Urgent: accomodation damages

First of all, the deadline is tomorrow morning, so I'll be grateful to anyone who manages to answer in such a limited time.

My friends stayed in Tokyo for a week and one of them accidentally broke a toilet bowl (repair not possible, it must be replaced). It is an ordinary western toilet bowl in a unit bathroom - it's not a washlet, or something expensive-looking. The checkout is tomorrow morning; we have been notified today that the bill for the damage will be 63000. They are outraged at the price.

Can anyone tell me whether this is a realistic amount, or if they are being stiffed? If it is indeed unreasonable, what recourse do we have? Can we appeal it somehow, or are they allowed to set whatever price they want? And even if it is reasonable, is there a polite way to question the price (especially, request a breakdown of the amount - a single row "Toilet Seat: 63000" does not look very realistic). Would something like this be considered antagonistic: すみませんが、ちょっと高いんじゃないかと思ったので、内訳浮�していただけないでしょうか。

Please help if you can. It's a lot of money, and our country is by no means rich (63000 is an above average monthly salary). This will leave a very bitter aftertaste to an otherwise beautiful trip.

It sounds realistic. Note that you have to also consider the damage caused to the accommodation by not being able to use the room until the toilet is fixed.

Also, their travel insurance might be able to cover something.

How were they able to destroy a toilet bowl?

Amadan,

Doesn't sound that unreasonable to me either when you take into account the cost of repairs plus the inconvenience of the accommodation not being available for renting to other guests.

It does not sound unreasonable to me - the new bowl (if it's integrated into the "unit bath" floor, they might need a particular type), the repairman's cost/time, and the damage from not being able to rent it out to another guest for how long I do not know, depending on how long it takes to get the right part.

Unfortunate as it is, if they don't pay, that would leave a bad aftertaste to the accommodation about the guests they've had.

I agree with Uji that they should check on the travel insurance.

Yeah... about what I thought, but I didn't want to prejudice the answer. Sucks, but there it is. I'd still want to ask about the breakdown of the price, so the friend in question could also see it's not just "a cheap toilet and 15 minutes of screwdriver action". (It's just bolted to the floor. Still, I appreciate you probably can't find a repairman at a moment's notice...)

They had a glass on the toilet bowl (which doubles as a shelf) and knocked it over with the elbow while undressing; it fell, hit the edge of the bowl with the bottom and struck it off. I don't think they have travel insurance... :(

Thanks all for the answers; very helpful.

Glass on the toilet tank, not bowl. Grr.

@AK: Obviously. Actually, if they didn't pay, it would leave a bitter aftertaste on my credit card, which would be even more unfortunate :)

The question was much for their sake as for my peace of mind, since I'm trying to convince them that there is a reason for it all, and actually even thought of lost business charges; but since I had no experience with such matters, I wanted a confirmation, and I'm actually very much relieved to hear this answer from all (despite the distress to my friend); the reason is, I have never been cheated out of a single yen in my two years in this country and it would be a disappointment; besides, I don't need to be confrontational tomorrow (which I hate), since I'm their only contact who can communicate in Japanese.

Thanks again!

Yes, I think you could even give them your own partial breakdown.

I mean, if the room was 6000 yen per night and it took 1 week to replace, that is already 42000 yen! Then you factor in the cost of the toilet and installation fee from the repairman and I think you can convince them that the hotel staff is not trying to make money off of this.

If this was an accident like you say, then, I wouldn't pay the full amount.
I would furiously but sincerely apologize and stand firm & negotiate something mutually agreeable amount like a half. Point out that the hotel is someway negligent too that the glass wasn't secured & is dangerous to be used in a bathroom. Good thing is no body seems to be injured. Any scrapes? If there was a drop of blood, the hotel would come bowing hundreds of times. The hotel would/should also have some insurance for the guest damages.
Please post how it came out.

They're a bunch of 70 y.o. grandmas, they did not trash the bathroom intentionally :) Thanks. I'm going over there now to see what can be done.

In my personal opinion, I think they wouldn't have to pay at all.

Doesn't the hotel have an insurance for this? If I am not all wrong there should be somethinglike that. Accidental damage policy or whatever. You should definitely check into that!

amazinga, I don't think there are any grounds for accusing the hotel of negligence here. Why would a glass (presumably they had water in it, or used it to hold their toothbrushes), be secured in a bathroom? Most likely the guests had brought it into the bathroom in any case.

First of all, they also thought it would be covered by the hotel's insurance, and are at the moment too angry to recognise that a weekly mansion is not a hotel. I asked, they don't have it. The guy at the front desk was very sympathetic, but "there's nothing I could do".

Second, the company did not take anything for themselves. They gave us the fax from the repair company, and the price quoted by the repair company was the price they were given; they did not take any lost income damages.

The bill is as follows: toilet bowl 13800; スパット (whatever that is, I guess cement?) 2650, drain pipe (or flush pipe? 洗浄管) 2520, floor flange 1630, various consumables (消耗品雑材料) 3400, labour 25000, detritus disposal 1000, transportation 8000, miscellaneous (諸経費) 5000

Grand total: 63000.

They're on their way back, with at least one of them having the single bad impression of Japan overwhelming all the good ones. :(

Thanks to all who weighed in.

@Sira: Exactly so.

I agree, the accommodation owner is not at fault here, except possibly for not having the damage policy written somewhere accessible where the travelers might read it and be properly scared in advance.

Amadan,

Probably needless to say, the only way to make this financially easier for your friends is for them to go look for a reform shop that can do this cheaper.

So far, the accomodation seems to be behaving very sincerely and it's common sense to assume that they're not going to go through the trouble of looking for the cheapest breakdown you can get. Frankly, if they are coming from a "not-rich country" they should've gotten themselves insured first.

@Uco, I agree - I was actually (pleasantly) surprised not to see lost income damages, since they're apparently booked solid. You don't have to convince me. The guest in question however is too hurt to look at it dispassionately and objectively. A month's pay for a stray elbow is quite a high price, and it's easier to be angry at someone else. I sent them the translated itemized bill, but since they're in transit, I haven't had a response yet.

About the insurance, all I can say is - they didn't know any better. They were offered a late flight insurance, and that's the only thing they had.

Regarding looking for a cheaper repair shop: 1) the bill is already paid, the guests are on their flight back, so it does not matter any more (the update was more to give story closure to the contributors);
2) even if it did, I'm not fluent enough for looking around for a cheaper shop;
3) and that's if it would be allowed. For all I know, maybe the accommodation has a contract with the repair shop.

しょうがない。 Live and learn.