A few weeks ago a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go to america on holiday with her and her kids. I said yes and that it sounded nice so we spoke briefly about it over msn.
The next day she text me and said "are you definate about wanting to go? because I need to book asap" and I said "yes" thinking she would at least wait until I'd seen her but she didn't, she went ahead and booked that same day.
I then realised I couldn't afford to go and told her. She was fuming as this meant she was liable to pay £700 in deposit which had to be paid whether we went or not, and it was all in her name. As a compromise I agreed to pay half of the deposit.
Anyway for the past few days she has nattered and nattered about this deposit saying she wanted it paid asap so she could go ahead and cancel so I went and paid £360 a few days ago by credit card.
Anyway I looked at the booking thing online the next day and she hadn't cancelled it, as soon as I'd paid my half of the deposit she went and took my name off the booking and put someone elses in my place. So I have basically paid someone elses deposit for them.
She insisted that it was my fault and that I shouldn't have said I wanted to go when I couldn't and that the only way someone else would take my place was if the deposit was taken care of.
So is she in the right getting me to pay this deposit like this?
Should I protest or just leave it and accept that I put her in an awkward position?
Do I have a legal leg to stand on?