Cultural Experiences Abroad, Inc.

Review: Following is the letter that we sent to CEA on 5 May 2013. The CEA response is also provided. Bottom line is They did not tell about these charges until 2.5 months after the trip ended, it took another 1.5 months to get the details, one of the receipts provided was dated 6weeks after the program ended (and three weeks after the next program session had started - new students in apartment!), and many stated Policies were not properly followed. In addition to this my daughter did not have heat in her apartment for 3-weeks during the stay. Each time we have brought this up we have gotten a difference response; First - there was no heat problem, Second - They cannot have heat above 66.2 degrees in Italy, Third - They cannot run heater for more than 10 hours a day in Italy. All I am requesting is for not to be charge the $178 I am said that are owed due to damages. If I do not succeed I am considering suing for 25% of the housing cost.

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Letter to CEA

I am writing to make you aware of our extreme dissatisfaction with how your staff has handled the collection of additional fees associated with damage charges as a result of my daughter’s, [redacted], semester abroad in Florence Italy. What a horrible way to end such a phenomenal experience.

I have many issues and concerns related how this situation unfolded –

- The program ended on 15 December 2012. We did not hear any mention of owing money additional money until ~2 ½ months after she returned.

o On 6 March I got an e-mail from CEA saying we had an outstanding balance; this e-mail also threatened a “$300 late fee”. I immediately responded, stating “We are very surprised to hear that we have an outstanding balance. Unfortunately, we no longer remember the password to our 'MyCEA Account. Please provide details of the bill along with information on how to pay (who to make check out to, mailing address, etc...) – I never got a response to this e-mail.

o As this process has continued we have gotten several additional e-mails that threaten a “$300 late fee”.

- My daughter (and her roommates) were initially told only that they owed ~$250 each. It took another month to get any detail (now 3 ½ months since the program ended!) on what they were being billed for. They were all extremely surprised by all of the charges (with the exception of a bidet).

o Note that they were charged for a few items that had been documented as damaged when they had moved in.

- It was another week (now close to 4 months) when they received additional detail that there was a 2nd broken bidet that they were being charged for.

- Your Policies state – “The CEA resident staff will make every effort to inform you of any fees or charges that will be withheld from the program deposit prior to departure”. I do not feel that a “reasonable effort” was made to inform my daughter of these additional charges, nor were the charges presented to her in a timely or understandable manner.

o Additionally, your policy mentions that charges will be “withheld from the program deposit”. Apparently, there was mention of a ~$300 deposit during the orientation when my daughter arrived in Italy. Was this not a deposit for potential damages to the apartment? We have asked this question, but never gotten a clear response?

- One receipt that was finally sent to us for the replacement of a bidet was dated 30 January 2013. This is 6 weeks after the program ended and 2-3 weeks into your winter session program. Many receipts provided had “sticky notes” attached with additional charges.

o “dye” on 8-sets of fitted sheets booked under “kitchen repairs”? A receipt for repairs 6 weeks after the program ended. Hand written sticky notes provided as receipts? Charges for items that were reported damaged when they moved in? Discovering new “detail” of charges (2nd bidet) almost 4 months after the program ended?

o Please try to view this from our perspective. Can you understand why this seems suspicious / fraudulent to us?

- I can go on and on and on with additional information included in e-mail exchanges.

On top of all of all this, my daughter had no heat in her apartment for 3-4 weeks during her stay. This is absolutely unacceptable. When we mentioned this, we were told that they had “increased the heat each time they requested it, and usually quite within reasonable timing. But yes, the heating in Italy has to be regulated at certain temperatures not above 19 degrees C. (66.2 F).”

The girls were cold; very, very cold. As we have told your staff, my wife was in Florence for ~10 days. She was at the apartment several times. She physically witnessed the apartment temperature and the girls dressed in down coats and ear muffs to stay warm. My wife was there, it was not 66.2 degrees in the apartment - there was no heat – period. To be honest, the response that your staff provided on this issue was insulting.

Please understand how frustrating and exhausting this process has been for us - to learn of charges for damages 2.5 months after the girls returned, to take another month to get any detail; and to finally learn that there were actually two (2) broken bidets 4 months after the conclusion of the program. To be frank, we feel that this entire process has been handled extremely unprofessionally. Additionally, it has not been handled in accordance with your own stated Policies. At this point we strongly feel that all charges to [redacted]’s account should be waived.

We thank you in advance for your timely consideration in this matter. Please feel free to contact me or my wife if you have any additional questions.

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Response from CEA

Dear Mr. and Mrs. [redacted],

I am [redacted], Site Specialist Supervisor and direct manager of Meghan Wagner. Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback about some of yours and [redacted] experiences with CEA, specifically related to outstanding charges on [redacted] account and our communication responses. CEA strives to provide quality academic programs abroad for students and we do not want any miscommunication on our part to be a reflection of [redacted] experience in Florence or how she should remember her CEA study abroad program.

The CEA executive and management teams have carefully reviewed your case and the supporting information you provided in your letter to [redacted] on 5 May 2013. Like you, we would like to find a solution to the situation and move forward, and remain fair and consistent to our policies and to the other students who have also agreed to our policies and procedures.

To address your most recent concerns, below are some additional details to help explain the situation and CEA’s policies.

· We agree that 90 days after a conclusion of a program can be a long time to learn about outstanding charges and any additional fees. CEA makes our best effort to collect any incidental billing information as quickly as possible after the end of a program. However, when it comes to charges at the end of the program, we rely on a variety of housing vendors, school partners, and landlords, to give reports of final costs to us. Often times, CEA is also involved in negotiations and clarifications prior to charges ever being assessed to students’ accounts and we work to be advocates for our students. While CEA informs students of outstanding charges prior to departure in items in which we have a control over and immediate visibility over, that typically does not include charges related to housing. It then takes additional time to report fees for every student to the CEA Home Office and assess charges to students’ accounts. For these reasons, we communicate at least a 90 day processing timeline within our CEA Policies.

· Our systems employ automatic emails based on account status and account balance. It is regrettable that you received emails about [redacted] account and potential late fees when you were already in communication with our staff and we did not prevent these automatic emails from continuing. We are addressing this to avoid potential miscommunications like this in the future.

· It was during this communication with one of [redacted] roommates that we were able to discover responsibility for specific charges, and agreed with all roommates that CEA would waive charges for broken dishes and lamp and replacement of stained bed linens. These charges were discussed at housing checkout; however, our staff was only able to conduct a cursory inspection of the apartment at that time. Some of the additional charges, including the broken bidet, were not discovered until a more thorough inspection had been completed after the girls returned home. The potential for additional charges is explained during the checkout process and within our policies.

· We understand confusion regards the charges for the bidet. Initially, the charge was divided equally between all 7 girls which is standard procedure when specific responsibility for damages cannot be identified to a particular student. After discussing the charge with the roommates, it became clear who was sharing the space for that bathroom. One of the roommates emailed CEA to inform us that they were unable to identify exactly how the bidet broke, so the four of them would take responsibility equally for the damage. CEA therefore reassessed the charges based on shared responsibility for the broken bidet amongst 4 students instead of the initial 7.

· In addressing your concern about a security deposit, this was mentioned in error to your daughter and her roommates. [redacted] participated in a specially arranged program with [redacted] which has customized payment policies where we provide participants special and discounted pricing. Within the agreed upon contract, this discounted program waives the additional $300 security deposit most other CEA students are responsible for paying. Because of the discount and waiver of the security deposit, it puts the onus on the student to submit payment for additional charges that may be assessed throughout the semester or as a result of housing property damages after the semester has ended.

· I also understand that there was concern regarding the heating of the apartment. Italy has a regulated heating system throughout the entire country which is dictated by Italian law. Heat is regulated to a point where it can only be on for a limited amount of time each day. The apartment where [redacted] resided was restricted to a maximum of 10 hours of heat per day. Additionally, each time [redacted] or her roommates submitted a complaint regarding heating, our staff attempted to help the girls be more comfortable.

Upon examination of several of your points in your letter, we recognize rooms for improvement in our communication processes for notifying our students about additional fees on their accounts. Your feedback is important to us; we strive to offer great service and quality programming from beginning to end, especially for our Alumni who have spent a significant amount of time with us. We will be addressing your concerns and will be working to improve upon our communications and reporting for the future.

This case was reviewed in depth with both our international team and our Phoenix office. Our customer experience is very important to us, and our intention is for everyone to always have a positive and growing experience with CEA. CEA does have a responsibility to all of its participants to provide a safe and sound well-rounded program, however, we also have a responsibility to be fair and consistent with our policies and procedures. As accountability was taken by all of the girls who shared that bathroom, CEA has appropriately and accurately assessed incidental billing charges to each roommate, and some of her roommates have already paid and cleared their account balances. Your current account balance is accurate and will need to be paid. We will not be assessing any additional late fees and we will adjust the due date for the charges to June 14, 2013 to allow you a flexible time frame to submit payment for the amount of $173.00. However, please note that [redacted]’s transcript for her program will not be mailed until payment is received and cleared.

We would like to move forward, as we know you do with this situation. I hope that all of your concerns have been addressed and explanations provided where there might have been confusion. Please feel free to reach out to me personally should you have any further questions or need further clarification on any of the points above. We sincerely hope that [redacted] had a positive experience with us in Italy and wish her all the best in completing her academic studies.

Sincerely,

Site Specialist Supervisor

CEA Global Education

Toll Free: [redacted] Ext. [redacted]

Tel: [redacted], Ext. [redacted]

Fax: [redacted].[redacted]Desired Settlement: We strongly feel that all charges to [redacted] account ($187) should be waived.

Business

Response:

As the customer has presented, CEA

has reviewed the points addressed in the 5 May 2013 letter, and responded via

email on 16 May 2013. Our full response to the [redacted] Family is enclosed with

their complaint, and we have considered each point presented to us in the

letter and feel we have thoroughly addressed them. CEA has abided by our

policies and we have treated the student fairly, which our response letter

states. To inform the Revdex.com of the

background from CEA perspective, here is additional information regarding the

case.

1) Students participating in CEA programs are bound by our Policies: these are made available to students upon enrollment in our program, and it is the student’s responsibility to read and understand the policies and communicate with their parents and anyone else helping them plan for their program abroad. Policies can also be viewed here: http://www.gowithcea.com/policies.html

2) Information regarding the Security Deposit reporting process is included within our policies, including the potential timeline for finalizing these potential charges:

"Security Deposit

All applicants are required to pay a $300 refundable security deposit. The deposit is used to pay for any charges that may be incurred during the program, including but not limited to, broken furniture, floor damage, lost keys, overdue library books, excessive cleaning, etc. Should the cost of damages or charges incurred during the program exceed the security deposit, students will be invoiced for any additional costs. CEA reserves the right to hold a student's security deposit and transcript until all utility bills and any outstanding vendor costs have been reviewed and assessed. Any unused portion of the security deposit is eligible to be refunded when:

All onsite costs have been verified (housing repairs are complete, utility bills have been paid, etc.). Depending on program location, verification of costs can take up to 12 weeks.

The CEA Arizona and international staff have verified there are no other outstanding damages or payment issues.

Student has paid all outstanding balances."

3) The student in question participated in a specialized program which had an agreement with her home university in the United States, [redacted]. The billing was set up through [redacted] for the program, and as part of the specialized agreement, the student was not required to pay a $300 security deposit. However, most students on our programs do pay a security deposit, so we understand there may have been some miscommunication here, as our international staff is not frequently informed of the nuances of specific students’ billing arrangements. However, we clarified

that no security deposit was paid by [redacted] when we officially asked in writing, which our earliest record we have on file was not until the 5 May 2013 letter.

Mrs. [redacted] and Ms. [redacted] received an email from CEA on August 8, 2012 which included information on who to contact at [redacted] about specific billing questions because of the specialized billing arrangement (enclosed).

4) [redacted]’s program ended on December 15, 2012. CEA notified [redacted] via email of outstanding charges on March 6, 2013 (81 days). Our timeline allows for a 90 day turnaround, and we articulate that costs may not be finalized by the end date of the program in our policies:

"All damage, even unintentional, will be billed to the student responsible. If responsibility cannot be determined, the cost will be split equally among all residents. Please note if excessive cleaning and/or trash removal is required at the end of the program, you will be responsible for all additional costs incurred. CEA, without liability and at your expense, will dispose of any personal items left in CEA housing at the end of this contract term. The CEA resident staff will make every effort to inform you of any fees or charges that will be withheld from the program deposit prior to departure; however, CEA reserves the right to inspect housing and assess charges after your departure. If the program damage deposit does not cover all fees and charges, you will be billed accordingly. CEA reserves the right to withhold academic transcripts for any outstanding balance on student accounts."

5) In regards to the heating, we have not kept any documentation of written exchanges or what was communicated to [redacted] or her roommates during her Fall 2012 semester abroad. However, our Program Director has acknowledged that when it was brought to our attention, our CEA staff in Florence increased heat whenever the students requested up to the regulated 66.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Although we recognize that we might not have explicitly indicated that the reason heat couldn’t be increased because of Italian law, we do not feel that this information was purposely withheld from any of the students; we typically want to help educate students as much as possible on foreign customs, and heating is not an uncommon pain point for our students which we are always trying to proactively address and clarify.

6) In the letter, Mr. [redacted] indicates it took 2.5 months after the program to learn of any charges, which is within CEA Policy and procedures and was communicated in advance. He also says it took “another month to get any detail; and to finally learn that there were actually two (2) broken bidets 4 months after the conclusion of the program.” We would like to note that CEA was in frequent communication about what we were doing to help clarify the situation, and we were also working with [redacted]’s roommates as well to help clarify the damages as well.

7)This is an abbreviated timeline of the most relevant communication to this case:

6 March – [redacted] and roommates informed of charges on their account

11 March – [redacted], a roommate of [redacted]’s, contacts CEA and requests information about the charges, and informs us she is inquiring on behalf of all of her roommates

11 March – CEA informs [redacted] we have made a request and are still waiting on more information

20 March – CEA Phoenix staff received clarifying information from CEA Florence staff about the charges

27 March – CEA clarifies to [redacted] that there is no security deposit because of her program, and we are still waiting on more clarifying information from [redacted]’s landlord

8 April – [redacted] contacts CEA to ask if she or her roommates will be charged a late fee while we are still working on responding to their inquiries, and CEA informs [redacted] no late fee will be assessed to her or any roommates

11 April – CEA emails all roommates with final clarification about charges

11 April 2013 – This is the first time CEA heard back officially from [redacted] with

any question about the situation

Following this email, CEA and one or more of the [redacted]’s were in communication on at least a weekly basis, but usually more frequently, through the end of April 2013. The [redacted]’s had many questions for clarification, and CEA continued to respond and address concerns as they arose, including who was responsible for the bidet. We continually made efforts to answer questions as they arose, leading up to the letter on May 5.

CEA is a reputable business and we focus on the welfare and education of students. We recognize that errors may occur from time to time, and we take any errors seriously and make efforts to

correct them. We feel that CEA has addressed all issues brought forward by Ms. [redacted] and her roommates in a timely manner and according to our standard company policy and procedures. We do not feel that CEA has misrepresented our company practices or set any expectations which were not ultimately followed, and we treated the student fairly. The majority of [redacted]’s roommates have already paid their fees for the damages.

With that being said, we do not want to leave anyone with a bad taste or negative feelings, especially over such a small amount. For this reason, CEA will waive the remaining $173.00 balance on [redacted]’s account. This is not an admission of error or failure to abide by our policies, but a gesture of goodwill for [redacted] and her family.

We wish [redacted] many sucesses as she finishes up her college career, and hope that all parties involved and can move forward from here.