17 year old spilled water on Host family Laptop

[Mrsg26]

Wonder if someone can offer advice on what to do in this situation. My daughter is 17 and is auditioning for drama schools at present. As she is under 18 and visiting schools in London ( we live in Scotland) She has had to stay with a host family on her visits. Last night the Host offered my daughter some water but placed the glass on the kitchen table next to her laptop. My daughter picked up the glass but it slipped and some water went on the host’s laptop. The lady told my daughter last night not to worry and she dried it, she said she had a new laptop which was there in the kitchen however today The lady called me whilst my daughter was in her audition and told me it will cost £200 to repair the laptop and the expectation is for me to pay for it to be repaired.

Whilst i totally am sympathetic and sorry for what happened, as is my daughter, she didn't do it intentionally or with any malice and it was a complete accident. Part of me thinks why would she place a glass of water next to expensive equipment, as spillages often happen in kitchens. As an experienced host with lots of children in her home regularly she should be aware of these hazards. This is her business and therefore she should insure against these things.

Whilst I am not against contributing towards the repairs, I just feel that I shouldn’t have to pay for it all as they were both negligent. Any advice from other parents of teens? Thanks

Your 17 year old would not know to not place liquids by expensive equipment?
and she dropped her drink on a laptop.
she’s pretty much an adult, she should pay for it

What you could do is simply say of course and ask the host to get the repair company to send you an invoice by email and you will then ring them and pay, as you can then use the invoice to claim from your insurance (you say)

That way there is no 'amount' being added by the host, if that's your worry.

But you do have to pay

You or your daughter need to pay OP @Mrsg26

The 17 year old did not place the liquid by the laptop. The host did.

Maybe the host should have put the water in a bowl on the floor? 😆 It's her responsibility to fix what she broke

You shouldn't have to pay for the repairs as you didn't damage the laptop. Your DD should. The owner shouldn't as SHE didn't damage it either.
However, I would ask the owner to send you the invoice and you will reimburse her for the repairs. Then your DD can pay you back as and when she can.
(The fact that the owner put the glass near to the laptop is irrelevant, she didn't drop it, didnt throw water over the device, didn't drop it)

Sounds a bit odd@Mrsg26 . Was it a lot of water? Many laptops will recover from a splashing. And some are built to recover from a dousing! Some brands specifically say they have a splash-proof membrane. Like you, I’d expect insurance to cover this but on the other hand she may have to pay the excess (which you could pay). I’d have suggested waiting to see if it dries out and starts working again - different if it was a can of coke or something sticky.

You could ask to see a bill I suppose if you're dubious about the cost. But of course you or your DD should pay. Your DD spilled the water.

a decent human being would pay, a grifter would see how they could get out of paying.

yes they're probably insured with an excess of £150-300 is the norm, but they were helping you out...

just pay it, it also teaches your daughter how to take responsibility and how actions have consequences and all that and not turn into a Karen.

Do you know the exact nature of the damage (did the host provide a receipt for the repair from a computer place)?

I'm just asking because four days ago I spilled a half-full mug of hot tea onto the left half of my laptop keyboard (similar issue - the mug slipped from my hand). I quickly grabbed a clean kitchen towel and wiped it down, even tilting it and using a Q-tip under each key. I kept waiting for something to go wrong, but the laptop has been absolutely fine.

nope, your child broke it, you pay for the repair.

In Germany we all get 3rd party damage insurance to cover stuff like this. Do you have that kind of thing covered in any of your insurances?

Not really sure what you find strange about this.

The laptop on the table worked. Your daughter broke it, now it doesn't work.

You pay the bill to make it work again.

You daughter broke it, you pay.
Host was not negligent placing water near it, your daughter should have lifted it over the lap top.
You say she's stayed 3 times, so she must like it there. Why ruin that?
If you can't afford it right now, get a payment plan, credit card, house insurance etc.

I am a pretty tolerant and trusting person but sorry, I think this is a try-on:

The conveniently round number for the repair cost. Why £200 not £187.50?

The short length of time that elapsed before she contacted you - by no means long enough to take it to a repair shop and get a quote.

The fact that she contacted you while your daughter was still down in London, hence pulling on that emotional lever.

She had already shown less-than-perfect honesty in bypassing the agency arrangement.

I remember reading an article back in the nineties whereby mid-range restaurants received a letter from an apparently elderly man, complaining that a waiter had spilled sauce down the back of his wife’s jacket (on a chair and only discovered afterwards) and politely requesting a £10 cheque to cover the dry-cleaning bill.

It was all a complete scam but they had a success rate of about 50%, as the amount was just small enough for businesses to pay it without dispute and the letter writer was sufficiently ‘respectable’ to fear a complaint to restaurant guides or newspapers.

Don’t pay it until you have seen a verifiable receipt and only go via the agency next time!

I would pay as a goodwill gesture.

Of course what we don't know is what, if any, terms and conditions OP's daughter signed up for. Accidents and breakages should have been mentioned in those really.

It;s very fishy.

I don't know the timescale, but it's odd that the host has got a quote for £200 within such a short time, isn't it?

I'm more likely to assume she's invented that figure.

Laptops aren't usually broken so easily.

My guess is the host is trying to make a few more quid on the side and maybe isn't insured anyway.

Agree to pay, but ask for 2 quotes to be sent to you from repair places. The £200 sounds like a number plucked out of the air when the host realised the laptop didn't just dry out and start up again. Nobody would be hosting young people in their home if they didn't need the money, therefore I assume these are not affluent people (and you cannot judge their income on the property). They let her use the computer as a favour, it was an accident, but it was her accident.

If this had happened at a friends house I would 100% pay.

But this is different because it is a business where you are paying for a service and businesses should have insurance cover.

I would also report to the agency, just so they are aware incase it is a regular thing at this house.

100% this- it's what I posted after you.

It's a con.

OP- refuse to pay.
If the host is serious she can take it to the small claims court.

Exactly, she probably hands a slippery glass to every young person who stays with her outside the agency arrangement.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Yes, this. Water on the whole is not that bad for laptops - stick it in the airing cupboard to dry out and then have another go at turning it on.

Are you sure £200 is the full bill and they're not asking you for a contribution?

Water usually damages the capacitors on the motherboard. Repairing that means replacing the entire motherboard which can be very expensive, not just in terms of the actual hardware but the work it takes to replace.

So how would she have that information so rapidly? I recently took a tech device to a repair shop and they took it in for assessment, they didn’t work on a while-you-wait basis.

I’d pay. If I couldn’t afford it all at once I’d ask to pay in two lots. If you don’t want to pay then just don’t pay but don’t try and justify it by suggesting that it was the hosts fault.