Broken Windows

[aya*abouelnasr 0]

Okay, this has NOTHING to do with the visa process, but I would appreciate any input on what you would do in this situation.

About 2 months ago, my boys broke 3 windows in the neighbors carport. Understand this carport was hand built using old windows from a house. Each frame had about 6 long narrow panes of glass in it and out of the 4 window frames they broke 3 panes of glass total. I questioned them, they admitted it, no problem.

I alerted the owners daughter about the broken panes, explained to her what had happened (the boys were playing ball) and she came over to investigate the damage. As they live just across the street, I know that her husband usually prefers to do a lot of the work on the property himself, for this house and another rental that he owns next to him. In talking with her, she said that she did not know when her husband would get around to fixing the windows. I told her then that when he replaced them, to keep the receipt for the glass and I would gladly reimburse them for the panes of glass.

No Problem, Right?

Wrong!

Other daughter of owner steps in, contacts a contractor who comes in and replaces the old windows with brand new Storm windows. Not replaceing the panes, but the whole window.

She then sends me a "bill" for nearly 600.00.

Now she is threatening to take me to small claims court if I don't cough up the money.

I didn't have then and don't have now, a problem with "replacing" what my kids damaged, but should I be legally responsible for upgrading a carport?

What would you do? Should I make out a payment plan for all or a portion of the damage, or should I take my chances on going to court?

Any input will be accepted gratefully.

[*JG* 2]

Okay, this has NOTHING to do with the visa process, but I would appreciate any input on what you would do in this situation.

About 2 months ago, my boys broke 3 windows in the neighbors carport. Understand this carport was hand built using old windows from a house. Each frame had about 6 long narrow panes of glass in it and out of the 4 window frames they broke 3 panes of glass total. I questioned them, they admitted it, no problem.

I alerted the owners daughter about the broken panes, explained to her what had happened (the boys were playing ball) and she came over to investigate the damage. As they live just across the street, I know that her husband usually prefers to do a lot of the work on the property himself, for this house and another rental that he owns next to him. In talking with her, she said that she did not know when her husband would get around to fixing the windows. I told her then that when he replaced them, to keep the receipt for the glass and I would gladly reimburse them for the panes of glass.

No Problem, Right?

Wrong!

Other daughter of owner steps in, contacts a contractor who comes in and replaces the old windows with brand new Storm windows. Not replaceing the panes, but the whole window.

She then sends me a "bill" for nearly 600.00.

Now she is threatening to take me to small claims court if I don't cough up the money.

I didn't have then and don't have now, a problem with "replacing" what my kids damaged, but should I be legally responsible for upgrading a carport?

What would you do? Should I make out a payment plan for all or a portion of the damage, or should I take my chances on going to court?

Any input will be accepted gratefully.

Well, first of all, they should've run all of it by you before they did anything.

But, as you did say you would pay for it, I think you are stuck. If I knew a lawyer friend, I would have them write a little letter explaining exactly what you said...that you agreed to pay for the damages but not upgrade the carport. Short of having a laywer friend, you can fight small claims and/or hire an attorney.

I can tell you this much.......if you are going to fight small claims court, DO NOT make any kind of payment on this yet. The reason being, my ex-husband's ex-wife (following so far?) left some unpaid medical bills which we had to pay in order to clean up his credit to get the loan on our house. When I contacted her, she made a few payments on these thousands of dollars worth of bills before she stopped and then filed bankruptcy. When we sued her in small claims, the judge said really only 1/2 was her responsibility cause they were married at the time the charges had incurred; but becuase she started to make payments, she was acknowledging she felt responsible for the bills and, thus, she must pay the remainder of them in full.

I would find some estimates of how much it should've really cost you to replace the original glass, start gathering proof of how he does his own repairs (affadavits from neighbors, pictures, etc.) and then fight it out in small claims court. But, that's me!

[L_n_O 3]

Moved to Off-TOpic

[Marilyn. 340]

did you take pictures of what the windows looked like before??

[LaL 418]

what about homeowner's insurance? Maybe you should call your provider and see what they suggest.

[Ban Hammer 13,109]

sounds to me like they are taking advantage of the situation. $600 for 3 replacement windows is quite steep. just replacing the glass should have run no more than half that.

[SteveLaura 0]

Is there anywhere in town that you can get free legal advice? Logically you should only pay for replacement for what was damaged, not an upgrade - tho the law is, alas, not always logical.

[*JG* 2]

My ex-husband and I replaced all the windows in our entire house ourselves for just about $129 a piece. Go to Home Depot and price some replacement stuff. Get written info. on the high and low side. Try negotiating with them. It is in your best interest to do a whole lot of research. Fighting them, will most likely require you to do so if you want to keep the costs of legal help down.

[Yodrak 7]

tammy sue kay,

Sounds like a good case for a Judge Judy episode. Alternatively, Jomo's girl makes a reasonable suggestion - how interested are you in keeping peace in the neighborhood?

Yodrak

Okay, this has NOTHING to do with the visa process, but I would appreciate any input on what you would do in this situation.

About 2 months ago, my boys broke 3 windows in the neighbors carport. Understand this carport was hand built using old windows from a house. Each frame had about 6 long narrow panes of glass in it and out of the 4 window frames they broke 3 panes of glass total. I questioned them, they admitted it, no problem.

I alerted the owners daughter about the broken panes, explained to her what had happened (the boys were playing ball) and she came over to investigate the damage. As they live just across the street, I know that her husband usually prefers to do a lot of the work on the property himself, for this house and another rental that he owns next to him. In talking with her, she said that she did not know when her husband would get around to fixing the windows. I told her then that when he replaced them, to keep the receipt for the glass and I would gladly reimburse them for the panes of glass.

No Problem, Right?

Wrong!

Other daughter of owner steps in, contacts a contractor who comes in and replaces the old windows with brand new Storm windows. Not replaceing the panes, but the whole window.

She then sends me a "bill" for nearly 600.00.

Now she is threatening to take me to small claims court if I don't cough up the money.

I didn't have then and don't have now, a problem with "replacing" what my kids damaged, but should I be legally responsible for upgrading a carport?

What would you do? Should I make out a payment plan for all or a portion of the damage, or should I take my chances on going to court?

Any input will be accepted gratefully.

Edited July 9, 2007 by Yodrak

[KarenCee 3]

Judge Judy...just what I was thinking.

[sereia 0]

i had a problem with neighbors recently (which was soon resolved) but my mom called judge judy without my knowledge...very soon after the producers from the show called me! so you could definitely get on there if i could have. lol

if you decide not to just pay it and go to court....

i HOPE you got photos of it before they were fixed?

also get estimates on how much different places would charge to fix it.

it sucks you tried to do the right thing by telling them your children broke it and then they're taking advantage of you. *sigh* i'm no lawyer , but i don't see why you should pay for an upgrade either. you never signed a thing! as far as anyone knows you didn't break it either!

call judge judy!

[aya*abouelnasr 0]

Well, before the original owner was put into a nursing home, she was an odd bird. Called the police on us in the middle of the night for having loud parites, fights, etc, that never happened. When she and her husband were still living there (he passed on), they threatened to poison our cats if they jumped into her yard. Once when one of their trees fell into our yard and broke their fence down, my ex offered to cut the tree up and put the fence back up if he could borrow their saw. Oh, they got really nasty about that. LOL So keeping the peace is not really the issue here. I offered, of my own free will, to reimburse them for the broken panes of glass. I did not offer to upgrade a car port with brand new storm windows.

I am willing to stand up to my part of the bargain and pay for the GLASS, as there was nothing wrong with the frames they were in. But to be expected to pay nearly $600.00 for replacement windows is not my idea of being fair, or neighborly.

I have to agree, Judge Judy does sound like a good idea, and fitting for this case. LOL

[sereia 0]

do it, do it!!!

[Emancipation 2]

do it, do it!!!

And tell us when it airs so we can watch

[Ban Hammer 13,109]

do it, do it!!!

And tell us when it airs so we can watch

be on the lookout for any 3'tall furry guys in the audience