Money Moral Dilemma: Should neighbour pay as her son smashed the window

kneelbeforezod

K0zb0 wrote: »

<rant> I’ve spent some time browsing the MSE forums but never found the need to sign up....until now!

you people are absolutely BARMY! Have none of you ever damaged anything or had an accident! I’ve had tons of my stuff damaged etc and no one has ever offered to pay for it!

It’s completely unreasonable to expect everyone in the world to accept responsibility when 99 times out of a hundred it's just circumstance!

I agree with an earlier post that suggests the person should accept that parking outside of their private property carry’s a certain risk!

In fact it's obnoxious to think you have a god given right to park safely on the street! I don’t know the exact circumstances but you didn’t suggest that the child was misbehaving so I say the lad had as much of a right to be playing football outside as you did to park your car!

Re tryfive your crazy! You seem to be suggesting that if the neighbour’s son had accidentally burnt there house down that the neighbour should pay for the damage? What if that damages was a 6 figure sum? My point is that this is what insurance is for! If all your arguments rang true we wouldn’t need insurance and we would all be £100 better off.

Your arguments are very American! This country is supposed to be tolerant, it’s an equal blame situation, did the football get damaged in anyway? Is the child traumatised? Does he need counselling and is there a personal injury clam lurking here? In fact, will the child every make a full psychological recovery?
Come on guys its a broken window and £100, it would be nice if the neighbour offered to pay but if she doesn’t DO NOT HOLD IT AGAINST HER AND DO NOT FALL OUT! It’s a qwerk of life and your all wrong to be so pointed. </rant>

"...it's obnoxious to think you have a god given right to park safely on the street"

With comments like that and you think other people posting on here are crazy?? :rotfl:

No doubt with your skewed view of the world you were brought up to think anyone can do whatever they like with impunity. Just because people haven't offered to pay for any damage to your property doesn't make it wrong to seek any recompense. IMHO anyone who thinks otherwise is either a spineless doormat or trying to salve their conscience of their own past (and no doubt current and future) misdemeanours

P.S. what is a qwerk?

janchaibuhn

I just couldn't resist adding to this as I also have personal experience! A neighbour's son and friends damaged my window and she was the only one to admit to it and offer to pay anything. We agreed that she would arrange for the window to be fixed herself which took the headache out of it for me. All done and dusted and neighbourly relationship in tact. Stories where people have been done over sound awful, shame things went that way.

almostdiamond

Mmmmm we had a situation where some local yobs (aged 12 or so) kicked in our fence, we saw them do it and reported them to the police (of course they said it fell down). We followed them around our village for two hours whilst the police decided whether or not they were going to show up in order to keep track of them, and when they did show, the kids were taken back to their parents. The parents said they'd pay for the damage the quote to replace was £200, but guess what - they never did pay and the police just weren't interested. I'm afraid this country is full of unruly kids whose parents don't give a toss so long as it's not THEIR property being damaged. Until there are some consequences to this type of behaviour we are stuck with it. The attitude of the mother tells you all you need to know. What makes her think YOU can afford it! Good luck with this, you'll need it as you've no chance of getting your money...... it really makes me angry :mad:

almostdiamond

K0zb0 wrote: »

<rant> I’ve spent some time browsing the MSE forums but never found the need to sign up....until now!

you people are absolutely BARMY! Have none of you ever damaged anything or had an accident! I’ve had tons of my stuff damaged etc and no one has ever offered to pay for it!

It’s completely unreasonable to expect everyone in the world to accept responsibility when 99 times out of a hundred it's just circumstance!

I agree with an earlier post that suggests the person should accept that parking outside of their private property carry’s a certain risk!

In fact it's obnoxious to think you have a god given right to park safely on the street! I don’t know the exact circumstances but you didn’t suggest that the child was misbehaving so I say the lad had as much of a right to be playing football outside as you did to park your car!

Re tryfive your crazy! You seem to be suggesting that if the neighbour’s son had accidentally burnt there house down that the neighbour should pay for the damage? What if that damages was a 6 figure sum? My point is that this is what insurance is for! If all your arguments rang true we wouldn’t need insurance and we would all be £100 better off.

Your arguments are very American! This country is supposed to be tolerant, it’s an equal blame situation, did the football get damaged in anyway? Is the child traumatised? Does he need counselling and is there a personal injury clam lurking here? In fact, will the child every make a full psychological recovery?
Come on guys its a broken window and £100, it would be nice if the neighbour offered to pay but if she doesn’t DO NOT HOLD IT AGAINST HER AND DO NOT FALL OUT! It’s a qwerk of life and your all wrong to be so pointed. </rant>

Erm I don't think rights really come into this unless you're referring to the rights of the property owner and the fact that roads are meant for cars to be parked on (providing its safe to do so). There are playing fields, local parks, open spaces (or the child's own garden/property - though I suspect the mother didn't want her windows breaking..) fo play football on. If someone knocked the child over whilst playing football in the street - then what? It's just another case of people getting away with it and not doing the 'decent' thing - basically because they're not decent. You argument is total ********! :eek:

BarbaraH

Hi, This same thing happened to us - a neighbour's young boy threw a ball and smashed quite a large window in our house. She was very apologetic but she was a single parent and we didn't at any point ask her to pay us. We felt we'd rather have good relations with our neighbours!

Ironically, some time later, another neighbour complained that a tile from our roof blew down in high winds and she claimed it had scratched her car. She had no proof as she hadn't seen it and there were a few tiles down from various surrounding roofs. My husband offered to repair the scratch out of goodwill but she refused and sent us a bill for (wait for it) £650. We're still disputing it, via our insurance co. So much for karma!:(
BarbaraH

tallgirld

Forget about the £50. What you should do is knock your neighbour's door tell them you think they are unreasonable and never speak to them again!!

You also plant some of those Leylandi tree things that grow ludicrously high along your fence and deprive them of natural light LOL :-)

Irv_the_Swerve

If you have Legal Cover on your motor policy then your insurers will use legal means to recover your excess if the accident is indisputably not your fault. Only then will you retain your No Claims Discount. If your neighbour has House Insurance then this can be used for your insurer to make a claim against and recover their costs.
Most House Insurance covers the occupants against 3rd party claims for accidents- it might not if the breakage is deliberate in which case it falls into Criminal damage and would be a police matter

toffeecoated

The neighbour should pay but if she can't afford it there is no point pursuing it. People say make her pay a weekly amount but what they don't understand is poor people pay for everything weekly or monthly. I have been in that situation and i can tell you by the time direct debits and standing orders had been taken i had nothing left. I was forced to live on my credit card. When that cycle starts it is very difficult to get out of debt. Sometimes can't afford it means exactly that. Next time insure things properly (no excess) and don't just look for the cheapest option.

erinus

Just let your neighbour know that if it happens again you will look to her/her son to compensate you for your insurance excess and then choose to remain a good neighbour.

Trying to get £50 from them will only cost you money and what's the point if the window has already been satifactorily replaced. Trust me, just putting this down to experience will be the only way to save money on this dilemma.

Cloudane

Hmm guess my original comment, though meant in good humour, can't have been taken as such (been pulled). I wasn't seriously suggesting violence against a minor's game playing equipment (or the minor himself)

In seriousness then, excess is simply what you pay for having cheap insurance (correctly I think - seems likely to even itself out).. In a sense it's already been sorted out through insurance. That's what it's for, and it doesn't seem worth falling out with neighbours over.

Still, I can't see why the kid couldn't "earn-pay" it back if that's what they want... knock off a fiver here and there for jobs like washing the car (heh), cutting the grass etc over a period of time. Or for cold hard cash, the parent could stop their pocket money for... I guess these days probably about 2 weeks?