This complaint and/or review was posted on Skeptic Files on 06:11 am, October 09, 2019 (CST) and is a permanent record located at: https://www.skepticfiles.org/scam/ef-educational-tours/.
The reviews & complaints posted about EF Educational Tours was submitted by a member or guest on this website. Any and all opinions and information are published as is. Skeptic Files does not edit or remove any aspect of the report and is simply a consumer grievance free-speech platform. As such, Skeptic Files cannot be held liable for the complaints and reviews posted about EF Educational Tours as per Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
Eunice Bania
You are a scam!!! I will be calling my credit card company… the insurance you sell is a scam too. They have taken a total of 800 dollars from me for absolutely nothing!!! Had to cancel because my daughter was to afraid to travel with all the hurricanes and they charged me 550 dollar cancellation fee. 250 was the insurance I purchased in case I cancelled. The 300 was the penalty for cancellation. What a racket!!! Stay clear people stay clear!!! The addition 250 they got me on was my registration that I put in for one weekend Yes one weekend and then decided her dad would go they would not give me my money back… they bamboozled me for 800 dollars. 800 dollars for no service whatsoever!! Something needs to be done about these people.. shut them down!!!
Regan Howick
When the school representative did a presentation about the trip to London/Paris/Rome in 2018, they said many times and also was included in the handout packet that was given out that only a $99 deposit is kept for canceling. I called yesterday to cancel, and they told me they would not refund me $550 for canceling. They explained that they have to pay the tour company for my daughter”s place for tours. However, I am not canceling the entire tour, I am only canceling 1 person out of 30+ that is in the group. I know that at almost a year out, tour places will give you a full refund for canceling a tour since they will have time to book other tours in your place. The entire program is a scam and not upfront about the canceling costs.
Kera Mesenbrink
We just returned from a school tour with high school students. We had Atwood day delay leaving the. States. EFTours sent a bus to take us back home and then sent a bus, which was only big enough for half of our group. After 45 minutes of. Conversing with. Someone from EF. Several parents. Volunteered to drive the remaining 10 back down to Indy. We made our flight and then had to spend 8 hours waiting to flay to Paris. We arrived exhausted and excited. We were taken by bus to our hotel, given minutes to take our stuff to our room, and then back to lobby. We then hiked about. 2 miles to the metro, changed stations several times (involved many stairs both up and down) then into Paris to Notre Dame cut the massive line and given 30 minutes for lunch. All of this “travel” was accomplished at break neck speed that was so fast that you could not even take a picture lest you loose sight of the group and are lost in Paris. We then RAN thru the left bank to take ascenic boat cruise to the Eiffel tower and back! Then on to the louvre for several hours. The museum was packed and even hotter than outside. At our appointed time we were then run over to the Opera house to wait more than half an hour for the other half of our group. Then on to a terrible dinner of lettuce and fried potatoes! We asked to take a taxi back because we were exhausted and were told that it was impossible as the taxis would all be busy till 9 and that it would be too expensive! We dragged back the same way that that we had come and arrived back around 9:30 and wer told we had an early wake up and would have a sack breakfast for the bus. I had terrible leg cramps that were. So painful that I was trembling as my husband desperately tried to help me by wrapping my legs in cold wet towels. I the morning we bot had massive red rash like blotches on our legs…broken blood vessels. Thankfully we did not have as much fast hiking this day. After talking with several others fellow travelers they also never wanted to go back to Paris and the possibility of returning at the end of our tour of south France left us asking to leave from Nice. The thing that I most wanted to do in Paris was to have one magic nite and a special dinner to remember our DATE in France maybe at the Moulon Rouge. Actually after our first day all I wanted to do was go home!
Laurine Peckenpaugh
This is all scam! Do not trust these people. I just got taken for over $800 bucks because I was mislead from the begging. I was told of no cancellations fees by the group leader and when I went to call and cancel back in June I was told they had a $250 cancellation fee. I wanted to cancel and the rep talked me into putting it on hold and finding a replacement. I was told to call back when I didn”t find one. Rep never gave me a date so I called back today and was told it was to late because I had to call back by September 26th! A date I was never given! If it sounds to good to be true, don”t believe it!
Avril Petrocco
This company is nothing but a big scam! I was mislead from the very beginning. I was told that there of no cancellations fees and would receive a full refund except for the $95.00 non-refundable deposit by the group leader. She also said that there were no late fees, only that the payment will just be higher by the end of the payment period payoff. Now when I call to cancel they are telling me I have to pay the non-refundable $95 along with $500 cancellation fee and $155 insurance fee. That”s a total of $750 that I am losing out because the group leader failed to tell me the truth. When I call all they can say is that the group leader has been doing this for years and she would have never said any of this and I must of misunderstood what she said. I know for a fact that I would of remember a $500 cancellation fee. They are just liars and I will keep making people aware of the type of crooked business that they are running.
Madelene Rupprecht
The whole tour was cheaply done, the tour guide was worthless educationally, the food and hotels were disgusting and the kids did not get to see much! The hotels were 40-60 minutes outside of the cities so too much time was wasted commuting by public transportation. The hotels were 1 star at best (one was a youth hostel) and two of the 4 hotels did not have phones in the rooms. Security issue if the kids need help. The hostels food in Florence was not fit for animals…Day old bread, rock hard croissants and some form of Tang served as orange juice. My room had a hole in the wall that went to the outside that was stuffed with newspaper. Both my hands could fit thru the hole. Our tour guide gave us information for about an hour just one day on the bus during our 15 day tour. NON educational!!! Most sites were not seen…David in Florence was missed…our tour guide informed us that the replica was good enough…We missed going up the Leaning Tower of Pisa since they took too long showing us another Church and Baptistry…the tour guide informed me that no one comes to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa…Galileo”s Museum was missed too. We ended up with only 1/2 a day in Florence since the other half was spent wasting our time in Pisa. Very disappointed since the itinerary stated that we would have 2 days there. We were never informed that a bus would be our form of transportation from Paris all the way to Rome. Way too much time was wasted on the cramped bus just traveling. On average, 1-2 churches a day were seen. This is due to the fact that churches are free. As beautiful as they are, I did not travel all that way to see 1-3 churches a day…rather than artwork and sites. No one could pay me enough to send another child of mine on a tour with this company. Just criminal what was missed!
Karyl Perque
The tour was listed at “beginning at 1, 495. Our cost was later stated to be 2495. Then, after submitting a deposit we find that the trip will be an additional $1, 000!! It was not listed as additional expenses until we paid the deposit. That does not include spending money. My daughter has worked for months in a diner after school to save for this trip and had over 1, 300 she paid on it. When we discovered the true final price, she decided to cancel as the cost was not possible. When i called the tour company a few weeks ago, i was told it would cost 480. 00 to cancel and that price was good until dec. 21, 2010. Well, today they tell me they will be deducting 680. 00 from what she has paid!!! This company truly is a ripoff. There was no cancellation fee listed when we signed up. Beware of booking with ef tours.
Jolene Labounta
We made payments on a trip to Europe for two of my daughters. We purchased trip insurance on both plans. We were nearly paid in full when we became aware that our daughters couldn’t go. The bottom line: You will only get a small portion of your money back if you decide to cancel. They will hold that small refund forever. EVEN WITH CANCELLATION INSURANCE! Without a death certificate or proof of unemployment you will be told to pound sand. Don’t trust this company.