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

Mouseboy007

Kids will be kids and accidents happen. Of course, another side to this, which hasn't yet been discussed, is the 'accuracy' of the story. I'm not accusing anyone of bending the truth, but I can can anecdotally say that if I had an expensive item like that as a kid, my parents would go mental if I broke it so I might be inclined to say 'it was an accident caused by someone else'.

Assuming one kid pushed another without malice - just in the spirit of playing then it's something the kid will have to live with. It should be his responsibility to ask his friend for a contribution if he wants to. Unless there's any malice involved I would say that a few valuable lessons about responsibility can be learned. As a kid the last thing I would want is for 'mummy' to have to be fighting my battles for me.

I would bet the kid that 'pushed' the other into the river has a slightly different version of events as to how it all transpired. I could be wrong of course and am not questioning anyones honesty, but from experience kids have a knack of elaborating or bending the truth to get out of being in trouble. Just sayin'

McG_Clan

Well done to the lad for saving up for 2 years himself. My son (then aged 7) did this for 18 months to save for a DS but I did make it a condition that if he was going to buy it, then it had to have insurance on it (kids can be careless!) so we went halves on the insurance cover (and have used it!).
If he's savvy enough to save for so long, and have been encouraged by parents to do so, perhaps they should have all considered some kind of gadget cover? I know everywhere tries to sell you payment protection type policies left, right and centre nowadays, but with a kid and an expensive gadget, it's a no-brainer, and worth the £30-£40 for 2 or 3 years!
As far as the pushing and the river go, it's one kid's word against another at the end of the day, but do make sure that the other kid's parents are advised of the incident if everything seems truthful, as you aren't a very good friend if you shove your best mate into a river!

katieh1990x

It could be worth your son taking it into the apple shop, tell them it has stopped working (as iPhones can get water damage from rain) and sometimes they will give him a reconditioned one. If not, speak to the boys parents, if I did that when I was a kid my parents would have replaced it and I would have had no pocket money etc. If they have any decency they will replace it!

ovverbruv

The gadget show did a feature on this recently, try a bag filled with rice for 48 hours.

As to the friend paying I think you should ask his parents to pay at least half. Have you checked if you have cover on your house insurance? I got my wifes iphone covered for only £10 for the year.

BohemianCoast

Sorry, but the kids were just mucking around; it would be jolly hard to prove negligence on the part of the other child.

You should have all-risks-insurance on children's gadgets, with an excess that's within the kids' abilities to pay. It's daft to let a teenager take an uninsured phone of that quality to school.

Though note that insurance itself is a bad deal for risks you can afford to cover. So both our kids' phones are insured with the bank of Mummy and Daddy; they know that if they're stolen, lost or damaged, we'll expect them to pay a modest excess and then cover it once. The second time they'll have to save up for a replacement and use a basic phone in the meantime. Our daughter made her first phone last four years! And our son is forever saving up for replacements for things he's lost or broken...

dstanden

im-lost wrote: »

Action and consequences my foot.

If the 'other' child is at fault, then surely the one who has a wet phone is also at fault for taking it whilst playing near rivers..
children don't go and play near rivers to sit on the bank staring up at the clouds..

:mad: What are you, a loss adjuster?

Your assumption is that the boys were playing near the river and lays blame on the victim, but what if his route home takes him by a river and his friend jumped him and accidentally pushed him in? Does that make him at fault? I used to walk past a river every day on the way to and from school, so does that mean I would be at fault if I was pushed in? Should I find a route that takes me around the river just in case?

It's that sort of twisted logic that I hear used when small children find dirty needles in the playpark and someone says, "well you should have known that addicts congregate there".

At what point is it the fault of the child or the parents?

Does fore-knowledge of the risk make it acceptable? My moral compass points to "NO" and I hope that resonates.

Actions do have consequences and not all of them are nice.

Get the phone repaired and ask for a sizeable contribution. If the boot was on the other foot that's what they'd do.:mad:

rushingwind

It seems that when kids go to the academy i phones are required??? Whether paid by son or not remember there is no control on internet access to my knowledge they can access anything as there are no parental controls.Please correct me if im wrong!!!Regarding reimbursement chat with parents of other child ask what theyd expect if tables were turned.If they are decent folk you will come up with a solution ie pay half phone prices as it takes two to 'muck about' My two year old put my friends iphone in her coffee..... she claimed off insurance and i put it down to !!!! happens no ones hurt....count your blessings....if she'd asked i would have reimbursed her ....would have taken a while tho!!!

rushingwind

this worked for my boyfriend

GSXRCarlos

parky0607 wrote: »

Id love to know how parents can afford to pay for their kids to have these phones anyway! At age 21, 5 years after starting full time employment (in a decent job) I was just able to afford a contract phone which was more than £10 p/m for myself, let alone anyone else!

Getting back to the point... you should definately mention it to the kids parents and see what theyd suggest (mention how theyd feel in your shoes). If you cant come to an agreement, then I guess its a lesson learnt for not having insurance, and I would buy your child a bog-standard replacement phone which should teach them to look after their stuff properly!

Re-read the question - the kid saved up and bougth it himself!!! :mad:

bogwart

He should ask the person responsible not just to contribute but to pay for the whole thing - dependent on the circumstances under which the boy was pushed into the river.

Some people seem to be complaining that a 13-year old should not be carrying a mobile, but these days it seems par for the course. In any case that is irrelevant - what matters is that the other person caused damage, and that should be reimbursed. If this was a case of a bicycle or something more mundane I suspect a lot of the moaners would be keeping quiet about it.