Comments on: Florida accuses three more travel agencies — wait, make that five more agencies — of selling unlicensed insurance

By: MORT-NYC

MORT-NYC — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:32:41 +0000

GOOD FOR YOU CHRIS. YOU MIGHT ALSO ASK YOUR READERS ABOUT COMPLAINTS AGAINST “INSURED” INSURERS. THE LANGUAGE USED IN THEIR CONTRACTS OUGHT TO BE OUTLAWED (OR SOLD ONLY TO LAWYERS WITH AT LEAST MASTERS DEGREES IN LAW.

PERHAPS A BOLD PRINT CLAUSE LABELED “INSURERS RIGHT TO OPT OUT”. IT WOULD SAVE A LOT OF ANGUISH.

By: Sonny Luciano

Sonny Luciano — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:45:07 +0000

Is there an applicable law in Florida applicable to travel agents located in Florida governing cancellation and refunds?

By: Florida accuses three more travel agencies — wait, make that six more agencies — of selling unlicensed insurance

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:40:16 +0000

[...] original post is on Elliott.com. It has many more links to PDFs for further [...]

By: Carl Hester

Carl Hester — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:48:29 +0000

@Eugene Hahn and Cliff Sousa

This is an outrage! You mean these same travel agencies that sold Trip Assured also sold Prime Travel Protection and through those two other companies, too?!? I absolutely don’t believe this! How could the authorities allow this to happen? I read the orders posted on this website by Mr. Elliot and it’s like a slap on the wrist. I am going to personally contact my representative in Congress and also the U.S.Attorney for my District. These travel agents should be thrown in jail.

By: Eugene Hahn

Eugene Hahn — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:24:34 +0000

@Carl Hester:
I’m sure that the “Big Three” (Palm Coast Travel, Best Price Cruises, Legendary Journeys) sold illegal travel insurance products under at least three different names, starting with Trip Assured, and progressing through Vacation Protection Services and Prime Travel Protection. Jerry Watson, who worked for Trip Assured before starting his own series of companies, changed his geographic location and the name of his company so many times, that many of his captive travel agents, lured by the irresistable 30% to 40% commissions, followed him like dogs following a meat truck.
As for other companies, I’m sure that hundreds of companies nationwide participated in this scam, but many of them may have gotten in on the illicit gains only after Jerry Watson filled them in on the money to be made. Unfortunately, Florida isn’t the only state where the Travel Agent scammers reside, although the “Big Three” sold their product worldwide, which makes me hope that the Federal Authorities, realizing that internet fraud and violations of interstate commerce laws, might consider charges in the future.
We may never know the extent of this fraud, but I feel that it’s gigantic. My fondrst hope is that the other 49 states, when they hear about the evil that has been done, will do their own investigation, and punish the TAs in their state who participated in this fraud.

By: Cliff Sousa

Cliff Sousa — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:13:45 +0000

@Carl Hester

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that Palm Coast Travel was advertising Trip Assured from 2003 – 2005. I’m not sure of the exact date of the article, but it was posted on this site. According to several posters who purchased Trip Assured plans, Legendary Journeys and Best Price Cruises were sellers.

By: Frankie Leo

Frankie Leo — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:35:35 +0000

@Billie Keirstead:

I’m sure that there are many others, Billie. I was scammed by Trip Assured way back in 2003, when I purchased the policy from a large online-only TA in South Florida. When I complained to the owner, he told me that he found out that McKinley Johnson, the owner of Trip Assured was dishonest, and he was suing him too. Unfortunately, I found out in about 2008 that this TA was then selling Prime Travel Protection. Was he so naive (or greedy) that he got sucked into two nearly identical scams? I doubt it, but I haven’t seen any bloggers make accusations against this guy or his company. If the State charges him for being complicit in this scam, I’ll be happy to name him.

By: Carl Hester

Carl Hester — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:53:39 +0000

Mr. Hahn: Did any of the travel agencies who are being investigated by Florida for selling Prime, also sell Trip Assured? I am a Trip Assured victim and cannot believe that these travel agents would still be selling plans that are against the law.

By: Billie Keirstead

Billie Keirstead — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:38:52 +0000

I was informed yesterday by an attorney at Fla. Dept, of Financial Services that they are preparing a cease and desist order against LJ. She expected it to go out in the next few weeks, so DFS is getting to the whales. She hinted that they would be looking at criminal charges as well against those TS who seemed to be aware of the scam and kept doing it anyway. Wouldn’t that be pretty much all of the TAs were blogged about over the years?

By: Eugene Hahn

Eugene Hahn — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:59:17 +0000

In my last post, I stated that respected organizations like CLIA and ASTA had actually promoted the sale of illegal travel products like Trip Assured by it’s members. After checking my notes, I noticed that the organization that actually did this was NACOA. My apologies to CLIA and ASTA.
The text below is an actual fax that NACOA sent to it’s membership in 2003. The only information that I removed is the list of members who won prizes in a drawing.
Please note the individual who represented Trip Assured at that time. It’s our old friend, Jerry Watson, who continued this scam for several years after he left Trip Assured, to establish his own scam company.
Why are we not surprised?

————————————————————————————–
NACOA JUNE FAX
Board of Director Election Results President, Donna K. Esposito, MCC,
VP/Treasurer, Sandra Perdue, MCC, Director, Theresa DiNardo, AAC.
SafeSail Insurance…we have been advised that a significant number of
members have not signed up for the NACOA insurance program through
Trip Assured. PLEASE keep in mind our agreement with Trip Assured
affords NACOA the opportunity to earn an override that helps defray the
cost of operating your association. We urge you to complete the form being sent at the end of this document and return it to them at 954-784-6600 ASAP. If we have enough members complete the form and return it
NACOA will be paid a signing bonus. We are working with them to come
up with an incentive to urge you the members to give this program a chance. By selling this program you help yourself, your clients and your association.

Education…CLIA advises they will be sending a trainer to our seminar at sea aboard the NORWEGIAN DAWN 9/28/03. Remember if you plan to renew your CLIA card you have to participate in a CLIA training program in 2003. This is a perfect opportunity to experience a beautiful new ship and earn valuable points towards certification or renewal of your CLIA ID for 2004. There are a limited number of cabins available Space is still available on the QE2 sailing December 21, 2003 15-night holiday sailing. If you need an application for either of these cruises please email the NACOA office nacoafl@aol.com and one will be faxed to you.

RENEWALS…it is time to renew your membership in NACOA. Your current membership will expire on June 30, 2003. Please send in your application now so that we can continue to offer you seminars, inaugurals and other programs. We need your support to keep us a viable association. If you have misplaced your renewal application please advise us and we will forward one to you promptly.
We thank those of you who have already renewed and are happy to
announce the winners of the CARNIVAL CRUISES that were offered in a drawing for early renewals. J. Watson of Trip Assured conducted the
drawing. We are sorry all of you could not win.
Congratulations to all of the winners. Your names, addresses, telephone and fax numbers we have on your applications have been submitted to Carnival Cruise Lines. All information regarding your cruise prize will be sent to you directly from Carnival. BON VOYAGE!

TRIP ASSURED
ACCOUNT REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Agency Name _______________________________
Owner/Manager _______________________________
Street _______________________________
City _______________________________
State _______________________________
Zip Code _______________________________
Telephone _______________________________
Fax _______________________________
Email _______________________________
ARC/CLIA # _______________________________
NACOA ID _______________________________
Please fax to: 954-784-6600
Attn: Jerry

By: Eugene Hahn

Eugene Hahn — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:24:44 +0000

@John; @Carole:
This is not meant to be confrontational in any way, but when you were presented with this “get rich” scheme, did you speak up, and notify authorities? I don’t minimize the problems that could result when one does this. All of the agencies that supposedly represent companies in the travel business like CLIA and ASTA also should have spoken up, but I know for a fact that when Trip Assured was selling an obviously illegal scam product, one of these agencies was actively promoting the product to it’s travel agent clients as a way to icrease their revenues! In a perfect world, professional organizations would be self-policing, but it’s pretty apparent that in this case, those who could have nipped this scam in the bud didn’t act. Lives have been ruined and deaths have occurred because no one wanted to be the first to scream that these bottom feeders were fleecing their naive customers.

By: Carole

Carole — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:59:44 +0000

@John and Joe…

I heard the pitch, too and knew it was something to run for the hills. No one in the travel business makes significant sums selling travel insurance. It’s merely a service offered to your clients and you are compensated about 10% per policy and most policies are on average $300-600. These travel agents were lured in by the excessive, unrealistic commissions and probably made more money selling illegal travel insurance than on cruises and tours. If the state of Florida really wanted to get to the bottom of this, they would investigate the actual numbers of policies these agencies sold. The 125 by Demore is a mere pittance compared to what agencies like Palm Coast probably sold. The DFS will find these agents were making huge sums of money on overrides and signing bonuses. Just wait until the employees of these travel agencies start squealing to save their hides.

By: OSINT

OSINT — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:44:19 +0000

Hi Chris,

I’ve been following this as well. Loved the blog especially the use of Bird pictures. :)

To show my appreciation, I’ve added your headline and a link back to your site…see it here: http://www.ulive4.com/news.php

By the way, I added my email to your list to receive updates. Thanks!

Serg

By: John

John — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:14:07 +0000

My company was actually pitched these policies. One of their selling points was that you didn’t need a license to sell them because they weren’t insurance but travel protection contracts. We ran away at that point.

@Joe Farrell As a seller of TravelGuard insurance, I can tell you that like any insurance it can be a profitable business (for them not us). It just takes scores of volume to build up a large enough investment reserve to cover claims. TG actually does it and maintains good customer service inspite of being part of AIG.

By: Laurence

Laurence — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:29:48 +0000

The Road to the Gold!
COUNTS
Diana’s Travel South 7
St. Lucie West 3
Palm Coast Travel 3
Four Season Tours & Tvl 2
JB Travel 1
Ahoy Cruises 1

Yet to be named: Legendary Journeys, Best Price Cruises