To think this woman is entirely deranged?

[annoyedatotherparents]

I’ve just had a big birthday, and hired a room in central London for a party. I booked a photo booth and thought I’d get a glitter backdrop for behind it as well. The first company didn’t do them so I found another one on Instagram that provides them, and booked it all months ago.
The woman in charge of the glitter wall company seemed fine, if slightly incompetent (lots of emails to me and the venue asking obvious questions) but all was ok until the day before the party when she says she’s unable to contact anyone at the venue and starts sending frantic emails again. I loop her in again, and she seems to have sorted it.
Then it’s the day of the party, and three hours before it starts she begins texting me again to say she’s too stressed about this all (ie lack of contact from venue) to come out now and wants to cancel the whole booking. I point out that’s not great to leave me with no notice, and she says her mental health has been triggered by this extremely stressful situation.
She’s now ignoring my messages asking for my money back. What on earth can I do? But also, surely proving glittery wall backdrops is literally the least stressful job ever?! How does she cope with everyday life?!

I know, you can buy one for a fraction of that!

Glitter wall aside, hope you had a great party.
Email tomorrow, give her 5 working days, letting her know that you will initiate small claims court procedures if not received by then.

Just googled glitter wall, £6.50 on Temu, £20 on Etsy.

Yes that’s me being stupid. I read that several times as ‘She’s now ignoring my messages,,, asking for my money back.’
It was only when you replied that it clicked 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Reverse charge.

Had a Vinted seller do it to me the other week when I asked for a refund because it wasn’t posted within 2 weeks

Off topic, but I thought vinted refunded you automatically if the item wasnt posted in 5 working days?

@novalia89 I think I thought the same when I first started reading it and am always doing that with comments so thought I’d help you out haha!

To be fair, if this is an established business, she's probably been finding glitter everywhere for years. That'd be enough to make anyone go batshit 😵‍💫

Did you pay by bank transfer? I recently paid a builder by bank transfer who disappeared for 3 weeks. I reported the transaction as fraud on my Monzo app selecting "I didn't receive the goods or services I paid for". His bank (Halifax) froze his account so he then contacted me and gave me my money back.

Jesus Christ. Beggars belief that anyone thinks that is a reasonable way to run a business. Her mental health has been "triggered" by doing a job she's contracted to do for a client?

I would just make sure you give her a terrible review.

I agree that the woman has been entirely unreasonable, and owes you your money back. However, it's not very nice to use the term "deranged", particularly about someone who has mental health issues.

You have paid her for a service that she has not provided. I'd tell her she has x amount of days to refund you or your reporting this as fraud.
Seems very strange that you paid someone in full that you found on instagram you had never met . You need to be more careful op

Christ. I think she saw you coming. £250 for some MDF with glitter on it ???

I was wondering that.

I think £250 was for the PhotoBooth with glitter-wall, not just a glitter-wall.

Don't PhotoBooths usually have a person stay with them?

I think she was having central London anxiety. Some people just don't like going to central London, and she shouldn't have taken on the job.

But you need to be very insistent on getting your money back. She may be having a huge wobble and not reading emails, but at some point she'll need to address this.

It’s normal to pay in advance for this sort of service, she sounds like a complete amateur, I’ve met plenty who think they can do these sort of jobs but let people down for their big events (mostly weddings). Have you got her full name and maybe address or bank details?

I would write a very brief email saying you're sorry she could not provide and you need a full refund by X date (no more than a week away). Also give a very factual review on a website or Facebook page if you can. If she does not come up with the refund by the agreed date, then write to her saying you are pursuing her through the small claims court, and start proceedings through them asap. It has occurred to me that she could be ill, have had a breakdown or something, but she should still be issuing refunds in a timely manner.

In your review, mention your own mental health and stress eg her failure to deliver whilst retaining your money has made your mental health deteriorate and cause lots of stress and you’re “triggered” as it ruined your birthday and left you with financial worries. Properly lay it on thick because I can sense she will respond to a factual review with that. Play her at her own game.

You are both unreasonable,

You to pay £250 for a glitter backdrop. Some sugar paper. glitter, bluetac. DIY. In the kindest way.😃

The seller more so for selling a service she is mentally incapable of providing.

Happy Birthday!

Then start your own business! 😂

@StopLickingTheDog that made me laugh so much!

did you get your money back

She messaged me randomly on Monday saying I’d get a refund within ‘five to seven working days’. I asked why the delay and to confirm I’d get the full amount and she ignored me again so I’m leaving it with the bank to sort with a chargeback.

thanks for coming back-hope you get the refund

She’s now refunded c. 75% of it! But not the deposit amount. And she’s still ignoring my messages. I’m leaving with the bank to hopefully sort it!