Real life MMD: Should I pay for a broken teapot?

iclayt

Of course your friend should pay for it. He wanted it, you're not a courier, you're a mate. I doubt he will though. Chalk it up to another of life's little accidents, rant and rave about it for a while, then let it go.

katemoz

As a clumsy cow I can sympathise! Yes you broke it, but you were doing him a favour by going to get it. He should at least pay halves. If he doesn't, I'd think he was extremely mean and would reconsider the friendship.

POPPYOSCAR

What kind of friend would take this attitude with you?

I would offer to pay half and never collect anything for anyone again, as I would not want the responsibility of it going wrong.

StrangelyBrown

bigdic wrote: »

£95 for a teapot? :huh:

Indeed!

Your friend clearly has more money than sense so the polite and friendly thing to do would be at least pay you half, if not offer to pay in full.

But if this were a small claims court then no, I'd not find your friend liable for the cost of the teapot - it really would be as simple as you broke it, your problem.

But given the relationship and nature of the transaction I think he's being a bit of an @rse by making you bear the full cost.

custard_monkey

To those asking you to consider if you would pay for a broken item, I can only offer you my opinion.

If one of my friends was £95 down as a result of doing me a favour and I knew I was more able to afford this loss than them, I would feel morally obliged to offer to pay and if they refused I would insist on them taking at least half. They are my friend after all!

jhnalford

Change friends

auntie_sal

If your friend could afford to pay £95 for a teapot, then he is obviousley not in a bad financial situation. He must know that as a student it is a lot of money to you. If he values your friendship he should let it go, pay up and all he has lost is a teapot. Thats what friends do, one day he may need to ask you a favour, and you would remember this incident. If he continues to refuse then he is certainly not your friend.

Ambro

As others have said you should check your and their household/card insurances to see if you can claim back.

As far as who is liable. If I went to someone's home and broke their teapot I'd expect to pay for it. If I was helping someone move house and the teapot broke in transit I would expect them to suffer the loss. I believe this falls somewhere in the middle and so sharing the loss would be a reasonable expectation. However, if they did not give you the money first, then they are well within the realms of reason to refuse to pay you for the broken pot.

When I first looked at this it seemed straightforward that i someone breaks my things then they should pay for it. However, I think that the fact you were doing them a service should go some way towards mitigating that.

stumpy0211

Such a shame to fall out over such a minor thing. I think friendship should transcend all financial values. You guys should get together and have a good laugh about the incident. If it helps I'll pay for the teapot. Just be nice to each other. :beer:

lilykim

Accidents happen. I think a 50/50 split is the answer. But perhaps your friend should do his own shopping in future?