This happened long ago but It recently popped in my head and I have long wondered who was unreasonable.
over 10 years ago I bought my first flat in London. A friend, let’s call him Ben, offered to sell me his sofas as he was getting new ones. I agreed and even agreed to his suggested price. He asked if I could pay for them at the time as it would help him out with buying the new sofas. Ben and his wife Amy were expecting a baby so I was aware they had a lot of expenses coming up so I agreed.
a few weeks later I was arranging moving vans and contacted Ben to suggest I pick up the sofas on the same day as the move as I had a van. He said i couldn’t have the sofas until 8 weeks after I moved as he needed to wait for their new sofas arrived. I was a bit miffed as this hadn’t been mentioned at the time - but as I had a tenant moving into I needed sofas so I suggested he gave me the money back and I would get something temporary. I fully promised to commit to buying and paying the full price for the sofas once they were ready. He refused saying they had spent the money on their new sofas. By this point I was quite angry and felt I was getting the raw end of the deal. Had he sold to a stranger he would not have been able to ask for the whole amount upfront so felt I was being taken advantage of.
In the end I had to concede to everything as I had no choice but the friendship was done for me. I arranged for a van to come on the same day they were having their sofas delivered and was told a few days before that if Amy went into Labour we would have to cancel. By that point I was really angry as the van was non refundable. Ben did eventually agree to pay the van fee if they had to cancel.
Ben and Amy moved abroad a couple of years later and so I didn’t see him for many years. A few years later he came back for a mutual friends wedding, him and Amy having divorced by this point, and we patched things up and consider it very much water under the bridge. I even sent him a photo of the sofas being carted off when we eventually replaced them!
but… who was unreasonable? I maintain it wasnt me but since having my own baby I do understand it can be a pretty emotional time.