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Original poster

Friend borrowed and ruined a £4k bag

52 replies

hugebelly · 01/02/2011 14:10

Asking on behalf of a friend.

She lent a Louis Vuitton weekend bag to a friend as she was going away. The bag cost £4k. The bag is now covered in marker pen thanks to a toddler and it won't come off. Her friend won't offer to buy her a new one and has basically told her to f**k off as it's not her bag, not her problem Shock.

My friend acknowledges that she didn't say, if you break/ lose it, you pay for it.

What can she do? Small claims court?

OP posts:
GnomeDePlume · 01/02/2011 14:38

Quentin Crisp said something along the lines of 'you should never lend to friends, only give'. Sound advice I think.

NancyDrewHasaClue · 01/02/2011 14:38

Regardless of the ridiculousness of owning/lending a £4k bag (and indeed whether this is even true) anyone who borrows something should be aware that if they damage something they ought to replace it, likewise anyone who lends something should be aware that it might get damaged and may not get replaced.

What happens depends on the common sense and good manners of the parties involved.

In this case both parties are lacking, but the lendee has shown herself to be unworthy of the lendors friendship.

Your friend needs to write of both the loss and teh friendship.

(Oh and contact LV because their repairs dept is actually very good)

jumpingjackhash · 01/02/2011 14:39

Yes, it's an expenseive bag but that isn't really the issue here IMO.

It's the 'friend's' reaction to the damage her child (assuming it was her child) caused to someone else's property, which was kindly loaned, and her bad attitude.

Sadly I think your friend will have to chalk this to experience and be more selective about who she lends things to in future.

lisad123isasnuttyasaboxoffrogs · 01/02/2011 14:42

house insurance and tell her to give me the 4k instead as I can feed my family on that for a year!!

GetOrfMoiLand · 01/02/2011 14:43

I think she is fantastic.

Those looks she gives people.

She needs to come over 'ere and sort people out.

controlpantsandgladrags · 01/02/2011 14:44

Did the friend know the bag was worth £4k? Maybe her "fuck off" was her disbelief that a bag would be worth so much?

suesfault · 01/02/2011 14:45

The reaction of the "friend" is more unbelievable than that someone would have a bag that cost £4k.

Who would react like that if their child had damaged something ?

Hulababy · 01/02/2011 14:45

The fact that is it is an expensive bag is irrelevant. Up to the woman what she choses to spend her money on TBH. Not ridiculous, just different choices.

She shouldn't have lent the bag out in the first place, but that is too late now.

Had it been my child that had spoilt the bag I would be embarrassed and apologetic and offering to have it cleaned if possible. I would be less willing to pay to replace it completely as £4k is a lot of money. But I would be offering to look at my insurance to see if tht coud help, or asking if her insurance ould be used and offering to pay the excess. I would be so embarrassed and I would have mentioned it up front.

So I think the friend with the child is being totally unreasonable and very selfish. She should not have borrowed an expensive bag had she not been willing to keep it save, or willing to pay if it got damaged.

But I wouldn't take it to court.

Think the friendship is probably over though.

Blu · 01/02/2011 14:48

Irrespective of the lunacy of any bag costing £4k, the friend does sound horrible. I would be mortified and apologetic if my child damaged someone else's property which they had been kind enough to lend, whether it be an old rucksac or a new case.

Am still mystified by anyone spending more on a bag than any contents.

StuffingGoldBrass · 01/02/2011 14:48

If it was a 'vintage' bag and the owner didn't make it clear that it was made of unicorns' foreskins or whatever, the borrower probably thought it was a tatty old bag that didn't matter.

CoraMackenzie · 01/02/2011 14:49

This reminds me of the thread where the OP said her DS had damaged a neighbours car whilst riding his bike on the pavement. She didn't see why she should pay for it. It kicked off big time.

I think
a) Having 3 young children, I would never borrow anything that cost more than £5
b)Rather than laugh, I would have said £5 ready and waiting after the inevitable.

Mind you, my SIL got married when DD1 was 11mths. FIL had given DD a choc biscuit at the house and she promptly smeared it on the bottom of SIL's wedding dress as she came down stairs. Cue much horror but the hairdresser shouted 'don't move!' She boiled the kettle, held the bit of dress up and poured the scalding water over it. The choc marks miraculously disappeared to much relief. Apparently the worse thing you can do is touch the marks as this causes them to penetrate the material.

Sorry, that was a ridiculous digression! Grin

Hulababy · 01/02/2011 14:51

Even if it was a "tatty old bag" then surely the onus is still on the friend with child to offer to have it repaired/replaced ?

Original poster
hugebelly · 01/02/2011 14:52

Her friend knew the bag was expensive, perhaps not £4k. I wouldn't have guess it was £4k and like StuffingGoldBrass said, it's a little tatty, but still beautiful.

Can I just say, that I agree she was stupid to loan it and that her money can be better spent. I assume she's covered by contents insurance, but is that really the point?

Also, I am NOT the person in question!

OP posts:
MmeLindt · 01/02/2011 14:53

Whether the bag cost £40 or £40, the person who borrowed the bag did not take care of it, and laughed off her friend's concern and upset.

Someone posted about hairspray getting pen off a leather sofa. Could she try that on a corner of the bag that is not to visible?

BendyBob · 01/02/2011 14:53

A 4K BAG? I didn't know that such things existedShock

MmeLindt · 01/02/2011 14:55

is it like this?

StuffingGoldBrass · 01/02/2011 14:57

Well yes, the borrower is in the wrong for refusing to offer any compensation/apology for the damage, and for not taking better care of it. This would be true even if the bag had only cost £40. But why on earth did the owner lend such an expensive and treasured item to someone without making it clear that it was so valuable?

piratecat · 01/02/2011 15:00

pmsl @sgb's unicorns foreskins

lolol

LaurieFairyonthetreeEatsCake · 01/02/2011 15:00

Well it's vintage and probably quite rare, she may have only spent a few hundred on it.

I have a mate that has a westwood original t-shirt which she had for Christmas 20-plus years ago and is worth that easily. It's signed by Vivienne and Johnny Rotten I think.

I bought a Liberty scarf from ebay for £30-ish quid which was valued at 300 plus.

I think the problem here is the lovely friend who has exquisite taste and has assumed that her friend would respect the bag - the friends a bastard frankly, she should be mortified Shock

I hope she can claim on her insurance, if not Louis Vuitton would probably restore it for a very small fee - luxury brands restore for a nominal fee. Chanel handles come with a life time guarantee. Even Mulberry refurbished and replaced the handles on my bag for £15.

HecateQueenOfWitches · 01/02/2011 15:04

It really doesn't matter whether she should have leant it, or whether people feel she should have spent thousands on a bag - she did. That was her choice and her right. The bag was ruined by someone she leant it to in good faith and she has the right to take action.

She should get a quote for making good the damage and go to her 'friend' with that quote and request she pays it. If her 'friend' refuses to, then tbh, I'd go down small claims route.

pagwatch · 01/02/2011 15:18

I agree with hec with one reservation.

If a friend of mine said 'i can lend you a bag, happy to' I would want them to add 'it will be fab for your event. It is a vintage LV and it is worth a lot of money'

At that point I have the choice of saying

'how lovely - I will be really careful with it'

Or

' do you know I think I will have to decline. It is really kind of you but I have messy toddler/chewing puppy/ messy house/ whatever and I couldn't guarantee that I could keep it pristine'

I think there is a moral responsibility for lender to have ensured that lady borrowing it understood that when she accepted.

Personally I probably would have said , no thanks.

StuffingGoldBrass · 01/02/2011 15:30

Pag: Yes, I totally agree - if someone offered to lend me something that was worth vast amounts of money I would say No on the grounds that I didn't want the responsibility of protecting the item.

TallulahdoesthehulainHawaii · 01/02/2011 15:36

Shock at 4K bag, I would have it locked in a glass case with lasers and rotties.

If friend knew how expensive it was, then I do agree that she has a moral responsibilty to try and make right the damage (leather repair?).

Is Judge Judy real? I had thought it was just a television show...

Resolution · 01/02/2011 16:41

What I find hilarious about this thread is the shark-like feeding frenzy of most of the posters on the first page - handbag envy or what?

Not that I'm saying anything about gender stereotypes, but.......

Northernlurker · 01/02/2011 16:47

If you can afford a bag like that you can afford to lose it. I would be looking in to getting it restored, chalk it up to experience and strike the borrower off the Christmas card list because even though presumably she doesn't have the money to compensate the OP almost any reaction would ahve been better than 'fuck off'