Neighbor ran over nail near our trash cans—how should I respond?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would respond with

We didn’t throw away anything sharp, and our trash was fully contained in our bins, not loose at the curb. You getting a flat tire has absolutely nothing to do with us. It happened on public property on the public street.

Don’t mention you have camera footage. But Save that if they escalate.

+1

Though I'd nice it up a bit.

"What a bummer that happened to you! We didn’t throw away anything sharp, and our trash was fully contained in our bins, not loose at the curb. Not sure where that nail came from, but very unlikely to have come from us. Best of luck with your car!"

Nope. You can’t nice it up with people like this. Your version states “very unlikely to have come from us”. That leaves the crazy neighbor with ammunition that there is in fact a slight chance the sharp object came from OP. The previous version state clearly with certainty it did not come from OP.

And it is always better to have the husband send the text. Most men feel no obligation to nice anything up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would respond with

We didn’t throw away anything sharp, and our trash was fully contained in our bins, not loose at the curb. You getting a flat tire has absolutely nothing to do with us. It happened on public property on the public street.

Don’t mention you have camera footage. But Save that if they escalate.

+1

Though I'd nice it up a bit.

"What a bummer that happened to you! We didn’t throw away anything sharp, and our trash was fully contained in our bins, not loose at the curb. Not sure where that nail came from, but very unlikely to have come from us. Best of luck with your car!"

This. They are looking for a target so all you want to do is take yourself out of their crosshairs so they move on. Like PP said, if they press you can double down that you have no construction materials in use and you have Ring camera footage that substantiates what happened to his car that morning on the public road.

+1

[Anonymous]

Nails can end of in the street in one place but then run through gutters etc., tumble around, float down the street during rain storms, and end up in an entirely different location.

Not your problem.

Just out of curiosity is this person really young or really old? Or somewhere in between.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't respond. Nothing. Certainly DO NOT have the women discuss this. If the subject is brought up again, it's between the men.

[Anonymous]

I would wait 48 hours before replying to give the guy a chance to cool his temper. He may have been emotional when he sent the original text and baiting an escalated argument. Letting him cool off avoids the situation if he was just looking for a target to redirect his frustration.

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear that happened to your car. We did not throw away a nail or anything else sharp, so we were not the source of whatever punctured your tire.

[Anonymous]

I would just say "Wow, sorry to hear that, this has happened to me before, what a pain!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't respond. Nothing. Certainly DO NOT have the women discuss this. If the subject is brought up again, it's between the men.

Especially not if they're having their period.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't respond. But if I did, I would say:
"Sorry to hear that Bob, but as you know the public street is not our property. You should contact the City, who owns the public street, to discuss compensation. Good luck."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How odd. I’ve run over a nail a number of times (unfortunately) and have never “felt” when I ran it over. Didn’t notice until my tire pressure was low or had a flat. No way to know where it came from.

I’d just respond “Sorry to hear- that stinks! We haven’t thrown away any nails, so we are not the culprit 🤣 I’ve seen a few construction trucks go by recently- probably from them but who knows. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving weekend otherwise- good luck with the tire!”

I’d be friendly and light but take no responsibility at all. I would not under any circumstances pay for a new tire. Hopefully neighbor was just upset at the time, feels foolish and lets it blow over.

Yeah this - by the time they felt their tire going flat, it had been blocks since the nail got in there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just received a text from a nearby neighbor saying they ran over a nail in the street near our trash cans (it is garbage day) and got a flat tire. They’re hoping to discuss compensation.

I checked my camera footage and can see them hit something in the street and get a flat. They pull over, get out, inspect it, and then turn around and drive back home. The thing is, we didn’t throw away anything sharp, and our trash was fully contained in our bins, not loose at the curb. It seems like they just unfortunately ran over something that happened to be in the street near our house.

Has anyone dealt with something like this before? How would you respond to a neighbor asking for compensation in this situation?

Ridiculous. Nail was in the street and not your responsibility. What a jerk!

[Anonymous]

Ignore

[Anonymous]

Point them to a shop that will plug the tire. Don't offer to pay anything. Tire doesn't likely need replacement and if it does it will be because they drove on a flat tire instead of putting the spare on.

[Anonymous]

Update OP?

[Anonymous]

It's a silly troll.