*$190 is the current cost for tours departing on or after October 1, 2023. On May 1st I lost my job and we immediately contacted Ef Tours to cancel. Protection for your belongings I did not cancel this trip! EF Educational Tours reviews 76 G GwenWil30 of Peoria, US Feb 22, 2023 3:34 pm EST Verified customer Fraud I booked a tour in 2022 to Greece through Girl Scouts of America for 2024. It took me to every floor and A) the offices are gorgeous! Meet Carlos, an expert local guide These affordable plans provide pre-departure and on-tour benefits, including medical expense coverage that may apply on tour and tour cancellation for the stated reasons below. It was necessary for a family member to go to Costa Rica. Read our Newswire Disclaimer. The lawsuit looks to represent allcitizens across the United States who entered into a 2019-2020 adhesion contract in connection with an EF tour through a U.S. high school that was scheduled to leave after January 31, 2020 but has since been canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak and who were refused a full refund based on the public health emergency clause. . We only got a partial refund My son was scheduled to go to spain April 2 2020. This has to be illegal. Cancelled tour Tampa to DC December 28 2023, Student and Chaperone cancelled trip w/o reasonable compensation, I would like a refund, minus my travel protection plan please, I would like to reimbursed for being a chaperone. DO NOT USE EF Tours! Future Travel Vouchers are transferrable at the face value of the voucher to members of the travelers immediate family or school community. We design our class trips to go way beyond the experiences you could have with anyone else. Yes, even though quarantine is a covered reason for a full refund, EF Tours CHARGED members $$ a significant amount of money thus negating a full refund. To date I paid $1063 on this trip to Peru and canceling it over 1 year in advance due to unforeseen circumstances has cost me $560. My daughter wanted to go with members of her class on this great trip with EF tours. Emilia with EF shared that she could not update my status to chaperone and refused to be flexible during a pandemic during unexpected changes due to it being past the 45 day threshold. They simply refuse to refund your deposit. Please download the PDF to view it: Download PDF. That's when we found out it would be around $800 to cancel. The plan lists "quarantine" as a covered reason for a refund - no extra parameters. This browser does not support PDFs. Hence the lawsuit (in CA 2020, look it up). Tour # 2130465UX - London, Paris, and The Alps I haven t received any schoolplan, no activities, Just an enourmous amount of Money paid and no information at all, apart some general meetings where lots of people speak and no body answers your questions on the chat. I am self employed so I had to send a letter stating that my business went under and this had created a hardship. Not only did I make a complaint to the Better Business Bureau but I also requested that a manager call me and I have yet to hear from anyone. Best Day Ever: Tokyo They saved $3800 a piece from babysitting, dog walking, plant watering! Emilia Hovestadt ** The Global Travel Protection Plus plan includes a non-insurance Cancel for Any Reason waiver benefit provided by EF Educational Tours. Subject to policy limits and exclusions. Avoid at all costs! When you decide to travel with EF, we want you to feel secure in that decision. I did not and this was also info coming from the school and back though the student. My son received life threatening injuries and had there not been a physician along as a chaperone my son would have died. Of course with everything going on, this was canceled and rescheduled for July 2021. However, we had already paid and were still excited to be spending 2 weeks in Europe together. As a working class family that was attempting to give our child a wonder experience, I am outraged that a company would gain such a profit off of a cancellation! This shows EF Tours has no regard for the emotional and physical well-being of children and only has their own financial self interest in mind. Our tours are curated by world travelers Paid full price with insurance.The trip coordinator was a personal friend Mary Pope. We also had the unfortunate luck of awful traffic. It isn't worth the hassle these people have created. Our only hope now is that our kids have a great time with their class. Was informed of the price to cancel was $199 not the $95 listed. SCUMBAGS!!!!! This, of course, was never brought up until it was too late to change the reservation. to a single room. On September 8, 2020, and over vigorous objection, federal District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel granted a motion to change venue from the Southern District of California to the District of Massachusetts that had previously been filed by the EF Defendants and set for hearing on September 11, 2020. Submit a complaint and get your issue resolved. We bottled some of this events magic in our student Summit video recap. And that wasn't even a full guarantee of a full refund. But guess what? EF never notified the trip leader or travelers of this cancellation. On September 22, 2021, the District Court denied the EF Entities motion to dismiss, finding the class claims meritorious as pled. They insist on keeping $500 per person! Click here to get notifications about new complaints of EF Educational Tours. 2. She was contracted but not employed by EFgo ahead tours. :? This is ridiculous and really wrong. Now I've fought this as much as I could. A most unsatisfactory and life changing (m for the worse) experience. Well isn't that what insurance is for??? Your Group Leader may choose from the following options: Terms & Conditions NBC 5 Responds has received dozens of complaints from families who say EF Tours, a travel company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is charging them a cancellation fee to get their money. ", Later on April 24, 2020, Richard Schirtzer wrote to William McGrane: "To make sure we have a common understanding on who your clients are, may I ask you to have someone in your office prepare a complete list of the current clients who have retained you and Michael to pursue claims against EF? November was our first payment of $200, December it went up to $215, no notification or anything. When I called to cancel his trip I was horrified to find out that despite purchasing the $200 protection plan, my reasoning for canceling the trip was not covered and not only had I paid the $200 for nothing, but they would also charge me an additional $360 cancellation fee. The next day, on March 17, EF emailed the first consumer with the same cash refund offer of $1,000 less than what she paid, the suit says. It was so uncomfortable. We were offered a wait and see attitude for the following year 2021 . 3:20-cv-00508-GPC-BLM, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. the unforeseen. It is a crime for a youth educational program to take $3800 dollars from a 15 year old after they endorse a trip, then fly us into civil unrest, only to tell us they have no ability to get us home. I can supply all correspondence that my group coordinator had. Our group leader and another chaperone attending the trip tested positive for covid and were unable to attend. Trip Interruption coverage A more personalized on-tour experience. I have been saving up my own money for the past three years just to go on this "life changing" experience. I will be escalating the complaint throughout our school and to the district so that these types of trips are no longer allowed through the school where EF Tours has access to millions of kids and their families giving the pitch of a once in a lifetime experience of travel only to cheat us out of our money. It has been no surprise that management NEVER called. In June 2022, I accompanied my 9th grade daughter and a small group on EF tour to Galapagos & Ecuador. Look at all the one star reviews. Three weeks after enrolling, our circumstances changed so I called to cancel, expecting to pay the $95 cancellation fee x2. I would NEVER stay at a truck stop, nor would I deceive students into thinking they were going to be safe on a trip and then place them there. They also facilitate communication between travelers and families in the event of an emergency at home. Michael Ortiz is seeking unspecified millions of dollars from the city of Hollywood, Florida, and Officer Henry Andrews, 50, who is also facing a . al. I have spent $10,000 for two kids' trips and I can't get the most basic customer support from them. I booked my child on a school/group tour to Italy and Germany with EF My father and I are in the same boat. On September 8, 2020, and over vigorous objection, federal District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel granted a motion to change venue from the Southern District of California to the District of Massachusetts that had previously been filed by the EF Defendants and set for hearing on September 11, 2020. Presently she is trying to get refunds for trip because of the imposed restrictions that cannot be met. In my opinion they are if they hired them to insure these trips they should make good on there promises to get you to buy the insurance. We asked to leave to home too. They are making a profit off of cancellations!!!! Just don't use them. With 600 schools and offices in 50 countries worldwide, including regional offices dedicated to on-tour support, our global presence is truly unmatched. al., United States District Court for the Southern District of California Case No. Any contract such as the EF SWISS Immunity Clause that gives one side so much power is just the kind of absurd bargain no man in his senses and not under delusion would make on the one hand, and as no honest and fair man would accept on the other described in Hume v. United States (1889) 132 U.S. 406, 411; see also Harper v. Ultimo (2003) 113 Cal.App.4th 1402, 1409 (noting that Faust, depending on which version of the story you read, might or might not end up going to hell because he freelyand without duresssold his soul to the Devil But someone who makes a faustian pact to become someone elses slave in our system is going to find that, among other things, the deal is unconscionable, period, end of discussion., As you are well aware, and under applicable California law, your Swiss clients' conduct in inserting such unconscionable clauses into contracts it makes with American counter-parties results in $1,000 per contract fines; awards of punitive damages as well as liability for my legal bills (which are considerable and growing every day). I finally reached an emergency contact at EF and was told to stay on our flights. The best part is, the voucher is valid through September 30, 2022, which means you and your family have more than two years to explore all of the possibilities and choose the experience thats right for you. UK prioritizing Ukraine people over my Tourist VISA. We had to accept them. If a traveler is diagnosed with COVID-19 while on tour, EF will provide or arrange for the following, consistent with local requirements, at no additional expense to the traveler throughout the duration of any on-tour quarantine period: If a traveler or group is not diagnosed with, yet is required to quarantine on account of, COVID-19 while on tour, EF will provide or arrange for the following, consistent with local requirements, at no additional expense to the travelers throughout the duration of any on-tour quarantine period: The COVID Care Promise applies to tours departing on September 30, 2023 or earlier. Risk-Free Enrollment Period Our school will be traveling with three other schools from different parts of the country. Join a Free Coronavirus Failure to Refund Class Action Lawsuit Investigation Plus you have more than two years to explore your possibilities. To be eligible, the traveler must enroll on a tour at least 110 days prior to the scheduled departure date. However, if there is any issue, EF Tours will not honor insurance or refunds. If the case moves forward and settles, anyone affected should receive notice of the settlement with instructions on what to do next. If a traveler needs to interrupt a tour due to serious injury or illness, this provides a benefit. Cancel for Any Reason** A class action has been filed over an educational travel companys alleged failure to issue sufficient refunds for student tours canceled in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. About 3-4 months before our trip, and after we had already paid IN FULL, we were notified that because of our small group, our group leader had only signed 5 people up..hindsight tells me people saw what a rip off it was and didn't sign up to take it in the rear from EF. However, EF Tours will override the plan and refuse your refund. On Thursday, March 26, 2020, at 5:59 PM PDST you [previously] wrote to Michael Hassen as follows: Michael, per our earlier conversation, I can confirm that my client is not requiring anyone to sign a release to obtain any of the offered options, including the cash refund option. 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