Hilton Head company owned by former pro football player owes clients thousands, lawsuits say

A former NFL draft pick who owns a Hilton Head Island vacation rental company is accused of failing to pay clients thousands of dollars, according to two lawsuits.

A document included in one of the suits offers an unusual explanation for the business closing: Company owner Chuck Zapiec, 69, a former All-American linebacker at Penn State University and professional football player, is suffering from a disease caused by head trauma from years of playing football.

The two lawsuits, filed in August, claim Zapiec’s Hilton Head Hideaways owes clients roughly $7,700. But several former clients interviewed by The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette say more is owed than that. They too are owed money, they claim, but aren’t pursuing court action against Zapiec. Additionally, the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, which has received complaints against Zapiec, will not provide the number of complaints filed nor the amount of money complainants say they’re owed.

According to a source familiar with the LLR complaints, Zapiec is accused by one associate of failing to pay clients a total of about $100,000.

“I feel like we’ve been scammed,” said Tracy Zeller of Rochester, N.Y., who has rented her condo in Hilton Head’s Shipyard Plantation for six years through Zapiec’s Hilton Head Hideaways. The company serves both owners of Hilton Head vacation rental properties as well as renters.

Zeller said she’s owed $1,100 from May 2018 rentals, but isn’t going to pursue legal action because she believes it would cost more than what she is owed.

But Colleen Walsh Berg, of the Atlanta area, did file a lawsuit after Hilton Head Hideaways canceled her reservation for a Sea Pines villa just two days before her long-awaited family vacation in May.

“I got this (email from Hilton Head Hideaways) at 11 o’clock in the morning and I’m completely beside myself,” Berg said. “Everything was planned and settled. This is my family vacation, and it’s a very big deal to me.”

After it was canceled, she was never refunded the $1,837 she paid for it. Phone calls to Zapiec were never returned, she said.

Berg said she made reservations for her weeklong trip through VRBO, a popular vacation rental website that allows people to rent homes and other properties.

She did not know she was booking through Hilton Head Hideaways, which is now listed as “permanently closed” on Google.

Multiple attempts to reach Zapiec for this story were unsuccessful.

What happened to Hilton Head Hideaways?

As of late August, Hilton Head Hideaways still had a website. But when one searches for properties, none are found. The real estate tab links to a page that no longer exists. According to nearly two dozen emails advertising rental properties from Hilton Head Hideaways during the summer of 2017, about 35 properties were managed by the company during that time.

The other lawsuit against Hilton Head Hideaways was filed by a property owner who claims the company owes him $5,882.

Hilton Head Hideaways managed Phil Moore’s Sea Pines house from July 2016 through April 2018, the suit reads. In September 2017, Moore terminated his agreement with the company, but agreed to honor all remaining bookings.

Payment for the remaining rentals was due May 15, the suit says, but Moore never got paid.

Moore declined to speak with a reporter for this story.

A copy of a letter sent to property owners attached to Moore’s lawsuit may shed light on what’s happening behind-the-scenes with Hilton Head Hideaways.

It began when Zapiec was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to the emailed letter dated May 18. Over the last few years, the condition has caused him to lose his ability to function in “any business or fiduciary capacity,” according to the letter, which is signed Hilton Head Hideaways LLC.

CTE is a degenerative brain disease caused by “repeated head traumas,” according to the Mayo Clinic. The condition is rare, but can be found in people who have played contact sports.

Phone numbers associated with Zapiec appear to be disconnected. Emails, Facebook messages and a letter hand-delivered to his home in the Wexford neighborhood on Hilton Head were unanswered.

Zapiec was an All-American linebacker at Penn State in 1971, according to a Centre Daily Times (Pennsylvania) article published in 1987.

In 1972, he joined the Canadian Football League after a short stint with the NFL. That year, he was a fourth-round draft pick for the Dallas Cowboys and had a trial with the Miami Dolphins before being released, the newspaper reported. In 1980, the Centre Daily Times reported he was on the Kansas City Chief’s injured reserve list before being released.

“He has been diagnosed as incompetent by his treating physicians,” the letter reads, referring to his CTE.

A separate email to owners and renters, which was also attached to Moore’s lawsuit, claims Zapiec has been diagnosed with dementia. That email came from an account associated with Zapiec and Hilton Head Hideaways.

Symptoms of CTE may include impulsive behavior, depression, short-term memory loss, aggression, speech difficulties and dementia, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Zapiec came to the island and formed Hilton Head Hideaways in 1997, according to his LinkedIn profile. The S.C. Secretary of State’s Office says the LLC was incorporated in 2003. Between 2013 and 2014, he also worked for Weichert Realtors, according to his profile.

“Zapiec, a Philadelphia native and Penn State graduate has been buying, selling and investing in Hilton Head real estate for almost 20 years,” his LinkedIn profile reads. “Whether you are looking for a place to stay on your vacation or a primary home, a secondary home, something for the rental market, or a place to retire in a few years, he will help you find the perfect property at the perfect price, without any headaches.”

He also appeared as an advertiser on WHHI and provided color commentary for local high school football games, according to the YouTube channel of WHHI, a self-produced local TV channel.

The CTE diagnosis is why in 2012, Zapiec hired Travis Gibbon to manage the day-to-day operations of the company, according to the letter sent to owners. Gibbon’s wife, Carla Rickard, was also hired. The two left the company and formed Island Rentals of Hilton Head in September 2017, the letter reads.

Gibbon said he and his wife had no comment when contacted the last week of August.

Berg’s email notice that her rental had been canceled noted the company would be filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Chapter 7 protects a debtor from people or businesses that he or she owes money to, according to the S.C. Bar.

But according to court records, no bankruptcy case has been filed.

Zapiec filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is available to businesses, in 2011, online court records show.

Complaints against Zapiec

Zapiec relinquished his license to practice real estate on May 24, 2018 after a complaint alleging misconduct was made against him, according to the LLR. He is listed as an inactive broker online.

By June 1, his company was closed, according to the letter to property owners.

This is not the first time Zapiec’s conduct was called into question.

In 2014, Zapiec was investigated by the LLR and issued a public reprimand and ordered to pay $1,000 after the Real Estate Commission found he violated the law because he “acted as a real estate broker, real estate salesman, or real estate property manager and advertised as such without a valid license issued by the department.” The commission also found he “assumed duties of a broker-in-charge or property manager-in-charge without establishing and maintaining a specific office location,” among other things.

Zapiec told the department it was “misinformation” and he didn’t mean to hide anything, according to the final order issued by the commission.

Hilton Head Hideaways LLC is in good standing, according to the S.C. Secretary of State’s Office — a designation that is acquired immediately after forming an LLC, according to Renee Daggerhart, the office’s media relations director.

The agency does not have authority to investigate businesses. The only grounds for dissolving an LLC is if the company doesn’t pay a required tax, penalty or fee, or if a court orders a company to be dissolved, Daggerhart said. Complaints can be made with the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Better Business Bureau and the LLR, she said.

The Better Business Bureau, however, has designated Hilton Head Hideaways an “F” rating — the lowest possible — because the company failed to respond to two complaints against it.

Three complaints against the company have been brought to the BBB. Only two are publicly available, and both cite problems with getting the company to return calls, texts and emails.

The S.C. Department of Consumer Affairs lists no complaints against the company online.

The company has 1.5 stars out of a possible 5 on Yelp with three critical reviews.

Aside from filing a complaint, the only recourse a person has in a situation like this is to file a report with law enforcement, or, if no criminal activity had taken place, a lawsuit, according to Lesia Kudelka, communications director for the LLR.

Robert Kittle, communications director with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, said if the person does go bankrupt, those who believe they are owed money can file a creditor claim in court.

‘It was a closed matter’

Gale Sharkey, of Canada, is also not pursuing legal action over the thousands she says Hilton Head Hideaways owes her.

She estimates she’s owed about $3,000 for unpaid rentals for her Sea Pines property. But factoring in the reservations that were on the books and canceled when the company closed, she said she’s owed $10,000 or more.

Sharkey had been with the company between eight and 10 years, she said. During that time, she had been in contact with Zapiec. She even had a sit-down meeting with him last October, she said. Several weeks later, they spoke again.

They haven’t spoken since.

“I’ve made multiple attempts — emails, text messages — none of them were returned by anyone,” she said.

Sharkey is not sure if property owners were scammed, or if there is truth in Zapiec’s claim of illness. She is, however, frustrated with the ordeal. She doesn’t think it was handled properly — by Hilton Head Hideaways nor LLR.

Sharkey said she is one of several who filed complaints with the LLR about Zapiec owing people money after property owners were told the company was shutting down. She was not told who else filed complaints.

“It bothered me that there was no action on their (LLR) part,” Sharkey said. “Once he was willing to voluntarily give up his license, it was a closed matter, which I don’t think is fair to the people of South Carolina.”

Sharkey now rents her property through Beach Bum Property Management, another local company, but because summer reservations had to be booked last minute, the rental price had to be discounted, she said.

She missed out on full-price summer reservations, and is still trying to recover from the blow of losing rentals in peak tourist season.

Berg, who booked a Hilton Head Hideaways rental for the week of Memorial Day, was able to save her family vacation by finding another — but more expensive — rental that would accommodate her two grown kids, their significant others and Stella, her Great Dane.

“It’s kind of ruined my budget,” she said. “It’s not like I had that sitting around.”

She’ll be more cautious about rentals in the future, she said. For starters, she won’t pay by check next time, even if paying by card has a fee.

She hopes to recover the cost of the canceled rental, and the cost of the second rental, which totals $4,637, according to her lawsuit.

Online court records show Zapiec was served with Berg’s lawsuit last week.

He has 30 days to respond to it.

This story was originally published September 1, 2018 at 5:00 AM.