Money Moral Dilemma: What should I do about my discarded sofa?

Former_MSE_Nick

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

About a year ago I downsized and didn't have space for all my funiture, so a friend kindly agreed to store a sofa in his garage for me. Recently it came up in conversation and he casually mentioned that it'd been damaged when the ceiling collapsed and threw it away. Now he changes the subject whenever I talk about it.

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply!

[purplesignup][/purplesignup]

goldenboyuk

to me, i would say no, as his ceiling collapsed he, had hopefully no control over.

*max*

You've had a year to sort it out and take it away again and you didn't, you left it to take up space in your friend's garage.

I think your friend did you a favour actually, saved you the hassle of disposing of it.

What would you want to happen anyway? Where's the "dilemma"? Surely you wouldn't be thinking of charging your friend for your used sofa? So I don't see what there is to fret about. Accidents happen.

Pollycat

OP - what do you think you should do about the sofa?

onlyroz

Are we talking about a £3k hand stitched leather sofa here, or a cheap jobbie from the local charity shop? If it was the former then I'd suggest my friend made a claim on their insurance. If it was the latter then I'd let it go.

Marvel1

I read it as you dumped the sofa there.

Beckyy

I would have expected to be told at the time and seen the damage before it was disposed of, however if you'd wanted it stored with insurance etc. then I would have expected to pay for self-storage or similar.

PasturesNew

While unfortunate, with such an arrangement it'd be "the norm" for you to take all the risk of how safe it'd be.

It's not as if he said "Oh, I wanted to use it for my car, so I dragged your sofa out into the garden where it sat in the rain for 3 months before I took it to the tip".

If you value belongings you do have to accept risk if you try to take "cheaper routes".

I'd be super annoyed at him... but also annoyed at myself for having let it drift.

If I'd have wanted to keep it safe I'd have put it in there, on its end, on a pallet, then wrapped in insulation and covered with a huge tarpaulin that was taped up.

27col

As he was doing you a favour, you certainly could have had no serious expectation that the item would be retuned to you without a blemish on it. Bit of a cheek if you thought otherwise. There is no moral dilemma here I think.
If you wanted safe and secure storage, then you should have been prepared to pay for it.

LilElvis

Presumably you have another sofa to sit on, so what were you planning on doing with the stored sofa in the long-term?

Dill

What is the dilemma? That you want to possibly charge him for the missing sofa, or that you think he might have stolen it?