pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

LOL love how they add in words like "shocked", "horrified" lol

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...FB_mirror_main

A increasingly heated Facebook conversation has been released between the two mums involved in a row over a child's snow centre fun day







Row: A mum sent a family an invoice after a little boy didn't attend a birthday party A heated row between two mums over Facebook has revealed how a five-year-old ended up being INVOICED for missing a birthday party.
Derek Nash and Tanya Walsh were stunned when they found a bill for £15.95 inside their son's school bag.
Alex Nash, aged five, decided to go on an outing with his grandparents instead of taking up an invite to attend the friend's birthday bash at a snow centre.
But delivery driver Derek was horrified when Alex came home with an invoice in a brown envelope from party host Julie Lawrence in his school bag last Thursday.

Facebook
Lesson Learned: Mum Julie Lawrence sent the invoice after a boy failed to turn up to a child's birthday party After the story made headlines this morning, a Facebook conversation has emerged in which Ms Lawrence explains her actions.
It begins with Tanya asking about what happened - below are some extracts form the lengthy chat.
She wrote: "I was very shocked to see the invoice in Alex's school bag. I did not realise that you had to pay for each child, as you never mentioned anything about money when we spoke....
"I apologise for not letting you know, but I did not have a phone number or an e-mail for you to let you know the situation (I also didn't know your first name, or I would have looked you up).
"If I had known that I would have to pay if Alex did not go, then I would have paid you the money, no problem. I do not like fighting with people, and would prefer to settle this amicably."

SWNS
Party Price: Julie wanted £15.95 after Alex Nash failed to turn up Julie replied: "I didn't mention the money when we spoke because it was a child's party, it doesn't matter if you have to pay per person or for a group if people agree to going.
"I confirmed that with all parents on the Thursday before the party that they were going as I had to pay that day, and Derek told me Alex was looking forward to it and would see us there, to me that is confirmation.
"My phone number was on the invitation that was sent out to Alex...
"This is not the first time Alex has not turned up to a party that he has been invited to, either. The amicable way round this I believe would be to pay me the money and let a lesson be learnt, I hope this is agreeable ?"
But Alex's mum was not pleased with the response, explaining that she wasn't aware of another party he hadn't turned up to. She added that the school wasn't happy that the envelope had been placed in her son's bag.

SWNS
Parent Anger: Alex's dad Derek was fuming after the invoiced was put in his son's school bag Tanya wrote: "Alex was very excited to go to the party. I didn't know until the day about his nan and grandad, and he decided he would rather spend the day with them. Like I said before I didn't have your number to let you know.
"And exactly what lesson would I be learning. I am not a child, so please do not speak to me like I am one. So, to answer your question, unfortunately no. This is not agreeable."
Julie then goes on to explain what the invoice was for.
She wrote: "You are paying for 1 x child's party at the ski slope including snow tubing and tobogganing and lunch, to with you said Alex was attending on the Thursday."
Tanya then explains that taking the matter to a small claims court would cost £60 just to start a claim, adding that she wasn't prepared to pay 'for something we didn't use'.
She wrote: "I don't know why you are out for our blood and slandering us....
"Maybe if you actually spoke to me rather than making your own mind up about what happened then none of this would be happening right now."

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

A complete and utter non-story not worthy of a single piece of media time yet our media being what it is gives it more coverage than the massacre of 2000 people in Africa at the hands of Boko Haram

The people in the story all need a slap with the reality stick! FFS!!!!!

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Wrong again...you ARE getting slack, LOL

THIS is actually what 90% of the UK seem to see as entertainment.

Matteeboy

Must be a very slow news day...

b3nmw

Load of bollx. Haven't people got anything better to do. Why it was resorted to an invoice is beyond.

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

I would have shat on the invoice and posted it back to Pimmo.

zip106

Don't see the issue.
The place at the party would have had to have been paid for whether the kid turned up or not.

Morons.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Exactly if she can afford to pay for 20 odd kids at £16 per head, then just mark it off as experience for any noshows. I reckon there's some history between the parents seeing as the kids are mates, well used to be

BoozyDave

iTrader: (8)

can't believe it's made the news, but

I agree with it

If you organize a kids party for your kid and 10 friends @ £15.99 each. You pay £175 for the day, if all kids show up and your kid has a great day, then it's money well spent

but, if you pay out £175 and only 2 kids show up and your kid has a rubbish party and thinks nobody likes them, would you be happy? especially if they all confirmed they were going only 2 days earlier?

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Yea true but that's not the point. Any rational person would have spoken to the parents of the noshow and sorted it out that way rather than asking their fecking teacher (who is also a moron) to put an "invoice" in the kid's bag lol Anyway for just 1 no show its very petty, especially for £16.

ScoobyWon't

The press have been posting pictures of the houses each family live in.

It reminded me of when I was a kid - the poor kid never turned up. As a kid, you accepted the reason, sickness, other plans etc but as I look back, I see that the kids that didn't turn up were the ones who's parents couldn't afford gifts for the other kids.

I now remember how that all of us who did invite that kid, never actually went to a party for him.

It's sad as I can see the kid who didn't show losing friends and not receiving further invites in the future, as parent's will assume he won't turn up, whereas the child's who party it was will either have everyone attend future events out of fear, or no-one attend out of fear of being invoiced. Very sad for children their age in either case.

How much does the SN massive spend on children's parties? Jelly is cheap, though I expect the SN massive with 5 kids and hundreds of thousands of income buy each guest a pony and a years worth of stables etc.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Turbohot

This sucks, man.

Carnut

My wife always makes enough food at parties for the whole village, if it's not all eaten i don't go and send a bill to all the people who did not attend, I just give the wife a slapping and tell her to do better next time, honestly, some people.

tony de wonderful

Which is low on everyone's radar especially the people who take to the streets when some Palestinians die, or protest in their millions because of a cartoon.

Did you know 45 Churches were torched in Niger a few days ago BTW? Can you imagine if 45 mosques got destroyed?

dpb

50p a week off his pocket money for year

He'll think twice before pulling a sickie ( staying on his x-box).


Meanwhile , some body really does have crack on with removing boko haram leadership , and that useless idiot Goodluck

fat-thomas

iTrader: (4)

It has the words "Facebook conversation " in it.
Confirming both parents are *****.

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

I wouldn't have invited you .. *****

Miniman

iTrader: (2)

I usually pay out for the party venue and the wife the food (or has made it in the past). Food is not normally a problem, we gave up years ago and realised that while we could provide lots of crisps and cakes for kids, it's not great for them and still persist with the sandwiches and fruit. Knowing full well that these are going to be the majority of left overs.

Venue and places? OK so we've had the odd kid not turn up, but usually they have told us in advance and we've invited someone else. But I treat it as a total expense and don't try to offset it against some kind of "party value". It's a expense for my kids to enjoy with their mates. If someone doesn't turn up I don't treat it as a a parent failure (to provide adequate party).

You wonder what this woman will be like once the kids start getting pocket money for household chores, probably have some sort of quality criteria for each kid and they are docked pocket money when they don't hoover a room properly or drop a bit of rubbish when taking the bins out.

In response to an earlier poster - what would I do if no one turned up. I certainly would not let the child think no one liked them, I'd probably invent some "accident on the main road" excuse. We also usually end up taking a few kids anyway, so will have quite a few screaming kids ready to go anyway. My wife pretty much knew all the parents from early on so that was never going to happen as she spoke to the majority and received the RSVP's anyway.

hodgy0_2

I suspect that ^ is a large part of it tbh

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

harsh but fair. I wouldn't have accepted if you had, coont!

Luan Pra bang

I can completely understand the motivation, I just had a party for a child on an indoor ski slope and it wasn't expensive but numbers were limited to 21 kids so my Mrs just told everyone straight let us know if you are definitely coming as if not there are other people we can invite. I actually arranged for 22 kids expecting at least 1 no show and as it happens luckily we got one. If you are invited and say yes then either go or tell someone you are not going. It's just rude to sack it off for no good reason with no phone call or text. My son's 7th birthday party cost not far off 4k and I would have been pretty annoyed if a bunch of pepole had not turned up.

Infected by sti

iTrader: (6)

**** me don't fancy being in your shoes for what's regarded as the "big" birthdays

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

Maybe the parents of SN can help me out here. Would you agree to your child going to a Birthday party and confirm it shortly before without having any contact details for the parent arranging it, or even knowing their name?

Whilst the whole thing could have been handled better regarding any expense, it just seems odd to me that parents would agree to their kid going to a party without knowing the above. Apart from anything else, it would have prevented this dispute going the way it has, as his parents could have let the woman know he was unable to attend.

It is a pretty sad state of affairs, though, that between them, they couldn't have resolved this without invoices, threats of court and it being splashed all over the media.

The poor kids.

dpb

I dunno, it all sounds like a nice little earner for all those involved...

legb4rsk

and I would say it was your own stupid fault.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

But he did know the kids parents details, all the info, addy, phone, email address were on the invite, contrary to what he said in the media about not having any details at all I think he's a bit of a dick as well to be honest. Like tubbs said both parties have some issues

Turbohot

Yeah, that's what it looks like.

I think it is rude not to inform the party organiser; that's if you have their contact details. But it's also unreasonable for the party organiser to automatically 'assume' that the child will certainly turn up, even if they haven't received a definite confirmation from the parents. If they were so precious about the wasting of their money, then they could have chased the parent of the invitee prior to the event, and got the answer. Kicking off afterwards with sending the invoice etc. is ridiculous. As it has already been said, publicly shaming each other for something like this is also ridiculous. Both their kids will inevitably get some stick from other kids in school over this, and they will be the ones to suffer due to their parents' actions. Idiots.

hodgy0_2

Poor Kids - totally agree

and I have 5 so have been too and hosted quite a few in my time - I still have 8 year old twins, so not out of the woods yet

and yes - often there is very little contact tbh - sometimes just an invite given to your child, quite how they expect it to always get to the parent/ carer is a mystery

but there is a surprising amount of etiquette, parents with child's 1 or 2, seem to want to stay (parties for 3 to 5 years old), old timers with child's 4 and 5 simply drop them of and scarper pronto

also I was embarrassed one year when, having a joint party for the twins we did not explicitly state in the invite that people should NOT bring separate presents i.e. two

the constant present buying - we invariably have at least one party every weekend is annoying (in fact the wife, she is v v organised keeps a few presents in-stock so to speak)

but as ever communication is the key, I just feel sorry for the kids