Real-life MMD:Dogs destroyed neighbour's signed ball. Should we replace it?

Rhysd007

Can't believe this MMD has so many conflicting comments, this has to be to most one-sided one I've ever seen!

OP should show this whole thread to their next-door neighbour and see what they have to say!!

But seriously, OP follow through with a letter saying what the [sensible] posters have suggested. Offer a replacement ball:
A Sondico football (821051) is only £3 in Sport Direct. Also mention that if the initial goodwill gesture is not accepted - and they take the matter further - then a new football will not be forthcoming.

Neighbour does not have a leg to stand on, you're fine OP.

tallgirld

Oh please! If it is so valuable why was it being kicked all about the place.

I would offer to buy a new UNSIGNED ball.

He's basically taking the mick!!!

karlandsusan

meher wrote: »

Children play with their toys and footballs and kites and many other gadgets and they may land on their neighbours garden - NORMAL SOCIAL ACTIVITY. The neighbors dogs destroying it beyond recognition, neighbour refusing to address their grievance, arrogantly responding and aggravating their feelings - ABNORMAL AND ANTI SOCIAL.

Now pay for it and make an attempt to be normal and civilised.

ok - fair enough but why are you SO one-sided about this?
Why do you accept that playing with a valuable piece of football memorabilia as if it is just a normal toy should be accepted by the parent as NORMAL BEHAVIOUR. If you had your way the child/parent would take no responsibility or face any consequences for any of their actions - why does the neighbour not have a right to challenge this? They may have dogs but took reasonable actions to secure their own, private, garden to prevent them impacting negatively on their neighbours .
I think there should be some dialogue (otherwise the situation will fester and get worse) and as a gesture the neighbour should offer to replace the ball with an unsigned equivalent. And as a gesture the parent should accept this and teach their child the rights & wrongs about playing football in the back garden with ludicrously expensive balls!

meher

i don't understand why some folks are forcing their opinion on me; i'm like anyone else responding to a moral dilemma that i'm apparently entitled to. i've taken a stance that i'm comfortable with. And to have folks forcing their opinion on me, "think like me, think like the rest of us, sing from my song sheet, you're on the wrong side, why have you taken one side, come on, sing to my tune, if not, you are a bad neighbour yourself" i find such control freakery despicable and i've never entertained it and there is never going to be a first. i not only reject such imposing abusive hostile views outright but i also stand by my vew that there is only a child who has been affected by loss. In fact i sympathise with them for a bigger loss - bad neighbors with untrained dogs - it is recipie for disaster as evident in this incident itself.

Tigeress

Meher, It's because you are literally making things up to fit with your own view 'bad neighbours, untrained dogs, arrogant OP' etc. etc. etc, you say so many made up things about the OP and their dogs being bad, you are being incredibibly abusive and villifying yourself to the OP without any proof or justification, it is all made up to fit your own fabricated story. People here just want you to look at the dilemma based on the actual facts provided, not what you have decided the facts must be. Not that it matters, I think the OP has their answer by now if they look for the responses where the actual facts have been taken into account, they will get 100% support to not buy a replacement signed ball and at most buy a replacement normal ball, if that.

LizH

After many months of nuisance from kids kicking balls against my 6ft fence and the subsequent bill of over £1,400 to replace the damaged panels, I stopped giving back footballs.
My 2 Rottweilers enjoyed the stray balls for a while until the brats concerned and their parents got the message. We now enjoy peace and quiet and they play on the field close by instead of indulging in what is anti-social behaviour.
At some point, parents have to take responsibility for their child's actions. I wouldn't pay up on principle.

Maineman

It sounds like everyone who commented agreed, there is no way you should pay. In any event their case would be almost impossible to prove - has anyone seen any evidence at all that Wayne Rooney can write????

Winter_Phoenix

So an item has been damaged by being carelessly kicked onto a neighbour's property - and some people think that the neighbour has a duty to replace the broken item with an equivalent brand-new one? (The dogs are irrelevant - anything in the garden could have ruined the football, from a thorny plant to a patio heater.)

In that case, let's hope no-one ever crashes a helicopter onto your land - imagine having to buy a nice new one of those for the careless pilot, just because he landed on your really hard patio! :shocked:

ptrichardson

easiest one ever!


Nope.

carolyn6uk

You should def ask to see a photo of the child holding the signed ball - they would have one if they were genuine as it was such a procession!!!!
If they can't provide one, you have your answer, it wasn't signed in the first place.