Not another Go fund me!

[Bignanna]

Is anyone else fed up with people begging for money on Go Fund Me, to bring a family member home from abroad, because they are seriously ill in a far away country?
He didnt have travel insurance as he thought he wouldn’t need it, being young and fit! There’s another article in the Daily Mail about him and the family are wringing their hands and begging for help. Whist I sympathise with anyone being seriously ill, this was so easy to avoid, and it keeps happening. It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth that it seems ok to beg others to compensate for other’s stupidity.

Not a week goes past in the summer without a local one, sometimes no travel insurance but increasingly they underinsured eg not adding cover for sports etc, or didn't declare existing conditions

YANBU. People need to take responsibility for their stupid decision if they don't organise travel insurance. You can't book even a domestic flight without checking a box saying you've got travel insurance.

I tend to ignore go fund me in general. Nobody seems pay for a funeral or take any responsibility anymore. I would help anyone in need but the amount of stupid people who think others should help them out because of their fecklessness is getting a bit much.

I've been away in Europe this weekend with three middle aged people, regular travelers, do do a fairly high risk sporting event. Mot an extreme sport requiring extra cover, but a sport peole do occasionally die doing.

I was most shocked to learn I was the only one with travel insurance. I have an annual policy which doesn't cost much.

Yes it's stupidity or oversight. lt doesn't mean it's not awful for families when the worst happens though and I think any of us would do whatever it took in those circumstances.

Yep. I won't go anywhere overseas without insurance. No one wants to pay it but tough. It should be a condition of travel that you have insurance.

I'm not sure I've ever been sent one of these appeals or seen on (social) media?

You won’t be sent one. The begging is in the media , often highlighted in a newspaper. There is a Go fund me page that lists all the appeals.

I agree. You should always pay travel insurance - it's part of the holiday costs!

I have seen a few
One was a friend of my nephews who got drunk in Turkey and did something stupid and another had gone for a bum lift (at age 22) and had complications
I wouldn't give them a penny

I hate them, begging, very stupid not to take out insurance on hol

It’s the help us give them a good send off ones that bug me.

Travel insurance isn’t prohibitively expensive for the most part and the benefits are great. My friend broke her leg in the Caribbean and it paid for an extra 2 weeks in the hotel and a first class flight back. I assume (maybe wrongly) that people just literally don’t understand that the equivalent of the nhs isn’t going to swoop in, repair you then fly you home.

Exactly. How entitled do you need to be to think “I’ll ask 100 to chip in £30 of their money for my benefit instead of just spending £30 myself on insurance.”

Every bloody airline is obsessed with adding insurance at the check out too so in most cases they’ve actively gone out of their way not to take insurance.

This thread reminded me to get my travel insurance sorted for my summer holiday. Two underlying conditions abs it cost me £20 for 8 days. Money well spent. I had to sign a declaration when I booked saying I'd get my own insurance.

It's begging. I hate them.

Someone I know was in hospital abroad recently. Cost nearly a thousand pounds a night. Fortunately they had travel insurance.

They actually mean "save us a few quid" don't they the cf

We've got one doing the rounds locally for a man who lost a leg in a car accident. Within a couple of days his children had set it up to raise money for adaptations to his house, buy surely there'll be a car accident and/or the NHS/Social Services will help with that?

My friends mother collapsed while in the US. Her pretty reasonable travel insurance of £35 meant that she was covered for an extremely expensive cardiac surgery, ambulance transport and rebooked flight home . Travel insurance is essential, especially in US . They said they had no idea what they would have had to do .

Friend's daughter broke her leg, badly, in Thailand, Direct Line sorted out getting her home. Friend's mum broke her shoulder in Vietnam, insurance sorted it out with a month in hospital there and a business class flight home with a doctor accompanying her.

I buy insurance.

There was a local one recently, person wanted to organise a great send off for her Dad which included 6 horses and carriage, 3 funeral cars and the wake in our local pub, she was asking for £7,500. I’m afraid she didn’t get a lot of funds from locals.

Me too, because I bet the majority of the money raised doesn't go towards funeral costs. People donate because they feel sad and sorry for the family. It's the worst kind of emotional blackmail.

Sometimes they're organised by interfering friends who feel the need to do "something".

My sister's friend did one for my sister and her family when their DS had cancer. It was an awful time for them and friends decided to raise money so they could go on holiday once the treatment was finished.

DSis was mortified and insisted every penny was returned to the donors. She appreciated the support of friends, at what had been an awful time, but she didn't need or want their money and if they felt they needed a holiday, they'd have had one. My Dad always furious at the suggestion that family wouldn't have helped if needed.

Someone I know helped raise money to send a woman, her husband and their young children to Disneyland Florida for one final family holiday. The woman had uterine cancer and had run out of treatment options. The Go Fund Me raised more than 6K. The woman didn't have uterine cancer though. She didn't have cancer at all. She just wanted a free holiday. It was in the papers at the time (Manchester Evening News) after she'd returned from Disneyland. I can't remember what she got prosecuted for, some kind of fraud perhaps.

Disgusting behaviour. I hope the money was paid back.