrence.
As long as you still pay then he should be more understanding and polite about it, but obviously if he's not going to be paid for it then I understand why he could be a bit peeved

The dirty, muddy, cowpat-covered, hypothermic stop-outs

Amateur, we snuggle in haystacks of course. Clean and dry

You should pay, of course!

In this situation anyone could claim bad traffic or any other excuse to get out of cancelling at too short a notice for the tutor/lesson giver to fill their time.

If it was a genuine freak huge surge of traffic ( not caused by weather or roadworks which can be factored in beforehand) then you pay for your bad luck, not your tutor.

Can you not book a later session if it’s an ongoing issue?

You should pay. It’s not his fault.

How do you make sure you get to school on time?

Love the casual dropping in of "my darling preshus doesn't get that sort of service" when OP doesn't like the responses and wants to paint it in a different light. You got your arse handed to you on here because you're a cheeky fuck - at least own that you are.

I live in a big city. Tonight my kids are in a school production. I’ve checked google maps every 30 mins or so for the last few hours to see if I have to leave early from work to get there. There is a problem, I’m going to have to leave 30 mins early and agree that with my employer. It’s fine because it’s a one off, if it’s a weekly lesson you seem to be consistently late for then you either aren’t leaving early enough or have booked a slot you cannot reasonably expect to be on time for every week.

Besides - this is a 30 minute lesson I’m guessing. So I’m assuming you were a whole 30 mins late otherwise you’d have turned up late and had a 20 minute one. If you were 30 minutes late, that’s on you.

“School run traffic” is the shittest excuse, are you surprised the roads are busy at that time every day?

I wouldn’t mind paying if his messages hadn’t been so CF!

How the fuck is he a CF?! He let you off the first time! But rightly expects you to pay now.

Seems to me like some of you live in quite remote places with no traffic!

Er, no, I face London traffic every day but I have the common sense to know if something isn't working (i.e. if I'm consistently late) then I have to change my timings, not expect someone else to be subject to my traffic woes and out of pocket.

Many of us live in London with much traffic and still manage to do the school run on time!

Someone has to lose out and I think it should be you, sorry.