Real life MMD: She broke my phone — should I make her pay?

MothballsWallet

telsco wrote: »

Don't you watch Judge Judy? These sort of small claims are always on there.

Erm, Judge Judy is American - I think the laws over there are different in many respects to ours. But a lot of the advice she gives people (like putting any sort of agreements in writing, to give just one example) is sound anywhere.

tujags

You should have insured it it is not that expensive, also have you tried to get it repaired? not always as expensive as you might think dropping can cause a minor fault that stops it working but is cheap to fix. Even a broken screen can easily be replaced. Too much of a throw away attitude these days fixing is a viable alternative.

Irv_the_Swerve

Many people don't realise that with House Insurance or her own phone insurance you usually get 3rd party cover for accidents you may cause to other people. So if your colleague has House, phone or personal effects Insurance you could claim off her policy.
In my view whatever the pro's & cons if she caused damage to your property,however unintentional then she is liable but short of suing her you could ask her the name of her Insurer and make a claim directly to them.

alanlivy

ure a fool u must take insurance on expensive goods like this go and get a cheap one now pay as u go do not be a poser and live and learn

JCP

The perceived price of the phone is neither here nor there really.
It is the disturbance it was causing to other members of staff which undoubtedly led to this accident.

In my office, it is a hanging offence to leave a mobile unattended - and before we moved into the new building which doesn't have windows which open, the offending item would likely have been lobbed out of one of the aforementioned windows. The amount of disturbance which unattended mobiles can cause in the large scale modern open plan offices is unbelievable. I've worked on client sites and have literally had an interruption every 5 minutes - this isn't conducive to being able to think through difficult technical issues.

Personal mobiles should be kept on silent.
Work mobiles should be kept on your person.
Let's face it - they're not called mobiles for nothing - you aren't going to get a hernia carrying one around with you.

It the OP has shown a little respect for her colleagues, this situation wouldn't have arisen.

Aldahbra

knighterrant69 wrote: »

Legally she is not responsible and can do what she likes, but ethically, she should be offering some sort of assistance in paying for a repair or a replacement. Even if the phone had been insured she should ethically stump up the excess.

She did. She offered a phone of her own, which is more than required.

It was a phone which cost £500 left unattended and uninsured. Sorry blame is with the owner

acidcat

Sorry, I agree with most of the posters here:
t
Should have been insured.
Should have kept it on you/on silent (it's really annoying for workmates)
Also good luck getting any colleagues to do favours for you in future: I'd be worried if it went wrong you'd try and charge me for it.

Ebenezer_Screwj

Of course she should pay for your phone, she had no business touching your property - but how are you going to "make her pay" as she is refusing to do so ? This is mitigated somewhat by the fact that you had your phone switched on at work and unattended.

pippinpuss

Your house insurance should pay for it to be replaced. Ask her to pay the excess cost.

br3ach

I hope all you angels preaching how you should not have your mobile on when in the office were all off the clock when you were posting your replies to this thread...?

A lot of people replying here during core working hours saying how it is wrong for this person to have their mobile turned on maybe need to look in the mirror before having a go at others.

Personally I would expect a decent person to offer to pay or help pay at which point I would offer my thanks and decline. Accidents happen but it is always polite to offer to help out if you were involved somehow.