While Jet2 has been praised by the Spanish and British tourism authorities for having deployed private detectives in key resorts along the Costas and here in the Balearics to try and spot and root out the so-called compensation touts who are trying to drum up false business, claims companies have also been cold calling Britons.
Yesterday, a Bulletin reader contacted the newsdesk to report a call he had received earlier in the day from a Manchester-based compensation claims company.
"I’ve still kept my UK mobile number so I guess they had no idea that I live here in Majorca. Anyway, the first thing they asked me was if I had been on an all-inclusive holiday over the past two years. I asked why and was passed over to her line manager who explained that, if I had suffered from food poisoning during the past 24 months, all I had to do was give them the name of the tour operator and they would proceed with a compensation claim. I enquired what happens if I hadn’t had food poisoning, and they put the phone down.
"I think this a total disgrace. Perhaps in the past the tour operators or hoteliers thought it was easier to pay than fight the claims, but now, as I’ve been reading, it’s reached such a level it is a serious problem. In short, that company was trying to convince me to committ a crime.
"It’s pure greed driven by solicitors and lawyers. It’s that ‘no win no fee’ mentality which has gradually gripped Britain and it has to be dealt with. These so-called legal practices need to be inspected and closed down, where necessary. It’s criminal."
This practice of cold calling (and indeed getting "victims" to call claims companies) involves some standard procedures as to how to make claims. One of these is to ensure that the "victim" doesn't mention anything about having eaten in a restaurant outside an all-inclusive hotel. All-inclusives are favoured for these claims because typically guests do not eat out, which therefore makes it much easier to allege that they are responsible for gastric or other complaints.
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To be fair, if the all inclusive offering is like the picture above then I can see why its so easy to claim for food poisoning. Just look at that crap compared to most restaurants on the Island.
All the more reason for Mallorca to ban all-inclusive. It does nothing for the economy and attracts low rent (go to the buffet 5 times in one sitting) fat uneducated people who will not think twice about false claiming the tour operator. Lose AI and you lose the badly dressed fat slobs and boost the economy at the same time.
I think it's a sign of the times that we live in actually. People have seen that banks have been ripping-off people for millions for years. Politicians fraudulently claiming expenses, supermarkets false advertising, paid-for false reviews on Amazon and the like, exhorbitant mobile roaming charges, etc; etc; etc. Being ripped-off in just about every walk of life. With the complete and total breakdown of justice in the courts, and the disappearance of deterrents for crimes committed, it's led to become less for some people to be ashamed about, in their eyes at least. Thanks to the failures of a long series of governments in addressing the way society has been going, most of the society morals of two or three decades ago have now long disapeared, and this is the inevitable outcome. Tourists falsely claiming are really no worse than those I've listed surely. Nobody now believes that the losses make it worse for the rest, as prices are raised every year anyway by the insatiable greed of the banks/insurers in their amassing of tower blocks of offices registed wherever they pay less tax. (Feel free to call me cynical at your leisure). There's wprse to come in any case ......
I think it's a sign of the times that we live in actually. People have seen that banks have been ripping-off people for years, politicians fraudulently claiming expenses, supermarkets false advertising, paid-for false reviews on Amazon and the like, corruption in just about every walk of life. The breakdown of justice in the courts, and the disappearance of deterrents for crimes committed, it's led to become less for some people to be ashamed about, in their eyes at least. The failures of a long series of governments in addressing the way society is goung. Most of the society morals of two or three decades ago have now disapeared, and this is the inevitable outcome. Tourists falsely claiming are really no worse than those I've listed surely. Nobody now believes that the losses make it worse for the rest, as prices are raised every year anyway by the insatiable greed of the banks/insurers in their amassing of tower blocks of offices registed wherever they pay less tax. (Feel free to call me cynical at your leisure).
Any claims that are fraudulent, there should be a 110% fine for this, plus all legal expenses. This would be paid by the fraudulent claimant. Plus, close all the legal teams that push for these fraudulent claims. Any person working for these companies should be barred from ever working in law for life. Finally, publicize all, and hopefully it may bring a decline of this terrible practice.
Greed , that’s all it is . If you look at this together with the PPI mis-selling scandal, you will see these firms are all connected. Adverts telling people of huge amounts, and the banks overwhelmed, so 50% of all PPI claims where paid out, without ever checking to see if the people took it out, all these firms had to say , is that you had a loan mortgage credit card 10 years , and the banks do not have the resources or funds to investigate every one , so it was always cheaper just to make a settlement and pay out . Cost to the PPI law firm a couple of sheets of paper . This is the same with tourist company’s , they do not have the resources to investigate each claim and when you see the amount of claims you can imagine how overwhelmed they are. And let’s face it , if you saw the news about the fraudsters trail in Scotland , that lasted a year , it cost £7.5million to prosecute , so its actually cheaper just to settle the claim than take it to court , because what’s the worst that happen , probation for year …….. So just back to that human characteristic of greed, if someone thinks they can get their holiday reimbursed, then they will and the claims company will exploit whatever is flavour of the month and take their 25 to 50% share of the pay-out. Make a very public example of one fake claim may deter others ……
I honestly don't understand how claims like this can be made without some sort of proper evidence, i.e. a doctor's certificate signed and dated and including the doctor's registered number and, if need be, also stamped by the medical college. I have read that a chemist's receipt suffices. How on earth can that be 'evidence?