Real-life MMD: Should friend cough up for broken iPhone?

aliasojo

hpsauce wrote: »

Need more facts really.

If they are mates and had gone down to muck around in the river and were BOTH messing about then he should have been more careful.

If on the other hand they were just walking past it and his mate just pushed him in then he does need to take some responsibility.

This.

Most balanced reply on here imo.

Behemoth

You don't say how old the 'friend' is. Assuming he is also 13 he would not be legally liable for the damage, so pressuring him for money would be a criminal offence. In any event it sounds unlikely you would win a civil claim in these circumstances.
Personally I hold the 'victim's' parents responsible for letting the child go out to play with an expensive gadget. What do you expect to happen?

pollypenny

No. Kids are kids and mess about, pushing and shoving is part of it.

Unless it was an instance of real bullying, I would say the lad has ,earned an expensive lesson.

Marisco

mr-tom wrote: »

Bad idea to let kids have iPhones.

This!! I have a son (now an adult) and there is no way on gods earth I would have allowed him to have an expensive phone, saved up himself or not!! I know (up to a point!!:D) what he and his mates got up to, and one pushing the other into water would be par for the course!! I'd be far more concerned about whether the kid could swim or not!!

They are 13 year old boys, playing silly bu*gers are in the genes! If kids must have mobiles, then let them have basic ones, so if these sorts of things happen (and they will with 13 year old boys!!) it won't matter.

lyster101

Just focusing on the issue of the damaged phone firstly, why can't it be repaired? You said that it is 6 months old. Have you taken it to an Apple store? I think those sharks (pardon the water-based pun) there will try and charge you a further £139 for a repair, citing 'out-of-warranty' and accidental damage to assuage their responsibilities under the 1 year warranty. As I understand it, they'll just give you a new unit and perhaps use the old one for parts elsewhere.

I cracked the screen of my phone a few days ago and the smug 'genius' at the Apple shop described the above charge to me. Instead, I took it to a great company called Lovefone who replaced the screen for £79 and it is as good as new. I think that they can also repair for water damage. I think there are other people who also does this service, but these guys were brilliant for me.

The ethical side? 13 year old boys will be boys and as such trash lots of things they are near, but it'll be a very decent friend or his parents (and generous) to offer to pay something towards the repair/replacement of a phone taking a bath. It'll certainly be stretching things to demand anything from them.

pollypenny

Marisco wrote: »

They are 13 year old boys, playing silly bu*gers are in the genes! If kids must have mobiles, then let them have basic ones, so if these sorts of things happen (and they will with 13 year old boys!!) it won't matter.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Spot on! Any teacher could tell the OP that. Furthermore, the advice from school is not to take expensive stuff, of any sort!

A.Jones

1) The kid shouldn't have had an expensive phone and if he must have one, then he should have taken more care of it. It doesn't matter who saved up for it.

2) Has your child ever pushed the friend? If so, he deserves some of the blame. Pushing him back is just retaliation. The friend should also counter sue / counter claim for psychological damage that your son has done to him, leading him to push other people.

fatal1955

Does the friend know that the phone is ruined? Does he know how it was paid for? If not, he should be told and asked how he plans to pay for its replacement. If he's not willing to even consider trying to pay for the damage then at least you know he was never really a friend in the first place.

rinabean

How is the other lad to pay for it? If yours had to save two years, are you really saying that (assuming they have similar income), this kid is going to be paying debts to you until he's 15, unable to buy anything of his own? This is insane.

It's such a shame for your son after he saved up, but this is life. Sometimes you're "good" and you end up losing. If it's important to you that that's not what he takes away from this, it's up to you to buy him a replacement, whether another iphone, a cheaper phone, or a cheap phone and some unrelated treat. It's nothing to do with the other boy or his family (unless you think this was mean-spirited and not just horseplay).

There's no point saying he shouldn't have taken his iphone to the river, he knows that better than anyone by now. It's a shame he learnt it with something he'd saved so long for, though.

ednashedna

Well done to your son for saving up so hard. That must have taken some doing and I think he deserves our congratulations and respect. No one could have predicted this and I think asking the boy (via his parents) who pushed him for a contribution is an excellent idea - just to get the principle thing right. My daughter saved up for a year for an ipod and then a friend dropped it in a glass of water by accident. We phoned Apple who gave us an appointment at the store who replaced it half price. So a contribution and a bit more saving should see him right. (We now have gadget insurance!) But huge well done to your son for such persevering saving in the first place. Sounds very mature to me. It is not his fault his friend was an idiot.