Money Moral Dilemma: Who should pay for my daughter's broken phone?

pjran

Agree to go halves to repair the phone

REJP

Nobody has asked how the phone got smashed.  How can we answer the question without all the relevant information?

dnairn8417

A lot of people are saying daughter should learn the consequences of being careless. She is 11 years old, how many of us grown ups have cracked a phone screen by accident, that’s why there’s insurance, accidents happen. If mum can afford to replace then she should, if not then ask dad for contributions but I don’t think dad should pay just because daughter was at his house, that doesn’t make sense.

slinky_crazy

I'm so confused as to why its even being contemplated that dad should have anything at all to do with replacing a phone that mum bought?! Its ridiculous. Unless you both sat down at the start of this process, discussed the phone she would have, laid out a budget together and weighed up her needs, then determined that it would be mum that pays this time and dad next time then I'm sorry but mum bought it and doesn't have any right whatsoever to dictate dads financial involvement with her gift to her daughter. I can understand how daughter might ask dad if he can help her replace it and that would be between them whether its agreed or not but really at this stage this lies between mum and daughter. Seems like you would like to place some kind of emotional blame for this mistake onto dad, it feels a bit like a set up...its evident you don't want to replace it yourself and thats fine but don't look for a way to shift the responsibility without arguing with your daughter about it and simultaneously make dad culpable.
We don't even know if dad wanted her to have this phone, whether he thought it was too expensive or too much responsibility for his daughter so its difficult to answer realistically. If he pays maintenance then he's already paid towards the phone, if he doesn't then presumably they have joint custody and he's paying for his daughters upkeep 50% of the time so shouldn't have to pay towards things bought at the other home too. But as with most things there may well be more factors involved.

holidaypro

The daughter needs to learn the cost of things. Just paying for a repair could become a regular feature. The main issue is a phone is valuable for security of the child allowing her to contact either parent. I think buying her a cheap as chips model is the answer. A better phone can then be for a birthday or christmas. At this point I think she will take more care of it. Expecting her dad to pay will take the emphasis off looking after it.

sclare

So if she dropped it in Tesco, Tesco should pay? Or if she dropped it on the bus, the bus company should pay?
Unless the dad actually had something to do with how it broke, it's not his responsibility.

CapeTown

Hmmmm.  A lesson in how to drive a bigger wedge between you and the child's father if you persist with this.
An 11 year old shouldn't have a phone anyway. You are teaching them all about consumerism.

A_Lert

Also, agree that drops happen. I was dropping my phone all the time and it was no problem, until one day it fell just the wrong way and smash goes the screen.

But not being able to afford to fix or replace it also happens. I just had to put a screen protector on to cover the broken glass and carry on using it like so many other people do. And when that phone packed in I had to go back to my old phone (Moto G) from 2014 until I could afford a replacement. (Which actually with the /e/ custom ROM and not installing loads of junky apps is running quite well.)

NaughtiusMaximus

LeesArt said:

2. The daughter learns a life lesson and saves for a new screen repair, meanwhile a case is bought by Mum, she should have got one in first place.

Mum should have bought a case and screen protector along with the original phone, if she didn't (which we don't know from the details available) then she takes the bulk of the blame for this and should buy an equivalent phone for her daughter. If a case and screen protector was included, daughter should feel a little pain from this, in the form of paying (or at least part paying) for a new repair/ new phone.

NaughtiusMaximus

REJP said:

Nobody has asked how the phone got smashed.  How can we answer the question without all the relevant information?

MMDs never include all the relevant information, it's a MSE rule