[legion]

So Thursday night last week my friend (who lives in San Jose, CA) and I decide to purchase tickets for the US GP in Austin this November. We decide on a hotel and general admission tickets. I trust him, so I offer to take care of everything.

I order a pair of tickets from the COTA website and then go to book the agreed-upon hotel. Hotels are ridiculously expensive--in the$500 a night range--and I discover that the agreed-upon hotel is requiring a 4 night booking instead of the agreed-upon 2 nights (Friday and Saturday).

I immediately call my friend and explain the situation. I ask him to find another hotel as it is now late for me (past 10:00) and I need to go to be for work.

When I get to work Friday morning, I discover that he has written me an e-mail. In it he explains that because the shuttle schedule and support race schedule has not been published (that either of us could find) he wanted to back out of the race. He offers to pay for his race ticket, and also explains that he has a room on hold at an Embassy Suites 30 miles from the track for the agreed-upon nights for $500 a night. He also explains that he lost a lot of money on a recent trip to Italy due to his reservations not being as firm as he was led to believe, and he is nervous about losing more money on this trip.

I type a response saying that I'm not at all nervous about this, I will give him a call to talk it over. I further state that because I plan on driving down, I expect that having a vehicle on hand can smooth over any transportation issues. I call him Friday after work and leave a message. I call him twice on Saturday and leave two messages. I get an e-mail early Sunday morning explaining that his girlfriend's parents are visiting and he will call me on Tuesday. I call him on Tuesday before I go to bed, and get hung up on.

I type an e-mail Wednesday morning that explains that I am going to the race, I have booked my own hotel closer to the track for half the per night cost (though for the required four nights), and he is welcome to join me for whatever time he wants. I also say that I am disappointed that he waited until AFTER I booked the race tickets to back out, and I felt that it was a pretty crappy thing to do to a friend.

Time will tell, but I'm pretty sure I lost a friend over this. He was the best man at my wedding. I expect never to hear from him again as I don't think he will ever overcome the shame from screwing me out of money and contact me.

I also think the fair thing to do would be to offer to pay for half of the hotel. I know that if I backed out, I would consider let the other person continue to the race at the same cost to them to be the right thing to do.