Re: [goking] Cost of a tree rescue in the Swiss valley
goking wrote:
Hausse wrote:
1650Fr. seems fairly reasonable (within Swiss standards) to me for:
2 guys that have to get out of bed on a Sunday and get you out of a tree (prob. at least 100Fr an hour each and assuming the rescue took around 5h that's already 1k)
All the equipment, paying for the rescue infrastructure etc. can't be cheap either.
Well, no. Here are the details of the invoice. The rescue took a total time of 2 hours 9 minutes. They rounded this up to 3 hours, lawyer style, but hey, that's what one would expect. There are two guys on one tariff (presumably the two who rescued me), and that comes to 374 CHF. Then there's another (I've no idea who) on a slightly lower tariff, and that comes to 172 CHF. But even so, 546 CHF would be what I'd consider a reasonable amount. There's also a "Materialbeitrag" ("material contribution") of 38.70 CHF, which I'm guessing covers the cost of the gear usage. Fair enough.
But there are two other costs which I baulked at. One is "Entschädigung Einsatzberichterstattung" ("Compensation reporting application") for 436 CHF and the other "Sachaufwand Alpine Rettung Schweiz" ("Swiss Alpine Rescue Expenses") for 621 CHF! How can the administrative costs possibly be 1057 CHF?
Another point is that since it wasn't a medical emergency, and they weren't therefore compelled to assist me, surely I was entitled to a quote, or at least a reasonable estimate of what the rescue would cost? Despite asking several times, the rescuers couldn't give me a figure.
I've already spoken to them (nicely, I might add) about some sort of concession, and the only thing they'd allow was for me to pay the amount in portions. I think I'll write and ask them to explain the 1057 CHF costs, and the mystery third person.
Or I could do what NickDG would probably approve of, and refuse to pay, citing the importance of promoting the rebellious reputation of BASE jumping, and as a tribute to the sport's heritage.
Thanks to all for your constructive/supportive/humourous comments.
Hm okay those expenses are kind of weird but I think one problem is that it's a shitty translation.
"Entschädigung Einsatzberichterstattung" is the charge for the people that had to do all the administrative work aka write a report etc.
"Sachaufwand Alpine Rettung Schweiz" doesn't just mean Swiss Alpine Rescue Expenses but is explicitly related to material cost. I'm not sure if they used leaders, ropes etc. or how they got you out of there, but I assume that charge was for the gear they used. It probably also included the car they needed to get there etc.
If I was you (and this is in no way the Swiss Base Association speaking, I just happend to be from Switzerland), I'd go NickDG's way
