Damage to TV screen on holiday

crazyoldmaurice

Have just spent a week at a caravan site in the UK, about to leave the accommodation this morning and tried to turn the TV off by the plug at the back of the unit and the TV has slid off the (much too small I might add) TV unit and the screen has cracked. 

I feel this is unfair as the TV set up itself isn't really suitable with the tiny unit with only an inch either side of the stand.

Do I have a leg to stand on or should I just be prepared to pay up?

JJ_Egan

Whats the value of this TV ??

What are the terms regarding damage of your contract .

tacpot12

You don't really have a leg to stand on, but you only have to pay the replacement cost of the TV. The owner will probably be able to get a replacement off eBay for less than £100.  

YellowCarBlueCar

Why should the owner be expected to buy a used TV of unknown provenance, and possible electrical safety issues?  The owner would be liable it it caught fire or electrocuted a subsequent guest. 

They will need to quickly replace it ready for the next guests, so will most likely need to pay whatever a local store charges, without the luxury of shopping online. 

martindow

YellowCarBlueCar said:

Why should the owner be expected to buy a used TV of unknown provenance, and possible electrical safety issues?  The owner would be liable it it caught fire or electrocuted a subsequent guest. 

They will need to quickly replace it ready for the next guests, so will most likely need to pay whatever a local store charges, without the luxury of shopping online. 

They might well buy a new one but should not be asking the OP for betterment.  If the damaged TV is, say, three years old and the life of a TV is considered to be, say, six years the charge should be 50%.

mattyprice4004

I wouldn't go in with arguing about the TV unit - it was big enough to remain on it for the rest of the holiday...  
TVs are cheap enough these days, I'm sure it won't be too expensive. 

cymruchris

I would say just be prepared to pay up - although as mentioned if the tv was already a few years old - you'd not be expected to pay for a brand new model. Did you take photos - did you keep a record of the model number? If so you can find out when it was released, and use that as part of your negotiation with the caravan owner.

powerful_Rogue

YellowCarBlueCar said:

Why should the owner be expected to buy a used TV of unknown provenance, and possible electrical safety issues?  The owner would be liable it it caught fire or electrocuted a subsequent guest. 

They will need to quickly replace it ready for the next guests, so will most likely need to pay whatever a local store charges, without the luxury of shopping online. 

Please don't talk such nonsense.

MalMonroe

crazyoldmaurice said:

Have just spent a week at a caravan site in the UK, about to leave the accommodation this morning and tried to turn the TV off by the plug at the back of the unit and the TV has slid off the (much too small I might add) TV unit and the screen has cracked. 

I feel this is unfair as the TV set up itself isn't really suitable with the tiny unit with only an inch either side of the stand.

Do I have a leg to stand on or should I just be prepared to pay up?

If it was a caravan site, you must have had to sign some kind of contract. What does it say about accidental damage? It doesn't matter how the TV was broken, accidents happen and caravan owners who have caravans on sites usually have insurance to cover just such accidents as yours. We had a static caravan on such a site and were required to have insurance before we were allowed to let it out. 

Don't just assume you will have to pay up. Check your agreement - and ask the people at the site about it. 

YellowCarBlueCar

powerful_Rogue said:

YellowCarBlueCar said:

Why should the owner be expected to buy a used TV of unknown provenance, and possible electrical safety issues?  The owner would be liable it it caught fire or electrocuted a subsequent guest. 

They will need to quickly replace it ready for the next guests, so will most likely need to pay whatever a local store charges, without the luxury of shopping online. 

Please don't talk such nonsense.

Well that's quite rude!

Not a word of nonsense written - coming from a chartered electrical engineer and owner of a furnished holiday let.  I'm just presenting the other (factual) perspective.

The owner has a duty of care to ensure that all electrical equipment is safe (The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994).  Most owners aren't 'competent persons' (i.e. able to prove that they have sufficient knowledge, skill, and access to calibrated PAT equipment) to test second-hand goods, so at best would have to arrange and pay for PAT testing.
In the event of an injury the onus is on the owner to prove that they have discharged this duty of care.

On the second point, owners typically have a 6 hour change-over period between guests.  How would you feel if you arrived on holiday to find that the TV (or other advertised amenity) was broken?  The owner needs to find a replacement in those 6 hours as well as ensure the rest of the changeover is completed (and at the moment with the need to sanitise every touch-point, apply anti-viral fogging to all surfaces, as well as a decent 'standard' clean there isn't a lot of time to spare).

As for insurance, of course the owner will be insured, but policy excesses have increased massively in the last 12 months as insurers scrabble to recoup their Covid cancellation losses (mine is now £250), so no help there.

The bottom line is, if you broke it in your own home you'd have to pay to replace it.  Why would that be different if you break it somewhere else?

martindow

YellowCarBlueCar said:t

The bottom line is, if you broke it in your own home you'd have to pay to replace it.  Why would that be different if you break it somewhere else?

It is different because you would have had use of your TV for all of the time.  In the caravan the owner has had use of it for however many years and the OP for a week or two.  An old used TV does not have the same value as a brand new one and the compensation payable by the OP should reflect this.