Money Moral Dilemma: Do you charge house guests for breakages?

Cloudane

Any friend, heck any polite human being, would surely offer to pay for any damage they or their responsibilities do without being asked in the first place.

If not then, um yes, time to give them a nudge!

Depending on the situation and how expensive the breakage is, whether it was old anyway, whether insurance would cover it etc... just being polite enough to offer would probably get you off the hook :beer:

Nomad25

don't think you should even have to ask. If someone breaks one of your possessions, they should offer to replace/refund immediately. If the culprit is a minor, then the parent should stump up the cash.

yeah agree totally .. I'd offer to do the 'ear clippping' for them though!

diddlydoos

Well I know my friends would offer to pay, but whether or not I would accept is another matter... accidents happen and they are my friends. Stoopid but true! Unless they are my rich friends of course in which case they could pay up!

I haven't got a posh telly anyway, so they would probably be doing me favour! lol

whu

3plus1 wrote: »

I don't think you should even have to ask. If someone breaks one of your possessions, they should offer to replace/refund immediately. If the culprit is a minor, then the parent should stump up the cash.

A £500 tv is a bit much to write off as 'just an accident'. A real friend would write a cheque without squabbling - for that matter, so would any decent person, even if they didn't know you all that well.

If you were particularly rich and a £500 tv was a drop in the ocean, you would politely turn down your friend's offer to replace it - but the friend should still offer in the first place, rather than assume you could take the hit yourself.

If the item in question wasn't a £500 tv but an item of low value, your friend should offer to pay or buy you a replacement, you should decline, your friend should offer to buy you a drink instead to say sorry and you should accept that. Simple.

I agree with this - seems fair and reasonable

Ice_Cold_Cube

The first thing I'd do is carefully check my home contents insurance policy.

I might not have paid the extra premium for full accidental damage cover, but many insurance providers do include accidental damage to TV, audio, satellite and computer equipment as standard (even in the most basic of policies).

Think you don't have any accidental damage cover at all? Check the small print and you might just be surprised!

Laura

Primrose

Firstly I'd hope that every parent would have more sense than to let their child play with a cricket ball inside a house (especially if it was somebody else's house).
If I was the visiting parent, I would feel morally obliged to stump up for part of the replacement cost, but I believe that many household insurances actually in fact include Third Party Damage cover in certain circumstances, for accidents caused by members of their household. If I was the visitor, I'd certainly offer to check this out on my household insurance.

Grant_StClair-Armstrong

I think this is a pretty nonsensical dilemma. Of course they should pay and they shouldn't need to be asked either. If they were good friends, they would not hesitate. The friends concerned should also have shown more respect for a friends house by ensuring their brat was not lobbing cricket balls around in the lounge. A sign of the times, I guess.

moneysavingmam

Absolutely!!
wouldnt if it was a cup or some such inexpensive item....but a tv! oh yes!!
The parents, should of course ,maake immediate offer of compensation!

pennystretcher

Of course they should (at least offer!) pay for the damage.

I have had couple of cases like this in the past.. One of my friends broke something worth £120 and didn't offer to even cover the spare part. :mad: Let's just say that I have not seen this person since and I have no intentions to keep in touch.

Couple of years ago my lodger (or his g'friend) broke something small and didn't offer to pay for it until I nudged him a bit. He did finally replace the broken thing, but I found it very impolite for him not to offer it in the first place...

Treat your friends as you would want them to treat you :kisses: - otherwise you can wave bye-bye to them!

pennystretcher

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

...I don't see why they should have to pay for their friends expensive tastes, whether their friends can afford such tastes or not...

Are you serious? Would you choose your friends on the basis of the things they own or would you value friendship over monetary matters?

Just stay away from my place..I have saved long and hard for some of my stuff!