One of my friend went to a local store today,
she picked up a handmade ring to take a look.
when she put it back, the ring accidentally dropped on the ground and broke.
The part that broke was originally glued together.
The shop girl immediately insisted that my friend should pay for it.
My friend asked them was it not possible to glue it back together.
There were no signs saying "Don't touch without assistance" or "Break it, buy it" in the shop.
The shop girl still insisted that she pay the full price.
My friend said she didn't really like the ring plus it was not her size,
and offered to pay for the repairing fee.
The shop girl made a comment about how judging from my friend's clothing and handbags,
she SHOULD be able to afford it.
Which confused her, does that mean if she looks poor then she did not have to pay?

In the end she did pay, just confused by the whole situation.

What do you think?
Is there really a law that if you break something in a store, you HAVE to buy it?

why should there be a law or signs. If someone damages something that doesn't belong to them, they should pay for it. why should the store have to fix the damage caused by someone else? Maybe gluing it back won't work. Sometimes re-gluing won't hold again.

it's like when you get into an accident in a car. It's called an accident not an on purpose. If someone accidentally hits me, why should I have to pay for their accidental neglect?

I understand that it would be commonly assumed,
however after doing some research online I found pretty various opinion about this

http://legallad.quickanddirtytips.com/you-break-it-you-buy-it-law.aspx

Also, when you broke someone's car, of course you should pay for the damage.
But you're paying for the part where you damaged, not buy a new car for them.

The handmade ring was made of buttons glued together,
so it could be easily glued back.

it isn't a "crime". They can't hold you there until you pay for it and the cops won't arrest you for an accident, but the store can sue you. After that it's up to the judge. But regardless if there is a law, I would feel horrible if I broke something and didn't pay for it. It's damaged merchandise. I would be responsible.

I think morally it's the right thing to do, even if the store doesn't ask you to pay for it.

Of course, I would be too, and I would definitely pay too if I could afford it.

I guess it's that part where the shop girl's comment on how judging from my friends clothes, she SHOULD pay it that got us to wonder about this question.

:)

I'm curious to know how much the ring cost

Its 14 USD, so it's not exactly about the price that my friend cared about.

About the ring its aoubvious. Did not have to pay. Was already repaired with glue like you said or it was fabricated like that "unsure of glue situation" ya know. But your friend seems to be passive customers have to put their foot down and not get shafted. Pick your battles,stand your ground when you're right.just don't go taking advantage of merchants.

If the ring could easily be glued back together I think the shop keeper was just trying to make a sale.

If a ring is such poor quality that it would break if you dropped it, I would tell the shop keeper the fault was hers for having such a poor quality product and that I would only agree to pay for the glue to fix it. If she did not agree, then she could take me to court.



It is after all, a civil dispute. I would tell her I did not steal the item nor would I pay full price for such an "ugly piece of junk."

I would tell her that it was poor quality and ugly and not worth the price she is trying to claim to extort from me.

$14.00 is pittance to argue about principle, but i would be peeved too if somebody came into my shop, broke a $14.00 item, and then proceeded to argue about paying for it because it was 'cheaply made'...i'm guessing there's a principle somewhere in there too ;-)

The customer is always right.

It was a ring. A ring should not fall apart if you drop it. Cheap piece of over priced junk.

You can be peeved if you want, but you can't make them pay for that.

$14.00 may be a pittance to argue about, so why try to make them pay for it? You are creating bad customer relations.

In fact, if the customer had bought the ring, paid for it, and then it fell apart, I would expect them to be able to take it back for a full refund.

Cheap junk.

I sell a hand made tarot deck via the Internet. I offer a full money back guarantee for any reason and I honor that guarantee always.

Your customers should always be treated like royalty. Word of mouth is your best advertising and bad word of mouth can ruin your business.

$14.00...you get what you pay for.

If it was $140 i would return it and demand a refund.

But it's about the principle of paying for what you broke. Cheap and nasty as it is.

She didn't break it, she only dropped it.

Rings do not normally break when you drop them.

Now if it was an expensive vase, I would understand.

There is a thing about personal responsibility. If you handle something and your break it who is liable?

Example of this, just recently there was a story in the news about some writer who broke a million dollar classic race car and got sued for the $144,000 to rebuild the engine. He blew the engine up racing the car on a track. Now the driver could have tried to say, "hey, I paid for rental time on the car and it broke but since I paid to borrow it no way!" Well pretty much all states in this country don't see it that way. The driver was heard over revving the engine and he blew it up pushing it harder than it was designed for. There is no rev limiter in classic race cars. And the $144,000? Well, the car was a hand built performance car with a custom engine. You are not going to Auto Zone and buying the engine for that particular car. It has to be fabricated.

Most stores have the "break it buy it" policy on their wall on a sign but it is a law in a lot of states too to protect retailers from "careless" customers.

There is a pet store I know if where a kid opened a bag of dog treats and was handing them out to people's dogs but the store manager made the mother pay for the dog treats. She argued to the police she didn't open the bag, her kid did. Well, her kid, her responsibility! She risked being arrested for shoplifting over a bag of dog treats. Yes, Petco allows people to bring their dogs in.

And on one last note, although this does not apply directly, there was a REALLY fat man in Oregon who decided to take a seat right at a buffet table and proceeded to make a pig of himself. When asked to leave he refused. When the police arrived he challenged them to make him move which considering this man was fat like Jabba the Hut, man handling him was out of the question. Well, the police brought in a tow truck, dropped a harness around him and dragged him out the door where he was met by a stun gun and a lot of angry police officers forcing him into a van to take him to jail. He was sued for the food he ate, the damage he done in that restaurant in the course of his removal (the chair ate it bad and he suddenly had a death grip on the buffet table when he realized the rope around him was attached to a truck) as well as a fee for being towed out!

So it is not unusual for retailers to want to protect themselves.

$14.00 or 140.00 makes no difference anyway. The price of an item does not guarantee its quality, and you may not always get what you pay for, and sometimes you can over pay for some things.

If the shop keeper wanted to insist the item be paid for, her only legal recourse would be a court case because that is a civil matter. The price of the item may not warrant a court case, but the law is the law.

She placed the item out for people to handle.... HER FAULT.
She allowed customers to handle the items....... Her fault.
The item could not withstand being dropped...... Her fault.

She must take responsibility for what is her own fault.

That being the case...anybody could walk in and 'accidentally drop' a number of items and argue that they were cheaply made and refuse to pay for them on the grounds of it 'being the shopkeepers fault' for selling cheap stuff, and putting it in a place where it can be handled by the public. How unfair is that argument?...not to mention being out of pocket for the retailer.

Each case is different.

If you are in a china shop and you break something like that, you should probably pay for it. China is known to be breakable.

A ring, should be able to withstand being dropped unless it is a fragile glass or some other strange material. If it is, then the shop keeper should not be putting it out and allowing people to handle it.

Most shop keepers will keep fragile items behind a glass case. If someone drops a hammer on a glass case and breaks it, they should probably pay for the damage but the shop keep may have to take him to court if they don't agree on the cost of the damage between them.

As for the race car, it should have been insured. Most states have no fault insurance, but some don't.