Should my housemate pay for the dress she borrowed then ruined?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

take it as a challenge to lose a bit of weight and fit back into it, then thank her for giving you the motivation, and treat her to a meal.

JReacher1

If your housemates knows what you do for a living then I imagine they'll read this thread at some point which I imagine would be a bit awkward!

KARO

JReacher1 wrote: »

If your housemates knows what you do for a living then I imagine they'll read this thread at some point which I imagine would be a bit awkward!

I would imagine it's a manufactured money dilemma, inspired by something that probably happens quite a lot in real life.

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

take it as a challenge to lose a bit of weight and fit back into it, then thank her for giving you the motivation, and treat her to a meal.

You are assuming the dress only shrunk widthways :rotfl:

peachyprice

The least I would expect is for the friend to buy you a new dress, not necessarily to the full value of the old one as it was a few years old, but certainly a % of it. If say it cost £100 new I would expect her to buy you a new one for £50 ish.

jackyann

This actually happened to me. I was wearing a maternity that belonged to a friend (who had no intention of wearing it again!)
We were on holiday (back before mobile communications!) so I made a decision to buy her something nice that I knew she would like and was about 1/3 of the original cost of the dress.
I took the attitude that although I could only just afford to do that, her original generosity had saved me money.
She still has the use of the item I bought her.

Fireflyaway

If she was polite and cared for your feelings I think she would offer to pay for it / buy you a new dress or make it up some how. Id feel bad if I shrunk someone's dress.
If it happened to me I would be more annoyed by her lack of not wanting to make it better than the dress actually getting ruined.
Personally I wouldn't push the issue there isn't much to be gained. Maybe she is embarrassed and doesn't know how to approach the issue?

Tropez

Is she aware she shrunk it?

j.e.j.

I'm trying to think what a dress could be made of that would shrink in the washing machine..

..wool maybe? :think:

Most dresses I've seen are made of cotton, or polyester, or viscose.

fierystormcloud

Judi wrote: »

If she was a good friend she'd offer but if she didnt i wouldnt ask.

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

If she was a decent enough friend, you wouldn't have to ask, she'd automatically offer.

I was brought up to respect other people's items, and if someone had been good enough to lend me an item then I'd make sure I took good care of it. If I did happen to have an accident with it then I'd offer straight away to pay. I'm always surprised when people don't. Surely it's only good manners to.

I think her reaction would determine what I'd do next. If she was extremely sorry then I'd just let it drop, as accidents happen. If she couldn't care less, then damn right she'd be paying for it.

All depends on how attached you are to the dress I suppose, and how good a friend she is.

Assuming she KNOWS she has shrunk it, I agree with the above. Why has she not offered to pay for a new dress?

I think I would be reluctant to ask her for the money, but I would NEVER lend her anything again.

theoretica

j.e.j. wrote: »

I'm trying to think what a dress could be made of that would shrink in the washing machine..

..wool maybe? :think:

Most dresses I've seen are made of cotton, or polyester, or viscose.

Rayon can shrink spectacularly.

Some shrunk clothes can be stretched and the situation improved depending on the cloth and how bad it is.