We were away last week in a very nice cottage on the Scotland/England border, in a village called Newcastleton. We damaged one of their plastic chopping boards. It was the large one, from a set of, iirc, 3. It was briefly used whilst on top of the electric hob (which hadn't been used, i.e. it was cold). On leaving the kitchen table, my son accidentally brushed against the knobs on the front of the cooker and turned one of the rings on. He didn't notice. A few minutes later I noticed smoke coming from the area and it was the plastic chopping board melting. We caught it in time to avoid damage to the hob, but the board was slightly warped and melted a patch about 9cm2. We reported it to the owner (who lives on site) and asked her to replace and let us know the cost. She said not to worry and she'll deduct it from our deposit.
We've just received an email to say she's deducting nearly £15 from our deposit, to cover the cost of a replacement set of chopping boards. Now, this is unreasonable in my mind. She should only be charging us for the item, not the set. I actually think she's being a bit over the top to be honest and that a minor incident like this should be written off as 'one of those things that happens when you let' and in the spirit of goodwill, not charge us, but whatever...
I'm also slightly annoyed that the cooker hob was so easily turned on. Every hob I've ever had (that didn't have touch controls) had knobs that either required pushing inwards in order to be turned, or had a 'bump-stop' to prevent them being accidentally turned on by nothing more than lightly brushing past them. This one didn't. They were all totally loose and free-turning.
My wife thinks we should be asking her to send us the old set, or telling her to keep the new replacement, larger board, and send us the rest of the set. Otherwise, we've just paid for her to have a nice set of replacement boards as spares.
The cost is minor, but that's not the point. We dislike being taken advantage of.
We've just received an email to say she's deducting nearly £15 from our deposit, to cover the cost of a replacement set of chopping boards. Now, this is unreasonable in my mind. She should only be charging us for the item, not the set. I actually think she's being a bit over the top to be honest and that a minor incident like this should be written off as 'one of those things that happens when you let' and in the spirit of goodwill, not charge us, but whatever...
I'm also slightly annoyed that the cooker hob was so easily turned on. Every hob I've ever had (that didn't have touch controls) had knobs that either required pushing inwards in order to be turned, or had a 'bump-stop' to prevent them being accidentally turned on by nothing more than lightly brushing past them. This one didn't. They were all totally loose and free-turning.
My wife thinks we should be asking her to send us the old set, or telling her to keep the new replacement, larger board, and send us the rest of the set. Otherwise, we've just paid for her to have a nice set of replacement boards as spares.
The cost is minor, but that's not the point. We dislike being taken advantage of.
Last edited:
