To think she could have said 'just keep the money'?

[JMSA]

Properties to let, in the city where I live, are snapped up extremely quickly. You need to be really on the ball in order to land one.
A lady posted on a local Facebook group begging someone to do a viewing for her. She is overseas at the moment, but will be coming here to live soon. She was desperate; the letting agent was willing to allow someone else to view it in her place, but it had to be viewed before they'd accept her application. Seriously, the private let situation here is crazy ... not to mention extortionate.
I offered to do it for her. We had some chat over FB Messenger, and we discussed what I should look out for and the questions she wanted me to ask. This all took time, but that's absolutely fine. We had agreed that £20 was a fair amount for me to be paid for this viewing, and she made a bank transfer (at my request).
The viewing was meant to be tomorrow and I've just heard from her that it's cancelled, as someone else got in there first. I offered to hold onto the money - it had taken a while to come through - in case any other properties came up that she'd like me to view.
She replied no, that she's going to wait until she gets here to do more viewings, and has asked for her £20 back. It's annoying because I had budgeted for something with it. Am I right in thinking that she's a tight arse?

£20???? How did you come up with only £20 for a an email exchange, a telephone conversation, an hour walking around flat plus the report back. I’d charge about £200 for that.

YANBU. Sounds like you put time and effort in even before getting to the viewing.
Don't bother next time.

Completely agree. Utter bargain!

Then why didn't you do it for free? It's fine to want paying..no way would I do it for nothing but don't pretend it was a totally altruistic act

OP, think very carefully about how you will return the money to her as it will incur bank charges. When I do international transfers it costs between 35 pound and 20 pounds each time I do one.

Would I have asked you to return the money? No. I’d have looked at it as a thank you for trying to help me out. Should you offer to return the money? No. Not really as you’d already spent time making the plans. However if you did offer me the money back I’d have said, no thank you, it’s yours.

Did she get a bargain for 20 pounds? Yes. She sure did. I’d have paid someone at least 50 to help me out.

In this case, surely even if the bank refunded the money, it would only be the 500 that they'd transferred anyway? Where's the scam?

If that £20 is so important to you, you’ll know that it’s also probably important to her.
oh, and it’s hers.

And im sure you would have done a good job and earned the money.
But in the end you didnt have to do the job, so you dont get paid for the job you didnt do. Simple

Totally not your fault, but thats life

I would let you keep the money as I would assume you freed up your schedule to accommodate this viewing and it's not your fault it's cancelled.
That said, I wouldn't have planned to spend it already and be angry about it. What could you possibly have chosen to spend it on that you can't still do?

The only scam here is OP trying to keep money she didn't earn! Unless she explicitly told the woman that the fee includes the discussion and her 'test walk' (what kind of adult needs to do that? seriously??) then the money should be returned! Nothing altruistic, kind, or 'good deed' about this

I agree with this. OP, do you think she’ll be asking you to do this again? If so, I wouldn’t bother, unless she pays in advance and agrees that you keep the money if the viewing is cancelled.

Absolutely bonkers
Please do point out to me where I have said I won't be paying her back.
I may not agree with her, but that doesn't mean I'll be scamming her for her 20 quid!

Disagree with most posters I would have paid the £20 to OP and felt she should keep it. Seems ungracious not to pay for all the earlier communications

Presumably you made this very post hoping everyone would say you should get to keep the £20 as she's a 'tight arse'? So implied you might not be paying it back tbh. It's not the woman's fault you had to go on a test walk and couldn't use a map on the day, and unless you told her the discussion was going to cost her you're not hard done by for having spoken to someone. Or do you routinely charge everyone you have a discussion with?

It’s not a good idea to do someone else’s viewing for them-opinions on property are completely subjective

I would ask for her address and send her £20 cash , less postage and packing, so say £15, if she is coming to live in the UK anyway she can spend it when she gets here.

@caramelegg

Wrong again. I have been thanking people all along for their contributions to this thread, and have welcomed different opinions. I was always going to pay the money back, always.
And as for the map comment, you're being ridiculous again. The building and flat number were unclear from the particulars.
Honestly, you sound a bit unhinged over this.

No, while it was good of you to offer to do it, I think it's fair enough for her to ask for it back.

I'd check with your bank first, as they might charge a fee for international transfers. I wouldn't be out of pocket over it.

@caramelegg
Not on benefits. You'll see from my many Mumsnet posts that I'm a hardworking single mum of 3, who works full-time with challenging teens. I was able to do this because I've just stopped work for the summer (Scotland).
Give it up now please, as you are really just embarrassing yourself.

Cool sounds like a good job so I'm sure you don't need to be scrounging £20 you didn't earn then

Don't forget to deduct the international transfer fee... about £13.00 from the amount . Seriously op the time you've spent over discussions with her pre event, post non event and bank transfer time must amount to a few hours... well below the minimum wage. Next time I would suggest £50.00 : non refundable in the event of cancellation and certainly paid up front, just to value yourself in the real world.

Yes she's taking the piss. She hired you to perform a service and changed her mind, it's up to the service provider (you) to decide the refund policy.

That's not how the law works.

That is an impressively awful comment.