To not pay £480 to fix dd's friend's phone

[FarangGirl]

Dd (14 yo) was with her friends and accidentally hit a friend in the arm. He had his phone in his hand and dropped it. Apparently it will cost £480 to repair!!! His parents want us to pay this. I think this is ridiculous. First, friend dropped the phoen, it wasn't like dd was using it. Second. If you're going to give your kid a stupidly expensive phoen, you should insure it and have a bullet proof cover.
Aibu?

The boy`s parents claiming they do not have a warranty because the bought it abroad is strange. I live in Switzerland and bought an apple product from an apple store in Dubai last October. Of course as others point out a warranty does not cover accidental damage. However I find this all a bit dodgy. I would not be offering the full amount or even half. I would be interested to see their purchase receipt firstly too. Also how can you be sure the other unknown damage is a result of it dropping? I just checked the cost of a screen repair in Switzerland for the iphone12. It is £234 (294chf) not £480 and as we know Switzerland is a very expensive country to live in. See link. support.apple.com/de-ch/iphone/repair/service/screen-replacement

If she was holding it or being silly, then yes half, but under the circumstances ,no!

my son has an okish phone (not an iphone or anything top of the range) nice enough not to be embarrassed about but not expensive. It's insured and has a bomb proof cover that has saved it from even a scratch after flying out his hand and down a hill!

Dont want big charges - dont get a kids a stupidly expensive phone! I know year 5s with the latest Iphone (why!?!?!) if you insist on still doing it - insure it and cover it or face a huge bill. The kid would have dropped it at some point. Sounds like an Iphone - even the screens on those cost loads to get a real replacement (the high street fixes usually over heat and have issues but are cheap)

@Turkey98

You should have paid already - you are completely liable. If they take you to court, you will lose.

Just think about the arguments you are making and others are on this thread and think about the common case of car 'accidents'. Accidents happen, but there are consequences for those who cause them.

i) The cause of the event is clear, although clearly wouldn't be taken any further, your DD assaulted their friend, and as a direct consequence of this the phone was damaged.

ii) Insurance is the choice of the phone owner and covers their mistakes - whether they have insurance and whether they claim is down to them. Even if they do claim on their insurance, the insurance company can claim again whose fault it is - i.e. your DD (and you).

iii) You don't get any say in how expensive an item you choose to cause damage to. Same way as if you hit a Ferrai, you can't say you shouldn't have such an expensive car - you are responsible for any damage you cause from an event you start if such damage is reasonably foreseeable.

iv) The friend does not have to use a case if they don't want to - they only have to do that if they want to minimise damage they cause - they don't have to do that before the accident - only minimise their loss after the accident.

v) They are entitled to a repair to get it into the same state - using original parts - and these must be carried out according to manufacturers standards - in essence, Apple authorised repairers must perform the repairs using Apple parts (otherwise Apple won't support it).

vi) It doesn't matter if they didn't have a tight grip on the phone as long as they wouldn't have dropped it anyway. If you crash into a car and the car then hits another, you are liable for the entire pile-up, not just the car you originally hit. There is no comeback by saying they should have left more space so if someone hit them they wouldn't have hit the other car.

If you said anything like you were not paying to me, I would rent another phone (of same type) and charge you for that as well - you are 100% liable and should have paid the same day.

Stop blaming the person who suffered the loss, and accept your DD caused the accident and is fully responsible. Pay up before they take your DD to court.

This. Mocking the parents for allowing their child an expensive phone is deflecting from your daughter's daft actions. You don't get to decide for everyone else what's reasonable!

I can't believe this. She wasn't doing anything wrong and nor was he from the sounds of it yet his parents want you to fork out the whole cost of the repairs? It was an accident, plain and simple for starters. Surely they will be able to claim at least part of the repair from their House Insurance?

He/his parents were at least partly to blame. More so, in my opinion. You buy a very expensive phone, give it to a 14 year old - and don't get a decent solid cover and screen protector on it? That's an accident waiting to happen and very negligent on the part of the Boys parents not to consider how the phone could be best protected.

Personally I would have got Insurance for it too if they didn't already have it. I think it might be reasonable to pay some of the excess if they have insurance - but you need to call them out on whether they have insurance and get sight od the claim, the reply from the Insurance - and the final invoice. I suspect they are at it....

Turkey what the fuck are you talking about? You'd get fuck all out of me or my daughter 😂

Op definitely do not pay, or.. Put yourself in the other parents shoes. Would YOU expect the other family to pay up? I certainly wouldn't, I'd tell my child they should have held on to their expensive phone much tighter and I hope they've learned their lesson.

Mumsnet never fails to entertain, that's for sure.

@Turkey98 - absolute hogwash. It’s not the same situation at all. There’s no way I’d be paying a penny.

@Watapalava
You obviously have no regard for expensive items or else more money than sense.
I read about more about 'abuse' of iPhones re broken screens, lost when walking the dog, dropped in the toilet etc than any other make of mobile phone. The owners obviously have little regard for something costing circa £1000. I wonder if they'd be so blasé about a TV at that price. "Mum, I just broke the TV screen when I was messing about with my mates."
Ah well...silly parents pick up the tab and their kids never learn the hard way.

But op doesn’t have to pay for it to be repaired by apple! There are repair shops on every street and screen repairs can be done in an hour! They’re so common

£480 is crazy who’d pay that to repair a phone!

No way I'd pay a penny. Phones are delicate which is why I bought my son a smart phone for only £150 and he always has it in a case. £480 is ridiculous.

I think they're taking the piss, my adult DD just had a new screen on her Iphone12 and it was £140.
I'd be asking for the details of what's actually broken.

Not really understanding your point lois

It’s my phone I break so no issue to anyone else

I pointed out the costs to repair are no more than £80

@Itsalmostanaccessory

Well, she shouldn't be waving her arms around. That is silly.

Pay half.

what''s this? people shouldn't wave their arms about? what nonsense or is it girls, perhaps, who should be more demure.

Don't engage with them further to saying you won't be paying. It's up to them to prove liability and they are very unlikely to achieve this.

[quote Turkey98]@AllThingsServeTheBeam

The only reason that typically occurs is because they are not known. If a cyclist scratched a car they would have to pay if the car owner decided that they wanted to do that. Remember comprehensive insurance is at the choice of the owner - only 3rd party is required by law, and the owner can always sue whoever causes any damage - including cyclists and pedestrians.

If you damage someone else's property it is for you to have taken out insurance to protect you, not the owner of the property. This is what mandatory car insurance is for - to pay for damage you cause.

If you were sued what would your defence be for hitting someone and causing them to incur significant loss as a result of your action?[/quote]
I'm actually amazed you think that you're right 🤣

Hitting someone? You're not even correct about that. Knocked him yes.

@FarangGirl

According to the mum, its not under warranty because it was bought abroad.

Apple offer a world wide warranty. Although that wouldn’t cover accidental damage.

A kid with a phone woth that 😲.

All I am saying that recently both myself and adult dd got new phones ( nothing like that ) I could never afford such and what I have works.
Both of us before using them got screen covers and covers for our phones.

Our last phones ( not iphones) but with screen covers and covers. They both were dropped countless times and hers was drove over twice, and all that happened was having to replace screen cover.

Whatever the rights and wrongs in this case I can't say as I wasn't there. But if me before I would hand over money I would get an independent report on the phone. Then take it from there.
It may be that is not an original or what they claim. But you need to know first.

If it was me I would check cab to see if you are legally responsible.

@anniesnap the warranty you are offered by apple all cover accidental damage, worldwide

Turkey98, the parents of the boy will not be taking anyone to court. It seems they bought the phone abroad so I bet they have no paper trail as they say they have no warranty (you get a warranty when you buy abroad I did when I bought an apple product in Dubai). Bet they did not pay customs duty either.

The parents shouldn't be so stupid as to buy a child such an expensive gadget

I wouldn't pay or engage with them whatsoever, its ridiculous

There's absolutely no way I'd be paying any of that. It was a genuine accident. Not your fault if they don't have any insurance for it.

They can jog on.

@Abricot1993

Turkey98, the parents of the boy will not be taking anyone to court. It seems they bought the phone abroad so I bet they have no paper trail as they say they have no warranty (you get a warranty when you buy abroad I did when I bought an apple product in Dubai). Bet they did not pay customs duty either.

I wonder if it's a genuine apple, or a cheap knock-off?

[quote BellaVida101]@anniesnap the warranty you are offered by apple all cover accidental damage, worldwide[/quote]
Really? Is that not Apple Care, which is different to the warranty? If not, I’ve been seriously missing something!

YANBU. If you give your child an expensive phone you do it at your own risk. You can't expect other parents to subsidise this by paying for repairs. There might be some obligation if OP's dc was using the phone and being very careless, but it sounds like pretty normal behaviour, the kind of things most teenagers do, and the reason most people buy cheaper phones for their children, or get decent insurance, shock absorbing cases and screen protectors.