Dear Stumbled,
In September 2022, my wife and I booked a 17-day Arabian Sea cruise through Vantage Travel Services to celebrate my 80th birthday. The cruise she was scheduled to sail in October 2023. I left her a $2,000 deposit using my credit card and then immediately paid her remaining $17,905 via bank transfer. I also purchased Travel Insured International's Worldwide Trip Protector plan ($1,954). This was also to cover the cruise line's financial defaults and bankruptcies. Vantage then canceled the cruise and offered me an alternative date that I wasn't able to go on. I also declined their offer of credit and asked for a refund, which they agreed to. However, I never received my refund and my phone calls were no longer answered. My credit card was refunded her $2,000 and I filed her insurance claim for $17,905. Like my first appeal, it was denied. Vantage then filed for bankruptcy and my girlfriend's second appeal was also dismissed. The reasons given by the insurance company were outrageous. They cited ambiguous parenthetical language in the insurance's bankruptcy clause and argued that I was not covered because I purchased the cruise directly from the cruise line (rather than through a travel advisor, for example). I was then told that my insurance would expire once I canceled the trip. But I didn't cancel. Vantage did. I also filed a complaint with the New York State Department of Financial Services, but it was denied. can you help? Michael, Smithtown, NY
Dear Michael,
When Boston-based Vantage filed for bankruptcy last year, it owed thousands of customers a total of $108 million for cruises and other travel products they paid for but never received. I owed it. The company's former owners are facing lawsuits in New York and Pennsylvania. But taking out insurance to cover just such a risk was a wise move. Or so you thought, until your insurance company, Travel Insured International, denied your claim, and then, to fend off your second appeal, first filed the insurance's financial default and bankruptcy clause. He interpreted it like crazy, then twisted the meaning of the word “'' and used infuriating logic. cancel. “
You made some mistakes too. Most notably, it brought claims based on financial defaults that had not yet occurred. But after speaking with law professors, insurance experts, and competing insurance companies, I believe that, at least as of the second appeal, Travel Insured International is wrong and should pay damages. believe.
What does that mean in and of itself? Travel Insured International and its parent company, Crum & Foerster, did not respond to my detailed inquiries for nearly five months. However, a few days before publication, publicist Amy Wildin sent the following statement:
“This allegation was properly considered and the correct decision was made based on the facts of this allegation, to the satisfaction of both the New York Department of Financial Services and the New York State Attorney General.”