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

Am I the only person who thinks the host may be trying to pull a fast one?
She leaves the old laptop on the table and places a glass of water next to it. A small amount of water gets spilt on it and she just wipes it away and says not to worry. Later on the laptop is apparently so badly damaged that it will cost £200 to repair. For what it is worth I once spilt orange juice on a work computer keyboard and the IT dept just cleaned it up, dried it out and it was absolutely fine. I think this sounds a bit fishy and wouldn't want to pay without seeing an estimate from the repairer with details of the actual damage. There is doing the right thing and then there is being taken for a mug.

She may well be trying it on. I'd want more evidence from the person who repaired it.

She has managed to get a quote, get the laptop to a company to fix it and already had paid all before your daughter even got home???

She could be covered as an employee by the agency, but not registered as a self-employed business. In that case any insurance she has will be provided through the agency and won't apply for any work she takes on outside the agency. It also means you have only a verbal contract with her, which she could deny and would be hard for you to prove exists, in the case of anything happening to your DD. She'll be breaking her terms of contract with the agency too, by stealing their clients. She's not an honest person.

I also don't believe she's had the laptop inspected, a repair costed and carried out, by a reputable firm in less than 24hrs. From what others are saying about the laptop's value and the type of damage she's saying occured, nothing seems to add up there either.

That will be covered under standard contents accidental damage (minus the excess). I wouldn’t pay. They were supervising adults and placed the water next to the laptop. I would offer to pay the insurance claim excess though on provision of receipts/evidence of claim.

She us trying it on. I suspect that if you agree but ask for a full repair cost breakdown (dated today) then you will never hear from her again.

Sounds like they didn’t go off on your daughter. I broke a laptop once but it was mine with a glass of wine 🤦🏻‍♀️

Accidents happen and it sounds like it should be acknowledged as that, BUT your daughter was still the one who spilled the water. Theyve hosted her, she’s had an opportunity. If it sticks in your throat then ask for a contribution from your daughter to pay the money back. She needs to learn that accidents also consequences and that starts with her. She can come out well by being gracious. Breakages need to be paid for. Not realising that makes kids precious. Paying for it teaches owning the mistake in a responsible proactive way of behaving. 😊

Well, if I prang someone's car, I expect to at least pay the excess, so that should be paid at minimum. The excess may be more than the cost of repairs. Insurance is often for bigger things and personal liability, not relatively small costs.

I'd pay but I would ask to see a copy of the bill for repairs. I'm not that trusting.

But presumably OP paid for her daughters to live there? As such it was a business arrangement and the host should have accidental damage insurance purely for this kind of thing.

Depends what's in the contract. If I stay at a motel there's usually something in there about charging for damages (including things like broken plates).

I also think you should pay. It was an accident but if she has to pay the £200 repair cost then that will cancel out any money made hosting your daughter on this occasion. It would be nice if her not to charge but she's trying to run a business.

I disagree. The friend should have paid.

Absolutely. £200 sounds way OTT.

OP, what would happen if you just don't pay?

A KB is completely different, has no processing power and sensitive electronics and can be cleaned and dried... in some cases.

It also matters a lot if the laptop was switched on at the time...

I don't know if the host is pulling a fast one, but a £200 bill for a newish Apple laptop or a similar higher end windows one would be reasonable, an old thing running win10 and not upgradable to W11? longer term, better off buying a new one.
Ask for an invoice for the repair, as the OP may need to claim off her household insurance.

A slightly different scenario but maybe something to consider...

So I foster care for adults with mild learning disabilities in my home. We moved into a new build and a few weeks after moving in, the lady I cared for damaged the brand new bedroom carpet in her room, which ended up deemed as being beyond repair.
I have accidental damage cover on my insurance, as well as public liability insurance, but I really didn't want to make a claim on a small bedroom carpet to protect my premiums. Instead of me claiming on my insurance, we (her family and advocates and I ) decided the fairest way to deal with it was to go halves on the cost of replacing the carpet. Could you do the same? Offer to go halves?

And here lies the crux of the matter. The host decided to do this away from the agency with it's contract and policies.

And if you book a room in a motel you are not asking the motel owner to be in loco parentis (think of it as being the same status as a houseparent working in a boarding school 6th form)

Ask to see the estimate invoice from a repair shop before paying anything. If it seems fair to you then yes pay if you feel it’s not a stitch up.
Sounds already dodgy that she instigated a deal leaving the agent out, both sides should have a regulator monitoring hosting a minor so the offer from the host to cut out the intermediary doesn’t suggest financial honesty to me, the water was so strategically placed and probably too full (maybe glass was wet too?), and she said it was an old laptop and she had a brand new one in the other room. Then she has a sudden change of heart and this “old” laptop’s repair is worth £200, for which you can buy a pretty good laptop on eBay. I bought my son a refurbished 2 year old Dell for £189 to take to uni and it’s excellent. I saw this happen all the time when I used to work in an office, and am guilty of the odd tea spill myself, and IT just turned it upside down, and carefully dried in between the keys.

People acting morally is nothing to do with religion. Just doing the right thing is enough without pretending it's because some god wants you to.

You weren't even there! Of course we like to believe what our children tell us, but there are two sides to this story. The idea that you've got an exact picture in your mind of what actually happened is preposterous.

A new Apple laptop is more like £2,000 than £200! They're not cheap.

@Mrsg26 OP how do you think office workers go on? They are sitting at a laptop vast majority of the day. Do you think they can’t have anything to drink in all that time in case of a spillage? No. They have to be careful. You really do need to pay this (or more realistically your daughter does).

I've heard it all now. A nefarious plot by the host family to extort £200 repair money from the poor girl's family. Pay up what you owe, for God's Sake.

In my office if one of us accidentally spilt a drink on our computer then the company wold pay.

@Mrsg26 What did your daughter say when she got home? Did you come to any conclusions?

But this wasn't new. It was 15 years old. Even if they still made screens with 15-year-old technology inside them (which they don't), they would not cost £200.

You can pick up a replacement screen for a 2010 MacBook for around £20.

Even if the damage was caused by the OP's daughter spilling water (which is unlikely, as water damage tends not to affect screens), the cost of repair would not be £200.

Replacing the entire laptop with a like for like version would not even be £200. You can get 2010 MacBooks for around £90-100.