To ask them to pay to replace my phone screen?

[Housekeeperbatcocoa]

Today at work while walking the dogs, one of them knocked it out of my hand. The screen is totally smashed and my phone is unusable. (I don't normally have it out but was trying to answer a call from my GP). I'm a private Housekeeper and walking the dogs is part of my job.

It's not insured - I've never had a phone damaged and tbh since my partner passed, money has been so tight it was an expense I couldn't afford. It's going to be at least £140 to replace the screen. (Google Pixel 6) It had a good case and screen protector but landed on a brick path.

Wibu to ask the family to either pay or claim off their house insurance? I'm using an old one at the moment but it's 3g so can't make calls!

I am so sorry for you loss.

I cannot believe the nonsense about GP’s - people saying - let the GP leave a message, call them back!! Of course you should have time to take a GP call that is a reasonable work request for anyone!!

I hope you were able to get back in touch with them.

Does your employer pay at least minimum wage and do you have a contract that looks at work/ wage reviews each year - is there anything else locally you can look at which would help your financially - as I don’t think you can claim for your phone.

Why do you assume all surgeries operate in the way yours does? Tomorrow I have a telephone appointment with my doctor. This can happen at any point during the day (between 8.30am and 8.00pm) and I just have to be ready for whenever it comes. The interval between me requesting the appointment and tomorrow is 13 days. Obviously, I don't want to miss it because if I do, I will have to start the process again. I'm lucky, I will be able to make myself available all day but OP had no choice but to take the call whilst at work.

If I was your employer and you asked me to cover the cost of fixing a phone, that you dropped and you hadn’t insured, I would think WTF and I would tell you not to have your personal phone on you, whilst you were working. I would give you a works mobile, but it wouldn’t be a Google Pixel phone, it would be a basic phone and you would be told that in future you were not to make or receive any personal phone calls whilst you were working.

Thanks. I'm with Vodafone and it's been switched off in my area so it won't work unless I have a wifi signal.

OP given the circumstances I think it perfectly reasonable for you to at least ask your employers if they would consider paying for the repair, provided you feel you can cope with a possible refusal. If they value your services and you are a trusted employee then they may be quite happy to pay as a good will gesture.
Good luck

We can't reschedule appointment. You get told when it'll be (well, between which hours of which day) and if you don't answer you have to start again.

I've bought two refurbed phones from Back Market and neither worked. Plus they send really wanky emails from their "Head of customer happiness."

I said gun dog because they are and I didn't really want to post the breeds! They're not working gun dogs and are very spoilt.

As I said, I get why you took the call, but you can cancel and reschedule the appointment. You ring up your GP and say you can't have the appointment at that time, and they give you a different appointment.

There is no GP surgery in the country that will not do this, because it's a complete waste of time and resources to force people to have appointments that they can't make.

It's a hassle and I understand why you didn't, but your employer is not liable for an accident you had whilst taking a call which you chose to take.

At the end of the day OP you made decisions here and they led to you dropping your phone.

You decided to go into work on the day you had a GP appointment, you decided to be holding the dogs at the time of the call, you decided not to call the GP to let them know you needed a different time.

Whatever your reasons for making those decisions (which may have been perfectly valid), you still made them.

Your employer has nothing to do with this and no responsibility for your accident, so of course you can't expect them to pay.

I did my best but in thr face of a large dog hitting my hand it obviously wasn't enough!

Maybe look at getting a more robust phone then. I have dropped my (Oppo) phone multiple times when out on contract. Screen protector but no phone case. Also you wouldn't have been in complete control of the dog's if you were answering your phone. I have autistic kids and wouldn't answer it walking say next to a main road knowing one might run off.

I have only read the first 2 pages of this thread, but check your own home/contents insurance, or any benefits you get with a bank.account. You may be covered.

Don't answer ur phone at work. YBU, its not their fault u dropped ur phone. U broke it, u replace it. U just sound entitld and like an a hole. U have a job save up and replace ur screen.

Hello O.P, can I just say how sorry I am to hear your partner passed. You have been through a significant loss that has affected you in every way. I also lost my partner many years back. The implications of a loss of this nature are infinite. One major issue can be finances. You have already explained to people that the only reason you are considering asking is because finances are tight following the death of your partner and yet people are sending such harsh and cold-hearted responses. I doubt any single one of the people responding in such a mean way would have the courage or indeed cruelty and are faced cheek to speak to a bereaved person with a financial dilemma in such a cavalier way. The only CF’s here are the people who spoke to you thus. I really hope you are okay. Sometimes a new phone is complete out of our reach financially. I don’t know what to advise as I don’t know what your employees are like, although I fear the fact that you have asked on here suggests that you fear a less than sympathetic response, which is a shame as it seems to me that this is exactly what you have received here. I’m sure that says people will rush to defend their behaviour, which is pointless as what is said is said. I wish you very good luck with sorting things out. I have managed to but re-conditioned phones at a cheaper price from phone repair shops previously. Look after yourself! X

Sorry if this has been asked and I've not seen it, but can you not claim on your own household insurance, rather than the employers?

Sadly this is just one of those things isn't it?

I appreciate that you're allowed to use your personal phone at work and that you were waiting for a call, but it isn't your employers fault that their dog (which was under your care) damaged your phone.
You could have walked the dogs earlier or later, you could have requested some time off or taken annual leave for your appointment. Seems overkill but if the alternative is that your personal possessions get damaged, that's on you.

I also work full time and have missed doc/dentist apps because of meetings. There isn't too much that can be done about that unfortunately.

If you're using an expensive phone around boysterous dogs you should have taken reasonable steps to keep it safe, such as a rubber frame or wrist strap.

I think you're taking the mick if you asked them to replace the screen. You can buy brand new phone perfectly good phone from Argos for less than that.

Either way, you should have had it insured.

But then you can't be surprised that people have jumped to conclusions - because although they are a gundog breed, they aren't 'gun dogs' in the sense that most people would interpret that phrase.

What's more important to you? Your phone repair or your job? Genuine question, not being judgy. If your phone repair is more important than go for it.

But if you do they are probably going to be pissed off with you for claiming on theirs because it is a bit cheeky really, and because their insurance will go up as a result, so a very likely damage to your relationship with them. And also if you are employed by any of their friends I would take that into consideration too because they will tell their friends which could lead to a damaged relationship with them also.

Judging by your replies it appears the only answer acceptable to you is yanbu, they should replace it.

So here you go. Yanbu. They should replace it. 👍

I think all I've done is explain what happened. Maybe I'm just fed up of people inventing their own narrative and assuming that everything is the same everywhere?

You can still use 2G to make and receive calls. Even on Vodafone

Crikey. This lot would have you put in the stocks and chuck their rotten avocados at you 🤣
Take it to a phone repair shop, not a mobile phone sales shop. You'll get it fixed for £15/£20.

Vodafone still have 2G signal pretty much everywhere so you should still be able to make calls.....

From their 3G switch off page:

Will 2G be switched off too?
No, we’re not switching off our 2G network. It currently covers more than 99% of the UK population, and you can keep using it for calls and texts.