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

gemmaj

Personal mobile phones left unattended in the office is a PITA

How is everyone else in the office meant to do their job, concentrate, talk on the phone to clients etc while YOUR mobile phone is blaring out music?

YABU. You were at fault. Suck it up.


(can you tell one person in my office regularly leaves their phone on their desk and gets never ending calls?!)

knighterrant69

Why all the hating, the OP is allowed to spend THEIR OWN money on what they choose! The jealousy is screaming at me through the posts!

Whether or not they were at work, the colleague should not have touched was WAS NOT HERS! The second she touched it she became responsible for the care of that item. If a colleagues phone rang in my office, we go find them to let them know in case it was urgent.

Its called common sense and respect for others property. It is not in doubt that her intent was to be kind, but the 'Road to Hell is paved with good intentions'.

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.

dave82_2

If you accidentally knocked your work phone off the desk and it broke would you expect work to send you the bill?

Morally I don't think you can really ask them to pay although legally you probably could. But the law is an !!! anyway

It would be different if they deliberately broke it. You should check your household insurance as some cover mobiles.

JulieWa

My work place is carpeted. If I dropped a phone it wouldn't harm it. Therefore is it your employer's fault for not investing in carpet tiles??

stewgreen

conclude : EXCEPTIONALLY PRECIOUS phone so you are negligent not to have taken EXCEPTIONALLY SPECIAL precautions

- As Martin has pointed out before it's always worth checking if you are covered by your home insurance first. In this case check the office insurance policy as well.
- If you are using your expensive phone for work have you asked the Tax Office if your phone is a tax deductible expense ?

- 1. It's not going to cost £500 to repair is it ? 2.Your phone cost £500, but it doesn't cost that much on Ebay now. - So it might cost £200 max to rectify the situation. As ever always try to see the event through the other person POV. If it was your colleagues phone then "the office family" might all chip in £20 each like they do for many things in a "what goes around comes around manner". A £20-£40 help gift from a boss might buy a lot of loyalty. "pay rise what about that £20 I gave you !"

- General rule is don't every buy anything you can't afford to lose. £500 & delicate, it should have never been on the desk it should be tethered to you (I'd probably clip it to my pocket with one of those curly keyring clips.

- As regards trying to pin a £500 liability on your colleague, the law is quite good about what is fair & reasonable & you can't really pin a negligence accusation on her. Picking up a phone disrupting the work of a busy office is a perfectly reasonable thing to do so it was just a genuine accident with no actual negligence on her part. I have a feeling a judge would say if you had an EXCEPTIONALLY PRECIOUS phone you should have taken EXCEPTIONALLY SPECIAL precautions like telling your colleagues "never touch my phone", so most of the negligence is yours.

BlushingRose

This is a fake thread - it has appeared in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-blog/2012/mar/26/dear-jeremy-work-advice

This is a direct c&p of the copy.


Last week I was close to my desk talking to my boss. My phone was lying on my desk. As we spoke the phone rang and a colleague went over, picked it up – and promptly dropped it. It broke open and the battery flew out. I hid my annoyance at her for picking up my beautiful Android phone in the first place, as it seemed to work OK when reassembled. But next day it went dead and is irreparable. It was my own phone which cost $575 (£350) about 15 months ago, and is not insured.

I asked her to pay for a replacement and she said sorry, but she could not afford to. However, she said she would give me an old phone that was sitting in a drawer. I refused this. I am furious and bereft as I cannot afford a new phone and am now using a very old one that I happened to have in a drawer. Should I insist she buy me a new one?

janiebquick

£500 for a mobile phone? They really saw you coming, didn't they? Is it not covered by your household insurance/

Nadnerb_3

Do you always react this way to someone who tries to help ? Shame on you. As for spending £500 on a phone....... Are you sure you are on the right website ?

Have you tried to get a repair. A friend told me Apple (I presume it is Apple) have a maximum repair cost of about £100. Your nearest Apple store might be a good place to start.

amyleannewalker

The insurance company would have covered most of the cost had you accidentally broken it but you would have had to pay the excess as it was your fault. If it were insured but your colleague broke it you would expect her to pay the excess.

How about you ask for a contribution of £50 (excess) towards it and you pay what the insurance company would have covered? It's hardly her fault you don't have insurance.

stewgreen

Good call Blushing Rose
- Next weeks Moral Dilemma : I am a hypothetical blogger hypothetically working for a newspaper called the Guardian. On 22nd of March MSE published a Moral Dilemma, then on Monday 26 March 2012 10.33 BST I published one almost exactly the same. Will I be given a big slap by MSE for plagiarism ?

Ans : search frantically through the net finding similar old posts, then you might be able to cover yourself.

BTW I wonder if the colleague of the OP has any form of liability insurance herself that you might be able to claim off ?
If it was her dog that did it then she might have had some liability insurance for it.