A neighbour (I never met her before) posted on our community whatsapp group asking to borrow a blender to beat cream with, as she was in the middle of cooking for a party. I offered her my hand blender with the whipping attachment, and she picked it up. A few days later she returned it. Later when I took it out of the bag, I saw that the motor part was in two pieces.
I texted her a picture and said hey the blender was broken when you returned it. She messaged back with a breezy 'oh I wasn't aware, my husband packed it up, I'll get it repaired' message. She got her husband to pick it up (after a couple of reminders) and texted a few days later to say she had not been able to find anyone to repair it, and she was still looking.
In the meantime my microwave door got jammed (run of bad luck, I know!), so I was anyway going to a repair shop, so asked her to return the blender, and that I would let her know how much it cost to fix. The repair shop said they couldn't fix it. I messaged neighbour to say sorry no luck, please get it fixed. She said sure she'll try. It's been over a week now since this last exchange, and the broken blender is still with me.
It is a Braun hand blender (used regularly) with a food processor attachment (used rarely), and I am missing it sorely in the kitchen. It was a few years old but going strong and never had any problems.
Would I be unreasonable to tell her I'm buying a replacement and she can pay half? If so, how do I word the message? I'm worried that she thinks that I am trying it on, and basically foisting the cost of a new all singing dancing blender on to her.
Or should I chalk it up to experience and suck it up?