How long is too long to expect a refund on something that you paid for but never received?

Weeks?

Months?

How about four years?

Yeah, that seems like quite a long time, don’t you think?

Well, the woman who wrote the story you’re about to read dished out a whole lot of money four years ago…and now she wants a refund.

Get all the details below, and see what you think about this!

AITAH / WIBTA for asking for a refund from a cat breeder after 4 years?

“In 2022, my husband and I were looking for a kitten from a breeder we had previously gotten a cat from. She offered us a male kitten, and we paid €950 in advance.

Shortly afterward, due to family circumstances, I had to spend a significant amount of time abroad. We asked the breeder whether we could postpone getting a kitten until a future litter.

She said she understood and that it was fine.

We did not ask for a refund at the time because we fully intended to get a kitten from her later. As far as I know, the kitten originally offered to us would have been sold to someone else.

They were finally ready for a kitten.

Fast forward to 2025: we contacted her again.

She had a single kitten available but it wasn’t the right fit for us, so we decided to wait for another litter.

Recently, I reached out again and she told me she is no longer planning to breed cats and will not have any future kittens.

This sounds pretty complicated…

So now we’re in a situation where:

We paid €950 in 2022.

We never received a kitten.

We left the money with her because we expected to eventually receive a kitten.

She is now ending her breeding program and can no longer provide what we paid for.

Now what…?

Part of me feels that since she can no longer fulfill the arrangement, it would be reasonable to ask for the money back.

Another part of me feels awkward because so much time has passed, and the delays were initially on our side.

My husband thinks we should probably let it go. If we do ask, he thinks maybe asking for 50% back would be fair, treating the other half as compensation for the inconvenience.

Would I be unreasonable to ask for a refund at this point? If so, should I ask for the full amount or a partial refund?”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who is irate after she gave a group leader money for her daughter’s lunch, only to have him pocket the cash and ask all of the kids to pay their own way.

Reddit users spoke up.

This person said she’s to blame.

Another reader weighed in.

This individual said she’s NTA, but…

Another individual weighed in.

And this person had a lot to say.

This is a pretty complicated situation, huh?

It’s pretty easy to see if from both sides of the equation, but that is a lot of money to pay for something that you never actually received.

What to do…?

She’s pretty conflicted over what to do about this.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a family who is resisting pressure from the HOA to remove their tree and lights.