Comments on: In a twist, Florida levels new charges against Palm Coast Travel

By: Palm Coast Travel fined $2,500 and placed on probation for selling unauthorized travel insurance

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:37:07 +0000

[...] like Palm Coast Travel, the Boca Raton, Fla., agency accused by the state of Florida of selling unauthorized travel insurance, while at the same time trying to sue one of its own customers and me into silence, has quietly [...]

By: Paulette Baker

Paulette Baker — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:49:29 +0000

I’m glad that the Lockards made out, but they should realize that they only got reimbursed because of all the bad publicity. They’ve got to be nuts to do business with Smolinski again — unless he made a deal with them: “I’ll pay your claim if you give me good press.” Just wondering . . .

By: Billie Keirstead

Billie Keirstead — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:53:27 +0000

Looks like the parent company of Access America has heard about what is going on in Fla. and is in the process of “looking into” it. AA’s underwriters appear to be registered with the Fla. DFS, office of insurance regulation.

By: Frankie Leo

Frankie Leo — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:40:20 +0000

I’m also happy that the Lockards retrieved their money. I know that they constitute a miniscule minority of people who purchased the scam insurance and recovered their money. I hope that they’ll post again on this board, and tell us when the money was paid by Mr. Smolinski, since the State of Florida assumed only last week (see the State’s order to Mr. Smolinski above) that they had not recovered anything.
It’s significant that they filed a complaint specifically against Mr. Smolinski and his company; so at some time in the process, they were a lot less happy with Palm Coast Travel than they are now.
The Florida Public Records Laws allow for pretty easy access to public records, and their complaint fits this category, so you can be pretty sure that someone will request a copy of their complaint. When I had a complaint against Trip Assured, a predecessor of PTP in the selling of scam travel insurance, I had to swear under oath that my complaint was true, so I’m assuming that they had to do the same. It will be interesting to find out what they said then, compared to what they’re saying now.

By: Harold

Harold — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:59:17 +0000

The very first person I contacted when my claim was denied was my travel agent. I then contacted the so-called “insurance” company to file my claim. I find it very suspicious that Mrs. Lockard made no mention to Smartcruiser about her claim until October 2009. Do the math – that’s almost a year and a half after she cancelled her cruise. Smartcruiser knew she cancelled the cruise because she obviously cancelled the cruise through them. So, are we to believe this was news to Smartcruiser almost a year and a half later when Mrs. Lockard informed Smartcruiser that her claim was denied?

By: Harry Baxter

Harry Baxter — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:43:15 +0000

Back in the days when I was in Elementary School, we were taught the difference between “perfect contrition” and “imperfect contrition”. Perfect Contrition is when you’re sorry for doing something because it was a bad thing to do; Imperfect Contrition is when you’re sorry for doing something because you got caught. Smolinski’s actions in dealing with the Lockards appear to fall into the Imperfect Contrition category.
Chris and Debbie, I’m glad that you got your money back, but I’d be interested in the timing, because it appears that you were frustrated enough to file a complaint with the State of Florida after you were sold an illegal travel product by Mr. Smolinski. There are hundreds of honest Travel Agents in the country who would have sold you a legal travel insurance package in the first place. At a minimum, I’d refuse to buy, or even accept for free, any travel insurance or protection policy offered by Lee Smolinski.

By: Cliff Sousa

Cliff Sousa — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:12:05 +0000

Yes, it is nice that the Lockard’s were paid back for the bogus insurance they purchased. And it’s certainly admirable that Mr. Smolinski paid the claim “out of pocket” – the same pocket that tens of thousands of dollars in premiums went into from the sale of unauthorized insurance, sold without a license. And from the same pocket he’s financing his bullying against Chris Elliott and Peter Lay.

Now that you’ve contacted the Lockard’s, Lee, can we expect a post from Nancy Swinney, too? Your reputation is sinking faster than the boat in the picture above. Grow up and act like the professional you claim to be.

By: David

David — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:05:53 +0000

This is good news that the Lockard’s were reimbursed. It doesn’t take away from the fact that Palm Coast Travel/Smartcruiser.com was selling unauthorized trip insurance nor does it negate the fact that Mr. Lay has not been reimbursed and is facing a lawsuit (as Chris is) for pursuing his claim.

By: Debbie Lockard

Debbie Lockard — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:00:57 +0000

To whom it may concern, We are listed in the article about the prime travel insurance going out of business and not paying for our cruise. This is true Prime Travel never paid, but instead Smartcruiser’s owner paid our claim out of poctet and we have already made another trip. This informationin this article has not been updated. Smartcruiser was unware of our claim until I contacted them in October 2009 and at that time they reimbursed us for our claim. I will plan another trip using Smartcruiser in the future. Chris and Debbie Lockard

By: LeeAnne

LeeAnne — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:08:13 +0000

By the way, has anyone else noticed the photo of the “sinking ship” at the top of this article? Perfect image, Chris! ;-)

By: Harry Baxter

Harry Baxter — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:47:53 +0000

…and the charges keep accumulating!

However, here’s one that the State of Florida missed, so I’m documenting it.
In two of the cases cited in the complaint, mention was made of the fact that Mr. Smolinski led the clients to believe that they were buying AccessAmerica insurance, and then switched them to Prime Travel Protection. Billie Kierstead (see above) mentioned that this was a “bait and switch” scheme. It may be that, but it could be a crime as well. Real travel insurance like AccessAmerica, Travel Guard, etc. is not, to my knowledge, a cancellable product. Once you buy it, you own it. You can, within a finite time, amend the policy to change your travel dates, but I don’t think you can get your money back.
Therefore, if Mr. Smolinski was “switching” from AccessAmerica to PTP, he was, in all likelihood, holding on to the payment, instead of buying the AccessAmerica insurance, and this is something that NO honest Travel Agent does.
I’m a pretty experienced traveler, and I’ve learned to check my credit card statements online a few days after purchasing a trip or travel insurance, since if the payment doesn’t show that that the payee is the trip or travel insurance company, the Travel Agent has his hands on your funds. Some very large Travel Agencies have pulled this scheme recently.
Maybe Mr. Smolinski has a special deal that allows him to buy, and then cancel policies from AccessAmerica without accumulating a charge, but I have my doubts.

By: Les

Les — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:33:09 +0000

It’s not clear that this kind of suit fits the definition of a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) action but the possibility seems worth exploring. Some states have specific laws prohibiting these punitive “Shut up and go away” suits – others do not. There are, however, a variety of resources such as the First Amendment Project that might be of help.

By: LeeAnne

LeeAnne — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:21:27 +0000

This is an excellent example of karma. Bad behavior will eventually be revealed and punished. Kudos to Christopher for not backing down and letting the bad guys win. I look forward to reading further details revealed by the public records request.

By: Duke Nukem

Duke Nukem — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:23:44 +0000

They’re getting scr*wed!

By: Billie Keirstead

Billie Keirstead — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:32:43 +0000

After reading the amended notice of intent, I see that in at least two of the cases (Peter’s and Nancy’s), the travel insurance the party thought they were getting was switched at the last minute to PTP. This bait-and-switch scheme seems to be an MO for these travel agents, altho perhaps AccessAmerica is a legitimate, licensed seller of travel insurance. Legendary Journeys also switched our “insurance” from TPS to PTP and further linked our invoice to a third company, Travelex. (TPS and PTP are basically the same unlicensed product issued by Jerry Watson’s company.) Are the other perpetrators (TAs) getting nervous?