A customer[40M] owes me[28M] five hundred bucks for a product, but his husband just passed away. What do I do?

I need to keep things vague or else it would be too obvious if anyone we know reads this

Anyway, Tommy (fake name) is an acquaintance who has bought several expensive items from me before. Our arrangement is unique in that I send him the items first, then he pays me by Paypal. He's never given me any problem before

Last year, he wanted to buy a product that cost 500 bucks. After successful delivery, Tommy told me how useful it was but the payment never came. After a week, I reminded Tommy about it and he told me he'd pay it soon

A week dragged to a month, and after I asked Tommy, he admitted he was low on cash. Since Tommy was a good customer before, I didn't mind giving him longer

Twenty excuses later, it's been a full year and I decided to dig around. I learnt from multiple sources that Tommy's husband had recently passed away from long-term complications and he's grieving. The product he bought from me was meant to cheer up/help his husband. The long hospital stay had drained Tommy's money

I am not a heartless person and I feel sorry for Tommy. But I am upset because Tommy bought this from me despite knowing he could face a cash flow problem

What do I do now, Reddit? Write off the 500 bucks? Demand a long-term repayment plan from Tommy?

TLDR: An acquaintance, Tommy, bought a $500 product from me. He held off payment for a year despite my frequent reminders. I dug around and learnt that his husband just passed away after a long hospital stay (draining all of Tommy's money), and the product he bought was supposed to help cheer up his husband. I am upset because Tommy bought it knowing he could face a cash flow problem. Do I write off the $500 on compassionate grounds? Do I ask for a long-term repayment plan?

Submitted November 29, 2020 at 08:46PM by Eriflee https://ift.tt/3fL5WJO