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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that more should have been done to fill my place?

43 replies

Chucklemission · 03/02/2024 19:22

I became ill at the beginning of the week and was due to go on a walking holiday this weekend.

I had paid the full cost of the holiday to the organiser- an independent person who runs a yoga and walking group. I knew that the cost was nonrefundable.

I received a doctors note on the monday as I was too poorly to work and emailed the organiser on Wednesday morning informing them that I was too ill and couldn't see me being well enough by Friday, also asking them if they could look to fill my place. They said they would try to do so.

On Thursday dinner time, she still hadn't filled my place but informed me that she had only asked one person to fill it. I asked her why she hadn't shared the place on her company Facebook page? She then shared it at around 9pm on the Thursday, when the group were arriving at the destination at lunch time on Friday. Obviously my place didn't get filled with such short notice and I have lost £300. I am also a single mum so this is a lot of money to me.

The more I'm reflecting, the more I feel stumped as to why more wasn't done to fill my place. She asked one person and waited for a response for 36 hours before posting on her main page. I just keep thinking that I would have done so much more to fill the place if I knew that the person was too poorly to attend.

I know I can't get my money back but I'm in two minds over whether to send her a copy of my sicknote in a bid to maybe get a little compensated? Or is that a bit cheeky? Do I just move on and forget about it?

OP posts:

noseposey · 03/02/2024 19:25

Do you not have travel insurance?

Original poster

Chucklemission · 03/02/2024 19:27

No @noseposey I don't as the holiday was quite local and I don't pay for it as an extra with my bank or anything. It was also a very "non-official" type of trip. All of my payments have gone to her personal account and not a business account. She has booked it as a whole holiday and then we have each paid her increments over a period of around 6 months.

OP posts:

PinkyBlueMe · 03/02/2024 19:27

You're going to have to move on but I wouldn't book with her again. To be decent she should have tried to mitigate your loss and perhaps offered the place for £less if you were agreeable. However, the terms you agreed meant she didn't bother because only you lost out, not her.
No doubt legally she's fine but morally not as she could have done more.

notknowledgeable · 03/02/2024 19:29

I think you should have got travel insurance too

LaPalmaLlama · 03/02/2024 19:29

Honestly, maybe she just didn’t have the time to do it/ deal with enquiries at short notice/ deal with people saying “ can you hold it for x hours” etc.

Original poster

Chucklemission · 03/02/2024 19:30

That's how I feel about it @PinkyBlueMe she hasn't actually confirmed to me whether or not the place was filled either. I'm just assuming that it wasn't.
Very little communication about filling the place and yet lots of communication about plans for the trip in the days leading up to it. It's as if the place issue was just cast aside. I feel as if I was just there to make up numbers/payments.

OP posts:

Marblessolveeverything · 03/02/2024 19:30

Why didn't you send out a message to find a replacement? Honestly I don't think too many people would be able to head off with that little notice. It's just bad luck.

Itslegitimatesalvage · 03/02/2024 19:30

It’s such a pain in the ass having to do that, the admin and time involved of sorting someone to take it because there are always time wasters, and she’d be chasing someone to pay then moving on to the next etc. It just isn’t worth her time when the terms and conditions are clear, and you agreed to the risk of losing the money if something like this happened when you booked it.

BreakfastAtMimis · 03/02/2024 19:32

I think if you pull out of the holiday at that late stage, you just need to accept that the money is lost. It's not really up to the organiser to fill the place.
Was the booking transferable? If so there was nothing to stop you asking around your own contact networks to see if anyone could go in your place and give you some money.

PieAndLattes · 03/02/2024 19:33

So you think she has nothing better to do than find someone who can stump up £300 and take the week off with 2 days notice to go on a walking holiday, along with the additional admin that would create? It’s unfortunate but it’s a big ask so close to the deadline and unlikely she’d have been able to do it? Did you advertise the opportunity on Facebook or to your friends?

Original poster

Chucklemission · 03/02/2024 19:33

I did ask around myself also FWIW.

OP posts:

Neriah · 03/02/2024 19:33

LaPalmaLlama · 03/02/2024 19:29

Honestly, maybe she just didn’t have the time to do it/ deal with enquiries at short notice/ deal with people saying “ can you hold it for x hours” etc.

This. You wanted her to find a replacement in days for something that had been planned for months. Honestly, you are being a CF. Other people have their own priorities. You either get insurance or you advertise the place yourself. Oh, were you too ill to do that? Well maybe she was too busy. And I don't think she owes you anything - legally or morally. Your trip your responsibility and your lack of insurance.

Jumbojem · 03/02/2024 19:35

I think you are going to have to move on. If it was a bigger company they would probably not have even made an attempt to fill your place. Is there a reason you couldn't have put a post up offering your place, or put it on local FB etc? You say she made little effort but you didn't either.
I expect as a small business she was extremely busy in the days before the trip getting everything in place for those that were going that filling your place was low on her list and creating more work for little return for her.

BombaySamphire · 03/02/2024 19:35

You only let her know two days before the hike began, who would be available at that short notice?
Most people wouldn’t have been able to book the Friday off work with that amount of notice, never mind the week following.
Presumably anyone actually wanting to go had already booked?

Beckafett · 03/02/2024 19:35

If it's "non official" you can't really have it both ways as in wanting compensation/ refund. I'm sorry you weren't well and didn't get to go but I'd chalk it up to experience.

Original poster

Chucklemission · 03/02/2024 19:35

I don't see how insurance could have made a difference when this was a socially organised trip which still went ahead? It was never cancelled? I was only contributing a small proportion of the cost?

Sorry @Neriah I have no idea what CF stands for if you could please clarify?

OP posts:

Bythefireside · 03/02/2024 19:36

She had your money so no incentive to find a replacement.

Hipnotised · 03/02/2024 19:37

I knew that the cost was nonrefundable

It's not her job to fill your place - you should have been more proactive. She gets her money either way.

Poppyseed14 · 03/02/2024 19:37

Chucklemission · 03/02/2024 19:35

I don't see how insurance could have made a difference when this was a socially organised trip which still went ahead? It was never cancelled? I was only contributing a small proportion of the cost?

Sorry @Neriah I have no idea what CF stands for if you could please clarify?

CF means cheeky fucker

FUPAgirl · 03/02/2024 19:37

Gosh you're being incredibly unreasonable here, it really wasn't her job to help you resell your place. She sold you your space in good faith.

Original poster

Chucklemission · 03/02/2024 19:38

I DID also share the place! I don't understand why people are assuming that I didn't 🤦‍♀️. I haven't said that I didn't at any point....

Perhaps its a moral issue. I just know that I would have posted on my main page to advertise the place. It may have not got filled but with the audience and followers she has who are all interested in this type of thing,it would have been more likely to have been filled.

OP posts:

Firawla · 03/02/2024 19:39

Yabu it’s not her responsibility

Original poster

Chucklemission · 03/02/2024 19:39

Bythefireside · 03/02/2024 19:36

She had your money so no incentive to find a replacement.

Yep. That's how it comes across.

OP posts:

Itslegitimatesalvage · 03/02/2024 19:41

Chucklemission · 03/02/2024 19:39

Yep. That's how it comes across.

Show quote history

She had your money, your agreement to her terms and conditions and she has better things to do. You gave her 2 days. You really are out of order here. She isn’t the problem and didn’t do anything wrong.

BombaySamphire · 03/02/2024 19:42

Chucklemission · 03/02/2024 19:39

Yep. That's how it comes across.

Show quote history

Why didn’t you feel motivated to find a replacement when you knew the cost was non refundable?
Your aggrieved attitude towards this woman is ludicrous.

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