These women are heroes. Meet the lockdown villains
Insurers and the airlines looked after themselves as we coped with crisis
WE all know who the and extremely contagious patients with the courage and compassion we have come to expect from our health service. Covid-19 heroes are. We saw them on our TV screens this week in the RTÉ Investigates series, treating dying, distressed The heroes are also the small firms who are struggling to survive, along with their staff, who put themselves in harm’s way of this terrible disease to bring us our food and groceries.
Even the previously muchmaligned HSE and the previous government have emerged with credit in the crisis.
But not everyone has behaved quite so heroically – or brilliantly particularly in the business world.
Here are a few examples:
MOTOR INSURERS
Health insurers gave sizeable rebates to their customers to make up for their private health cover being largely useless during the lockdown.
They shamed some motor insurers into giving rebates too – albeit belatedly, begrudgingly and inconsistently – as we were hardly using our cars for three months.
Alas, in the case of motor insurers, it was little more than a token gesture – and sometimes literally so.
Robin Rowland‘s car did just eight miles since lockdown.
‘Tomorrow I have to go to the dentist in Wexford, a 30-km round trip, but it’s our first outing. I never ever thought that I would look forward to going to the dentist!’
So Liberty Insurance customer Robin was less than impressed with the €15 supermarket token for Supervalu he received as his car cover rebate.
When Liberty made its rebate announcement, I originally thought it would amount to 15% of annual premiums. But it turns out to be 15% of just two months’ premiums.
‘I was surprised that you only had three choices: Supervalu, something called Circle 3 and a charity. If you do nothing then they will donate to a charity. We opted for Supervalu,’ says Robin.
Robin thinks the €15 voucher is a bit ‘stingy’.
‘Why not a cash refund by Liberty to our credit/debit card?’ he asks?
Another reader tells us he got a vague pledge that they will ‘do something’ for him on renewal, about which he is sceptical.
And some other insurers are not giving back anything at all.
BUSINESS INSURERS
BUSINESS interruption cover, you would imagine, should cover you when your business is interrupted.
But that’s not the way insurance works. It doesn’t do what it says ‘on the tin’ like some other products. It does what it says in the small print. And sometimes (allegedly) it doesn’t even do that, according to some business owners.
Businesses forced to close down due to Covid-19 have been refused payouts of business interruption cover. Some have gone to court and we’ll have to let the legal eagles sort it out.
But whatever way the court cases pan out, the episode doesn’t improve the image of these insurers with business customers.
‘The insurance industry’s approach to rebates (health insurers apart)… is one of profit maximisation,’ says Peter Boland of the Alliance for Insurance Reform, which represents customers.
‘While most of the population, SMEs and voluntary and community organisations have been focused on the common good, insurers have been looking after themselves.’
TRAVEL INSURERS
At least motor insurers made a token effort at rebates.
Travel insurers won’t give anything back – and are still trying to flog us cover that is largely useless when it comes to this pandemic.
In fairness, they will point out that travel insurance doesn’t cover you for the one thing that’s still likely to disrupt your holiday: claims that have anything to do with Covid-19, apart from medical emergencies while abroad.
AIRLINES
Is Aer Lingus the new Ryanair?
Neither airline covered itself in glory in the Covid-19 crisis. And any lingering notions that Aer Lingus is somehow the consumer’s champion compared to ‘ruthless’ Ryanair have been finally dispelled.
For months, both airlines fobbed off passengers seeking refunds over cancelled holidays.
But Aer Lingus arguably behaved more ruthlessly by continuing to fly near-empty planes into places where Irish people shouldn’t go and in many cases were not even allowed to go.
The airline didn’t admit it, but the only logical explanation for these ‘ghost flights’ was to deny passengers the right to claim refunds (they are entitled to a refund only if the airline cancels the flight)
Ryanair passengers at least had a clear-cut claim for a refund because it had grounded most of its planes.
Then, just when we thought Ryanair was about to emerge with more credit than Aer Lingus in this crisis… it pops up to tell us to ignore public health advice so it can make some money.
Our chief medical officer Tony Holohan has told us not to travel
abroad for holidays this year – leading to an outburst from Ryanair’s top brass.
So who are you inclined to believe, the doctor who has led us through this crisis or the men who run the airline that appears blatantly self-interested in taking this position – even if opening up the skies is the right thing to do?
Here’s some personal finance advice: unless you have already booked and paid for a holiday abroad, don’t go. Stay at home and support local business.
A new Covid crisis could erupt anywhere you go at any time.