AIBU to think the compo culture has hit a new low?

[LunaLoveg00d]

Driving in the car this morning heard an advert for a company which I will not name as they don't deserve the publicity but which went along the lines of:

"Have you been ill on holiday in the past three years? If you got food poisoning in Spain, Turkey, Mexico or anywhere else we can get you the compensation you deserve as you're covered under UK law".

I hate the "where there's blame there's a claim" culture in the first place, but getting a dodgy tummy is part and parcel of international travel. You know the risks, and avoid the salads and ice. If you get ill, you take immodium. This shower of compo merchants are saying you could get £2,000 compensation, although quite what you'd be compensated for I'm not sure as if you're on holiday there's no loss of earnings, and only a miniscule percentage of people with holiday tummy are ill enough for hospital.

So in essence what is happening is that this shower are approaching the major tour operators with their "claim", the tour operators will do whatever they can to avoid a costly court case, and are bunging them cash to shut up and go away. And then the price of everyone's holiday goes up to cover the compo claims.

Crazy.

[DerekSprechenZeDick]

That is ridiculous! I might sue the local kebab place, after a night out and a kebab I'm ill the next day sometimes. Surely it's their fault

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

That and third degree tear claims which ive seen advertised.....if you've had a 3rd or 4th degree tear during childbirth contact us.....

Yes, it's not nice but it's a risk of childbirth. How can a solicitor prove whether it was the fault of a midwife or Dr? Maybe it was the position of the baby, maybe the woman had an Unstretchy perinieum, maybe the woman pushed like mad at the wrong minute when told to give little pushes.

Totally agree that the blame culture is crazy. I had a dodgy tummy when in Egypt, wouldn't cross my mind to sue.

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

Saying that I also got ill on a ski holiday once. We arrived and the chalet girl was throwing up in her bedroom just off the kitchen. Following day she was back in the kitchen. Two days later the whole chalet was vomiting. France not Turkey so you don't expect it! Actually ive been on a few ski holidays where a bug has swept round the chalet like wildfire.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Depends what sort of food poisoning, a dodgy tummy is but too bad but some food poisoning is really serious.

[LunaLoveg00d]

The tear and childbirth one - the solicitor doesn't have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt. Just present a plausible case which makes the NHS trust think "fuck it, this is going to cost £50k in legal costs, so bung them £20k to go away".

Being sick is not nice wherever you are - but fucking COMPENSATION?

[doctoratsea]

Yep, agreed hate this culture.

I had a rear end shunt (slow speed) a while ago. No damage as my tow bar took the brunt (very small graze on bumper) Thought I would let my insurance company know anyway, as other driver at fault had substantial front end damage.

BIG MISTAKE! within hours I was plagued with phone calls.

Offering me cover cars and compensation for whip lash injury (that I nor my passengers sustained) all at the expense of the other drivers insurance. In the end I had to buy new home phone (call guardian) which was a god send for stopping these jerks getting through. I even diverted my mobile to home phone when I swiped right.

Still get calls now some 12 months later!

[LunaLoveg00d]

The compo company are not saying that you have to have been hospitalised to claim compo. They list the usual vomiting, diarrhoea and high temperature, then say that if you have experienced any of these to "seek medical attention whilst in the resort as this will greatly increase your chances of making an eligible claim for your discomfort upon your return."

They are also saying that if you have been ill, they can get you compensation PLUS the entire cost of your holiday.

[Roussette]

Totally agree with you. Trouble is, there are people out there who want to make a fast buck. They're the ones who claim for stolen goods when back from holiday just for something to do to make money, who claim whiplash, who claim they spilt a pot of paint on their carpet by accident, who claim anything there is going. And they are the ones who push our insurance prices through the roof. It's revolting. And companies like this are encouraging it, whilst the genuine ones of society get punished with higher prices.

[LunaLoveg00d]

There should be a code of conduct to stop this sort of thing. Compensation should be for financial loss or something which SERIOUSLY affects your wellbeing for a considerable period, not an upset stomach which lasts a couple of days.

[RhodaBull]

Dh was on a board with the chief executive of a major holiday company (I shall have to be vague.) He said he went on their holidays regularly himself, totally incognito. Anyway, he was approached by a band of holidaymakers asking him to sign a petition to say that the holiday was crap. The man, alarmed, asked why, and they said that there was nothing wrong at all, but they wanted to try to get their money back anyway.

Dn works in a hotel. She can entertain for hours on people's spurious complaints - all followed up by a request for free weekends, thousands of loyalty points etc etc.

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

I supoose though if you've spent a fortune on a holiday, avoided the salads, tap water and ice and still get a dodgy tummy and TripAdvisor reviews are full of similar stories you'd start wondering is it down to poor kitchen/staff hygiene and be a bit fed up if the holiday was ruined.

[WyldChyld]

Having worked in PI, it's a lot more complicated than these adverts make out. The adverts are designed to get 100 people to phone up in full knowledge that a handful will have a claim. Reasons for successful holiday claims are normally something along the lines of the holiday company were filling up bottles of water with tap water or being reckless food.

[CandODad]

In a follow up to PPI there are companies now that "Specialise" in making sure that people got what they should. Apparently "In many cases we can claim the money that the previous company didn't get for you"

I would expect what this mean is this company suing the claim management company. What's next? Suing the people who sued the people who sued the people?

[LunaLoveg00d]

And how do you prove that the holiday company were, in (say) June 2014, in a hotel in Mexico where all the staff have moved on to other jobs, filling bottled water from a tap? You can't.

We were in Mexico last summer. I was slightly ill for a few days with diarrhoea, suspect it was from the salad as I was the only one ill and the kids who were living on a diet of chips, burgers and American food, were fine. I self-medicated with immodium.

Also agree that people complain about everything and anything - reading the Tripadvisor reviews for the place we stayed in Mexico was a revelation, people were complaining that there was too much seaweed in the sea, and that there were too many birds flying around.

[TwatbadgingCuntfuckery]

No one takes personal responsibility these days. No one at all :(

What happened to making sure you avoid the 'dodgy' foods,- salad, Ice, cutting open your chicken/pie/whatever and making sure its piping hot before taking a mouthful? Even here i avoid places with a 3 star or lower food standards rating and always cut open my chicken etc to check that it is cooked properly and hot inside.

You should always carry emergency cash so if the hotel food looks dodgy you can eat out somewhere better. Yes complain and hope things improve but don't make yourself ill just to get money ffs

[ManagersDilemma]

If you're bothered by nuisance callers, I highly recommend changing your phone settings so that all callers not in your address book are sent straight to voicemail - and set a voicemail message explaining this. It's really amusing how legitimate callers leave a message (and then get added to my address book) and the ambulance chasers never do

I have an iPhone but I imagine it's possible on other makes.

[AssembleTheMinions]

It's crazy, I've had the trots once or twice on holiday. One was pretty bad in Egypt but I had done lots of research and realised that there was a reasonably high chance I'd end up with a dodgy stomach. Wouldn't even consider suing. And while I'm at it, the flight delay claims are just as bad. Fair enough if you end up with a significant delay however a friend was delayed for 3 hours along with her dh and dcs and received over £1000. All that happens it that fares go up for everyone else.

Managers that sound brilliant, how do you go about that? I'm being plagued by ambulance chasers as well from a bump over a year ago. I usually play along if I'm in the mood but they hang up pretty quickly when I eventually mention I wasn't in the car at the time

[Buunychops]

It's been a while, but I was taught that in case of food poisoning that you shouldn't use drugs like Imodium.

As in the body is trying to clear the infection/ irritation, and stopping this can cause more issues.

For me treatment is when it's st it's worst soothing bum wipes & Vaseline for lower end and cheap ice Lollys, for top end.

Ice lollys are good, it's a slow drip drip less likely to be chucked bad/ more to be absorbed. Cheap because they're mainly sugar & water.

[JudyCoolibar]

So if your child becomes seriously ill to a life-changing extent when you are on holiday directly as a result of the entirely avoidable negligence of the owners of the hotel you stay at, are you seriously saying that you would expect your child just to suck it up? If not, where would you draw the line?

[Roussette]

Of course if there's negligence you would investigate further with a view to compensation!

That isn't what anyone is saying though is it? It's about taking personal responsibility.

For instance, I went to a far flung place not long ago. Part of the tour was to the best hotel in the area with a local show and a buffet. Why in hells name I had the barbecued prawns I do not know (they were enormous mutant things too). God was I ill with diarrhoea. Agree on no immodium, apparently it comes back even worse if you use that. I literally starved myself for 36 hours, that was the only thing that worked.

I wouldn't have dreampt of compensation, I was an idiot, that's what people are saying!

[descalina]

If I got ill from eating dodgy food on holiday I'd absolutely go for compensation. They should be held to stricter hygiene laws and if they don't get hit in the pocket for not doing so, what incentive do they have?

It's completely different for claiming for tears during childbirth. The frequency at which food poisoning happens in some places, its not an unavoidable risk at all.

[PippaFawcett]

Hmm, I'm on the fence on this one. There will always be genuine claims where firms/health care professionals have been negligent and people definitely deserve compensation.

Holidays cost £££ - if I had a bout of food poisoning that could have been avoided and completely ruined an expensive holiday, I would probably want a refund too.

But there needs to be proper checks and balances and sometimes 24 hours in the loo is the price holidaymakers pay for travelling somewhere new.

[limitedperiodonly]

Why shouldn't people challenge negligence? Making a fuss about it is generally what stops negligence and protects others from it. You also might need the money to deal with whatever life-changing harm the negligence has caused.

You still have to prove it though, which is a high bar and the reason I'm not going to get upset about poor tour operators who don't wash the salad or save money by not maintaining boilers in hotel rooms. So what if people get e coli or carbon monoxide poisoning? It's all part of the glamour of foreign travel, isn't it?

[Roussette]

It's a big jump from death by carbon monoxide poisoning to 24 hours of the squits from eating something dodgy.

[LunaLoveg00d]

Carbon monoxide poisoning and food poisoning are completely different. In an ideal world there would never be any food poisoning and upset stomachs. In tropical climates though, even when hotels and restaurants do absolutely everything within their power to keep food cool, reinforce handwashing, etc etc, bugs are going to grow at faster rates than in the UK. Most of us who have travelled to other parts of the world know that, and avoid foods we think look a bit dodgy or which might have been left sitting on a hot plate for hours.

Proving negligence in these cases is practically impossible. One rogue employee who is not washing his hands is not the hotel's fault. As long as they have the correct procedures and processes and staff training in place to minimise the risk, they can't do much more. You'd need to prove firstly that your illness was caused by something you ate in the hotel, which unless you are all inclusive and never leave the hotel is practically impossible. You'd then have to prove that the hotel or management was negligent and their negligence caused your illness. Not easy. You'd then have to demonstrate you had suffered some sort of loss from your illness.

I'm not saying people who have genuinely suffered through a hotel's negligence shouldn't sue. But that should be limited to serious cases which were bad enough for in patient hospital treatment. The way this company are pitching their services it's as if they are promising to get you thousands for a very mild case of diarrhoea.