Quote :

The parents of a five-year-old schoolboy have been invoiced for failing to attend a school friend’s birthday party and have been threatened with legal action if they do not pay.

Derek Nash and Tanya Walsh found a brown envelope with a £15.95 “no show fee” left in their son Alex’s schoolbag last week, sent by his classmate’s mother Julie Lawrence.

Lawrence claims that Alex’s failure to attend her child’s birthday party has left her out of pocket, and that his parents had her details to tell her that their son would not be attending.

Nash said he had been told he would be taken to small claims court for refusing to pay.

It all started with an invitation to the birthday party just before Christmas at the Plymouth Ski Slope and Snowboard Centre. Alex – who attends a local nursery in Torpoint, Cornwall – told his parents he wanted to go, so they confirmed he would be at the party.

However, his parents realised on the day that Alex had been double-booked to spend time with his grandparents.

His mother told Apex News, “Julie Lawrence and I weren’t friends, we didn’t talk to each other at school, but I felt bad about Alex not going to the party.”

“I searched for the party invite afterwards and I’m not sure we even had one.”

She added: “But to be invoiced like this is so over the top – I’ve never heard of anything like it. It’s a terrible way of handling it – it’s very condescending.”

Nash said he did not have the contact details of Julie Lawrence, and so could not let her know on the day.

After he found the letter he visited Lawrence, as her address was on the invoice, and “told her I would not be paying her the money”.

“It was a proper invoice with full official details and even her bank details on it.” He added: “I can understand that she’s upset about losing money. The money isn’t the issue, it’s the way she went about trying to get the money from me.”

“She didn’t treat me like a human being,” he said.

In a short statement, Lawrence said: “All details were on the party invite. They had every detail needed to contact me.”

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OMG it's a fucking birthday party, not the end of the world!
That's absolutely ridiculous. People bail out all the time for different reasons.
I honestly don't think she has a case and I hope the judge laughs her out of court.

What the hell?!?! It is a damn birthday party. Invoicing? Seriously! I'd shove that invoice up that parents ass!

well that's stupid. Talk about sue happy cultures! Yikes.

I think this happened in Europe? I know that here all of the places that do birthday parties require a deposit of half of the bill in advance to reserve the party room and stuff and then the rest the day of the event. There is always at least one person that doesn't show up... do you know what the company does?? They REFUND the price if it's been overpaid due to people not showing. It's not a big deal. What other funds have you lost? Money on the cake?? You had to buy a cake anyways. Money on party favors? Most people over buy that shit, I always have a ton of favors left over. Food for the person? Most people just do pizza, it's not a damn wedding where you pay $30 per plate, you pay per pizza and most people buy too much pizza as well. I'm just not seeing how this is a loss for the person to really charge them for it. If money is that deep go the cheap route and have a party at your house. It just seems to me as if they are more concerned about the kid not getting a gift out of the situation. So sue the family that stood them up and boom... cash.

I will say that I do think charging is appropriate if the family brings another child that wasn't on the invite and has them crash the party.

See Tori I didn't realize those places that you have a down payment for give you a refund. I thought you paid no matter what once you made the reservation.

However sending a bill to the family is a bit over the top.

I know here some places that you have to put a down payment on will refund. However not all places refund. Example if you were to book a party at Chucky cheese they will refund you or you have the option to give the kids already there extra or give it to the parents attending. One year though we were going to book a party at Seven Spring and they said no refund will be given back. You just have to read the fine print and ask questions when booking a party. She should of known that there was going to be at least one or two that didn't show up because things come up and things happen. I think this is ridiculous. Its a child's birthday party. Like something hasn't come up where she rsvp'd yes and then had to cancel out at last minute. I would shove that invoice up her ass and I hope if she does take them to court, the judge makes a laughing show out of her.