Neighbor's kid breaks homeowner's double-glazed sealed window, neighbor says "send him the bill" then tries to negotiate price because he "knows a guy" who could have done it cheaper:

Does anyone else get what I mean? The “broken ball through window” trope used to be everywhere. Sometimes serving as a major plot point, sometimes just as a minor point of conflict, just there to keep the story moving.

“Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “The Mighty Ducks” immediately come to mind as pop-culture phenoms that featured this trope. It also features as a key point in “The Chronicles of Narnia” movie. A quick look at the TV Tropes entry also mentions “The Addams Family." And the last time I really remember seeing this trope of the “broken window” was at the very end of “Interstellar” when the kids are playing baseball in the space station.

Anyway, just food for thought. I'd say it certainly has to do with the shift that has happened in popular culture where kids don't really go outside and instead sit inside and play those darn video games and doomscroll brainrot social media on their phones. It's not really their fault though; there's not a whole lot of the outside left to play in. Even the woods I played in as a kid, where we jumped in mud holes next to the creek and built forts and hit each other with sticks, are all gone and have had tightly packed housing developments dropped on them.

But this is just a lot of old-man yelling at clouds.

The homeowner has presented two solutions to their problem, A or B, and it's up to us to decide and judge which path they should have taken. Personally, I doubt the neighbor "knew a guy," since that is the oldest negotiation trick in the book. If he actually “knew a guy,” he would have offered that in the beginning to save himself some money. 

This is just the classic negotiation trick of quoting some vague "claim" that sounds grounded but is actually totally amorphous and unwarranted. Besides, even if he "knew a guy" who fixes windows, when's the last time he got a window fixed? Have you seen the price of call-outs these days? With the rising cost of materials and travel costs, it's no small wonder that it was only $420. And that it is before we get to the fact that it was a double-glazed sealed window…

Let me tell you I, many a time, have cast a wary sideways glance at my own double-glazed sealed windows, wondering just how much they would cost to fix if one were to accidentally break. The idea of having to face that cost has kept me from putting any privacy film on my windows since the shifting temperature differential might cause a pane to shatter.

Anyway, I digress. Have a read of the story below; it's what you came here for, after all. Then we'll take a look at some of the key responses.

The homeowner shared how the neighbor's kid, while playing with a ball in their yard, sent if flying over the fence and smashed a large window on the side of their house. Though the kid wasn't sure how to handle it, the dad came over later that night to sort things out. Assuring the homeowner that they would pay for it and to “give him the bill."

His kid was playing ball in their yard and it came flying over and hit the big window on the side of my house. The outside layer shattered. The inside layer was fine. The kid came over to get his ball and wouldn’t look at me, just stood there shifting around.

His dad came over that same night. He said it was his kid, said he was sorry, and told me to give him the bill. I told him the kid didn’t mean it.

He got a window guy to come out and check things out, who told him that since it had been a sealed unit the entire thing would need to be replaced. The total came to $420.

Next day I called a window place. The guy came out and measured. He said even though the inside layer survived, the two layers are sealed together as one unit, so the whole thing has to come out and a new one gets made to fit. $420. I only called the one place. My insurance deductible is way higher than that so a claim wasn’t an option.

Once the repair had been done and the bill had been paid, the homeowner went and dropped the receipt in the neighbor's mailbox. That should have been the end of it, but the neighbor came right on over later on and said that the amount was “way too much.” He claimed to “know a guy” who would have done it for cheaper, and that the highest he would pay was $420. Further accusing the homeowner of “nickel and diming” his kid. 

I told him to go ahead. Once the new glass was in, I paid and put the receipt in his mailbox. He came knocking on my door and said $420 was way too much. Said a guy he knows would’ve done it for $250 and I should’ve let him get a quote first. He said he’d pay me $250 and that’s fair. Then he said I was nickel and diming a kid over a window.

This left things in a weird spot with the neighbors. Which I, personally, don't think is the homeowner's fault.

I reminded him he told me to give him the bill. He said he didn’t think it would be that much. His wife goes out of her way to avoid me now.

I’m not mad at the kid. I just don’t get why I’m paying for a window I didn’t break. But I also never gave his dad a chance to find someone cheaper.

The homeowner, in the spirit of the community where the story was shared, proposed these two solutions for community members to select. ("A or B"). He is wondering if he should have advised the neighbor of the price beforehand, which is probably a fair criticism, and he could have, if the neighbor hadn't so confidently said to just send him the bill.

Here is what the neighbor should have done: If he really “knew a guy” and could get a friends and family discount from him, then he should have offered it in the first place. And if he really wanted to approve the price first, then he should have organized the repair himself. 

If it were my kid, I would have felt so bad that I would have made sure the entire thing was organized on my time and covered on my dime. I think that should be the norm. Instead, the neighbor went all Darth Vader and altered the deal that had already been struck. What lesson is it teaching the kid if his parent can't hold true to their word?

A. Yes. I had time. I could’ve knocked on his door, told him the number, and let him get his guy to quote it before I paid anybody. I only called one place because it was easier for me, and he never got a say in a number he’s now being asked to pay.

B. No. He said that night it was his kid and told me to give him the bill. I got a real window company to fix it. If he wanted a say on the price, he should’ve gone to the guy he knows that night.