By Elizabeth Leland
Copyright 2006 The News and Observer
The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)
An air ambulance broker in Western North Carolina breached contracts for tens of thousands of dollars over the past five years for private medical flights that never occurred, according to former clients or their families or hospitals.
They complained to the N.C. Attorney General’s Office and the Better Business Bureau. Several sued Air Care Lifeflight Systems and its vice president, Steve Wallace.
ACLS does not own or fly airplanes. It arranges medical transport flights and is part of a growing air charter business fueled in part by the Internet. No government agency regulates these brokers, so there’s no way to know how many there are. To get started, a person needs little more than a Web site and a telephone.
Complaints against ACLS have come from as far away as Montana and include one from Charlotte. People said they wired money based on oral contracts made over the phone with Wallace. When time came to fly, the complaints allege, Wallace changed the terms or claimed weather prevented flying, then refused refunds.
The families say they felt taken advantage of at one of the most vulnerable times of their lives. In one case, a patient died before her flight was scheduled, court documents allege, and Wallace refused a refund.
Wallace said in a brief telephone conversation that the complaints are not legitimate. “We’ve done this for 27 years,” he said. “We’ve had thousands of flights accomplished. A lot of people respect our services.”
He added: “A lot of people don’t live up to what we require them to do, and they want to cancel for whatever reasons. We run into these problems, and then people make complaints. We try to make them happy and settle out of court. There have only been a few complaints over the years.”
Wallace referred further questions to attorney Claude Smith of Boone. Smith said he didn’t know enough about ACLS or have authorization to answer questions, except to say: “All the cases I had were resolved to the mutual satisfaction of all parties.”
Wallace settled four lawsuits by refunding some or all of the money paid to him, according to court documents. Wallace said in a response to three of six complaints filed with the attorney general that “in the spirit of cooperation” he had offered partial refunds, despite a no-refund policy.
In one of the complaints to the attorney general, Claudette Watson said she telephoned Wallace three years ago on a hospital’s recommendation. Her best friend had become ill from cancer while visiting from England, and the friend’s family hoped to fly her back so she could die at home.
Watson, who lives in Ocoee, Fla., said in the complaint that Wallace promised to line up a flight in three to five days after the family wired $30,000.
Her friend’s family borrowed money from their church and wired it on the morning of Dec. 10, 2003. About noon that same day, Watson said, it became obvious her friend wouldn’t live, and the family telephoned Wallace and canceled the flight. Her friend died three hours later.
Wallace refused a refund.
Wallace denied in a court document that the family had informed him the woman died and that the flight was no longer needed. In his response to the attorney general, he said he lined up a flight the day after he got the money and informed the family of his “non-medical no refund cancellation policy.”
The family sued ACLS, alleging fraud, breach of contract and unfair and deceptive business practices, and settled for $18,000.