ORLANDO, Fla — Orlando senior, Joshula Flowers, was looking forward to a tour of Washington D.C.
“I thought, with it being a bus trip, that it would be good to get the insurance,” Flowers told Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal.
She booked that trip through the City of Orlando’s Beardall Senior Center, but she got COVID shortly before the trip. So, she filed a claim with the trip insurance company, Travel Insured International.
She said, “And so I really trusted them to be able to be on my side if something happened.”
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The 86-year-old lives on a fixed income. She made monthly payments to cover the cost of the trip that added up to $1270. That included a little extra for the travel insurance.
In the weeks leading up to the tour, she fell ill, left a message for her doctor and did an at-home COVID test that came up positive.
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“I was in bed most of the time and sick, just very, very weak and tired,” Flowers said.
She called the senior center to let them know she couldn’t make it just in case someone else was on a waiting list. The next day, she said she had a consultation with her doctor who confirmed she had COVID.
Joshula Flowers assumed her travel insurance would make her whole, but she said the claims process dragged out.
“Here’s some of the letters that they sent me… asking for more information,” she said as she showed the Action 9 team her paperwork.
After 5-months, she received another letter that showed Travel Insured International denied her claim.
Jeff Deal asked, “What did you think when you received this letter?”
Flowers answered, “This is… it’s just… I was two seconds away from tearing it up.”
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Under the fine print in the policy, the traveler had to be “examined and treated by a physician prior to cancellation unless it is not reasonably possible to do so.”
Even though she tested positive first, since Joshula Flowers’ consultation with her doctor was the day after she cancelled, that appears to be the reason for the denied claim.
“I couldn’t cancel. I couldn’t do ‘A’ before I did ‘B’,” she said.
On Yelp, Travel Insured International gets 1.4 stars out of five. Reviewers also complained about the company dragging out the process. One wrote, “we would provide the requested document. Weeks would go by before they would ask for some other DIFFERENT document.” Another customer wrote, “This company make(s) a living on saying no” and gave the company “the royal toilet bowl award.”
After Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal went to the company for answers, it sent an email saying in part, “We are currently reviewing Ms. Flowers’ case and will be in touch with her as part of that process.”
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The whole process left Joshula Flowers frustrated.
“I could not believe it. It was just so devastating,” she said.
Two weeks after Action 9 reached out to Travel Insured International, Flowers said the insurance company called her to offer part of her money back. It promised to call back later to discuss it further.
City of Orlando Commissioner Tony Ortiz is also trying to help her. He said if the insurance company doesn’t come through, the city’s Senior Connections program will help her out.
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