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?

@FarangGirl

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

A warranty doesn't cover a phone being dropped anyway.

Ok. Here's what I wrote. I mean you can check it yourself but really you're deluded if you think you have some intellectual upper hand here.

'If his phone is damaged as a consequence of something your daughter did then surely she bears some if not all of the responsibly to repair

The amount is an issue and I would expect to know what the damage is
(perhaps offering to have it repaired yourself) before handing over any money'

@NashvilleQueen

If the ball was being played with in a garden and it got kicked out of the garden and into the car, the child is obviously too old to be playing with a football in the garden.

yeah ok. That logic works for sure.

A ball needs to be kicked with considerable force to smash a window. Only an older child is strong enough to use this amount of force. Older children, who are strong enough to kick a ball hard enough to smash a car window but not precise enough to keep the ball within the confines of a garden should only be playing with the ball in a large open space.

Simple. Logical.

I wouldn't be paying.

I smashed my Iphone 12, cost £70 to repair. What have they done to it that is costing so much to repair?

I wouldn't pay a single penny. There was no intention of damage and clearly, the other kid is not responsible enough to have an expensive phone. You can get a brand new phone for less than £480.

I'd pay half their home contents insurance excess and consider that generous.

Christ it's a lot of money £480 I think it sounds like the parents are taking advantage of you OP. Why can't they go to a market for a repair?

I mean if you can afford to get your child the latest IPhone bought outright it's more fool them. Was the phone in no case? Protector or anything?

I drop my sometimes and never ever have I had a cracked screen. I just order the plastic protector from Ebay and my phone cases too.

The fone was bound to smash at some point it was a disaster waiting to happen!.

I would search for your own quote and offer to pay half and that's at best!

I dont think I would be swallowing the story accidentally bumped his arm.

I find it ridiculous that they have even asked you to pay. What if a completely stranger knocked it out his hand accidentally, there's no way the stranger would be responsible for the repair. Person that compared it to a car accident is a complete idiot.

Don't even pay anything towards it, your daughter didn't do anything to cause damage to the phone. The boy should have kept it safe, n should be insured if your going to depend on your son to keep an expensive phone safe.

You don't need your phone out if you're walking and talking, so the friend took the risk and it's his responsibility ultimately. If I broke or lost a phone as a teen, I would have to save back up my own birthday and pocket money to get a new one.

that is a ridiculous amount. If you have an expensive gadget you insure it. I would not be paying for it.

@WiddlinDiddlin

How is the fault the OP's daughters?

The lad chose to get his phone out whilst walking along outside talking to the OP's daughter.

So he is multi-tasking, badly and hasn't got a decent hold of his phone. He is absolutely at fault here.

That is a seperate issue however, it does not cost £480 to replace the screen!

I think they're taking the piss and think this is a good way to extract a large sum of money from you OP. Tell them to jog on.

Do you never get your phone out to quickly check a notification when walking along outside with someone?

He had decent hold of his phone because it was in his hand whilst he was walking, it didn’t drop to the floor because he was holding it, in a decent hold.

It only dropped on the floor because she knocked him and caused him to drop it.

Why should he be out of a new phone because op’s DD can’t walk without flailing her arms about?

@BoredZelda

Not a chance. It was an accident. Could have been a complete stranger that did it, what would they have done then.

Possibly the worst reasoning I’ve seen for a while.

I think it's a good point tbh. It's not unusual for someone to bang into someone by accident.

I wouldn't offer to get it repaired yourself OP since you might then be liable and can't take out a warranty for the repair on behalf of the parents. However if you are anxious to be involved in resolving this dispute ask the parents

• Iphone 12 - what model number
• do they have receipt of payment (even if in another country) or can they contact the foreign shop where they bought it (presumably their bank or card details will give a contact number),
• check with Apple how long a warranty lasts and if international. It may not cover accidental damage.

We are also talking about teenagers. The boys parents are ridiculous to give their dc such an expensive phone.

@NashvilleQueen

I would claim on my insurance, like normal people. Not go ranting at the parents of a BOY who accidentally kicked the ball at my car. FFS!

Absolute bollocks would you. Why would you pay an excess and an increased premium for someone else's carelessness.

I would say the carelessness is the boy's/his parents' for not having a sturdy case and protective screen.

If your DD was messing around and knocked his arm then she is partly responsible so I would offer to pay half. £480 is a lot though, I would ask to see the bill from the repair shop before I paid anything just in case his parents are taking the mick. Or ask a different repair shop for a quote/see if you can find somewhere cheaper.

Actually I was thinking about what would happen if someone knocked my phone out of hand. I would be pissed off but there is no chance I could get any money from them. My phone is in a heavy duty case so would probably be Ok. Plus it is insured and would not cost 450 to replace.

@Prescottdanni123

If your DD was messing around and knocked his arm then she is partly responsible so I would offer to pay half. £480 is a lot though, I would ask to see the bill from the repair shop before I paid anything just in case his parents are taking the mick. Or ask a different repair shop for a quote/see if you can find somewhere cheaper.

If she was messing about then, yes. But she wasn't. From both kids' accounts, she was behaving perfectly reasonably when the accident happened.

Why should he be out of a new phone because op’s DD can’t walk without flailing her arms about?

He wouldn't be out of a new phone if he had a protective case/screen.

Without those things his phone was pretty much guaranteed to get accidentally damaged.

It's a difficult one. I guess the lessons are a) if you have very expensive stuff then get it insured and b) don't give teenagers very expensive phones.

In a way your daughter is being asked to pay for their decision to get an expensive phone. If it was a cheap phone the repair bill would be much less. None of that is in her control and she or you shouldn't be the 'victim' of someone else's expensive buying choices and failure to insure.

She was talking animatedly and knocked his arm.

She'll have been waving her arms about in an exaggerated manner being dramatic, as some teens do.

I'd pay half, but insist on getting my own quote. And whatever the price would be deducted from DD's pocket money.

I have a house full of Apple products and they are ALL insured because they are eye wateringly expensive to fix if they get broken. And there’s not a chance I’d use a repair service that isn’t Apple approved.

Tough lesson they’re about to learn.

@LightSpeeds

It's a difficult one. I guess the lessons are a) if you have very expensive stuff then get it insured and b) don't give teenagers very expensive phones.

In a way your daughter is being asked to pay for their decision to get an expensive phone. If it was a cheap phone the repair bill would be much less. None of that is in her control and she or you shouldn't be the 'victim' of someone else's expensive buying choices and failure to insure.

Totally agree with this!

Bloody hell.

I buy new phones. I get the cover plan because I'm not prepared to pay 50% of the cost of the phone to fix it if I have an accident, and I still put it in a case most of the time.

Oh, and I buy them on my Amex so they are insured at purchase too.

If you have expensive things, you insure them. You do not expect people to re-imburse you for accidents, unless you want them to start signing waivers before they hang out with you!

Perhaps I should do that. Before i go anywhere, I'll get them to sign a waiver.