“This seems more like fraud to me”

Ken Smith isn’t the only person affected by the untimely demise of Cruise West. But he thought he wouldn’t be in the same boat as the other stranded passengers. After all, he had travel insurance.

He thought wrong.

His insurance company, Access America, said it wouldn’t cover a company for financial default. I got involved to see if I could help, and I’ll get to the resolution in a moment. But first, let’s hear from Smith.

My wife and I booked a cruise to Patagonia for February, 2011, and paid cash ($9,392) for quite a bit of it to get additional discounts. The deposit of $2,559 we paid with a credit card. We also bought travel insurance online through Access America, a company Cruise West’s agent recommended to us.

Well, with the default, we’ll likely get the deposit amount back from our credit card company, but the cash is in doubt.

Access America says that, even though their online system asks what cruise line is being used, and their dropdown box displays the Cruise West name, they do not in fact cover Cruise West cruises for financial default. We purchased the insurance on August 26, 2010, and Access America says they stopped covering Cruise West sometime in July, 2010.

I spoke to a supervisor who acknowledged that our file shows Cruise West as our carrier, but also says there is no recourse, and I should have checked the last page of the 24-page document they sent me after purchasing the policy, and I would have seen that Cruise West’s name does not appear.

That was our only warning that we had no coverage.

They have offered us nothing except their standard script of “you should have read the fine print,” but this seems more like fraud to me. A quick look at ripoffreport.com shows that Access America and their affiliates have hundreds of complaints against them for failure to pay claims.

Is there anything we can do here to get any money from Access America?

I asked Access America to review Smith’s case. Here’s its response:

We are very sorry that Mr. Smith was one of the customers affected by Cruise West’s closure on September 18, 2010. We understand and sympathize with his situation. The closure of Cruise West has affected many and we are very sorry to see this occur.

While we have provided coverage to many of our customers who had cruises canceled by Cruise West, the policy Mr. Smith purchased did not offer coverage for financial default of Cruise West, nor did he meet the financial default requirement of purchasing his insurance policy within 14 days of making his initial trip deposit.

His policy did include a 10-day money back guarantee, but as that timeframe has long expired, we are unable to honor his request for a premium refund.

Again, we are sorry that Mr. Smith was affected by the closure of Cruise West and we wish him well.

At this point, I would probably jump in and say, “Look, this wasn’t a covered event. Smith should have known.”

I can’t do that.

Anyone who tells me Smith should have read a 24-page document and noticed that Cruise West was missing, is smoking something illegal, and they’d better share.

Seriously, folks, this guy bought a policy in good faith, and he was led to believe it would cover him. Do you really expect me to tell him his $6,833 is lost forever?

I’m sorry, but I can’t. I’m not siding with Access America on this one.

Smith is right. His policy should have covered him.

Update (10/29): Access America sent me the screen shots from Smith’s insurance purchase.

A representative adds:

I wanted to also point out that since Mr. Smith purchased his travel insurance plan through AccessAmerica.com, he was provided with very detailed information about our financial default requirements, as well as a warning that not all travel suppliers are eligible for financial default coverage and that customers should check our list of covered suppliers to see if their supplier is covered.

Certainly, Mr. Smith also had the opportunity to view this information in his policy when he received it, but he also clearly had the opportunity to review the financial default coverage prior to purchasing his policy.

(Photo: Word Ridden/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • cjr

    “and I should have checked the last page of the 24-page document they sent me after purchasing the policy”

    What was that again about the fine print and how ridiculous it is?

  • MVFlyer

    I would agree that “he should have read the fine print” too, except for the fact he disclosed to the insurance company the cruise company at the time of purchase, and they accepted it. It’s dirty pool to come back after the fact to say “we don’t cover that cruise line” after purchase when the buyer told them what cruise line he was on, and expect the customer to cancel the insurance on that basis.

    Chris–could you push Access America harder? I’m sure they don’t want to pay $7K if they don’t have to, but your mighty pen (keyboard??) has worked wonders before!

  • Brian

    Why did he pay cash, instead of a credit card? The extra discounts are not worth the risk that the consumer might incur. I would not pay cash for anything large such as this since if something goes wrong; I can get my money back easily with a credit card. As Elliott keeps pointing out, paying cash for a cruise or other large transactions is a big no-no.

  • SirWired

    This was a straightforward denial and the fine print was not the least bit sneaky. I pulled down the Certificate of Insurance for an Access America policy. On page 6, under “Financial Default”
    Financial default
    Your tour operator, airline or cruise line ceases operations due to financial default.
    Specific requirements (all must apply)
    · You purchased this insurance within 14 days of making your first trip deposit or first trip payment.
    · The financial default happens more than seven days after your plan’s effective date.
    · The tour operator, airline or cruise line isn’t the entity you purchased your plan or your travel services from, or an affiliate of that entity, and was included in our List of covered suppliers on your plan’s effective date.

    You do not have to read the entire 24 page document to find this, it’s right there, on the first page of the most basic part of the policy where they explain what is and is not covered.

    You don’t even have to go to the eye-straining list of General and Specific Exclusions that starts on page 18.

    These same criteria for default coverage are also on the website under “special notes.”

    The covered suppliers list is on the FAQ section of their website.

  • SirWired

    As a side note, I thought I would emphasize that this was NOT on “the last page of the 24-page policy” at least not on the policy I looked at.

    It’s obvious we are looking at different policies (the one I looked at did not have the covered suppliers list included), but I imagine all of their policy documents are structured in a similar manner, so the criteria for receiving default coverage should have been in a similar place.

  • http://www.thetravelinggiraffe.com Crissy

    Maybe the agent should have read the 24 page document before selling the insurance. Telling the client to read it after purchasing the insurance is like putting the cart before the horse.

    I’m all for saying, read the fine print. But if someone is selling it and didn’t read it and then says they should read the fine print themselves AFTER it was purchased is passing the buck on their own responsiblities. And Access America should have caught this mistake within a few days of issuing the policy and sent it back.

  • Susan

    “he was led to believe it would cover him.”

    HOW was he led to believe? He purchased the policy ONLINE (didn’t sound like he talked to a rep at Access America) all? And at the time of purchase was he REALLY thinking of financial default? Not likely. Not until it actually happened and later wanted (prayed for) coverage.

    I just went through their online process and off to the right was a summary of benefits and coverage of the policy being purchased. If you hover over “coverage for financial default” a little pop up box appears with a summary. It specifically states for the financial default coverage the policy has to be purchased within 14 days of deposit, default has to happen more than 7 days after the policy was purchased, and that the supplier (Cruise West in this case) has to be on AA’s list of covered suppliers on the date you purchased your policy.

    I’d guess he was concerned about financial default at the time of purchase, therefore never “hovered” for more information, and didn’t realize he wouldn’t be covered if CW went out of business. He didn’t have to read the whole 24 page document. He just had to hover and know he was purchasing the insurance more than 14 days after deposit, therefore financial default wasn’t going to be a covered reason.

    Admittedly though, the list of covered suppliers is not easy to find on their website.

  • Heather

    I agree and disagree with you cjr. I loathe fine print and wish it never came to be. It is confusing and makes a great bed time story at best, but in the case of big ticket purchases it can save your behind from bad business practices. So I read it as long as I don’t require a law degree or a lawyer to be able to comprehend it.

    If they sent the fine print to him after purchasing the policy then they are not off the hook. The terms needed to be fully presented prior to purchasing the insurance. Similar to the way you want complete prices before you swipe your card. You can’t add on all sorts of stipulations or additions after the fact without requiring the individual who purchased the item(s) to consent to the new terms.

    If they presented terms on the site and presented them in the same exact fashion they did for all the other carriers that they do insure for defaults then I’d say he has a really good case because that would be false advertising.

  • Mel

    I hate the idea of siding w/ the insurer here (especially such a shady insurer) but it seems pretty clear that he isn’t entitled to reimbursement from Access America: “the policy Mr. Smith purchased did not offer coverage for financial default of Cruise West, nor did he meet the financial default requirement of purchasing his insurance policy within 14 days of making his initial trip deposit.” He seems to think the issue is the cruiser operator he chose and it would appear that the issue is instead the policy he chose. Seems his recourse is to get in line behind all the other creditors going after Cruise West in court. As much as it sucks to be out thousands of dollars, sometimes things simply don’t work out “fair” in the end. :(

  • John

    @ SirWired … I’m with you. He failed to meet the requirements of the policy on two accounts.
    1. He failed to purchase the policy in the first 14 days. At that point, it does matter if CruiseWest was covered or not. He wasn’t covered for their default because he failed to purchase the insurance in the first 14 days.
    2. CruiseWest was not on the covered list. Insurance carriers remove companies from when default becomes likely Just like they will remove air carriers from the covered list for strikes once a strike voted occurs (ie AA which hasn’t been covered most fo the year for issues related to a FA strike or BA for their ongoing issues).
    Either of these issues would have resulted in his claim being denied. The fact that he didn’t buy the policy in the first 14 days makes CruiseWest not being covered irrelevant. His claim would have been denied even if it was covered.

  • Jesse

    If the options on your drop down menus include the cruise line you are working with it should be covered…

    Not listing it on their contract is not an exclusion if it is listed on their drop down menus.

    I wonder what a judge would say about this, is there a further resolution to this?

  • Cynthia

    If an insurer accepts coverage for something (the cruise line in this case) they, in fact, do not cover that is fraud.

    The “insured” told them what cruise line he was on and they still sold him a policy that allegedly covered his purchase. The insurance provider had a duty to inform him that the policy would not in fact cover his purchase of passage on that particular cruise line.

    I feel Chris might want to do more to help this traveler.

  • Datanerd

    What a bunch of crap. Access America should be ashamed. 24 pages of fine-print lawyerese isn’t helpful for the consumer, it’s only helpful for the company.

    You have to remind yourself that Access America is not in the business of paying claims. They’re in the business of selling policies. Paying claims is an expense to be limited.

    Not to get off on politics, but Elizabeth Warren, the interim head of the consumer finance protection bureau, has talked about how credit card contracts have gone from one page of readable print to many pages of fine print that no-one except a bank lawyer understands. Her goal is to make the credit cards get back to a readable one page contract that is understandable. Hopefully when she’s done with consumer finance, she could apply that logic to travel insurance.

  • http://www.singleparenttravel.net John Frenaye

    Yeah, what’s the deal on the cash? Typically the final payment (his cash) is not due till 90 days before sailing, so it would be due about now.

    If CW offered all sorts of discounts for cash, and cash paid early–how many flags do there need to be?

    In this day and age of easy fraud, I use cash less and less.

    Had he utilized a travel agent, they likely (hopefully) would have advised him accordingly on the financial default. We check those lists monthly and the vendors that are on there are also on our no-sell list. But they could have directed him to another insurer who may have covered it.

    And of course with a late August purchase, one wonders if he knew about the financial troubles.

    From Travel Weekly: Cruise West has been rumored to be financially unstable since July, when Wertanzl said that the line had been “working on recapitalizing the company for over a year now. A partnership would potentially allow us to expand the Cruise West offering to new and exciting destinations.”

  • Erika

    I completely agree with @MVFlyer. Did the OP make some mistakes? Sure. I, personally, would have checked out Access America before doing business with them and – from the sound of things – would have seem ALOT of red flags. But is his mistake worth a punishment of over $6,000 in cash? Absolutely not.

    Chris – can you put a bit more pressure on Access America? I know you’ve worked miracles before. At the very least, they should meet the OP half way because there clearly were mistakes on their side as well.

  • Annette

    Mr. Smith didn’t have to wait for the 24 page document he received after his insurance was purchased. Access America provides a link, right at the bottom of their main page, to their covered suppliers. He could easily have checked it out before purchasing.

    http://www.accessamerica.com/AA/CoveredSuppliers.aspx

    The fact that Cruise West was listed on the drop down menu when means nothing. It’s not that they list all the covered suppliers there, it’s just that they list the most common ones people might be using. If they’re going to insure your trip they need to know what your trip is. If Cruise West hadn’t folded and Mr Smith had needed to cancel for a covered reason, they would still have needed to know the details of his trip in order to insure that claim being submitted is actually for the trip that was insured.

    There are lots of suppliers that aren’t covered for financial default by insurance policies. Access America lists the ones they do cover. Other companies list the ones they don’t. (http://www.travelguard.com/customerservice/alertlist/?intcmp=clc-001-Nav-5-AlertList). Why would you buy an insurance policy for anything – travel or otherwise – and not check to see exactly what you’re covered for?

  • SirWired

    @MVFlyer, @Cynthia: This was a comprehensive policy that covered a lot of things. He was covered for cancellation due to a lot of reasons (just not default), medical coverage, accident, medevac, baggage, delay, etc. And the exclusion was not, as is alleged, “fine print.” AA never even hints on their website that that drop-down has anything to do with their covered provider’s list. You can purchase insurance for a trip on any cruise line or airline in the world, you just aren’t necessarily covered for default (or strike), for which you are asked to check a separate list if that is important to you.

    If the only thing this entire policy covered was default, this argument might make sense, but it covers way more than default.

    @Heather: Access America makes the full policy text available before purchase. Indeed, you don’t have to even give them your name, trip dates, trip cost, or anything, before they’ll let you read the policy. Just pick the policy line, and click on the link they’ll give you to read it. (And supply your state for state-specific provisions.)

    @Datanerd: Insurance policies are almost ALWAYS more than a couple of pages. Even without a single exclusion, any comprehensive travel policy would be more than a couple of pages just to list what IS covered. And Access America’s policies are fairly easy to read. Download one yourself from their website and check it out. It’s all in perfectly normal English, with no legal degree required. There is little legal jargon, and it’s quite clear that the OP excluded himself from coverage two different ways. The DOC is available before, during, and after purchase, so there was absolutely no excuse for not reading it. It wasn’t to waste paper that they sent the OP a copy.

    @Erika: ALL insurance companies have complaints all over the web about them. Stories like this one, where people WISH a policy covers something it clearly did not, are legion, and people are apt to complain about them. This was not fraud by any stretch of the imagination.

    To All: Let this be YET ANOTHER lesson as to why you should read contracts that govern expensive parts of your life. The contract conditions may not change your purchase decision, but at least you’ll know what to expect. In this case, the exclusions are presented in plain English near the beginning of the policy (even if the covered provider list the exclusion refers to is not.) You can check for yourself to see this is the case.

  • Buckstersf

    It is fraud to present an option on your website and take money for a service that is not covered. Period. It doesn’t matter what the fine print says. They sold a fraudulent policy. the options should not have appeared for that company if the policy was not valid.

  • Carol

    I agree that it appears Access America has acted fraudulently on this particular case.

    If I learned anything today, it is NOT to use cash even if enticing discounts are offered. It’s just not worth the risk.

  • Tanya

    For those that are saying that it is not the customer/purchaser’s responsibility to read the fine print: if this were your home you were purchasing, or a once in a lifetime vacation, wouldn’t you take the time to read through the pages? If you do not and something goes wrong, like you signed the closing settlement before you had the home inspected and the contract you signed (meaning you agreed to everything within the pages) stated that the sale was final and it did not matter what the inspection found, whose fault is that? Yours as the purchaser, because had you read the contract, you would have noted that clause, or the sellers? I am not saying this is appropriate or ‘moral’ behavior, but at what point do we all have to take some responsibility for what we sign. I guess an almost 10k cash outlay means more to me, I would have scoured every single word of the contract and made darn sure of what I was getting, or not getting.

  • cjr

    “It’s obvious we are looking at different policies (the one I looked at did not have the covered suppliers list included)”

    What was that I also said about companies not knowing their own policies or said policies having contradictions?

  • http://nmdfreelance.com Nancy

    Oh my-lanta, seriously? They send him a warning deeply embedded in the fine print of a 24 page document AFTER he buys the policy?

    This sounds like a scam at the highest level. For AccessAmerica to take the “caveat emptor” stance like this tells me they’re much more interested in getting money out of people than they are in actually providing a service.

    I almost bought a policy from them before going to Ireland. I’m glad I didn’t. Crooks…

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    Mr. Smith paid cash…rule # 1: never pay cash.

    Mr. Smith purchased a travel insurance policy\travel protection plan\etc. from a company that was recommended by the travel provider…rule # 2: Never purchase a travel insurance policy, a travel protection plan, etc. from the travel provider or a company recommended by the travel provider. Typically, these “policies” or “plans” are written to benefit the travel provider not the traveler. Buy a travel insurance policy from an independent source, like squaremouth, your homeowner\auto insurance agent, a travel agent that is licensed to sell insurance policies, etc.

    Mr. Smith purchased the travel insurance policy after 14 days. At that point, it doesn’t matter if CruiseWest was covered or not because he wasn’t covered for their default because he failed to purchase the insurance in the first 14 days.

    Given the amount of money for this cruise, it is my opinion that Mr. Smith would have been better served if he dealt with a professional travel agent. It is very likely that a professional travel agent would have pointed out that Cruise West was having financial difficulties, etc.

    People need to wake up and smell the coffee…travel companies such as tour operators and cruise lines that sells directly to the consumer (especially the ones that has their own sales reps and do not sell through travel agents) is NOT going to look after your best interest. They are in the business of selling tours and cruises.

  • http://www.grouptravelleader.com Brian Jewell

    Chris, while the insurance policy is up in the air, the customer may have another recourse for getting a refund. If he bought the ticket before Cruise West left the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA), he will be covered by USTOA’s $1 million traveler protection bond. That bond money is being split between all of the claimants, so the customer may not get a 100% refund, but at least it would be better than nothing. More info can be found on our site, http://www.grouptravelleader.com.

  • Andrew, NYC

    Illness is always covered, isn’t it? I had very good experience with Access America with getting the money back for my daughter’s strep throat. They refunded more than I asked for! It wasn’t $9K, but it was over $3K.

    So here is your solution, Mr. Smith. Eat some 48-hour-old sushi on the day before the supposed trip. Do not lose the documents from the ER. Ask for your doctor’s name and number since Access America will ask them to fill out some forms. Good luck!

  • Steve H

    Arizona Road Warrior advises against using a travel insurance company recommended by a travel agent, which is something of a challenge since gathering substantial information about an insurer, beyond looking up the AM Best rating, is tricky. Going to a website that aggregates anecdotes about bad experiences isn’t always a fair litmus test either. Having said that, as Chris knows, I had a battle with Access America over medical transportation coverage, which boiled down to a “he said/she said” argument. AA would not give me access to the taped conversations I had with their agents, and insisted that my notes and recollection were incorrect. Believe me, when it comes to money and insurers, I made sure I knew exactly what I said and what I was told.
    AA eventually but grudgingly paid the full amount ($2200 more than the $1500 they first insisted was their responsibility) after first AAA (whose site I bought the policy on), then Chris and finally my suggestion that if AA would not provide me a transcript or copy of the phone conversations, I was sure they’d make it available in Small Claims Court. But many insured, perhaps with smaller amounts in dispute, just give up what are valid claims because insurance companies make settling a claim so difficult.

  • SirWired

    Well, after the update, I’m not sure how Access America could have made it any more clear that you should check the covered providers list before purchasing.

  • Dang

    Arizona Road Warrior was very right on several points:
    - never pay cash
    - usually travel agents suggest the most commission return Insurer instead of the best and solid Insurer and they are in conflict of interest.
    I hope that Ken Smith still have some other support or re-cup depending where he live. Lot of the US states and Canadian provinces have the Common Travel Trust Fund cover the lost in case of default/bankruptcy/fraud by the providers.
    I live in Quebec, when buying a tour/cruise/package etc… we have to pay 3$ on every thousand $ to the Trust Fund. And everybody is covered for default/bankruptcy/fraud. It’s compulsory, we don’t have a choice.
    So it’s very important to buy through a travel agent with a permit to sell travel services, specially with a that big amount.
    And once again, NEVER PAY CASH. When somebody ask you for cash, it smell dead fish.

  • Christine

    I have to side w/ AA on this.

    Having just purchased insurance for our cruise next year from them I remember the portion of the site shown in the screen shot. It says VERY clearly that not every company on the list is a covered supplier and gives a link to the current covered supplier’s list.

    Even though we are cruising w/ a major cruise line, I stopped at this point in the process of purchasing our coverage and checked the list to make sure they were listed (they were).

    AA’s site is VERY clear about the 14day rule as well as who they consider a covered supplier…even if the info is buried on page 24 of the policy… it is all over the website while the end user is filling out the info to purchase.

    I really don’t think Mr. Smith has any recourse and feel that AA is totally within their rights to deny his claim.

  • Geoff

    The single statement that stuck out in this article is that….Mr. Smith did it himself. He trusted the Cruise West agent that all was right with the company; every travel agent knew that Cruise West was going south. When I have a problem with a supplier, I pick up the phone and ask the insurance company. I call 5-6 times a year on various suppliers to see if they are still covered. Why you would side with Mr. Smith, puzzles me as you have always inferred, big time trip, use an expert. I have never heard of a good agency, not selling their own insurance. There are way too many inconsistancies in this one. Give it up.

  • Feel The Love

    United Health Group Defrauded 100 Million Americans Posted on January 13th, 2009 by iwaller
    An investigation begun by New York’s Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo said the company Ingenix, a research firm owned by UnitedHealth Group deliberately shorted reimbursements on out-of-network health insurance claims for Americans to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars! Ingenix claimed it relied on ‘independent research from across the health care industry’ to determine reimbursement rates. However, UnitedHealth Group and its company Ingenix manipulated the health care claims presented by millions of Americans having health insurance and shorted their reimbursements between 10% and 28% of what the coverage should have paid. Instead, UnitedHealth Group, pocketed the millions of dollars it shorted Americans. UnitedHealth Group provides health benefits to 26 million Americans. Nearly all health care insurance companies in the country were using the same low reimbursement rates. Some of the largest health insurance companies who utilize the same Ingenix system are United Health Care (owned by UnitedHealth Group), Aetna, Cigna, Wellpoint/Empire BlueCross BlueShield and Genix. These companies are currently under investigation in New York suspected of participating in the same reimbursement fraud. How ironic UnitedHealth Group’s mission statement says in part: “We seek to enhance the performance of the health system and improve the overall health and well-being of the people we serve…We work with health care professionals to expand access to high-quality health care so people get the care they need at an affordable price.” Rather than anyone going to jail, UnitedHealth Group settled with the New York Attorney General by agreeing to pay $50 Million as the settlement to be used to establish and create a new database to determine rates for patients who choose physicians outside of the insurance giant’s network. Little good this does for the millions of Americans who were ripped off by these insurance scumbags. “This is a huge scam that affected hundreds of millions of Americans [who were] ripped off by their health insurance companies,” says Cuomo. “This was unethical, and it robbed vulnerable patients of insurance reimbursements they deserved.” Cuomo is now investigating other insurance companies that use Ingenix’s database. There may be millions more on the line as well. Of course, as is the corporate way of the guilty, UnitedHealth Group stated “We respectfully disagree with the New York Attorney General’s findings that we manipulated data … (or that our ownership of Ingenix was a conflict of interest.) We agreed to his settlement because it was an effective way to address any perceived conflict of interest.” The American Medical Association, represented by Dr. Nancy Nielson, president-elect of the AMA stated “there is a profit motive for keeping reimbursement low.” ”It is shocking and unacceptable for an insurance company to hide behind a shroud of secrecy”. Nielson also said “It is another example of UnitedHealth playing by its own rules.” This is not the first time UnitedHealth has been involved in legal action. In 2000, the AMA filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York over the exact same reimbursement issues. In May of 2008, Oxford Health Insurance, Inc, a unit of UnitedHealth Group, had to refund $50 million to small business customers in New York to settle claims it overcharged for health insurance policies back in 2006. More trouble from the past, when former CEO, William W. McGuire, M.D. was charged with securities fraud by the SEC. Mr. McGuire ultimately found guilty, had to repay $468 million as a partial settlement of the prosecution. In summary, I am of the opinion that corporate America is as corrupt as anywhere on earth. CEO bilking millions in golden parachutes and executive compensation, while American citizens fund their luxurious lifestyles with hard earn money, simply to be overcharged, cheated and ripped off by the rich and powerful. The UnitedHealth Group scam, is no different that the crooks on Wall Street: AIG, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Citigroup, and other corporate manipulators such as Shell Oil, Exxon-Mobile, and so many other financial and energy leading companies. The free market system is over in America, thanks to corporate greed which took its roots during the Reagan trickledown economic philosophy. Corporate America cannot and should not be trusted and the federal government is almost in the same boat. Disdain for hardworking Americans by the Wall Street and Corporate America is so prevalent, they no longer tried to hide. The ‘haves’ continues to increase the divide between the ‘have not’s. Americans, Republicans and Democrats, should be outraged and the raping and pillaging of their money by Corporate America. We must begin to demand a government that works with incorporating fines and bringing to justice those criminals who rob, steal and cheap on a national basis from hard working citizens. None of the men leading these companies have gone to jail. Where is the justice for middle American who pays the bills for these outlaws?

  • http://www.clarkecomputer.com Charles Clarke

    While the OP made lots of mistakes, I think the Access America list should be split into those they cover for financial default and those they don’t. The should also ask questions like when the trip was purchased, deposits or whatever else affects whether they will pay. Then, if there is something that they would NOT cover, they should warn the user and ask if they still want to buy anyway. Obviously they don’t have to do this, but it would help ensure that there was a meeting of the minds and the customer really wanted that insurance. Less ill will and lawsuits would result. It would also allow them to price the policies accordingly.