A trustee for bankrupt Prime Travel Protection, which sold what Florida investigators say was illegal insurance through a network of travel agencies, has promised to pay claims “to the greatest possible” over a three-year period.
In a letter sent last week to holders of approved claims issued by both Traveler Protection Services and Prime Travel Protection, travelers whose contracts haven’t been approved, and contract holders who have not traveled yet, a trustee for the liquidated company says although there isn’t enough money to cover all claims, a company principal has committed to “a series of capital contributions” to cover them.
Here’s the letter in its entirety, which was sent to me by a travel agency that sold Prime Travel Protection policies:
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Please be advised that Prime Travel Protection, Inc., a Colorado corporation, and Universal Assurance Group, Ltd., a Colorado corporation, have terminated active business operations as of January 26, 2009. Both companies are continuing business only to process, and to the extent possible, to pay claims which meet the criteria set out in the applicable contracts issued by Prime Travel Protection, Inc. and Traveler Protection Services, Inc. As of the date set forth in this paragraph, no new contracts have been issued by Prime Travel Protection, Inc.
By way of background, in 2007, Traveler Protection Services, Inc., an Illinois corporation, ceased active business operations and Prime Travel Protection, Inc, purchased the assets and assumed all, or substantially all, of the liability for contracts theretofore issued by Traveler Protection Services, Inc. At present, we are facing the situation that there are insufficient corporate funds in Prime Travel Protection, Inc. to pay all approved claims at this juncture and to establish sufficient reserves to pay all pending claims which have not yet been approved to-date.
In order to augment the financial resources available to Prime Travel Protection, Inc. to compensate its customers in accordance with its contractual obligations, Mr. Jerry Watson, a principal of both Traveler Protection Services, Inc. and Prime Travel Protection, Inc., has committed to make a series of capital contributions to Prime Travel Protection, Inc. over a sixty month period. Traveler Protection Services, Inc. is evaluating various possible claims against third parties to realize additional funds available for distribution to claimants. Mr. Watson will receive no compensation during the period in which the exclusive focus of Prime Travel Protection, Inc. is the repayment of its customers.
With respect to those persons who hold approved claims as of the date of this letter, it is the objective of Prime Traveler Protection, Inc. to repay such claims to the greatest possible extent over the initial three years of the five year capital contribution commitment which has been made by Mr. Jerry Watson. If you are the holder of an approved claim, there is no need to submit any further documentation to Prime Traveler Protection Services, Inc. The claims will be paid in the order in which they were received by Prime Travel Protection, Inc. or Traveler Protection Services, Inc., that is, the oldest claims will be paid first.
With respect to those persons who have submitted claims which have not yet been approved as of the date of this letter, the intent of Prime Travel Protection, Inc. is to repay such claims to the greatest extent possible during the final two years of the five year capital contribution commitment which has been made by Mr. Jerry Watson. Again, the oldest claims submitted will be paid first. Since additional documentation may be required to pay pending claims, you may be contacted by Prime Travel Protection, Inc. to submit additional materials to substantiate or clarify the claims you have tendered.
Lastly, with respect to those persons who have purchased contracts from Prime Travel Protection, Inc. or Travel Protection Services, Inc. and who have not yet traveled or have completed their trips but not yet submitted claims, it is the objective of the company to (1) cooperate with the travel agencies who issued the subject contracts to obtain substitute travel protection coverage for customers who have not commenced their trips, and the extent that obtaining substitute coverage is not possible (2) to evaluate any future claims in the ordinary course of business and pay such claims during the final two years of the recapitalization plan.
Please direct any correspondence to: Prime Travel Protection, Inc.,
ATTN: Counsel, 7450 W. 52nd Avenue, Suite 336-M Arvada, CO 80002.
We appreciate your patience as the company seeks to make good on its business obligations. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Trustee for Prime Travel Protection, Inc./Universal Assurance Group, Ltd./Traveler Protection Services, Inc.
Is this genuine effort to repay hundreds, if not thousands, of claims? Or an attempt to thwart a class-action lawsuit against Prime Travel Protection’s principals and the agents who sold its policies?
What do you think?
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I’ve been following this blog for months and to put it bluntly, let me state, “what a crock!”
Geez, it’s nice that they are willing to pay (if funds are available) those claims that “meet the criteria set out in the applicable contracts”. THESE WERE ILLEGAL CONTRACTS! Don’t you get it, PTP?
Refunds are owed to not only those with claims, but everyone who paid a premium and did not submit a claim. This is just a smokescreen to show the investigators that that the company is trying to mitigate the problem and hopefully the authorities will take notice and come down easy on those involved.
The best line is the following: “Traveler Protection Services, Inc. is evaluating various possible possible claims against third parties to realize additional funds available for distribution to claimants.”
Since Chris Elliott has already received threatening letters for hosting this blog is he going to be pursued to supplement additional funds to pay out claimants? Or maybe they’ll go into the Trip Assured bag of tricks and attempt to sue those pursuing claims for harassment in hopes the claims will be dropped.
One point the letter failed to address relates to Traveler Protection Services, the Illinois corporation that TPS purchased in 2007. They were ordered to cease operating in Tennessee last year.
“..to the greatest extent possible” and “…approved claims” are not valid answers. This appears to be a gigantic diversion to detract customers from what they should be doing now, which is forcing Legendary Journeys, Best Prices Cruises, Smartcruiser, Anchors Away, and potentially dozens of other smaller agencies in Florida to compensate them for selling scam insurance products for several years, and by several different names. We already know that this action was illegal, and was motivated by greed.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there are ten “unapproved claims” out there for every “approved claim”. We all know that Jerry and Christine Watson acted as Judge and Jury in adjudicating claims, and only paid when they were forced to pay. We also know that paying “to the greatest extent possible” is a totally meaningless term. Mr. Watson will be governed only by the bankruptcy laws, and paying zero might well fit within the statutes.
I just hope that no one who is currently planning legal action will be diverted by this hogwash. I also hope that no legal action contemplated by Florida Authorities will be dropped because all of a sudden, ignorance of the law IS an excuse! Only someone with no sense would believe that a travel agent would be fooled more than once by agreeing to sell this bogus insurance, and the infamous “Big Three” (and maybe more) agencies have sold the same garbage, under different names, at least three times!
@Rick
I think you missed the point that the company is in bankruptcy. That means that the trustee, a government official, is running theshow and making the decisions. The letter was sent by the trustee, not the owners of PTP.
Attention: Carver
Wanna bet that if there is a trustee he/she doesn’t know that the company was an unlicensed, unauthorized entity selling illegal contracts?
And if there is a trustee, correspondence wouldn’t be going to the bankrupt company’s address, but rather to the trustee. Addressing the correspondence to “Counsel” at PTP’s address only means Mr. Watson’s personal attorney is handling the matter. Prove me wrong, please.
Mr. Watson,
Do you really think we fell off the turnip truck? You have a “trustee” like you had medical reviewers handling your underwriting. Provide Mr. Elliott with the name of your trustee and his/her contact information, please.
Is it possible that some of the travel agencies that have been affiliated with Jerry Watson for many years are just buying time? I noticed over the weekend that for the first time in quite awhile, Legendary Journeys didn’t place their usual cruise ad in the Sunday newspaper sections. Is it possible that the company is planning to go the way of Cruise Value Center and Cruises of Distinction, and they’re taking lessons from Jerry Watson on how to declare bankruptcy?
Looks like the law firm of Dubble, Crosse, Steele Kach & Runne has been hired by Prime Travel Protection, Inc.
I checked out the firm, Dubble, Crosse, Steele, Kach and Runne. They don’t do criminal law so PTP is going to have to retain a separate firm for those issues.
“I checked out the firm, Dubble, Crosse, Steele, Kach and Runne. They don’t do criminal law so PTP is going to have to retain a separate firm for those issues”
Will Jerry and Christine get to review the claim before the lawyers get paid? Will they have to submit their EKG and Colonoscopy results? Did they have a previous condition before they agreed to represent these people?
I would like to start by addressing a few of the comments on this blog.
1. Legendary Journeys provided Travel Insurance to our guests for many, many years without a single major incident. And we will continue to do so because our company has complied with ever organization (State or otherwise) which is investigating all complaints filed.
2. “Legendary Journeys didn’t place their usual cruise ad in the Sunday newspaper sections” – we did not advertise this past Sunday because our ad developer was out of the office celebrating Mardi Gras weekend.
3. If anybody has questions, comments, or information to provide Legendary Journeys that will make for an easier transition I am more than willing to assist. Since learning of Prime Travel Protection’s closure Legendary Journeys has been hard at work trying to get information, provide assistance, and develop strategies to help get filed, legitimate, claims paid.
4. As soon as Legendary Journeys learned of the closure of Prime Travel we contacted EVERY single client with an open policy and protected all clients traveling immediately. I doubt any other Travel Agency in the state of Florida could say the same.
If you ask Mr. Elliott he will tell you that I have answered all e-mails and provided as much information as I have to provide. Legendary Journeys has nothing to hide in this situation and has answered all inquiries in a timely and efficient manner.
Further, we are more than willing to evaluate any cancelled booking that has been affected by the closure of Prime Travel Protection.
Legendary Journeys has been a respected Travel Provider for many years and we will continue to provide excellent travel value. While we understand how frustrating this closure is we do stand by our travel product and our new insurance partner, Travelex.
Sincerely,
Stew Carrier
Legendary Journeys – Customer Service Manager
stew@legendaryjourneys.com
It’s true, Legendary Journeys has been extremely responsive to my questions.
@Rick
You are correct. I didn’t pay close enough attention to the fact that it was the same address. I did some further checking. There are no federal BK filings under the names
Prime Travel Protection
Univeral Assurance Group
Prime Traveler Protection
or
Traveler Protection Services
Equally importantly, and I should have caught this immediately, every correspondent sent out by a court will have a case number
So far, this looks very troubling.
I’d like to respond to Mr. Carrier’s post.
1. You write that you have “provided travel insurance to our guests for many, many years without a single major incident.”
YOU DID NOT CONTINUALLY PROVIDE INSURANCE, MR. CARRIER. YOU PROVIDED AN ILLEGAL PROTECTION PRODUCT, THROUGH BOTH TRIP ASSURED AND PRIME TRAVEL PROTECTION. MY GUESS IS YOU ALSO SOLD THROUGH OTHER COMPANIES NAMED ON THIS BLOG, TOO (VACATION PROTECTION SERVICES AND TRAVEL PROTECTION SERVICES). JUST BECAUSE THERE MAY HAVE BEEN NO INCIDENTS DOESN’T MINIMIZE THE FACT THAT WHAT YOU SOLD WAS NOT LEGAL. YOU SHOULD HOPE THAT THOSE WHO PURCHASED THE ILLEGAL TRIP PROTECTION THAT DIDN’T FILE A CLAIM DO NOT ASK FOR A REFUND. BY LAW THEY WOULD BE ENTITLED TO SUCH.
3. It’ generous of you to volunteer to assist anyone with questions regarding Prime Travel Protection.
I WROTE TO YOU LAST SUMMER EXPLAINING THE POTENTIAL PROBLEMS WITH PTP AND WARNING YOU WHAT COULD HAPPEN. YOU IGNORED ME.
4. That’s real commendable that as soon as you knew about PTP you contacted all of your clients and protected those traveling immediately.
WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE ONES WHO HAD CLAIMS OUTSTANDING? FROM WHAT HAS BEEN POSTED ON THIS BOARD, THEY ARE STILL WAITING FOR REIMBURSEMENT.
AS FAR AS HAVING NOTHING TO HIDE, THEN TELL THOSE ON THIS BLOG WHY YOU DIDN’T LEARN ANYTHING FROM THE TRIP ASSURED FIASCO? I’M ASSUMING YOU DID TELL THOSE INVESTIGATING THAT THIS ISN’T THE FIRST TIME YOU SOLD AN UNAUTHORIZED TRAVEL PROTECTION PLAN.
Stew; to answer all of your misstatements would take volumes, but let’s start with two of the most blatant examples:
Stew has stated:
“Legendary Journeys provided Travel Insurance to our guests for many, many years without a single major incident. And we will continue to do so because our company has complied with ever organization (State or otherwise) which is investigating all complaints filed”
You haven’t, provided Travel Insurance, Stew, and you know that you haven’t, unless you were hired recently. Until you were caught short by the State Investigators and the PTP bankruptcy, you sold a succession of sham products marketed with large commissions by individuals like McKinley Johnson of Trip Assured and Jerry Watson of PTP. These products were not registered as insurance products in the State of Florida because they weren’t insurance. They either did not have underwriters, or when pressed, they made up the names of underwriters. The owners of these scam businesses have, in the past, even stated that their products weren’t insurance. Were you and Mr. Ferguson the last to know?
Stew has stated:
“Legendary Journeys has been a respected Travel Provider for many years and we will continue to provide excellent travel value. While we understand how frustrating this closure is we do stand by our travel product and our new insurance partner, Travelex.”
When you’re not too busy manufacturing facts, Stew, look up your company on the internet. Do you see the “F” rating that the National Better Business Bureau has awarded your company? Why is that, Stu? Your company even lags all of the other companies in Florida that have been selling scam insurance products.
If you know how to use Google, Stu, try entering this string into the Search Function: “Legendary Journeys travel company complaints”
After you read the complaints, get back to us concerning the excellence of your product.
We are again seeing the name of Jerry Watson as we did with Vacation Protection Services.
It is shameful to see the same names come up again and again while consumers and agents are hurt. The defense was the same as I remember the last time, we are not insurance, and it dominated the travel press for sometime.
Caveat Emptor…these times bring snake oil to the surface.
Well Mr Carrier,
It seems that Legendary Journeys performance speaks for itself. Anything I could add would be piling on.
I sincerely hope that the customers of your company have an opportunity to have the evidence tested in the appropriate court of law and those, if any found guilty will be guests of the state of Florida for a significant period.
Perhaps we can all chip in for soap on a rope.
I am surprised to see PTP still on the ASTA Buyers Guide:
http://www.astabuyersguide.com/company.php?id=341513&company=Prime+Travel+Protection
There is no court trustee. There are no court filings. There are no chapter 7 or 11 filings. We are being had again.
Hang on. Do you mean to tell me that Prime Travel Protection hasn’t filed for bankruptcy protection, hasn’t liquidated, and is still in business?
To Scott Weinbrand:
Sadly, nothing about this sad situation surprises me. The nation is fixated on the huge financial fraud committed by Bernard Madoff, and people are coming out of the woodwork to exclaim that they knew a fraud was being committed ten or more years ago, but what did they do about it?
The same thing can be said about this travel insurance fraud. At least six years ago, when Trip Assured had been selling scam travel products for awhile, people knew that a fraud was taking place. By 2004, complaints had been filed with the Agents who sold the products, with State Governments, with organizations like IATAN, CLIA, and the Better Business Bureau. Despite this, very little happened until the States slowly started to issue Cease and Desist Orders against the company. Even despite this, if Trip Assured was slick enough to move his operations across the company and change the company name, as Jerry Watson did,they probably would have stayed in business longer. It took the action of the major Credit Card companies to close this operation down.
While they were operating, where were the honest travel insurance Agents? Some of them must have recognized that that they were being deprived of sales by these people, and that the buyers were at risk. Did they do anything about it?
Where were the honest travel Agents? When they were approached by people like Jerry Watson, then of Trip Assured, and offered a 40% commission to sell a shoddy product, some of them must have rejected the offer. Did they report this?
Where were the Professional Organizations? Trip Assured maintained membership in these organizations for a long time. One of these Orgs even touted the faulty products to their membership as a way of increasing their revenue.
Where were the cruiselines? Some of them, if they didn’t actually sell the products, certainly knew about them. Did they even care?
It’s a shame, Scott, that blogs like this one are the only sources of information that a wronged consumer or potential buyer can turn to for information on travel insurance, but that seems to be the case. I’m afraid that if all of these dishonest operations were put out of business today, another one would appear within six months, selling the same old scam product. I can only hope that I’m wrong.
In addition to ASTA, Prime Travel Protection is still listed as a member in good standing with CLIA. The endorsement by these two organizations shows me that ASTA and CLIA need to take some responsibility. Trip Assured was listed as a member in good standing with CLIA even after the company was issued cease and desist orders. Certainly ASTA must have some criteria to be followed in order to be included in their buyers guide and I know CLIA has membership criteria. Obviously, like the travel agents who have done this before, ASTA and CLIA approved PTP to be included on their respective recommended lists. If I was the plaintiff’s attorney in this case, I would name both ASTA and CLIA in the lawsuit. I wrote to CLIA’s Executive Director, Bob Sharak late last year about PTP. Mr. Sharak stated if they found PTP to be in violation of their membership criteria they would not allow them to renew their membership. In the meantime, PTP is still an active member.
If they filed for bankruptcy protection they did it under yet another name.
Chris, my first thought was this doesn’t sound like any letter from a bankruptcy trustee that I’ve ever seen and without doing a PACER search I can’t verify whether or not there has been a bankruptcy filing. You can do a search yourself here http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/ I would search the Colorado districts first and also Florida. I would also search under the various names that have been used.
At least in a Chapter 7 case, any claims would be handled via the trustee not the company. Also, the trustee would not direct you to correspond directly with the debtor.
Jerry A. Watson – A Corporate History
(The author wishes to thank our investigator, our many hard working victims, legal counsel, concerned friends and Chris Elliott for allowing us to post our stories on this board).
Jerry Andrew Watson honed is craft selling illegal travel protection plans with a Crossville, Tennessee company, Trip Assured. Beginning sometime in 2001 or 2002, Mr. Watson served as Trip Assured’s vice-president. His job was to work with travel agents, setting up exclusive agreements to sell the illegal plans. Mr. Watson offered commissions up to 40%, signing bonuses as well as generous overrides. With these agreements, travel agents could earn more selling illegal travel protection plans than selling cruises or tours.
In late 2003 Mr. Watson left Trip Assured along with fellow employee, Christopher Poucher. Together they formed Vacation Protection Services down the street from Trip Assured. A lawsuit initiated by Trip Assured against Watson and Poucher and their new entity resulted.
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance began investigating both of these companies sometime in 2004. In the spring of 2005 – a little over a year after leaving Trip Assured and forming Vacation Protection Services, Watson and Poucher set up shop in DeKalb, Illinois under the name of Traveler Protection Services. Still on their trail, the Tennessee authorities ordered Vacation Protection Services to cease doing business in December 2006 – three months after issuing the same order to Trip Assured.
In early 2007 Watson and Poucher started separate companies. Watson, through his wife, Christine established Prime Travel Protection out of Arvada, Colorado. Poucher formed a corporation in Atlanta, Georgia and began business as insuremydeductible.com.
Poucher’s company claimed to be affiliated with a legitimate insurance carrier, MaxSpecialty – a public company. Max Specialty never heard of Mr. Poucher. The company received a temporary restraining order against Mr. Poucher and is currently seeking a permanent injunction.
Mr. Watson, of course continued with the relationships in the travel agency community he developed with his succession of companies His house of cards folded in January.
I would like to add a couple of points to my previous post. Jerry Watson is listed as the administrative contact for Mr. Poucher’s insuremydeductible.com. The company Mr. Poucher claimed was his underwriter, MaxSpecialty is part of the Max Capital Group, Ltd. (MXGL) – a well known, public insurance company. Also part of the Max Capital Group is a company called MaxBermuda – the company Legendary Journeys’ Stew Carrier claimed on this blog was the underwriter for Prime Travel Protection.
Wow, Peter – great work! Do the authorities have this information? It’s a ring of companies advertising like they are legitimate insurance companies, collecting premiums for policies that essentiallyare worthless.
Peter & Al
Am I correct in saying, according to postings, that Mr Watson claimed A.M. Best, Access America, Ceila and MaxBermuda were underwriters for PTP., but in fact were NOT.
Would it be possible for Mr Russo, Mr Fergason, Mr Smolinski and Mr Mass, who had know Mr Watson for 3-6 years, not have known there was no underwriter.
Didn’t clients who were denied claims ask for the underwriters to fulfill their obligation?
I was under impression that insurance companies had to have an underwriter by law.
Don’t except those named above to acknowledge anything. They have refused to comment on their previous relationships with any of these bogus companies and I doubt they would admit to what they may have told their clients. Read the statutes and it is clear Florida can come down hard on these travel agents and I am sure they are aware of what fate may await them.
@Ben99
Sorry for the typo above…I meant to write, Don’t expect the agents to acknowledge anything. As far was the law related to underwriting – if the insurance company is authorized to operate in a particular state by licensure, they will have an underwriter. Stew Carrier of Legendary Journeys wrote on this blog that PTP was underwritten by MaxBermuda. Max Bermuda is a legitimate company and has never had any relationship with PTP. How do I know? I called them and asked. Access America is also a legitimate company. I believe Legendary Journeys began using Access America when they realized that PTP was an illegal entity. Of course, they also sold their clients Trip Assured’s illegal policies – I guess they didn’t learn their lesson. As far as Ceila is concerned…when I called PTP last summer they told me Ceila was a company somewhere in the South Pacific!
Responding to Chris Elliot’s question (March 3 at 10:00 a.m.) the answer is yes. Nothiing is said in the notice about bankruptcy and to cease “active business operations” does not mean they cannot be restarted at any time. Mr. Watson apparently wants it to appear to be written by a bankruptcy trustee in much the same way as he wanted his “protection plans” to be mistaken for insurance.
After my wife and I were swindled by one of his “insurance” policies (clearly stated to be insurance by the agent, Anchors Away) I wrote a letter to the N.C. Dept. of Justice. Just the other day I received from them a copy of a letter Mr. Watson sent them in response. He writes that he takes offense to my statements about his operation.and intends to “pursue with legal action if necessary.” To this end he confides that he has already met with a Mr. Dorman, who it would appear is some sort of attorney, although he doesn’t actually call him that. The way things appear to be means a lot to Mr. Watson.
In the same letter he states, and I quote him verbatim: ” A letter from the treating physician is insufficient evidence to properly adjudicate a claim. Medical records cannot be altered and are a correct statement of fact.” The problem is that he apparently has his own medical experts who are better than the “treating physician” when it comes to determining just what the facts are. (See his conversation with Chris Elliot,) If the truth were known, these experts are probably he and his wife going over the claims together.
Frankly, I think the man”s not right in the head. Maybe we can have him put away somewhere–a place where he can get some rest.
I understand that Bernie Madoff may be looking for a roommate.
I received a letter dated 2/23/09 from Prime Travel Protection, inc. It addresses a) Holders of approved claims for contracts issued by traveler Protection Svcs.
b) Holders of approved claims for contracts issued by Prime Travel Protection.
It states that Prime travel and Universal Assurance Group have terminated active business operation as of 1/26/09 and no new contracts have been issued. It states that if you’ve been approved for payment, you’ll be paid over 3 yrs. If you haven’t been approved as of yet, you will be paid over 5 yrs. It also states that jerry Watson has committed to make a series of capital contributions over a period of 60 mos. It is signed by the Counsel for Prime Travel Protection, Inc/ Universal Assurance Group, LTD/ Traveler Protection Svcs.
I think this is just a ruse so we’ll keep our mouths shut.
My mother took insurance through Legendary Journey travel agency back in April 2008. We were still fighting this claim with Travel Protection Services. We were never informed they went bankrupt. I found this blog when I googled the name. My mother is 77 year old woman who used her life savings to book this cruise – she took ill and could not go with her sister and brother in-law (all booked together, they still went). Now she is out $2500.00. I retained a lawyer. I do think Legendary Journey should be assisting my mother in getting her refund, they are the ones that sold her this insurance. Anyone have advice?
The blogs are nice, but is there anyone out there who can lead us towards legal action? Has the AG of Florida been contacted? It seems to me the companies that used Traveler Protection Services, Inc. are within Florida and some legal action from the state of Florida can be started, class action or otherwise.
its so wonderful to hear that as far as ethics are concerned this “travel assurance” company don’t give two hoots. and then have the nerve to act like they’re the victims. the poeple who buy travel insurance are a majority of elderly people and people who are ill. they need to have the garentee that if for whatever reason they can’t take the trip they’ve booked they will at least get the money they put towards that trip. these are people who have absolutly no extra money.
i sincerely hope that these frauds are taken to court and punished to the full extent of the law.
and as mr. baxter said, maddoff is probably lonely. and i’m sure the world would be more than happy to deliver him a fraud to be his roommate.