Breakages/Damage?

[Deby]

Hello,

Could anyone tell me what constitutes deducting breakages/damage from a deposit.

I feel a bit mean deducting the price of a wine glass, but say if there are 3 or 4, plus other bits what do you do?

We also have new tables, what if there are burns because guests have placed hot pans on them with no protection (cork pads provided), what do I do?

Any advice as to where to draw the line would be very much appreciated.

Deby

[GRT17]

Deby
>I feel a bit mean deducting
>the price of a wine
>glass, but say if there
>are 3 or 4, plus
>other bits what do you
>do?

If it is 3 or 4 then I would charge for a new set of glasses. Incidentally with glasses it is a good idea to buy two sets at a time and then odd breakages can be replaced from the spare set and they will still match. Plates etc. buy simple matching crockery of a make and design that can easily be replaced, obviously don't buy and supply the best Spode!
>
>We also have new tables, what
>if there are burns because
>guests have placed hot pans
>on them with no protection
>(cork pads provided), what do
>I do?

More difficult to quantify, if it is a case of a serious burn and the table needs some sort of resurfacing then I would make a deduction.
Perhaps you could warn the guests that the tables are NEW and ask them to take particular care.
>
>Any advice as to where to
>draw the line would be
>very much appreciated.

We have been lucky (fingers crossed) and in two plus years of letting have only had the odd glass and one plate broken by guests. We ourselves have managed to break one or two glasses and appreciate that the hard sink, hard worktop and tiled floors are very unforgiving.

Good luck

Gill

[Causette]

I agree with Gill's advice.

The worst damage we had was a set of new saucepans completely wrecked after about 8 weeks' use. When we equipped the cottage, I had the choice of buying cheap and replacing often, or buying more expensive, better quality, in the hope they would last. We did the latter - good make, non-stick coating, no glass lids, heavy bottomed, etc. Ho hum. Someone used a knife or similar to scrape (gouge!) food out of two of the pans - yet we provide kitchen tools for non-stick surfaces, and proper pan scrubbers etc

I could kick myself, because I didn't check the pan cupboard on a couple of bookings, so I'm not sure who it was. Lesson learned there, then!

For the glasses/teaspoons and low-value items, I have a unit price on my inventory list, and we ask guests to put cash in the honesty box for anything that they break/damage. It has worked for us, and it also stops guests buying replacements that don't match (and probably what you already have spares of at home!). Obviously this doesn't work for major things - for which you should definitley deduct the cost of repair/replacement from their security deposit cheque (Though I'm dreading the day I have to do that!)
JudyM

[giles]

We had a very nice and rather expensive table lamp broken once. The guests went and bought a replacement at the local Ivan Tout (anyone knowing this household chain-store will know that it is not exactly a direct replacement, tastewise, of something from John Lewis, for instance!)

At the time I was stuck with their purchase - they had flown in from S.Africa, so a LARGE table lamp would not have made good hand-baggage for them. Should I have made a fuss? Dunno. (They were not actually the easiest of visitors, but this was one of the more annoying features of their stay). I think the lesson learned is that table lamps are best considered inherently unstable, and unbreakable wire ones may be a better bet than ceramic ones.

Giles