My friends broke my computer screen and now they refuse to take any responsibility

This weekend, after going out and because I was closer to my friend's house than mine, they offered me to stay with them. After quite a fair bit of consideration and nagging by them, I decided to do so, for it was nearly 3 AM and their area is quite scary to roam at night. Thus everything was fine for the first hour or so, but then they start arguing. And by arguing, I mean the kind that gets yourself kicked or ends with the police comming to your flat because the neighbours got extremely concerned over the well-being of the involved parts. They told me to charge my laptop in their room, and albeit I was a little concerned (specially because I've deadlines coming up and quite a lot of my essays already researched for), I thought that sure. But what I really wasn't expecting was that they would begin arguing.

They kept going for hours screaming and hitting each other, something that honestly freaked me out. I've never experienced that and while I do get that couples tend to argue, I swear to whatever deity you believe in, that's the kind of arguements that gets someone in hospital and someone else in jail with domestic violence charges. I was extremely concerned over my computer and considering going home because such a thing wasn't even normal. But because of my sheer tiredness (before going out I had been stuck at my uni's library from 8:30 to 19:00) I just went to sleep and thought nothing of it.

How wrong was I. When I went to retrieve my computer from my room on Sunday's morning, the screen was broken. Usually I keep my computer in a pristine condition and it sleeps on its case. Yet somehow, it was broken when the day before it wasn't. I asked them what was going on and how in hell's name my computer screen was broken. They actually proceeded to blame me for being careless and leaving the computer on their room (even when they were the ones that offered me to leave it there) and to stop moaning and bitching And of course they denied having anything to do with the broken screen, even though they were the ones screaming like banshees and overall being extremely violent. Hell, they even went as far as blaming their cats for sitting on top of my laptop, even when they know I've owned cats my entire life and they always sat on top of my laptop. I told them to at least have an ounce of respect towards their guests and at least call their home insurance to see if they had coverage for the laptop. They outrightly refused to do so and basically told me to sort it out even if it was their liability to do so.

So now, I'm stuck with a computer whose screen is shattered and without a functiong trackpad, while they're literally washing their hands from any blame. I'm an EU student, so outside term time I don't really live in the UK and my computer's insurer is in Spain. This means that, after contacting my parents, the earliest date when I could have a replacement computer is in late March/early April. I've saved everything on my computer (essays, class notes, etc) but still it's a nuisance to don't see them acting like mature adults and at least offering to pay half of the cost of the repairement here in the UK. Regarding the upcoming deadlines, I guess I will have to resign myself to work on them from my university's library. Still, what should I do? Start urging them to offer me a solution or instead proceed to break the friendship I had with them?

(edited 8 years ago)

sue him

I am so surprised you stayed, I would have definitely left. What scumbags. It would have been one thing if it were a small object, but a laptop? Once this entire situation has been sorted, you might want to re-evaluate your friendship choices. x

Reply 3

Reue

20

Give them one last chance to pay up or else you'll report it to the police. Then don't muck about; report it as criminal damage.

If the police arnt interested then pay the ~£30 court fee and sue them instead.

Reply 4

bluepimpernel

OP

6

Original post by gr8wizard10

sue him

Original post by Reue

Give them one last chance to pay up or else you'll report it to the police. Then don't muck about; report it as criminal damage.

If the police arnt interested then pay the ~£30 court fee and sue them instead.

What worries me about suing them/going to the police to report it as criminal damage is that there were other friends on that house, which are more their friends than mine and who would justify their behaviour by saying I was reckless for leaving my computer on my room. And that's why I still haven't done so. I'm completely at a loss, as I need to finish my essays and hand them by the 15th. I get that people argue and most of the time it's unforeseeable, but they shouldn't have offered me to leave my computer in their room in the first place.

Original post by Ekervul

Evidence would point to it being their fault but look at it from the police's perspective, especially if your friends are being uncooperative - it could boil down to your word against theirs, which isn't a strong argument.

I'd take your laptop to a repair shop (Google) and see how much it will cost to get repaired, if it can get repaired (replacing a screen and a trackpad doesn't sound impossible but then I'm no computer engineer :P). Then ask your friends to pay for it, and if they don't, then threaten court action as the comments above has said, as it is your only option.

ALSO, while at the repair place ask if they can copy your work over to a USB or something, so you can still work on it while the repairs are happening. And as a temporary fix, you may be able to fit an external monitor to the laptop, and a usb mouse, but this will depend on the laptop you have.

Good luck :smile:

!

Yesterday, I went around some shops to ask them in regards to the price I would be charged for their repairing. The range of prices they gave me usually went from the 150 to 200 pounds. On top of that, my "friends" are being uncooperative because they are actually blaming me for my seemingly "reckless" behaviour. However, they're uni students like me and while I don't get the Maintenance Grant, they do, but acording to them they're penniless because they recently moved to a new apartment. So in the meantime I'm trying to hang on using a wireless mouse. What truly worries me is that at the moment is that my computer screen will stop working (I'm currently typing this from it) and I won't be able to hand over my essays on the assigned deadline (March 15). Moreover, my uni is particularly harsh with their mitigating circumstances claims, so they will outrighly refuse to extend the hand in date.

I don't have a external monitor, and the ones I've seen online are completely out of the question as they start from 60+ onwards. I live on an extremely tight budget and as I said before, the only help I get towards my studies is the Student Loan.

Thank you all for your help. You're being amazing and incredibly understanding!
:hugs:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 5

User947387

17

Original post by bluepimpernel

What worries me about suing them/going to the police to report it as criminal damage is that there were other friends on that house, which are more their friends than mine and who would justify their behaviour by saying I was reckless for leaving my computer on my room. And that's why I still haven't done so. I'm completely at a loss, as I need to finish my essays and hand them by the 15th. I get that people argue and most of the time it's unforeseeable, but they shouldn't have offered me to leave my computer in their room in the first place.

Yesterday, I went around some shops to ask them in regards to the price I would be charged for their repairing. The range of prices they gave me usually went from the 150 to 200 pounds. On top of that, my "friends" are being uncooperative because they are actually blaming me for my seemingly "reckless" behaviour. However, they're uni students like me and while I don't get the Maintenance Grant, they do, but acording to them they're penniless because they recently moved to a new apartment. So in the meantime I'm trying to hang on using a wireless mouse. What truly worries me is that at the moment is that my computer screen will stop working (I'm currently typing this from it) and I won't be able to hand over my essays on the assigned deadline (March 15). Moreover, my uni is particularly harsh with their mitigating circumstances claims, so they will outrighly refuse to extend the hand in date.

I don't have a external monitor, and the ones I've seen online are completely out of the question as they start from 60+ onwards. I live on an extremely tight budget and as I said before, the only help I get towards my studies is the Student Loan.

Thank you all for your help. You're being amazing and incredibly understanding!
:hugs:

Do you live in England or Scotland

Reply 6

bluepimpernel

OP

6

Original post by apronedsamurai

Do you live in England or Scotland

Actually (and as stereotypical as this sounds), at present I'm living in London, so yeah, England.

Reply 7

User947387

17

Original post by bluepimpernel

Actually (and as stereotypical as this sounds), at present I'm living in London, so yeah, England.

http://civilmediation.justice.gov.uk/

That is for a civil mediator to intervene and make a legally binding ruling regarding the case.

https://courttribunalfinder.service.gov.uk/search/

That will give you the precise location of the nearest county court to you, in relation to the pursuit of a small claims claim (SCC)

http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=338

That is the small claims form you need to fill out in order to legally raise a small claims action.

Usually the court will serve the claim form by sending it to the defendant by first class post. The defendant will be deemed to receive it on the second business day after posting, unless the claim was issued online. As the claimant, if you want to serve it yourself, you can ask the court to give it back to you once it has been stamped so that you can serve it. There are a number of forms that must be sent with the claim form.

Reply 8

bluepimpernel

OP

6

Original post by apronedsamurai

http://civilmediation.justice.gov.uk/

That is for a civil mediator to intervene and make a legally binding ruling regarding the case.

https://courttribunalfinder.service.gov.uk/search/

That will give you the precise location of the nearest county court to you, in relation to the pursuit of a small claims claim (SCC)

http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=338

That is the small claims form you need to fill out in order to legally raise a small claims action.

Usually the court will serve the claim form by sending it to the defendant by first class post. The defendant will be deemed to receive it on the second business day after posting, unless the claim was issued online. As the claimant, if you want to serve it yourself, you can ask the court to give it back to you once it has been stamped so that you can serve it. There are a number of forms that must be sent with the claim form.

Thank you so much for your help. It truly means the world to me. At present, I'm trying to contact them through Facebook and by ringing them, to no avail. Moreover, they aren't answering to any texts I'm sending. It's incredibly infuriating that I find myself in this situation, specially when I willingly accepted to stay at their home even if I was reticent of doing so. It feels as if they think I'm stupid enough to just resign myself and wait until I get it replaced back home.

On the other hand, how long do you think it would take for the small claims to go through and get notified of the judge's decision regarding my case? I'm just asking because I will be leaving the UK on the 17th of March to spend the Easter break over home.

Reply 9

username1560589

20

I guess if it stops working you'll have to use a library monitor. If you have a smartphone you might be able to stream your display to it(using VNC or some commercial service), but this may be difficult to set up and isn't a good solution.

Reply 10

bluepimpernel

OP

6

Original post by morgan8002

I guess if it stops working you'll have to use a library monitor. If you have a smartphone you might be able to stream your display to it(using VNC or some commercial service), but this may be difficult to set up and isn't a good solution.

My aim for this year is to get a First, so I'll hand in the essays without asking for mitigating circumstances even if I have to write them down myself. It's quite an annoying seatback, I know, and I feel extremely pissed at myself for not trusting that feeling on my gut that something would be going on badly, but at the end of the day it could be worse. Yes, laptops and replacement screens are incredibly expensive, but still, I can always resort to working on my essay from 8:30 to midnight and that's it. It's not the end of the world by any means. It's a nuisance.