Travel Insurance Revisited – Proof it Can Be a Life Saver
June 13th, 2008 by TJ MahonyIn January we wrote about Travel Insurance and the details to be aware of before purchasing it. All in all, we determined Travel Insurance to be a useful mechanism to avoid ‘economic’ surprises while on vacation, but we were discouraged by the difficult claim process. In a different, but loosely related story, you may also remember our story on vetting the legitimacy of boat charter operator prior to a trip to Croatia. Having returned from Croatia I would like to revisit both of these stories to shed new light and a new found sense of appreciation for travel insurance.
Background
My family chartered a sail boat in Croatia to celebrate my brother’s 40th birthday. We found an amazing boat through a company called Navicula (www.navicula.hr). Navicula required a bank transfer to reserve the boat and crew. We were hesitant to send so much money over a wire, but followed up on various references and determined it was a legitimate operation.
Despite feeling confident in the company, we choose to take out a travel insurance policy through AIG Travel Guard just in case something went wrong.
Something Went Wrong
As we boarded our flight from Boston to Croatia we received an email from law@navicula.hr explaining that the boat had been damaged in transit and that they were canceling the charter. (Note: This is a true story). Navicula did not help us find an alternative charter, but through some heroic efforts by my sister in-law we were able to find www.lazywinch.com and its brilliant captain Paul Scowen.
The trip was amazing and we will forever be indebted to Paul and his hostess Tea for accommodating us on such short notice. (Read my review on TripAdvisor Forums here).
Paul Scowen of Lazywinch.com and hostess ‘Tea’ (Tee-a)
However, the story doesn’t end there. After returning back to the states we discovered Navicula had never refunded our money.
Final Outcome
After several emails and phone calls we finally gave up and called AIG to file our claim. Had we not purchased travel insurance the cost of our trip would have doubled. Thanks to Lazywinch, Captain Paul Scowen and AIG Travel Guard for saving our trip.
RSS Feed
October 20th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
[...] benefit not only guests, but property managers and rental owners as well. We’ve touched on the value of travel insurance from a consumer perspective in an earlier post, but one service of particular importance is the reimbursement of reservation [...]
January 9th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
TJ… I’m actually speaking with Navicula right now about a charter. Would you mind emailing me, so I can ask you some questions. I’m suddenly nervous about our May trip with them.
Thanks,
Ted
January 13th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Ted:
As of today, (nearly a year later), Navicula still hasn’t refunded any of our money (~$12,000). The insurance company only covered about 66% of our loses, so I would recommend finding another company to work with. I will check with my brother Chris, but I’m almost positive Navicula is no longer taking his calls. Should they ever response I will let you know, but as of right now I recommend that all travelers avoid this operation.
TJ
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:14 am
Good day everyone. My name is Lovre Uroda and I am owner of this company Navicula which has been brought very low due to a lot of negative reputation recently. As this is a public blog I will tell the world my story. Our company exists since 1997. We have been dealing a lot of work since 2007 when I left to do my MBE and left my office to very “reliable staff” my lawyer and my “reliable worker”. I have been informed every now and then about inflows and booking etc. Within one year I came back to Croatia and found my whole business in terrible mess, my accounts blocked etc.. Not that only mr. Guilford has been scammed there were 2 more cases as well. So I engaged a lawyer and started all over it again after 11 years of good practice and good reputation. Therefore I kindly ask everyone who visited this blog to try to understand this situation. I also understand mr. Guilford for his actions ( this blog ) as I would have done the same. At the end, USD 12,000 will be returned as soon as I claim money back from my ex employees who are on the court at the moment. Please do not loose hope in Croatia. With best regards
March 11th, 2009 at 10:58 am
In May 2008, we also rent to Navicula a beautifull boat and paid in dvance. The day we arrived to Croatia , we went to the pier, and our boat was not there and never appeared. Unfortunately we didn’t have any insurance , and we lost our money. Until today Lovre Uroda and his Company didn’t send our money back. That confirms that Uroda and his company Navicula are swindlers and obviously with his action the image of Croatia is damaged.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Yes its true, I was one of the guys who was supposed to spend with my wife Ginnette a beautiful holidays at Croatian Islands invited by Luis Cavanagh & his wife Crispin at a gullet called “DINO” rented by Mr Uroda from Navicula, with whom I spoke several times during those days at Split awaiting that phantom Gullet who never existed.
Let’s say it sweet & short, this fucking bastard screwed up our holidays and never returned the monies to Luis.
Pity to remain with such unpleasant memory of such a beautiful place.
Hope court at Croatia act to get guys like this at jail.
Mr Uroda, if your real intention is to recover yr good reputation and start to clean yr name send the monies back to all the guys you screwed up and stop talking shit.
April 20th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
insightful analysis and lively discussion here makes this blog the destination for those wanting to write creatively and think about our society and the impact we make on it at home and abroad
May 8th, 2009 at 3:01 am
Thanks for the post. Great site also.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Thanks very much for your interesting post. Will be back in the future.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Thanks very much for your interesting post. Will be back in the future.
June 24th, 2009 at 4:48 am
It is petty but what we are among the people who was cheated by this bustard Lovre Uroda.
We have booked him 15-05-2009 as skipper and also asked to find another one for our second boat (thanks to the God we did not rent the boat trough him). Also I asked him to find for us the villa and he “find”… We paid him deposit to his personal account and he disappeared next day.
We trust him because he was our skipper in July-2008 and he was really friendly and nice guy.
But….. He answered to my calls a couple of times during Jun-2009 and telling me stupid stories. No his staff was involved in desiccation.
It was personally his action and now I am absolutely sure –Lovre Uroda is professional cheater. And I will do all legal action in Croatia such as police report and court action. Because we have all documents. Also I have photo-pictures of this guy from last year. I hope Croatian authorities are interested in stopping such a bustards.
January 23rd, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.
January 24th, 2010 at 11:08 am
I find myself coming back here a lot to read. I’ve learned many new things here. Thanks a lot!
February 21st, 2010 at 1:25 am
Good Job on the articles you have here, thank you for putting your time into it!