A Redditor is asking for opinions after struggling with guilt because they asked for their deposit back when a tattoo artist canceled the appointment they made months ago. They reached out to the artist and made the appointment back in August, choosing the date carefully due to their packed schedule and their highly physical job.
The artist is now claiming that the deposit is non-refundable and has gone quiet after the OP pushed back because although they sympathize with the emergency situation, rescheduling is going to be next to impossible.
“This morning on my way to work I get a text saying their dog had an emergency surgery and they needed to cancel,” the Redditor explains. “That’s fine – I certainly understand emergencies pop up and life happens.”
“However, the reason why I booked so far in advance was because I’m taking the next week off. I work a very physical job with animals and wanted to heal before returning to it. Rescheduling isn’t simple because of that and because I work full time plus am in college full time.”
On top of that, the artist said that they were moving to a different city.
Due to all these factors, the OP felt that they wouldn’t be able to reschedule the appointment until next year. That’s quite a ways off, and they therefore decided that they would rather just get the deposit back and forget about the tattoo for the time being. They assumed this wouldn’t be an issue due to the fact that the cancellation was made by the artist, regardless of whether or not it was an emergency of any kind.
The tattoo artist seems to feel differently.
“I said I sympathize with their emergency, but explained my situation and said I hope they understand where I’m coming from. Because they were the one to cancel, I feel like I am entitled to my deposit back. They are clearly unhappy and have now gone silent.”
Because the payment was made on Paypal, the OP has the option of opening up a dispute claim against the tattoo artist. In recent post updates, they confirmed that they went ahead and did so after commenters encouraged them to, arguing that they are correct in their feeling that the cancellation entitles them to a refund.
Otherwise, people would be scamming customers all the time by promising services and then canceling on them.
