Hardhearted?

Last week 2 Australian men were killed when an ice cliff collapsed on them at Fox Glacier in New Zealand.  Tragic, yes.  This happened while they were on holidays with their parents who saw the ice collapse without immediately realising their sons were under it.

There’s been a bit of furore in the media today about 2 NZ businesses who billed the family of the dead men for services relating to their holiday, which were incurred indirectly because of the tragic accident:

• a car hire company which asked for payment of $1,600 being for replacement of car keys (which were apparently in the pocket of the son whose body remains beneath the ice which collapsed on him), and for the cost of towing the car back from Fox Glacier to Wellington
• a motel which has requested payment of $105 for a night’s accommodation the family had booked and which they didn’t show up to use.

These businesses are being accused of being hardhearted for charging the dead men’s family. 

However, as the owner of the car hire company says:

"I do have compassion for them. But they obviously can’t expect me to pick up the pieces.

"I don’t believe at the end of the day I should have to pay. We have a business and we have to pay the bills. No one will say to me you do not have to pay the bills. They can’t use emotional blackmail.

"I think it’s just blackmail to a company."

Likewise the motel owner:

"There was a party of people booked for the Thursday and Friday night," 

"Alfred Fernandes, who is their cousin, rang to say there had been an accident, but he was going to get some of the party up here and to please leave the unit open. They never arrived."

Ms Goodson said she received a call on the Friday to say they would not be using the room and had agreed to pay the $105 fee for the night.

"Everyone is making us out to be the bad guys. We’re running a business,"

Exactly!  Neither of these businesses is acting outrageously in my opinion.  It is not their responsibility to bear the family’s costs.  That is exactly what travel insurance should be covering.

In fact, both businesses say they have absorbed some costs – the car hire place by waiving 4 days rental charges when the car was stuck at Fox Glacier, the motel by not charging for the 2nd night booked.  Seems entirely reasonable to me.

About the only thing the business owners have done wrong is chase their money a bit too quickly after the accident.  They could always have waited until the sons’ funerals and all that were out of the way, and not slapped them with a bill while still deep in grieving.

Some of the readers clearly think differently – see the comments to the story I linked to above.  Some are rather feral.  What do they expect – free funerals when they die, because the funeral director shouldn’t charge them in their time of grief?  The whole story is a beat up in my view – slow news day obviously.

But someone has come to the party for the dead men’s family, and agreed to pay the bills from the hire car company and motel.  Another report has the car hire owner backing down on his insistence for the family to pay his costs.

Whatever, good on them.  However, nothing alters the fact that people are responsible themselves for meeting the costs of the unexpected, it is not the role of everyone else to pay your way.  If you don’t want to pay out of your own pocket, make sure you’re properly insured.  Simple!

This brings me to a bugbear of mine.  It strikes me that in about the last 10 years or so Australians are developing a real handout type mentality where if something goes wrong in your life, they expect others to pay for it.  For example, when someone’s house burns down and they are uninsured, they seem to expect the government to step in and cover their losses. No, its their problem and their responsibility to look after their assets, which includes insuring their property.  People object to paying child support when relationships break down – and expect welfare to kick in.   No, they are the parents and its their responsibility to look after their children – they can’t just abandon all responsibility for them and expect everyone who pays taxes to pick up the tab.

Bugbear number 2.  The dead men ignored warning signs to keep away from the face of the glacier.  Apparently a lot of people do this at the glaciers.  Given that people can’t seemingly be trusted to act responsibly at these places and that a law suit is sure to follow these deaths, no doubt the consequence for everyone is that authorities will stick up a dirty big fence in front of the glacier, which will detract from its scenic beauty.  (From memory, when I visited the glaciers a few years ago, there are plenty of signs warning you not to go near the ice face – and these are some way back.  There may have been some places with small rope fences …. don’t recall).