Owner claiming damage we didn't cause

Hello every one!

We have had a couple really nice sits before.

The one we did the last few weeks was fine as well. We are in Belgium. We left yesterday, left the house clean and shiny. A week ago we had noticed a crack in the window of her veranda. We never had been in that corner of the house except for a time we played with the energetic and cute dog.

Here is a description of this room.

In the corner of the veranda the two window-doors come together in a corner. In that corner the owner had placed a large beanbag. We might have sat in it once and we were playing with the dog that once, throwing him in the bean bag. He is a tiny and light dog. A week later we noticed a crack in the window. We figured we hadn’t seen it before because the bag was in front and concluded the crack must have been there before. Because otherwise, what could have caused it? The weight of the tiny dog? One of us sitting down in this beanbag? It didn’t sound logical to us that this would have anything to do with us.

The owner sent us a message about the window after she came home. She told us she was very disappointed, we should have told her some things. She sent a picture of the window and told us it wasn’t cracked before and we should have told her. We assured her we thought the crack was in the window already. She said she had pictures of the window being completely fine before. She also said she knew exactly how it had happened. How? We must have pushed/put the beanbag against the window and “when you sit in it, it does that”. Make cracks in the window, she means.

We are not debating the window cracked while we were there, we are debating that we had anything to do with it. As said, we hardly spent time in this corner of the house. She told us the bag was set against a stool when wee arrived. Possible, we don’t remember exactly where everything was. We didn’t move the bag though. She told us we moved the bag and then used it, causing the cracking of the window. To us this sounds at the very least weird that a window would crack under the weight of someone sitting in a beanbag against it (or a small dog jumping in it).

Now she is upset, we told her we are sorry that she had to come home to this but we have nothing to do with this broken window. She asks for contributions. No price, just ‘a contribution’. We haven’t responded, this was yesterday. We are taking contact with THS support as well.

We feel bad about this situation. We took good care of the dog and the house and don’t really know what to do now.

Does anyone have experience with a similar situation or some advice on what to do?

Thanks a lot and take care.

4 Likes

The owner should be able to claim on her home insurance.

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Sorry this happened to you. Her playing the blame game does not fix the window. If you caused it and wasn’t aware of it or you didn’t cause it, as SilverSitter said, insurance should take care of it. Nothing was done intentionally and I would have liked the PP to be more gracious about it. If she had a friend or relative staying there would she have approached them the same way. If you knew you did a good job then you should be the one disappointed in her approach towards you.

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There does not appear to be any evidence that you caused this issue. Why are you “not debating the window cracked” while you were there? Did she take official dated photos immediately prior to your arrival and show them to you? Did she warn you that the window might break if you sat on the beanbag in this manner? . . . I would not be giving into her demands for “contributions”.

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It seems like a case for her home insurance as you describe it.

(If you want to contribute or not is entirely up to you)

She says she knows that sitting in the beanbag causes cracks in the window so she is at fault for placing the beanbag where she did. QED.

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It doesn’t seem intentional on anyone one’s part.

But, really you shouldn’t be throwing dogs into chairs, even if they are small and light. I don’t think it’s what caused the damage, and I realize you were in a playful moment, but really best to not toss any pets around into furniture. There are other and better ways to play with pets (fetch, hide and seek, etc).

I hope THS is able to help with a solution I don’t think you should pay.

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A further thought: in the UK glass below a certain height has to be safety glass. Only very old or fragile glass should crack like that and the owner should ideally have warned you of the risk and not placed anything in the vicinity of the window.

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If it wasn’t you, it wasn’t you, so once you have politely told the home host, there is no need for further debate.

As previously mentioned, they will have to claim on their home insurance.

If they mention it in your review, leave a short, polite response saying that you had nothing to do with it.

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Hi every one!

Thanks so much for your responses! We feel some support, which is really nice :).

Will take contact with THS today and keep you all posted. Thanks again!

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If she knew the window was liable to crack when people sat in the beanbag she should have placed the beanbag somewhere else! If this was not possible then she had a responsibility to warn you about it. Another option would have been for her to get rid of the beanbag altogether. Even if you did inadvertently cause the window pane to crack I can’t see how you could be held accountable given that it was, apparently, a known issue to the homeowner.

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That was my first thought. Why wasn’t the bean bag chair still there? Her fault

Agreed. Do we need to write “do not throw dog” in our welcome guides?

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My girl is 67 lbs, so don’t think I need to write that unless I also include the number for the local chiropractor!

My 10 lb cats would bloody murder anyone who tried that so good luck with that trick.

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But how would she know that sitting on the beanbag would cause the window to crack, if she hadn’t experienced that before?? Oh great, an opportunity to blame someone else!

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Not clear if sitting in the chair or throwing the dog on the chair that caused damage

She should look to her home insurance to solve this. Homes have wear and tear.