How to handle tenant lack of judgment, ruining dishwasher

[George Fleming]

I have a triplex with three wonderful young women who are renting a three bedroom. They work at very nonprofit nonprofits so they have no money and they are really fantastic. My challenge is that they used a dish rack on the counter right above the dishwasher, yet with no trey! At some point, they put a towel down underneath the rack. But it was too late as water went from the counter to the top control of dishwasher. It stopped functioning and realized it was the cost of the dishwasher to replace the user interface and the board. Luckily I had bought a three-year protection plan from Lowe’s but literally it took me two months of over 20 calls to get them to fulfill it. An enormous amount of my time. So I took a check for the washer, but I’m still out for $450 for the first Appliance Repair man call, upgrading to a better model, the cost of delivering it, installing it, etc. How should I handle this? Just eat it? At a minimum I’m goong to let them know that they were highly likely the cause of this. And there’s even damage underneath the laminate countertop with a particleboard base. I welcome some opinions! Thank you. 

[Jules Aton]

Ugh, I tend to be generous when it comes to my tenants but this is a decent sum and waste of time for something ridiculous. Are you 100% sure that is what happened? I'd probably eat it but gently tell them the total cost and that I won't be replacing anything else due to blatant misuse. Also are you sure they aren't making any money? I've been extremely well compensated in the past at a non-profit due to grants.