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

But that's isn't most people. If you think it's fishy, don't offer to pay but you don't need to make it the others fault - just own the decision.

Yes, hosts are paid. Sometimes they are paid for room only, sometimes they provide meals and sometimes they are responsible for lifts to college.

Exactly. The host was in no way negligent by placing a glass of water near a laptop. OP, you realise that pretty much every office worker has a glass of water or a cup of tea or whatever next to their computer multiple times a day, right? It's not weird or abnormal or 'negligent' to do that.

Accidents will happen occasionally but ultimately it was your kid that ruined something, even if accidentally, and you're responsible for paying for it.

I'd be suspicious of this tbh and would want proof from the repair shop. Did your daughter know / ask if there was any damage after it happened?

On top of this, she should have insurance to cover this. I'd probably offer something as a gesture, but I wouldn't fit the whole bill.

Calm down, eh?

How much is it worth?

Word getting about between hosts that damages won't be paid for? People talk and they'll probably pad it out a bit.

If you don't need the hosts anymore in the future then send her half the costs and forget about it.

I think £200 is a bit of a round number, I would want to see the repair bill.

Sometimes that works; sometimes it doesn't. You can't possibly know how much damage was caused in this case.

It’s just the right thing to do. Nothing Christian about it.

I would also ask for the quote from the repair shop specifying water damage as the issue. She also told you to come direct to her after the first visit cutting out the agency which probably is not allowed under her agreement with the agency.

Laptops surviving water is mostly luck, partly common sense.

Depending on where the water hits the laptop, it could be as simple as powering it off and leaving it to dry long enough, or the water could immediately damage a capacitor on the baseboard, and then there is nothing you can do other than replace the baseboard.

It can also fry the keyboard or charging socket and various other pain in the arse but relatively cheap to replace parts either over time because it's been turned on to soon or immediately because the water hit the wrong part.

Also, some people have no common sense. We had dozens of laptops every year brought to us at work because people had spilled water on them, wiped them with a bit of blue roll, and continued to use them. They're then surprised when the device stops powering on a few days later.

We had one lovely, otherwise well-educated lady, who thought the heat from plugging it in to charge would help it dry quicker

Pay up! Your daughter caused the damage so it’s the right thing to do, surely?!

What I would do:

If this is a paid for service I would expect the host to carry insurance as part of the service I was paying for.

If it is a voluntary service I would volunteer to pay for the repair, but ask that the laptop is sealed in a plastic bag with some dessicant (e.g. dried rice) & put in an airing cupboard for a week, before being sent for repair.

I think this is a scam.

The host has already shown she's dishonest by bypassing the correct channels to find a student. This will save her agency fees.

I also don't believe she's had time to get a quote which would mean taking the laptop to a repair shop for advice.

I suspect that she often finds things that are 'worse for wear' after hosting students and asks their family to cough up.

If you want to call her bluff, ask which shop she contacted, then call them yourself and discuss the costs etc.
Ask her why her insurance won't cover it.

She’s deliberately avoided using a 3rd party agency to avoid their fee. The result of this is she doesn’t have their protections - if she had used them they would have reimbursed her.

No way should you pay. A small amount of water over a laptop will do no damage. A large amount will destroy it. It would not be repairable for £200. At the very least I would ask for direct contact with the repair place.

But she’s being cheeky asking you for anything. She’s a business, NOT a friend NOT doing you a favour

You do realise that the host should be insured properly for any damage?
And that she 's not had time to take the laptop anywhere to get a quote?
And that she's also been dishonest in how she gets these students by taking them 'under the radar' not through the correct way.

wow thanks for all the messages, I hadn't expected such a large response.

the laptop was a 2010 macbook. She has sent a receipt for a screen replacement but its not a detailed invoice so I will request that from the repair shop. My brother is a computer engineer and he said macbook screens are quite sealed up so its difficult to get water damage in it, it would be more in line with the motherboard needing replaced, which isn't the case here.

I am not saying we wont pay but I want to be absolutely sure the damage was a result of my daughter spilling some water & not some other reason.

She's using the same tactics as parents who try to avoid paying agency fees for tutoring.

They get a free introduction to a teacher, then decline as far as the agency is concerned.

But they proceed to offer the teacher a fee higher than the agency would pay the tutor, but less than it would cost them as a parent to accept a tutor via an agency.

So if the agency fee is £40 pa, the tutor might get £30. The parent offers them £35 and says 'let's come to a private arrangement.'

This is not true.

Anything and everything on a laptop can be replaced. The issue is usually whether the cost of repair is less than the cost of replacing.

Also, a tiny droplet of water can cause damage if it lands on the wrong part, equally, an entire pint of water can do no damage at all if it misses the important parts.

On an older model, a replacement motherboard could be as cheap as £40 if you bought a second-hand or refurbed one. It could also be as expensive as £1000 or more if it were a newer model.

Has it been established that there is actually new water damage? It’s possible she’s just a cf?

An accident is an accident, but it is still your responsibility to repair the laptop and make the host whole. You can’t wiggle out of responsibility simply by saying it’s an accident.

I'd go back to her and ask why her insurance as a host and carrying out a business from her home isn't paying up.

<sigh>

Do you not understand that anyone working like this needs personal and professional liability insurance and / or contents cover for their home?

Had this host taken on the student through proper legal means, there would be T&Cs covering damage or theft at her home.

I don’t think that Christianity has anything to do with it and not sure that Guy de Maupassant, although an interesting literary figure, should be used in any kind of moral example!

This is a description of his lifestyle from a contemporary:

’The MS. of his Sur L'Eau was lying on the table between us, he had just read me a few chapters, the best thing he had ever written I thought. He was still producing with feverish haste one masterpiece after another, slashing his excited brain with champagne, ether and drugs of all sorts. Women after women in endless succession hastened the destruction, women recruited from all quarters... actresses, ballet-dancers, midinettes, grisettes, common prostitutes-- 'le taureau triste' his friends used to call him’.

You know what a grisette is? It was the term for a poor working girl in 19th century Paris. So, as a gentleman and successful writer, he was happily seducing and exploiting extremely poor girls who would quite possibly lose their position and live a life of dire poverty if they became pregnant.

Christian? Not so much.

I'm with your brother on this.

I'm not familiar with Macs, but I've never come across a screen damaged by water. At worst, the water could damage the ribbon connecting the screen, but they cost pennies and are a relatively quick fix.

I'd ask her for the number of the repair shop and call them.