Yes, you knew it had to happen: the twin brother who made that incredible hockey shot into a hole no bigger than the puck itself from a long distance away is being denied the prize money. It’s really no surprise, but I think this is a big mistake, and I’ll tell you why. Sure, the company is well within its rights to split hairs and deny the payout due to the detail that it was the wrong twin brother who took the shot (only because the correct one was outside and didn’t know he had won the chance to take the shot), and they will save the $50,000 prize money. But they will lose far more than that in ill-will from the community. I’d never hire them for anything after this, and many others will feel the same way. And it’s really the business they’re in that’s the real issue here: insurance.
This just goes to prove that an insurance company will do whatever hair-splitting is required to get out of paying a claim. And after this amazing shot that beat all the odds, and the honesty involved to tell the truth about what happened, by paying the prize anyway, or paying half of it for at least making the shot, they would have dispelled this stereotype of how insurance companies behave. But by denying the award, they look like they’re welching on a bet. And when they do this over such a trivial thing, imagine how they’re going to squirm out of it when they actually owe someone any serious amount of money. My guess is that they have done themselves more than $50,000 worth of damage to their business by doing this. The $20,000 gift to the youth hockey league is nice, but they still look like welchers using fine print to weasel their way out of an obligation. And I’ll bet they do that big time when there’s a real obligation related to their insurance business. So why would anyone trust them for insurance now?
Paying the prize anyway would have been a great promotion for their company, and it would have generated the kind of buzz and goodwill you just can’t buy. But they blew it. And it came naturally to them too: for they are an insurance company, and it’s their business to find a way to welch on paying out. And in so doing, they’ve reminded everyone of that fact, and specifically branded themselves with that distinction for years to come. Great job, guys! You couldn’t buy a worse public relations nightmare!
Here’s the story:
