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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Refund for a date?

77 replies

sweettooth89 · 13/06/2021 22:47

Sorry it's a bit of a long post. So, I was dating someone for about 4 weeks. Started off nice, quite liked him. He doesn't drive, which I was put off with at first but then I met him and I wasn't that bothered. Went on a some dates, drinks and a meal etc. After a couple of dates I stayed at his place and we had a few drinks. He told me he had something to tell me, I thought "here we go!". I have a history of bad dates 🤣. Anyway he had previously told me he was a builder, he then told me he had lied about this and he is actually unemployed and lives on benefits due to his OCD and anxiety disorder. He then went on to show me his online bank balance (not requested by me) to prove that he's not some bum with no money (his words). He had more money in there than I make in a year! He has everything paid for for him, rent, living expenses etc. Anyway, I forgave him for lying as I understood he was embarrassed about his disorder. Over the next couple of weeks I started to notice how "tight" he was with his money, we would go shopping and he would ONLY buy things that are reduced. Each to their own, I like a bargain but he took this to a whole other level. If he was paying for a takeaway for example, he would search and search for the cheapest option. Whereas if I was paying, he would suggest more expensive options. I asked if he would ever consider going back to work as to me, he seemed like he could work, as his OCD is under control. He said he could, but he's better off being on benefits so it doesn't make sense to go back to work. This was a massive deal breaker for me, I found it really unattractive. The next day we had booked to go out on the broads on a boat. It was £20, he paid. We went, had a nice day. But after that date I just wasn't feeling things with him anymore, the more I got to know him the more I was put off with his ways. I was honest about it and told him and I apologised for wasting his time. We parted ways and that was that. The next day he text me and asked me if I could transfer him £10 for my half of the boat trip!! Also sent me his bank details to do so. I was gobsmacked. For 4 or so weeks I was driving back and forth to his which was a 30 min drive one way, I drove us everywhere we went. I paid for things for us both that he deemed "too expensive". I never in a million years ask for money back for petrol etc, so to me this seemed quite pathetic. I was fuming that he even had the cheek to ask me for a tenner 😂. Especially as I work full time for my money while he gets more than I do a month just for sitting on his backside. When I said no, he told me to choke on it. Which I laughed at as to me it's so ridiculous. AIBU for not giving him a tenner?

OP posts:
TulisaIsBrill · 14/06/2021 00:00

Mind you, apart from the tightness with the tenner, the rest I do like the sound of.

The aforementioned ‘can’t be bothered to work, better off ok benefits’ - lovely stuff. The more people who think like this the sooner we can have a proper economic reset.

And reduced food only? A man truly after my own heart! Good for the environment - otherwise it’ll just get chucked, and also a lover of weird surprises - because you never quite know what you’ll find on the bargain shelf.

If it wasn’t for that tenner I’d be begging him back if I were you.

TulisaIsBrill · 14/06/2021 00:02

@LadyLolaRuben

I cant remember what the current threshold is, but I think if you have more than around £6k saved you're not entitled to benefits. So he may be claiming fraudulently. Well done on swerving that one.
Depends on the benefit. Some are means tested, some aren’t.

Over 6k your means tested benefits start to get tapered. It’s only over 16k that they disappear. But sounds like he had that saved at least. It’s a puddly sum either way. I think it should be at least 100k before you lose entitlement, given the toilet paper the £ is these days. You can barely buy a decent graphics card for less than a grand at the moment.

wildeverose · 14/06/2021 00:05

Make a list of everything you paid and send it and ask for his share, minus the tenner

Lucky escape there op

MaxiPaddy · 14/06/2021 02:50

@TulisaIsBrill

Mind you, apart from the tightness with the tenner, the rest I do like the sound of.

The aforementioned ‘can’t be bothered to work, better off ok benefits’ - lovely stuff. The more people who think like this the sooner we can have a proper economic reset.

And reduced food only? A man truly after my own heart! Good for the environment - otherwise it’ll just get chucked, and also a lover of weird surprises - because you never quite know what you’ll find on the bargain shelf.

If it wasn’t for that tenner I’d be begging him back if I were you.

Hmm
BlueDaises · 14/06/2021 03:19

Glad you told him to sod off Grin

PerciphonePuma · 14/06/2021 03:22

@sweettooth89
If he's on benefits then he is committing fraud if he has more than £6k in savings!

PerciphonePuma · 14/06/2021 03:24

*£16k

Standrewsschool · 14/06/2021 03:29

Cf! You dodged a bullet there. Well rid!

TaraR2020 · 14/06/2021 03:35

@sweettooth89

Also this was before COVID. Posting it now after it came up in conversation with a friend who said she would have paid the £10! So was just curious on people's thoughts
Oh, I'd have billed him for my time and contribution to petrol costs and wear and tear on the car Grin

I'd also consider whether he was claiming benefits fraudulently because from you've said, it sounds like it!

Themeparklover · 14/06/2021 03:48

My sister and friend are on PIP currently both have adhd autism and require people managing finances and their days etc they are on the higher band and don't get anywhere near enough to what you suggested he was on he's either working in secret selling something illegal or shown you a fake bank account

DifficultBloodyWoman · 14/06/2021 03:50

I’d have gone through my bank statements with a fine tooth comb to calculate how much I had spent on him, estimated the costs of the cheap takeaways he bought and then calculated it in such a way that he would owe me money. I’d send him the bill and then suggest that we both write off our costs.

Jellybabiesforbreakfast · 14/06/2021 03:55

I'd have paid the tenner and sent an invoice for 50% of what I'd spent on him (with dates provided and an amount deducted for his approximate spend).

Whydidimarryhim · 14/06/2021 04:28

What a charmer!!!!
Don’t bother engaging.
He has lots of errors in his thinking which fits in with his

TriteMale · 14/06/2021 05:09

This reply has been deleted

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BritWifeInUSA · 14/06/2021 05:15

Tell him he owes you for your time he wasted.

Pompom2367 · 14/06/2021 05:26

I wouldn't give him it op just block him

Skengman · 14/06/2021 05:32

wasteman

LongTimeMammaBear · 14/06/2021 05:35

Thank god you called it quits with this guy. YANBU

faithfulbird20 · 14/06/2021 05:45

Is this for real? Omg thank the lord you got out of that one!

CutieBear · 14/06/2021 06:44

@TriteMale

I didn't think disability benefits allowed for more than a modest existence. The average UK salary is £35k. They can't be anywhere close to that surely?
Newly qualified nurses and teachers have to survive on £10k less than that. Actually, it’s even less when you take away tax and NI. Full time nursery staff are often earning under £20k (before tax).

OP should report this man for fraudulently claiming benefits. People on Universal Credit struggle on around £300 a month, but this man has an entire year’s worth of a full time salary in his bank! Also, people with way more severe mental and physical disabilities are able to work. This man is work shy.

YesIveChangedMyName · 14/06/2021 06:57

Of course YANBU to not pay the tenner.

Please do not report him re the benefits though. Getting assessed to receive benefits based on mental health issues takes a lot of documentation and proof and jumping though hoops. You don't know that he could work - you just know that he told you (someone he may have been trying to impress) that he could work. I have a family member with MH problems who often thinks they are well enough to return to work and lasts days (if that) before being overwhelmed and realising they aren't (yet) well enough to work. Fortunately they are supported by a partner but if they were reliant on benefits they would be in a mess.

LadyPenelope68 · 14/06/2021 07:02

@sweettooth89
Sounds like you’ve had a very lucky escape there!

Taikoo · 14/06/2021 07:08

OMG - what a fuckin' loser. You had a lucky escape.

youngandbroken · 14/06/2021 07:47

The thing is unless anyone here is medically qualified to make that assessment and has actually sat down in a room with him to be able to assess him nobody can say how severe his mental illness is, to what degree it affects him, and whether he could return to work. Obsessing over money to that extent obviously isn't normal behaviour. He may well be entitled to PIP which isn't means tested, this might have been going on for years hence being able to build up a large amount of savings. He must have had the evidence to claim the benefits - contrary to popular belief they are not given out freely and many who need them are refused (a family member was told at one point that their spinabifida had magically cured itself?!) so it is very possible that he does need his benefits and probably isn't actually well enough to return to work even if he thinks he is.

However no way on earth would he be getting that £10 back and you should have invoiced him a counter bill for everything you spent.

threeteenstaximum · 14/06/2021 08:29

It would be petty to report him to DWP for benefit fraud and what for? Because you didn't like his weird request at the end and his financial obsessive behaviour seemed rude & tight ? It's very likely related in some way to his individual condition

Unless he has over £16k in savings, there's nothing that indicates he isn't entitled to benefits he claims - DLA/PIP are not easy to get awarded.

Forgot him , he's a weird story foe your friends and MN but not requesting any comeuppance