Hired a friend to provide a service for me that she does professionally (health/beauty related!)
It involved upfront payment and I booked all the sessions in advance with her - many sessions over 4 months. My financial situation is very comfortable and she struggles, so I was ok with this. It was a vast amount of money.
It took a month to even get started with a ton of reasons to keep postponing on her side.
She was finally supposed to start today. She reconfirmed about 40 mins before our first session and I was all ready to finally get going.
10 mins before the session, she suddenly cancelled due to family stuff (her uncle’s birthday she’d forgotten about). I know the family stuff is real as I know her cousin and saw pictures from the afternoon, but still.
I’m infuriated.
It’s a total first world problem and it’s nothing essential but it’s been a month since I paid her and I didn’t expect her to be unreliable at all! I always thought she ran a tight ship!
I’d like to say something that lets her know that it’s fine for today but I’m busy and it’s super inconvenient and it’s absolutely not ok for this to keep happening.
I’d also like to suggest she gives me my money back if she thinks deep-down, that she can’t commit, without causing too much friction between us.
How do I say something without ruining our friendship or making future encounters awkward? I’m a paying customer and my time is really precious so it’s driving me mad. I also want to offer her an out, if she’s over committed.
(and of course, lesson learnt about working with friends etc. I just wanted to support her as I know she’s been struggling financially and I was in the market for exactly the service she provides!)