Son's "friend" has broken his ipod.

[Smowball]

Silly boy has become friends with boy at school, very big kid for his age - looks 15 easily and is only 12. Came round last week and asked to borros son's ipod. Son said maybe. When friend had gone he noticed ipod was missing. Asked friend who said that he had it. Said he needed it back and i drove him to pick it up. Got back home and son showed it to me. The screen is cracked. Dont know what boy did to it, dropped it or whatever but it was perfect when he took it. Do I say anything to boy or mother or just put it down to learning the hard way?

[factor-fiction]

It's a difficult one. I'd mention it to his mum but realise she might defend her son and accuse us of lying

[johnk]

Mention it but don't expect any joy. A big lesson that we've all learn't the hard way.

[Sqad]

\\\ Do I say anything to boy or mother or just put it down to learning the hard way?\\\

Put it down to "learning the hard way."

This will come down to "yes it was"..."no it wasn't"

Damn annoying though.

[sunny-dave]

Does it still work (with some clear tape across the screen for safety) ?

If so, then I'd do nothing - it will be a reminder/lesson to son.

If it's totally bust then I *might* approach the parent ... but only after I'd thought through how I'd react to all the possible outcomes :+(

[B00]

Why is it a lesson to her son?

Her son didn't lend it to him, his "friend" nicked it! Hardly the son's fault.

[gness]

From the sound of the son you may not get any joy from the mum. What I would do in your situation is approach the mother nicely and say that as her son was responsible but that your son shouldn`t have let him borrow it [I know he didn`t but...] would it be a good idea if both boys shared the cost of replacement or repair. Unfair I know but you might get some recompense. Or not.

[annie0000]

Firstly I think you need to think about whether you want your son and this boy to remain friends as that would probably influence how I was going to deal with it.

From your tone I am guessing that the answer is "No".

You also need to be careful about whether your son is telling the absolute truth about whether he said the boy could take it or not, maybe he didn't want to but actually said it was okay because he was scared of the boy or wanted to impress him. Given the outcome, he maybe doesn't want to admit it.

All things considered, I would say something to the boys mum along the lines of explaining what has happened and say that you'd rather the boys didn't loan each other expensive things. I don't think she will offer to pay something towards the screen repair but you never know. :o)

[B00]

no, i agree 2SP, but we all know kids are like magpies, they really don't hear "no", they're too busy thinking "ooo shiny, me have"

[Smowball]

ipod still works, but dont know for how long as dont know whether the crack will affect it later on. Ive only met the mother once at the doorstep so dont know her at all She probably doesnt even know that its broken. Son sent a text to boy and said it was broken but didnt get a reply. Flipping annoying though as he paid for it our of his own money.

[annie0000]

from a quick google, it seems that you are looking at about £30 to replace the screen.

[Smowball]

really annie?? I thought it would be much more than that. Can they be replaced yourself or professionally?

[annie0000]

Usually you need a special tool or something to replace stuff - i've looked into it before for things like a ds - but you can usually buy all the parts on ebay. I just googled and it was repair companys coming up - I presumed it was a 4th gen touch, so that may be different depending what he has :o)

http://www.google.co....r+ipod+screen+4th+gen

[annie0000]

lots of info on youtube of how to replace it too if you fancy trying it yourself.

[annie0000]

given the look of this website:

https://www.ipod-surg...ion-repair/step-two/2

I used a sister co. to repair a wii and had no problem whatsoever and looks like £20 to replace the screen if the ipod is working otherwise.

[Gromit]

Don't bother trying to repair it yourself, it is not easy and you need special tools as well a the right part. A lot of phone shops do repairs or you can send if off.

[factor-fiction]

One of the problems I have as a teacher is that when I confiscate a student's phone and later return it I am sometimes accused of having damaged the screen

[factor-fiction]

Sorry- not really relevant.