More of a WWYD... Waitress dropped dish of olive oil onto my phone, now it's broken.

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

She was very appoogetic, and I wiped it over with a napkin and turned it upside down, but the oil has obviously got in to the piece where you hear people talking to you and you can't hear anything. So essentially, I can't make or receive calls.

Is there anything I can actually do about this? I mean, they're not going to replace my phone are they ... Is it just bad luck and move on?

[limitedperiodonly]

I never understand people on these threads who insist that the OP won't get compensation and should just drop it. You don't know until you try.

[kitkat1968]

I think that ultimately a phone is on a dinner table at the owner's risk.
^This^

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

Well, while I don't think anything will happen in my favour, I strongly disagree that if a phone is on the table it's fair game.

[MummyBex1985]

If your phone is on the table and you spill a drink on it - it's your fault.

If your phone is on the table and a waitress spills oil on it - it's her fault and therefore the restaurants fault by extension.

A reasonable and diligent waitress wouldn't spill oil and destroy a phone. Therefore, the company is liable although proving it might be a different matter

[allegretto]

Not everyone has insurance for their phone. The restaurant should pay.

[Queenbean]

It's utterly irrelevant that the phone was on the table so the OP is at fault. You expect the waitress to keep the food in the dish so you can eat it, not slop it all about the table.

A waiter once knocked over a bottle of tonic on his tray, it fell over and all the liquid poured straight over the top and in to my brand new very expensive handbag. My headphones stopped working and the bag was sticky - I wrote in after the event just asking for the cost of new headphones, they were great, very apologetic and paid up right away

[AppleSetsSail]

A reasonable and diligent waitress wouldn't spill oil and destroy a phone.
Really?

I think there's distinction to be made between electronics and clothing, incidentally. Dry cleaning for spillage on clothes etc seems a perfectly reasonable request. Electronics, on the other hand, are expensive, easily damaged, expensive to repair, easily kept off the table.

[CaffeineDeficitDisorder]

If she had thrown olive oil over your clothes and damaged them the restaurant would have to pay to make them good.
This is the same thing.
Follow it up.

[GirlOutNumbered]

A table full of liquid, fats, hot oils etc is a stupid place for a £500 piece of equipment.

If it were your friend that knocked the oil over, would you make them pay?

[Originalfoogirl]

not sure what I can do about that

"Well, you can pay for it to be repaired?"

When complaining about something, be polite, be reasonable, and always state your preferred outcome.

They are liable, they should pay. If the manager refuses, go to head office.

[TSSDNCOP]

FGS! The waitress dropped food and damaged your property. If it had been your coat on the back of your chair, or your handbag by your feet I would say the same.

Ask will need to make the insurance claim, that's why they have it. Email the regional manager and insist they get it sorted.

[topcat2014]

The restaurant will have all sorts of liability covers in place - you just need to make the appropriate contact so that you can get the claim started.

There will be a whole head office department dealing with such things. With a large chain, there are always bound to be these things going on.

Accidents do happen, but that doesn't mean that they can just fob you off.

Have you spoken to your phone contract provider - do you have any insurance yourself?

[HermioneJeanGranger]

I don't think it's the same as spilling food down someone's jacket.

You have to wear clothes to go out. You don't HAVE to keep your phone out on the table while food is being served. No matter how professional and experienced the waitress might be, spillages still happen. That said, the restaurant (morally) should cover it, but I think you'll struggle to claim anything because you can't prove the waitress caused the problem. They'll tell you that you should have complained and spoken to the manager at the time.

[Pipbin]

Not commenting on this case as such but I am always staggered at the disregard that people have for £600 electrical that they carry with them all day.
I'll stick this where there is a very real chance of it being covered in liquid or food and act like that's fine.
If it was £600 in cash or even a cheque then you sure as shit wouldn't leave it lying about the place to get broken.

[curren]

I would speak to them again. But I wouldn't be so sure their insurance will cover it.

I have my phone out during meals, especially working lunches. But when food/drinks are being served I put it away. I would imagine insurance would expect you to take a small amount of responsibility yourself.

[Pipbin]

I would however ask for a replacement etc from the restaurant.

Then in the future I would think twice before leaving my phone on the table. There is no need to have it there. Would you leave it there if it was a laptop?

[SoupDragon]

Would you leave it there if it was a laptop?

it would have to be a bloody big table!

[alltouchedout]

Your insurance should cover this, shouldn't it?

I'm a bit torn tbh. As a customer who can ill afford to replace my phone, I'd be really unhappy. But having been a waitress previously, the though of having to spend what would probably be a week's wages or more on replacing a customer's phone is just dreadful. I waitressed in a variety of places and you can be sure every single one of them would have taken it out of the staff's pay had they needed to compensate a customer.

And tbh, you're at a restaurant table, there is food and drink around, you really shouldn't assume there will be no accidents.

[notapizzaeater]

I hope head office resolve it fir you, why should you be out of pocket for something which is clearly their fault.

[Helloitsme88]

I'm sorry but it's a massive company not an independent restaurant. I would be demanding a new phone. They broke it they need to replace it

[HermioneJeanGranger]

Pretty sure it's illegal to dock a staff's wages to compensate a customer...

[AppleSetsSail]

A phone is completely different from clothes for reasons noted. You don't have much choice in wearing clothes, for starters.

[SoupDragon]

There is some nice victim blaming on this thread.

[AppleSetsSail]

There is some nice victim blaming on this thread.

You mean victim-blaming like when people say that women get raped because they're drunk? Good grief.