Money Moral Dilemma: Who should pay the bill?

mandyk_3

Would you be asking this question if it had been your mother and not your mother in law ? :-)

SALLYPOW

I think it depends why she was at your house, was it for your benefit or hers? Either way, unless she offers to pay its rather embarassing to ask her to foot the bill.

As others have said, is it really essential she has a key to your place?

Sooler

mandyk wrote: »

Would you be asking this question if it had been your mother and not your mother in law ? :-)

Let's not digress and cloud the issue

Sooler

JoannaS wrote: »

You make it sound like they deliberately trapped the MIL into the alarm breaking!

as if anyone would do such a thing !!!

Pernicious

I don't think enough information was given to really decide on this one - a lot of posters have raised good points & a lot are just assuming things...

For example maybe the MIL was not allowed to come & go as she pleases & maybe it wasn't a regular occurence, perhaps she knew the alarm code & had a key because she had kindly come over when the OP was on holiday. In this instance I think it's a bit off for the OP to have to pay & should probably have a polite word about boundaries...

Regardless of whether or not it was a regular occurence it strikes me as odd that the MIL didn't think to call the OP before accepting the call out if she wasn't prepared to pay for it herself. If that were me I'd double check first as you never truly know someone else's financial situation & find it rude to be forcing that charge onto your family when they had no idea it was coming.

On the one hand perhaps 1 party really can't afford it whilst the other is well off, in which case can't the better off party just suck it up & pay since the other is struggling?

But perhaps both are struggling or are well off in which case...well I still can't answer, there are too many variables that we don't know about.

I like the idea of reclaiming through the manufacturer though - a "stuck button" seems a bit of naff alarm system to me unless it's very, very old...

lesmor

You should pay,why did you give here the code in the first place if you did not intend for her to use it?
What did she have to pick up that was so urgent, she should have asked permission.
Does she think she can enter your home at a whim, you need to make it clear to her.
Hopefully you didnt give her your card pin number, just because it was convenient for her to withdraw cash for you.
While your at it give her the combination to your safe.
This is all your own fault

money_saver12

If things went wrong when u asked your mother in law for the money..

It can ruin the relationship..

Dont think that is worth 50£..

Imagine the hassle if things went wrong!

Marco12452

PAY UP !!!
It could be much worse if you don't, being the M-I-L.

SuzySF

not going with who should pay, but she should have called SIL first before the alarm company...
but in her defence, where I work has alarms and code key pads, some years ago we had one with square rubber keys, it was changed after all 3 of the codeholders had issues with a key sticking, not so bad in daylight and you can see whats happend to pop it out, but in the dark its difficult.
It may be that the keys were these rubber style and not the new round metal type that are less likely to stick...alarms going off, bit of a panick to get them stopped - knee jerk reaction is to call the alarm company...
just a thought.:)

JoannaS_3

lesmor wrote: »

You should pay,why did you give here the code in the first place if you did not intend for her to use it?
What did she have to pick up that was so urgent, she should have asked permission.
Does she think she can enter your home at a whim, you need to make it clear to her.
Hopefully you didnt give her your card pin number, just because it was convenient for her to withdraw cash for you.
While your at it give her the combination to your safe.
This is all your own fault

What a helpful, positive, caring message!! NOT!!!! Reading too much into what was written and then attacking the person who is asking for advice! Hopefully you don't work in customer services or any job that requires you to be pleasant to people!!