Would you pay this?

[Quornflakegirl]

I contacted (by email) a cat groomer to help tame the coat of our beautiful but extremely fluffy cat.

They took 3 days to reply to me and then another 3 days of me waiting to find out that the day I wanted was unavailable. Groomer suggested another day and time and I replied immediately “yes that suits me, can I please book it in?
No reply from them.

They were never good at communication so after a week I found another groomer and forgot about it.

I get a knock at the door today and it’s the original cat groomer expecting to groom our cat. I explained that communication was poor and I never received a confirmation so found someone else. She said fine and off she went. I’ve just had an invoice emailed for me for £25, a missed appointment charge stating payment must be in 28 days!

Who is being unreasonable here?

I checked spam folders, nothing. All our correspondence (apart form the initial Contact Us form) was via the same email with with all our previous emails attached so I have the history of our brief communication. My last email to her over 2 weeks ago was…
Yes please, can I book that in?

She never replied to my question.

@Quornflakegirl

I checked spam folders, nothing. All our correspondence (apart form the initial Contact Us form) was via the same email with with all our previous emails attached so I have the history of our brief communication. My last email to her over 2 weeks ago was… Yes please, can I book that in?

She never replied to my question.

She also said 'Fine' at the door. She didn't argue she had confirmed. She'd have argued if she had.

@Quornflakegirl

I checked spam folders, nothing. All our correspondence (apart form the initial Contact Us form) was via the same email with with all our previous emails attached so I have the history of our brief communication. My last email to her over 2 weeks ago was… Yes please, can I book that in?

She never replied to my question.

See I'd have still thought she was unreasonable if you'd have just said yes please. But she left the question hanging so she's even more unreasonable

Maybe she didn't read it as a question she needed to answer

She gave you a time and you said book that in so she did.

@dementedpixie

Maybe she didn't read it as a question she needed to answer

She gave you a time and you said book that in so she did.

But op doesn't know that as the groomer didn't confirm

Nah. She didn't confirm. How are you supposed to know she's ok to book you in??!

Tell her to swing for it.

What part of the UK are you in?
There was a lady advertising her own business as a cat groomer & it turned out to be a bit of a scam.
I almost fell for it but did some research on her (thankfully) as she cancelled the original appointment at extremely short notice &
I found some shocking reviews. I’m trying to remember the name (might have a google) but she had advertised under a few different names.

Maybe she didn't read it as a question she needed to answer
If there was a ? at the end she can’t argue it wasn’t a question though.

She is trying to pull a fast one.
Don't even think about it. You owe nothing as no confirmation.

I run a business where we take bookings and I always confirm the information before I sign off e.g 21/1/22 Andrea, 4pm,2 pax . When they reply with usually great thanks I then copy the information directly into our booking page. I would not expect someone to turn up or charge me like they did

Don't pay and definitely avoid in the future

In the West Country tay17

Hmm ok I’m in the East but as I said this woman does advertise under multiple names so it could be the same person 🤨

For future reference, I've just bought a shedding comb to comb my long haired cat - I wish I'd bought it 17 years ago! The amount of fur that comes out with it is incredible, and her coat looks so much better now. I'm hoping it'll prevent matts forming too, I've had to have her sedated several times to get them shaved off.

Oh, and tell her you're not paying her, she didn't bother to confirm so presumably you don't have any sort of contract with her. She's just trying it on!

No. I wouldn’t pay. She didn’t confirm. Were you meant to just presume she’d come.
Not very good business IMO.

What's the comb you bought?
My cat attacks me if I try and brush/comb him and he's also had to get matts shaved off. Taking him to a groomer tomorrow but they're in short supply where I live.

However, they offered a date and time and you confirmed your acceptance. The fact they didn't then send a reply to your reply wouldn't tell me it was not booked.

Don’t pay.

zilla1 all her communication with me was poor, she would take days to reply to my questions so it was hard to establish if it was booked or not. Plus, it’s not good business practice not to reply to your customers questions.

I'm not arguing it is good practice, nor great communication, just offering a different perspective to most other PPs in that the essential information was offered and accepted and nothing else was essential. UK common law principles simplistically require offer and acceptance (and a few other things). You could be argued to have accepted rather than making a counter-offer (for example, I can't make that time, is half an hour later available?) which would have required the groomer to then confirm.

Good luck.

“yes that suits me, can I please book it in?
No reply from them.

@Zilla1 you might have a case except OP specifically asked if she could book in, and clearly was waiting for an answer. If she has just said yes that suits me then I could see it your way. But the OP was clearly asking for confirmation which she didn't get.

The business need to learn from their mistake.

Not a chance I’d pay that. You confirm to a customer when their appointment is booked in for. If you don’t, they don’t know if you received / missed / acted on their request. Why should you compensate them for their poor communication? It’s a lesson they need to learn!

It's her loss. She needs to work on her communication and act more professionally.

It would've been courteous and professional, to respond something like Great, you're all booked in. Look forward to seeing you then. Payment is in full on the day, and late cancellations incur 50% fee [or something along those lines]

So it's her fault if she's flakey and unprofessional.

I would email back [maybe in 3 days time lol] and explain that you are not liable for a missed appointment fee, as you did not receive any confirmation or response from her; thus assumed your appointment wasn't agreed. And a gentle suggestion that she confirms with people, so they know to expect her and that the appointment is definitely booked.

Definitely her fault.

@Quornflakegirl

I checked spam folders, nothing. All our correspondence (apart form the initial Contact Us form) was via the same email with with all our previous emails attached so I have the history of our brief communication. My last email to her over 2 weeks ago was… Yes please, can I book that in?

She never replied to my question.

I don’t think you are being unreasonable op and definitely wouldn’t pay the £25. However I would have emailed her, for clarity, saying that as she has not responded I would look elsewhere for a groomer..

When she turned up at your door today, was it for the appointment that you had asked her to book in, but she hadn’t confirmed?"

@dementedpixie

What's the comb you bought? My cat attacks me if I try and brush/comb him and he's also had to get matts shaved off. Taking him to a groomer tomorrow but they're in short supply where I live.

It was this one -

Shedding Brush Deshedding Tool by Simply Natural – Stainless Steel Deshedding Tool for Dogs and Deshedding Tool for Cats with Removable 10cm Shedding Blade
by Simplynatural
Learn more: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SVGP596/ref=cmswwemrrmtdppE67ZEMC45B57DD6MJSXW?encoding=UTF8&psc=1