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Prime Travel Protection insurance cases linger, but they’re getting resolved

October 14, 2009

splendidRemember the Prime Travel Protection scandal? You know, the one involving fraudulent insurance policies, scores of denied claims and an investigation by state regulators?

Well, there’s good news and bad news. First the bad: After initially moving to stop the company, investigations by Colorado and Florida appear to be going nowhere. To date, there have been no substantive charges filed against anyone involved in the sale of these bogus policies.


But there’s also good news. Florida’s investigation hasn’t been closed, according to sources, and at least one agency involved in the sale of these unlicensed policies seems to be trying to make amends with its customers. People like Margarita Sasse, who booked a cruise and then found herself with an unexpected medical bill.

Last year we we sailed on a 12-day Northern Europe cruise on the Carnival Splendor, booked through Legendary Journeys.

My husband became ill and incurred medical expenses in the amount of $360. We were insured and filed a claim with Traveler Protection Services, Inc.. We received a response on November 28, 2008 from Universal Assurance Group, approving the claim and stating that they and Prime Travel Protection, Inc. had agreed to assume the claims liabilities of Traveler Protection Services, Inc.

They requested our patience and understanding. We wrote them on January 22, 2009 and reminded them we were still patiently waiting.

On February 23, 2009, the Counsel for Prime Travel Protection wrote us indicated that the company sought to make good on its obligations and appreciated our patience. We wrote them again on May 19, 2009 and received no response. We are still waiting.

I suggested Sasse get in touch with Legendary Journeys, which had indicated a willingness to help customers affected by the Prime mess.

Legendary Journeys responded promptly with the following offer:

Our offices have been reviewing your insurance claim per your instructions. It is our decision to offer you monetary reimbursement for your claim because of the payment delays you are currently experiencing.

Currently, we have no information on the validity of your claim from either Prime Travel Protection or Universal Assurance Group. Legendary Journeys does not know if your claim has been scheduled for repayment. Legendary Journeys does not know if your claim has been justifiably denied.

However, we understand that you have experienced a significant delay time with your claim and as a goodwill gesture we will offer you the full amount as outlined in the documentation provided by you on October 6, 2009. It is clear that you have had no contact with any member of Legendary Journeys since November 5, 2008 prior to enlisting the assistance of Chris Elliott. Prior to receiving communication from Mr. Elliott Legendary Journeys was unaware of your need of assistance on this claim.

Your claim amount of $360.80 will be paid by Legendary Journeys pending your agreement to the below terms & conditions. This agreement is forfeit if you do not return this original (we will not accept a copy) signed form within two weeks of the above date.

1. Client agrees to release Legendary Journeys of all liability concerning referenced trip.
2. Client agrees to not pursue further chargebacks or compensation from LJ on the trip outlined above (including legal action).
3. Client agrees to withdraw any open complaints against Legendary Journeys concerning this situation.
4. Client agrees that Legendary Journeys has amicably resolved any outstanding issues concerning referenced trip.
5. Client agrees to reimburse Legendary Journeys should any other payment be made on their claim as covered by Legendary Journeys.
5a. Should the client not reimburse Legendary Journeys the client is subject to the laws as outlined by Florida and their home State.
6. Client agrees that all statements made in this agreement are correct and factual.

Legendary Journeys apologies for the situation that has occurred with this insurance companies closure. I am confident you understand this is a 3rd party and we only act as a booking representative. As such the closure is beyond our control. However, we still are keenly aware of the effect of the closure and hope you agree this gesture has been made to demonstrate our commitment to you.

Sasse is happy with that outcome.

I’m relieved that the Prime Travel Protection fiasco is winding down. I hope travelers and travel agents have learned a valuable lesson about unlicensed travel “protection” and that they’ll only do business with a reputable travel insurance company.

But I know this industry too well. I know that’s wishful thinking.

(Photo: Miss Shari/Flickr Creative Commons)

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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19 comments

  • http://www.icoulduseadeal.blogspot.com Jeanine Peterson

    Oh Chris !! This is soooooo one sided …. Legendary Journeys is STILL not helping me or my mother’s claim from April 2008 for nearly $1500 !!! My mother has since passed away and we had filed complaints with the state insurance commissioners and the state consumer complaint boards . NOTHING has happened from any of the above !! I am so frustrated and now that my mother has passed away — can you help me at all ????

  • Billie Keirstead

    Winding down? LJ trying to help its customers? No way, Chris. There are scores of us out here who have gotten nowhere with either LJ or PTP. Their MO is to deny that your claim is in accordance with their “policy”–and yes they sold this as INSURANCE policies–citing conditions that do not appear in the paperwork. They state that the medical assistance you got was not an emergency room. They state that your medical condition was not “life threatening.” I have gotten letters from both LJ and PTP making these wild statements that have no basis in fact and certainly do not reflect the conditions set in their “policies.” I wish sometimes that I had taken the cruise with the VERY contagious condition I had and infected the entire ship. But that would be unconscionable and behaving like LJ, which preys on seniors, and PTP, which (can’t say it here). Winding down? No way. Do not be taken in by an occasional small paid claim that they thnk shows they are doing the right thing. The “right thing” is beyond their comprehension.

  • Richard L. Logan

    Isn’t it ironic how Legendary Journeys requires this client to follow the laws “outlined by Florida and their home state”, yet they clearly broke Florida insurance law multiple times by selling this scam of a product. The issue is no longer Prime Travel Protection, Legendary Journeys, Best Price Cruises, Anchors Away, Smartcruiser or any of the other travel agents who sold this garbage. The issue is the state of Florida and their do-nothing bureaucrats who have done nothing despite multiple warnings dating back to 2002 (remember Trip Assured?) and allowed thousands of residents to be victimized.

  • Frankie Leo

    I’m happy to hear that Ms. Sasse got her $360 back, but I’d be happier to see Mr. Ferguson settle a high dollar claim, or alternatively, show us a backlog of the claims for real money that he HASN’T settled. I was scammed by Trip Assured six years ago, and Prime is an evil spawn of Trip Assured. The next spinoff is, I’m sure, waiting in the wings to start selling a new scam “protection package” in Florida, and LJ, Best Price Cruises, Anchors Away, Smartcruiser and High Performance Travel will eagerly sign an agreement to offer their customers another high profit schlock project.

  • Peter

    Legendary Journeys – Al Ferguson

    Mr. Ferguson you are being less than honest in your statement that you are at the tail end of claims against you.

    There are 11 inner circle active members of our group who have received deceptive offers of monetary recompense after numerous requests for you help and cooperation. They are not satisfied and hold you responsible fot their loss. Several dozen more formal complaints have been received by the Florida Department of Financial Services ( DFS) and I will present them to you to shortly.

    If we take your history in retrospect from today you have a less than a stellar performance. Indeed you are a serial offender who has cooperated with Mr Watson since Trip Assured in 2004.
    You claim you have recompensed Ms Margarita Sasse for $350 and I believe this to be true – although it is a pittance in relation to the millions stolen from travelers.

    Here is your record:

    Eleven of our group inner circle members, who have complained numerous times, have been ignored or offered severely restrictive terms.

    Recently you were leader in the “insurance/protection’ sellers of policies with the Watson group of companies.

    But, more than that, you were the star performer with Watson’s Vacation Protective Services and Travel Protection Services with over 15,000 sales of insurance/ protection policies sold to unsuspecting Floridian tax payers and voters.

    This is not the end; from 2004 onward you were a client of Trip Assured, who were an illegal insurance operation which received several cease and desist orders from multiple states.

    You are a four time offender in this insurance scam.

    You are confident that in the past the Department of Financial Services (DFS) did not perceive the illegality of your collusion with Mr Watson but; now, it is a different story. The DFS, the Department of Insurance Regulation and the Bureau of Investigation are deeply into your scam (as well as Mr Russo and Mr Smolinski) and have handed over the files to the DFS Division of Legal Services.

    You have treated the DFS, OIR and our group of oldster’s senior citizens as incompetents and unfathomable of the six year scam. You are sorely mistaken and will soon be taken to task by the Florida authorities and our unrelenting group of victims.

  • Al

    I am a Trip Assured victim and I want Messrs. Smolinski, Russo and Ferguson to know that the statute of frauds has not yet expired. The fact that it has now become public that some of the serial sellers of bogus travel insurance have paid off clients, none of us seniors will rest until every victim of this crime have been fully reimbursed by the travel agents who knowingly sold this scam product through several illegal companies despite warnings from the state of Florida.

  • Ben99

    The original ElliottBlog started by telling the story of Paul Donohue being scammed out of $5875 by Al Ferguson LJ and Jerry Watson TPS.

    Paul was a tireless worker who actually sat down with Chris McGuire, Field Insurance Administrator, DFS., and Bureau of Investigation, told his story and handed over a pile of documents the size of an elephant.
    Paul worked with Mr Ferguson and Watson for remuneration until his death in March 2009.

    I understand Peter Lay has promised Paul’s widow Lorraine he will keep up the effort on her behalf.

    Mr Ferguson you enjoyed years of good revenue by partnering Mr Watson – millions in fact – pay Lorraine as follows:

    Cruise cost $5875; insurance premium $400; 10% interest $1045 = $7320.00

  • Al

    The statute of limitations in Florida for fraud is four years. Trip Assured ceased operating in late 2006. Anyone who purchased a Trip Assured “travel protection” plan from a Florida travel agent from October 2005 through the company’s demise should contact the respective travel agency.

  • Lee Franks

    If I was the Donohue’s I would file a wrongful death suit against Ferguson and Legendary Journeys on behalf of Paul Donoghue’s estate.

  • Joel Wechsler

    Let me say again what I have said before: Do NOT buy travel insurance from the same company that is booking your tour or cruise. If you do you will not be covered in case of bankruptcy, sudden cessation of business or other financial problems. Because travel insurance is a necessity in many cases, it is better to buy it from a reputable company such as Travel Guard, AccessAmerica or Berkeley Care.

  • Peter

    LEGENDARY JOURNEYS

    With the wonderful assistance of ELLEN we have received a list of travelers complaining to LJ.

    Earlier this year Mr Ferguson claimed LJ had few complaints and most were dealt with – reported on Elliottblog.

    Just last week on ElliottBlog Mr Ferguson reiterated they were at the tail end and winding down the number of cases.

    But! The records received from Florida Public Records Department show 108 officially documented complaints stretching back to January 2008.

    ONE HUNDRED EIGHT!
    35 of the complaints were lodged prior to Prime Travel Protection closing

    That is amazing and confirms LJ are the most prolific sellers of unlicensed, fraudulent travel insurance.

    In 2006/7 in collusion with Mr Watson’s Vacation Protection Services (VPS) and Travelers Protection Services (TPS) Mr Ferguson sold an astounding 15,000 illegal policies! Do the math – Mr Ferguson earned millions from VPS/TPS.

    Going back to Trip Assured; Legendary Journeys were star performers amongst 670 travel agents.

    Mr Ferguson has been offering wholly unsatisfactory certificates for travel to be taken in the future and spread over a number of years. Victims may die or be seriously ill by then. The amount allowed in any period means victims will have to pay extra for a decent cruise – not good.

    That, however, is not the main reason for getting victims to sign off.
    Florida statutes has a provision for penalties against agents selling illegal/fraudulent/unlicensed insurance.
    $5000 to $25000 PER VICTIM. In addition a court can also order client restitution.

    Victim Jack Graziano is filling a small claim against LJ in Sarasota.

  • Factual

    All victims know the frustrations of their failed medical claims, let alone the horrific experiences, living through them. Florida authorities and travel agents are immune to such internal feelings. Everyone knows that LJ, BPC and Smartcruiser were bad and repeatedly denied the truth; but below is another example of pure treachery.

    A group member sent this today.

    DFS & OIR

    Dear Mr Clift & Ms Deering

    Today I came upon a case reported prior to Ms Leitners.

    Joseph Reis JR (321-453-8532) is a seventy six year old former naval pilot living in Merritt Island. He is recorded as complaining about Legendary Journeys in January 2008 although he tells me he instigated the report in 2007.

    Legendary Journeys and Travel Protection Services made a lame excuse after being contacted by consumer affairs.

    Mr Reis’s son ,a computer/internet savvy person, researched both LJ and TPS. He told his father that neither company was licensed to sell insurance in Florida.

    Mr Reis immediately contacted the Insurance Commissioner by letter and informed them of the discovery.

    Several postings were made regarding the illegality of this travel insurance scheme on a website called Your Two Cents Worth .

    Since both departments, DFS and OIR, must have been notified: what happened?

  • Peter

    The following article has just appeared. My comments are shown – [xxxx]
    Sick travelers left in limbo Health News Florida
    [Peter’s comments]
    By Mary Jo Melone
    12/17/2009 © Health News Florida

    Three Florida travel agencies have been disciplined and four others may be soon for selling trip-insurance policies from a company that had no Florida license.

    Prime Travel Protection, of Arvada, Colo., went out of business last January, leaving scores of travelers who had to cancel or cut short their trips in a tough spot.

    One of them is Richard Glazer, 71, who plunked down $10,000 for the cruise of a lifetime with his wife through the Greek Isles in October last year. Glazer, a retired Allstate agent who lives near Tampa, spent another $710 on travel insurance through the Sarasota agency that booked his trip, Legendary Journeys. [I am waiting a call back] ]

    It appeared to have been a smart move when Glazer suffered a massive heart attack on board the ship and spent 12 nights in a Turkish hospital. The equipment was as modern as in an American hospital, Glazer said, and the care was first-rate. A Turkish doctor even escorted him back to Tampa.

    The welcome home was something else. When Glazer returned, he said, Prime delayed paying his bills, then went under. He was suddenly facing $61,000 in travel and medical expenses.

    Glazer has sued Legendary Journeys, but the travel agency has troubles of its own. Last March, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink issued a warning to Legendary and two other companies to stop doing business with Prime. The others were Palm Coast Travel of Lake Worth and Boca Raton, and Vacation Superstore Network doing business as Best Price Cruises in Port St. Lucie.

    The travel agencies were accused of violating state law for selling Prime travel insurance when the company wasn’t licensed to do business in Florida. Those cases are still pending.

    Since then, a warning has also been sent to Super Travel of West Palm Beach. [I don’t know these Folks.]

    Best Price Cruises did not respond to a request for comment. Palm Coast Travel [is, of course Smartcruiser – Smolinski] and Super Travel could not be located.

    Three travel agencies have agreed to consent orders accepting discipline in which they are required to pay all claims that went unpaid by Prime.

    –Cruise Options of Plantation was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine and was placed on two years probation. [Not with Trip Assured or VPS/TPS]

    –Cruise Supermarket, also of Plantation, received a $2,500 fine. [These guys were with Trip Assured and probably VPS or TPS. Watson paid them 40% commission so they were good sellers.]

    –High Performance Travel of South Daytona was fined $1,000 and also placed on probation. [With Trip Assured, VPS, TPS and PTP. 40% commission from Watson. Number four best seller with 1565 premiums sold in 2005/6 – these guys are bad news!]

    All three companies were ordered to cooperate with any administrative or law enforcement investigation of Prime, according to the disciplinary documents.

    Some travelers who lost money were those who canceled before going and couldn’t get a refund. Glazer’s case was more serious.

    On Dec. 1, he sued Legendary Journeys and its president and insurance agent, Adrian Ferguson, charging negligence and deceptive or unfair trade practices. The lawsuit argued Legendary and Ferguson knew or should have known that Prime was not authorized to do business in Florida and had a history of not paying claims.

    Legendary Journeys stopped doing business with Prime last September, the same month that Glazer booked his trip.

    Al Ferguson, Adrian Ferguson’s son and co-founder of the company, said Prime denied Glazer’s claim because he failed to follow the proper procedures for notifying the insurance company that he needed medical care. “(Glazer) was not affected by the bankruptcy,” Al Ferguson said.

    Legendary has “satisfied” 25 other clients who were affected by Prime going out of business, Al Ferguson said. He would not elaborate. The travel agency has also cooperated with the state investigation, he said.

    As for Richard Glazer, he hasn’t been able to pay all his medical bills left from what was supposed to be this once-in-a-lifetime trip. He has paid all but the $38,000 hospital bill from Turkey. Said Glazer, “I don’t have the money.”

    –Mary Jo Melone, an independent journalist in Tampa, can be reached by e-mail.

  • Ben99

    Travel Weekly just published this article.

    Florida warns agents to sell only authorized insurance products
    By: Nadine Godwin
    December 30, 2009
    Florida issued a warning to the state’s travel agencies that they must be licensed to sell travel insurance in Florida, and they must sell only the products of insurers that have authority to sell in the state — or the consequences could be severe.

    In the document, issued on Christmas Eve, the Department of Financial Services said it prepared the alert because a “significant” number of travel agencies have recently been identified as selling travel insurance without proper licenses or selling on behalf of companies that are not authorized to sell in Florida.

    In the past year, the department has obtained cease-and-desist agreements from three travel agencies, warned four additional agencies that it intended to seek similar orders against them and filed complaints against two individual travel agents, all in connection with alleged improper sales of travel insurance.

    The department said in its alert that selling on behalf of an unauthorized insurance firm is classified as a third-degree felony. Under Florida law, if an unauthorized insurance company fails to pay claims, the seller of the unauthorized policies can be held liable for those unpaid claims, it said.

    In the three cease-and-desist orders this year, the agencies agreed in consent orders to pay administrative penalties, make good to those clients who had valid unpaid claims and refund premiums to those still holding policies or move them to an authorized insurer.

    The agencies were High Performance Travel in South Daytona ($1,000 fine), Cruise Options in Plantation ($2,500 fine) and Cruise Supermarket in Plantation ($2,500 fine).

    High Performance was selling for Prime Travel Protection and Traveler Protection Services, and the others sold for Prime Travel Protection. Both insurance firms were not authorized to sell in Florida, and both are now out of business.

    Florida also served notices of intent to issue cease-and-desist orders against four travel agencies that it says were selling travel insurance without required licensing and also were selling for insurers not authorized to sell in Florida.

    The agencies are Legendary Journeys, Sarasota; Palm Coast Travel (aka SmartCruiser.com), Lake Worth and Boca Raton; Super Travel of Palm Beach in West Palm Beach; and Vacation Superstore (dba Best Price Cruises), Port St. Lucie.

    The state said the four also were selling products of the unlicensed Traveler Protection Services and/or Prime Travel Protection.

    In response to the first of the orders, Legendary Journeys Vice President Al Ferguson said last March that his agency had stopped selling Prime Travel Protection in September 2008.

    He also said the state was incorrect in stating that his agency is not licensed to sell travel insurance. He said the state requires that one person in each agency hold a “point-of-contact” insurance license for selling travel insurance, and the president of Legendary Journeys is that person.

    The department also filed administrative complaints against Natalie Block, described as the sole director and officer of the Cruise Agency in Lake Worth and Coral Springs, Fla., and Cynthia Drubin Burdige, an employee of Bruce Travel in Plantation.

    Block is accused of selling for Prime Travel Protection and/or a second unauthorized company, Universal Assurance Group. Burdige is accused of selling for Prime Travel Protection and/or the unauthorized Ciela Capital Insurance Company.

    The department said legal resolution of these last six cases is still pending.

    In its bulletin for travel agents, the Florida Department of Finance also noted that its investigations have led to criminal charges against sellers for unauthorized insurance companies.

    Kyra Jennings, the department’s communications director, said the document included references to criminal charges in order to emphasize how serious it can be for a travel agency to violate the state’s insurance law.

    However, none of the criminal arrests cited in the bulletin involved travel agencies. She said that in the last five years there have been four criminal investigations of travel agencies in the sale of insurance, but all cases were closed without arrests.

  • Peter

    Below is a second excellent article by Mary Jo Melone
    I have placed my own comments thus: [Peter’s comments].
    Barry Resnicks comments thus: {XXXXXX}

    Trip-insurance losses huge
    By Mary Jo Melone
    1/6/2010 © Health News Florida

    More than 300 would-be travelers across the country who booked cruises through Florida travel agents but had to cancel because of illness have filed complaints, saying the trip cancellation insurer didn’t pay.

    Given the average price of the cruises, the losses run into the millions of dollars. The insurer, Prime Travel Protection Services of Arvada, CO, declared bankruptcy [They did not actually declare bankruptcy and are still registered in Colorado State.] last January and went out of business shortly before Colorado authorities issued a cease-and-desist order against its owners.

    Florida’s Department of Financial Services, which began investigating the matter a year ago, says the insurer wasn’t licensed to do business in Florida and travel agents shouldn’t have arranged the coverage. But DFS officials say the state can’t prosecute travel agents unless it can prove they knew the company lacked a license and had “criminal intent.” [This only applies to a criminal case not the civil investigation ongoing.]

    Orange County, CA., college professor Barry Resnick accused Florida officials of “gross incompetence” for failing to notice that an owner of Prime Travel Protection was previously involved with another travel insurer that failed to pay claims. It took too long to connect the dots, Resnick said. {The real issue here is the Florida regulators failed to recognize this was the same scam, perpetuated by the same travel agents who sold through the previous bogus insurer– Trip Assured. The top sellers of Trip Assured were also the top sellers for Prime Travel Protection and the Florida authorities were well aware of this fact.}

    Some who lost money say they suspect there was more afoot than an ordinary business bankruptcy, that the collection of money and failure to pay was orchestrated. [Colorado used the word Fraud in their C&D and the DFS hold documents linking certain travel agents to Mr. Watson for six years.] Florida officials “haven’t looked at the big picture, that the whole affair was not just an unlicensed product,” said Peter Lay of Danville, CA., who lost $4,300 when his wife’s illness forced cancellation of their September 2008 cruise. [It was fraud.]

    Health News Florida reported troubles with the travel insurer last month after a civil suit was filed against a travel agency, [Legendary Journeys.] but the extent of the losses wasn’t clear until a few days ago when DFS released the number of complaints and some documents.

    The earlier story described charges in a lawsuit filed by Richard Glazer, 71, a retiree near Tampa who says he faced $61,000 in unpaid travel and medical expenses when he suffered a heart attack during a cruise. He had paid $710 for a policy from Prime Travel Protection Services when the cruise was booked by Legendary Journeys in Sarasota, he said.

    The DFS Division of Insurance Fraud file on Legendary Journeys contained 400 pages of documents sent in by customers who said the insurer never paid their claims. Nevertheless, investigators closed the case against the travel agency.

    “There are ethical implications” for Legendary Journeys, one investigator wrote, but no criminal statute covers what happened. [The investigation into criminal activity was conducted earlier in 2009 when many documents were unavailable. The fraud division did not know of Mr. Watson’s fraudulent policy only an unlicensed policy. The “Group” has provided additional evidence which should allow the criminal case to be reopened.]

    The news of the case-closing stunned Linda Ferrall of St. Augustine, who lost $6,700 on a cruise through the Baltics she had planned with husband Ed for August 2008. Just before the trip, she was diagnosed with a blocked carotid artery and needed immediate surgery. She was told the travel insurance claim would be paid in four months. It wasn’t.

    “I’m speechless,” she said. “I’ve not just lost my funds. I’ve lost my trust.”

    Al Ferguson, an owner of Legendary Journeys who spoke to Health News Florida last month, could not be reached for comment this week. At the time he said he had “satisfied” 25 clients [I hold evidence that he did not.] who lost money and was cooperating with the state investigation.

    According to Colorado records, Prime Travel Protection Services was owned by Jerry A. Watson and his wife Christine C. Watson. They could not be reached for comment.

    The records say Jerry Watson used to work for Trip Assured, a Tennessee travel-insurance company that was ordered shut down by authorities in 2006 after customers complained that it wasn’t paying claims. By the time that happened, Watson was no longer with the company, records say. [He was acting as VP sales via Watson Consultancy Inc and left to set up Vacation Protection Services in January 2004.]

    In addition to the Watsons, DFS continues to investigate three travel agencies: Vacation Superstore Network doing business as Best Price Cruises, a web site called SmartCruiser.com, and Super Travel of West Palm Beach. The owner of Vacation Superstore Network, Ron Russo, could not be reached. A lawyer for SmartCruiser.com, Dan Newman, declined to comment. Super Travel of West Palm Beach could not be located. [Legendary Journeys are also being investigated because of 150 complaints.] {These travel agencies were also large volume producers for Trip Assured. They may claim they were unaware that the Trip Assured product was fraudulent, but this excuse shouldn’t fly a second time with Prime Travel Protection, but it did as the authorities in Florida sat on their hands. }

    DFS ordered a few agencies that did business with Prime Travel Protection to reimburse a handful of customers: Cruise Options of Plantation was ordered to pay back two customers [9]; Cruise Supermarket of Plantation, three; and High Performance Travel of South Daytona, one. The majority of agencies and complaining customers are not affected by the orders. [Not so far!]

    One Boca Raton couple, Ruth and Ted Krakover, say they lost $41,000 on a four-week cruise from Singapore to Rome scheduled for March 2008. Just before the trip, Ruth Krakover developed what looked like a recurrence of cancer and needed tests.

    The Krakovers never got their $41,000 back. They have declined to talk about what happened to them because they have sued Prime and their travel agency, Vacation Superstore Network doing business as Best Price Cruises, of Port St. Lucie. The lawyer for Best Price Cruises, Daryl Krauza, declined to comment.

    The Krakovers’ lawyer, Steven Meyer, said Jerry Watson could not be served with the lawsuit because he could not be found. [But BPC was served in January 2009.]

    –Mary Jo Melone, an independent journalist in Tampa, can be reached by e-mail.

  • Billie Keirstead

    I’d like to comment on this quote from a previous post:
    Al Ferguson, Adrian Ferguson’s son and co-founder of the company, said Prime denied Glazer’s claim because he failed to follow the proper procedures for notifying the insurance company that he needed medical care. “(Glazer) was not affected by the bankruptcy,” Al Ferguson said.
    LJ and PTP have denied claims based on conditions that are not spelled out in the “policies” one receives. In my case, first it was that I did not visit an emergency room (not required in policy), then that my illness was not life-threatening (also not required in policy), and finally as a response to the Fla. DFS, that I did not seek medical treatment from a DESIGNATED medical practictioner. I take that to mean a medical provider that PTP had DESIGNATED. So according to logic, that would mean that PTP would need a physician on their payroll in every city in every country that someone might travel to. And lets pretend that this is even possible, do you think those DESIGNATED medical providers would ever find in favor of the client? All requests for written documentation to support these wild claims went unanswered. Why? Because Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Watson made them up.

  • Barry

    Billie – the reasons given for your declination was typical and goes back to the Trip Assured situation beginning in late 2001. These companies used a “wear down” tactic to deny claims, always providing bogus reasons that had no relation to what was included in the “policy”. When they could not create loopholes as they did with you, the doctor’s diagnosis was then challenged. However, there are two issues here that are much bigger – and that’s the travel agencies who sold these bogus plans and the state of Florida. In late 2006 I personally spoke to the owners of High Performance Travel and Smartcruiser – both of these travel agencies had been very high volume producers for Trip Assured. In fact, the owner of Smartcruiser told me he believed he was THE top volume producer for Trip Assured. Both owners were very upset they had been unaware they were selling a fraudulent product. The state of Florida also knew about Trip Assured, too because they issued a C&D in September 2006 against the company and were also aware of the travel agencies who sold for Trip Assured. As evidenced by the media reports and current investigation, these same travel agencies began selling the same protection plans through PTP AFTER the state of Florida issued their order against Trip Assured. Let’s put the shoe on the other foot – if you owned a travel agency and were burned by selling tens of thousands of dollars in bogus insurance plans to your clients, wouldn’t you take the due diligence required in investigating a new product that is promoted? (Actually, they should have done so with the first product – Trip Assured. A quick call to the DFS would have informed them the company was not authorized to sell in Florida). And the state of Florida…months after issuing an order to halt the practice of this sale by Trip Assured, wouldn’t one think they would be on alert for a similar scam considering complaints began accumulating in Talahassee soon after the Trip Assured file was closed?

  • Ben99

    Very important points Barry. You ask the questions. Who will answer? Mr Smolinski of Smartcruiser? Florida OIR or DFS? Since they are both at fault there will be silence.

    Billie: You and the Glazers share a slightly different situation with Legendary Journeys. Mr Ferguson stated he suspended business with Mr Watson and PTP in August 2009. Both of you had not yet taken your cruise. Legendary Journeys had months to switch your policy to an honest company like AccessAmerica but they did not do so.
    Florida and several court cases in other states have agreed that sellers of travel are experts and as such are professionally and fiscally responsible for any product they sell or recommend. It is not good enough say I didn’t know experts should have known by researching their suppliers.
    The “Group” and the DFS, OIR, DOACS and AG all have hard evidence that many sellers of travel were in partnership with Mr Watson since 2004 – that is why, after fourteen months, the investigations continue.

  • Barry

    Thank you for jogging my memory, Ben. Yes, it was Mr. Smolinski who I spoke to three years ago. In reviewing my notes I also spoke to Danny Borg of High Performance Travel. Both of these gentlemen were very upset that they had sold an unauthorized insurance product to their clients. I initially felt sorry for them as I assumed they were as much victims as the customers they sold to. However, to learn that they turned around and sold the same unauthorized insurance as second time is disturbing. In reading these posts it appears the state of Florida believes the travel agencies are not liable because they were not aware of what they were selling. I’ll buy that argument the first time…maybe…but the second time there is no excuse. It’s not hard to prove these travel agencies have sold these bogus plans through more than one unauthorized company. If I was a victim this second time I would be shopping for an attorney to file one big, fat negligence suit against every one of these serial selling travel agencies. And if you find a good, publicity generating attorney, you might want to name Florida’s Department of Financial Services for good measure.

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