Perreira accepted complete responsibility for the situation which left some customers stranded and many others waiting months for tickets on Las Vegas tour packages.
He said the agency began having problems when he got distracted by the ill health of his father, Prince. The latter was due for surgery today. (The Star-Bulletin in some editions yesterday misidentified Keala Perreira as the father and Prince as the son.)
"We apologize," Keala Perreira said. "I know people are upset. We will refund everyone's money. We have no intention of filing for bankruptcy."
Complaints from angry customers led the state Regulatory Industries Complaints Office (RICO) this week to begin investigating 7-11 Travel, located at 429 Waiakamilo Road.
Apparently 7-11 sold tour packages with Jackie's Travel, but allegedly never passed the money on to Jackie's for confirmed reservations. Jackie's said it began hearing of problems with 7-11 a couple of months ago, but it was only in the past few days that people began "bombarding" them with calls.
"We've been saying, 'You have no reservations (so) you basically have to go back to the agency because they collected your money and they haven't bought it off of us,'" said Clifford Horita, assistant general manager for Jackie's.
About a dozen angry customers were waiting for 7-11 to open yesterday morning. Perreira showed up around noon and the grapevine quickly spread about the refunds.
He disputed claims that "hundreds" of people were affected, saying he believes only 30 customers had to be given refunds.
Whenever a travel agency accepts money from a customer, the money is supposed to be deposited into a client's trust account, according to state law.
"The law requires the amounts put in the trust account for an individual to be paid for that individual's travel," said Sharon On Leng, complaints and enforcement officer for RICO.
However, Perreira said he sometimes had "a lot of returned checks where my banking is not enough to cover them." In those instances, he said, he did dip into the trust account to help purchase tickets. He said he did not believe that that was illegal.
"I just got in over my head," Perreira said. He said he opened his office six months ago after taking a "$95 course" on becoming a travel agent. "I'm lucky to get help from my parents," he said, but added that his family had nothing to do with the "management problems."
"I made the mistake."
Perreira assured customers that he was still in operation and although he would not be in the office today because of his father's surgery, he said he either had or would be getting in touch with all his customers.
Leng's office, meanwhile, also was trying to get in touch with Perreira as part of a continuing investigation.
Steven Hunt, a real estate consultant, was waiting in line yesterday for a $578 refund for two tickets he purchased in July for a Sept. 26 departure to Las Vegas.
Hunt said he had checked out 7-11 before purchasing the tickets and, at the time, there had been no complaints against the agency either with the Better Business Bureau or the state Office of Consumer Protection. The problem, Hunt said, was that practically anyone can open up a travel agency. Travel agencies don't have to be bonded like real estate companies or contractors, he noted.
Rachel Shimamoto, president of the Hawaii Chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents, advised consumers to "do your homework" in choosing a travel agent. "You don't just buy a house from somebody you don't know."