Friend’s phone screen cracked a bit by accident

[Nousese]

Hello,

My son asked his friend for a number that was stored in his friend’s phone. So, My friend’s son gave my son his phone while they were waking the stairs at the station. The floor it was wet as it was raining. My son tripped over quite bad at the stairs when he was going to give back his friend the phone. The screen cracked a bit at the bottom.

I feel i should pay for the repair. I don’t have to much money to be honest. If i had I would not hesitate to pay for it.
So i wanted to ask people for advice here.

thanks,

So you allowed your son to break her son's phone and you haven't said a word about it? Absolutely terrible behavior you need to message her to apologise and tell her that we will pay for the repair.

The fact you don't have a lot of money is irrelevant.

Maybe you could offer to go halves. The fact she dropped it earlier is irrelevant really.

And my son asked for a number that was stored on his friend’s home and his friend passed the phone to him. It was just in a minute all this happened. He didn’t really ask to borrow the phone.

Yes, you should pay, or at the very least, offer to.

Unfortunately, accidents happen.

Do check that your son's friend actually wants a new phone.

I dropped my daughter's phone, paid for a replacement and then discovered she was continuing to use the old one with the cracked screen because she couldn't be bothered to transfer all the photos etc.

It might be the son's friend would prefer to have some "compensation" money rather than an actual new phone if the old one is still usable.

Are you going to blame the stairs next because it wouldn't have fallen if it was flat ground?

Your child dropped another child's property and broke it. He should have stopped walking to get the number and he wouldn't have slipped. Pay for the screen repair. Message first and don't make another parent have to chase you to be responsible for your child.

If you can't afford to pay for phone repairs why does your 9 year old child have a phone?

Your ds damage it so you pay to repair it. It's really that simple.

you should offer to pay

Why have two 9 yos got phones anyway?!? It’s just asking for trouble, they will definitely break and lose them!

I would also caution my kids against sharing other people’s phone numbers - I generally apply a GDPR approach and don’t give out other people’s numbers without their explicit permission.

edited to remove the bit where I said ‘just bad luck’ reading the OP again, the kid was using a phone while walking on wet stairs. Completely avoidable accident. My kids have it drilled into them not to look at their phones while on the move.

This is why 9yo shouldn't have phones!

At least teach them to sit down, or stand still when using them.

But yes, your DS dropped and broke it. You pay.

Yes you pay and no it shouldn’t matter if it had a screen protector or not. The owner didn’t break it someone else did.

Also I wouldn’t want a generic repair I’d want an official repair that kept my warranty intact.

I have all our phones insured through our bank account so screen repair is £50 excess. Can you check and pay the excess?

I must be out of touch, 9 year olds have phones?

I've got one of those as well..they are great as I can carry cards in it! Don't care if I look uncool 🥰

You need to contact her and offer to pay for the damage.

Exactly! I assumed they were teens. When my kids were 9 they were playing with toys, that wouldn’t break if you dropped them!

I would pay for the damage.

No. He broke it, he fixes it. Or at least offers. Up to the owners whether they say yes.

Of course you should pay. Your son broke it.
If you also feel like you should pay, I’m not really sure what you’re asking here? Your friend hasn’t asked for money but seems annoyed. Why haven’t you offered already?

you know full well you should pay. Why on earth would the other child who did absolutely nothing wrong have to have a cracked screen, go halves or any of the other suggestions. I feel like you posted on here to ignore the 95% who will say pay, and grasp hold of the 5% of other people with no morals in case they articulate a perfect excuse. But also, if you have afforded a 9 year old a phone - which is absurd - you can afford this. 9 year olds absolutely should not have phones.

It’s probably just the screen protector that has cracked, it does look like the whole screens gone when they crack but it’s just the protective layer. The last time I had a screen protector put on it was £15. The ones with the anti theft view thing are £20. So I’d definitely pay that.

If someone gave a 9yo child a phone with no screen protector I’d think they were waiting for it to get cracked. So I wouldn’t pay a huge amount. £15 for a protector and possibly another £20 towards damage if it was a real screen. That’s it. I wouldn’t be giving over loads for very avoidable damage. Accidents happen.

OP, it reads as if you're looking for an excuse not to pay and are now trying to justify how it wasn't really your son's fault.
Of course you should pay.
Stop avoiding the friend's mother and do the right thing.

You pay

I've never used a screen protector nor have my kids - we look after our things. I'd be pissed off if someone broke my screen because they thought I should have a screen protector on it!

Yes, pay for it.