To not replace the bottle of wine?

In smaller fridges the door isn't a good place to store bottles. The place in the door is skinnier than in a big fridge, the bar on it is lower and flimsy easily moveable plastic unable to give support to bottles.

I am surprised that people are commenting confused about how it fell out. I've had this happen numerous times in my life, things falling out of the fridge door-they've usually become dislodged and fallen forward, having caught on something else in the fridge.

I'd not store wine in the fridge door for this reason, only heavier jars or sauces that aren't tall enough to potentially fall out and I'd be less bothered to lose than a nice bottle of wine

FWIW I did expect that the wine would be around £6-£8 depending on region, and if it was me who this happened to, I would replace it but then have a conversation about not leaving things in the fridge door as they have a potential of falling out when the door is opened.

If you break sonething belonging to someone else, you replace it in my book. And unless you're unhinged or have a very bad temper, I'd say most of those instances are accidents-doesn't mean you're not responsible. We all have accidents/make mistakes.

Sure. You still replace the bottle. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?

I think we only have the OP’s word that they didn’t yank or slam the door.

Seems like it wasn’t your fault.
For me in a situation like this. It would depend on how much I liked the flatmate, If she was a nice person I would, if she wasn’t I wouldn’t
It was a bit cheeky of her to ask you to replace it

But your accident was avoidable, this one wasn't. If you scuff a car when when reversing that is definitely your fault and a lack of skill.

Opening a fridge door doesn't involve any skill 🤷‍♀️ everyone opens it the same presumably? Unless the OP slammed it open!

As others have said. Yes you should replace it. It was an accident, and maybe she should put wine close to the hinge on the door going forward, but you opened the door and it fell out.

Is it really worth the cost of a replacement to have ill feeling in the house?

You say the fridge was the fullest it’s ever been: I’m assuming therefore that everyone in the house is storing lots of stuff in there, and that the fridge door was the only place available for her to put it… that potentially makes it everyone’s fault. If you live with say 4 other people, get them all to chip in 1.50 to get her a new bottle of wine if you really don’t fancy paying for it all yourself.

(I am not being serious, just in case someone thinks I am)

But like the OP said - whomever next opened the fridge it would've fallen out as it was badly stored. She was just the unlucky one.

Plenty of accidents could have been the fault of somebody else instead if not for that place and that time. It doesn’t mean that the person who did cause the accident isn’t responsible for it. When I scuffed somebody’s very badly parked car in the shopping centre car park, I didn’t absolve myself from liability by saying that the next person who’d tried to reverse out of the adjacent spaces could just as easily have done it - which they could have - so it wasn’t my problem.

Agree

Replace it, put it in exactly the same place in the fridge, then avoid using fridge until flatmate smashes it.....

I agree, I'm shocked at how many people are saying it was the OP's fault and "you broke it" - bottles of wine that are stored correctly don't just fall out of the fridge upon opening the door.

Indeed.

To be honest if the OP is as blunt and petty in day to day life as she has been to posters on the thread the wine was probably the straw that broke the camels back for the housemate.

It being accidental doesn’t meant it isn’t your fault.

It’s really rude and ill mannered of you to refuse to replace it.

Going against the grain. No you shouldn’t pay. If the fridge was full and the bottle was placed so that just opening the door normally caused it to fall out, then she hasn’t put it in there properly. Sounds as though there was something either underneath or at the back of it in the door which caused it to topple over the lip. Could have happened to anyone. Before you ‘pick up’ another bottle ensure she understands you are not responsible for paying for it.

Buy a new bottle of wine!

Why have you said it was £6?

It's an assumption but it's not unreasonable. People who buy expensive wine don't tend to live in house shares.

And before everyone piles in to say they lived off Chateuneuf-du-Pape as students/the wine was a present, yes I know there are exceptions!

But like the OP said - whomever next opened the fridge it would've fallen out as it was badly stored. She was just the unlucky one.

I think for harmony"s sake she should buy another bottle but I'd be making a point of telling her it won't be happening again. And I thin the housemate is rude to outright ask for another bottle tbh. I'd just put it down to an accident.

Was it full? I'd replace for the sake of keeping peace, but if it wasn't full, I'd open and take a glass 😅(as bit petty for them to ask you to replace too, these things happen)

Sounds like the bottle shelf was tightly packed with the bottle possibly being at an angle so when the door was opened, it tipped over and fell out.
If that was the case, it is not the Op's fault as it was an accident waiting to happen. However, if stored correctly, the OP should pay up.

Accident or not, you broke it, you pay for it. Is it worth falling out with everyone over this?

I'm enjoying the very revealing amounts of money people are assuming the wine cost. I am very fancy for the record so my advice is you should replace it as it's not worth falling out over £72.

I know what you mean OP - we have a second fridge in The garage that's quite cheapo and the bottle shelf can only be used for plastic bottles as it's not made of strong enough plastic to hold wine etc - the plastic is "bendy". Could it be that? Either that or she'd shoved it in when it was already full and it popped out when you opened the door.

So how much did it cost, then?