To expect a parent to pay for child's damage?!

[MissB83]

Context: I had a friend and her 2 year old for a play date this afternoon. Before either of us could stop her, her 2 year old grabbed my letter flap (inside) and forced it up, which snapped an internal mechanism so it no longer lies flush to the door my friend tried to explain it away that she fiddles with the door and didn't immediately realise that her child had broken it. However the kicker is that the door is brand new; it was replaced about a month ago at a cost of nearly £900! It looks wrong now but worse is letting in a significant draught into an already cold house.

I think the part can probably be replaced as it screws on and on but obviously this will be at a cost. My friend has been back to thank me for the play date but not mentioned the door. I am flat broke so cannot pay for the repair anyway but I don't feel I should have to, but I want to go in on the right foot before annoying my friend. AIBU to expect her to pay?

It's just a letterbox; measure it, get a new one at screwfix or wherever and attach it. They cost about £20.

Get a quote and if you need help paying perhaps suggest splitting the bill

Why not give your local trading standards a ring tomorrow (weekday) during normal working hours to ask
Your consumer rights in this situation. You can double check what the fitter is saying then.

It does seem that your door letterbox shouldn't have broken so easily

Have you contacted the door complain and see if it’s covered ? A 2 year old wouldn’t have caused it to break if it wasn’t faulty.

@slenny I disagree - if a 2 year old can break an item like a month old letterbox, it’s not fit for purpose. Letterboxes are at height of small children. It should be able to withstand pulling back and forth to a degree as that’s the purpose of the product - we’re not talking about a China tea pot.

Door company / supplier - if same as fitter, should fix and resolve.

Fit for purpose retail rules apply here.

It's just a plastic flap.

Not worth worrying about.

As trivial as a broken mug or teapot.

www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/search?query=letter%20flap

YANBU. But don't expect compensation.

I've a friend with destructive kids. They dump everything out on the floor within minutes, lose pieces & the 4 year old will break any toy he gets hold of. I get apologies, half hearted clean ups & empty offers to replace toys that never eventuate. So I meet her at her place or somewhere public. If they do come to my house most of the toys are put away & bedrooms are blocked off to minimise the carnage.

My 'D'SIL had 2 very destructive little buggers and could have seen them yanking the flap on the back of a door. We had glass lamps pushed off tables: SIL tutting 'Don't worry, I'll pay for it!' A small coal shovel thrown in a brand new empty bath 'Oops sorreeee'. I get that some kids are like this but it's the parent's responsibility to put it right, she didn't, so we stopped seeing them.

Your friend is a CF for not offering to pay and for those that have never bought one, £900 is standard for a composite door.

The door is not broke just the letter box flap. YABU, get a grip op

The problem here now is that it appears the fitter has been told a 2 year old was playing with it and forced it. There is now no way this will be repaired under warranty.

If you think about it, post or a letterbox size parcel isn't going to force the inner flap up to an angle that the child did in order for it to break, it just can't do it.

It's a pay for it and get the fitter to do it and keep your warranty, or do it yourself and void it. What needs to be considered is, if you void the warranty over a part that's a few quid and a double glazed unit (if there is one in the door) becomes faulty (it happens with misting up), that's going to be considerably more to replace.

Who pays is another argument entirely and down to you OP.

An internal letterbox hinge will be set to open to 90°, possibly a little further to accommodate a large letter/parcel that may need some maneuvering to get out. Push it beyond 180° and it will break.

Agreed and I put the same in my post.

If post is going through the door, I cannot logically see how the flap would go past 90 deg. 2 year old pushing it past that will easily break it. The letterbox I would say is fit for purpose.

@PhilCornwall1 but if a 2 year old can break it, is it fit for purpose? I don’t think so! It should be under warranty.

Cheap fix likely yes. Fit for purpose? No.

@gumpforestgump I'll agree to disagree then. Force anything past it's tolerance and it will break. We are talking an inner letterbox flap, not the whole door.

A boisterous 2 year old isn't a weakling.

A £900 door should come with a guarantee and should not break that easily. Yes your friend should pay but I'd be more concerned at spending £900 On a door that breaks so easily. I'd contact the company and say it broke with post. Would be surprised if questioned!

@PhilCornwall1 true, but if I paid £900 for a door with a toddler height letter box, then I’d expect it to have some strength to withhold a pull back from a 2 year old. Frankly I as an adult could have pulled it back to look for mail. If I did and it broke, is that my fault or poor product? Not fit for purpose in my view.

Frankly I as an adult could have pulled it back to look for mail

Pulled it back to look for mail? Wouldn't it be in the floor? The inner flap would be flush to the door, it's not going to hide the post.

I think that in law if your child broke something in a shop you would be responsible. However I am not sure if this would require a notice to be in situ.

I'm afraid I'm not the kind of person who tells lies to honest people with a business to run and anyway I think an explanation that it was a piece of post would be utterly implausible once he saw the way it was damaged, a piece of post wouldn't have done that.

I'd be expecting her to offer to fix/pay for it
Her kid broke it, simple
I actually wouldn't have her back round and just meet up in a cafe or whatever

I think your mistake was not mentioning it as soon as it happened though. She had time now to use the excuse of "cant be my kid that was days ago"

The door was pushed beyond the specifications, a 2 yr old or 90 yr old could have broken it. Everything has a little give but not over and over at force and yes, I think we all know 2 yr olds can use force. Price and age of door is irrelevant really.
I mean say a trampoline has weight specs, no matter how much you pay be that 100 or 1000, too much weight, it will break, that simple.

I don't know if my post wasn't clear or not but to clarify:

I didn't need to mention it at the time as my friend and I were both standing right next to the door. She actually saw her daughter do it and didn't stop her. The reason she gave was "she fiddles with our letter box I didn't think yours would break". So she saw her daughter do the damage.

The awkward part is that in seeing it, I said yes and unfortunately the door is brand new. She said oh sorry but made no mention of paying for a fix, and not in messages the same afternoon so I suspect it's not in her mind.

Does your friend know it’s damaged?

The same child actually broke one of my son's toys on a previous visit which I replaced and didn't make a big deal about (neither her mum or I saw her do it and it was fairly low cost).

I wouldnt ask her to pay and I would just keep the friendship.

People have funny ideas about breaking things when its an "accident". Back in my uni days one of my flatmates smashed a beautiful brand new coffee plunger i'd got for my birthday. I couldnt' find it for a week or so and eventually it came out that she had broken it. I was so annoyed and told her she needed to buy me anew one. She went ballistic and told me I was unreasonable because it was "an accident". I told her I didnt' care, she had broken it, she tried to hide it and that she was bloody rude. She reluctantly bought me a new one but near threw it at me