I live on a private lane (ie, potholed muddy mess) along with several other homeowners.
I recently decided that it needed repairing so I went round all the neighbours, told them of my plans and asked if they would be happy contributing towards the cost of materials (which I estimated to cost around £50 per resident)
Everyone said they were happy to pay and thanked me for doing it. So I sent a flyer around everyone outlining what I would be doing and asking them to pay promptly as I had paid for the materials/equipment hire etc.
Everyone paid within a couple of days/popped round to personally say thank you/ply me with wine etc.
Apart from one resident - so I popped around to her house at the weekend and she said she hadn't seen the leaflet but said she would write me a cheque out that evening. Which I still haven't received.
Now I am really pissed off - I did this as a huge favour to everyone as no-one has done a thing about it in the 8 years I have been there, I took three days off work that I could have spent with my family, instead getting cold and wet and knackered and this woman hasn't had the common decency to stump up the £27 it eventually cost her - so that means the repairs have cost me £54 + all the effort of planning and doing the work.
So - do I put this down to experience and wait for Karma to catch up with her or do I go back round a second time and ask again for the money - it isn't as if I *need* the money but right now it is the principle of the fact she seems to be thinking she can get away with bullshitting me.
Life's too short to spend it with high-blood pressure.
