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?

Apparently this was the quote from the apple store. We live in a country where you can find repair shops in every mall where I bet they'd do it for a quarter of the price.
And that's what I'd do if it was my own phone.

Is it an IPhone and did they take it to the Apple Store for a quote? If so, they'd get it for half that cost at an independent repair shop. I'd ask to see three quotes.....

Fucking hell what kind of phone costs £480 just to repair! Honestly if this kids parents are stupid enough to not insure or protect such an expensive item in anyway they would not be getting a penny out of me in this scenario.

@SamphiretheStickerist

Tell them to claim on their home insurance.

An accident is an accident. Even with a stupidly expensive phone and a young teen. They should have it covered, physically and via insurance.

This.

Depending on how old the phone is it will invalidate their warranty getting it repaired elsewhere

For that you could buy a brand new phone

And if it is in warranty then it won't cost anything at all.

That's what insurance is for.

I work in a school, and honestly almost every student phone has a cracked screen. They walk around holding it for fear of missing out on some random Snapchat and invariably will drop it. I would not be offering to pay for anything. Your daughter did not drop the phone her friend did. And anyway a repair to a screen even from an iPhone is less than the quote they have given you, it sounds like they want to upgrade his phone at your expense!

@Itsalmostanaccessory

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

Pay half.

Good grief!

So we want teens hanging out with their mates to all stand stock still at all times? God forbid, you be silly at 14. Waving her arms?! Outrageous.

Unless she did it deliberately or was doing something reckless then you've no need to pay.

It was an accident - just kids hanging out - you’d DD didn’t take it and throw it as a joke.

This should be covered under insurance and it also should have been in a sturdy cover which would have stopped it breaking.

I am usually a bit over keen to pay my way, but in this instance I wouldn’t pay a penny, not even excess, because I don’t think it’s your daughter’s fault, and because you shouldn’t buy a phone like this for your kids if you can’t afford to fix it.

I’d right a polite note declining payment and listing these reasons.

I’d WRITE

People saying they would pay half are not not considering that not everyone has £225 just sitting around. And that lots of people spend much less than £225 on a full phone for their DCs, or themselves. A phone is like a watch: you can buy a simple one thst does the job very cheaply, or you can buy a fancy one for £1000+. I wouldn't give a teenager an expensive phone because teenagers are idiots.

@ENoeuf

‘She was talking animatedly’ does sound a bit like she was being careless.

I do love a bit of Mumsnet batshittery!! I shall now instruct any teenage children I come into contact with that all conversations must be conducted whilst standing completely still with their arms flat against their sides!

I wouldn't pay them a single penny .
Tell them to get more quotes, they're getting massively ripped off.

This is what insurance is for - accidental damage. It's not your problem that they brought their kid a stupidly expensive phone.

@Itsalmostanaccessory

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

Pay half.

🤣 should we all stand completely still with our arms rigidly by our sides all the time then?

They'd be told to jog on by us.

@partyatnumber10 sorry x post there

Was she trying to grab it off him or messing about punching in the arm or anything like that? If not, then I think offering to pay the equivalent of the excess on the insurance (c£80) would be fine.

I think I'd find out from the parents if they think this is what happened ie dd accidentally waving her arms around. They might have a different story hence asking you to pay. If everyone agrees it was an accident I think once you are sure that is the actual price of the repair and it's not insured then I would offer £100 as a gesture to keep the piece. Can't actually believe that it's going to cost that unless it flew out of his hand and went under a bus.

We have specific insurance to cover our teens phones.
They are expensive and get left, dropped, cracked.
I wouldn't cover another parent who hadn't sorted this out.

*peace

I'd pay half- grudgingly because it's a ridiculously expensive phone but because it was my DD's fault.
And no, they can't necessarily get it repaired at the local phone shop as that invalidates any warranty if the phone goes back for a non-accidental damage issue.

I would never ask someone to pay under these circumstances. All our phones are insured because let's face it, phones get broken by accident all the time.

I'd just text back that they should claim it on insurance. If they don't have insurance, that's on them not you.