ISA by WorldStrides Reviews (%countItem)
ISA by WorldStrides Rating
Address: 5301 Southwest Pkwy Ste 200, Austin, Texas, United States, 78735-8986
Phone: |
Show more...
|
Fax: |
+1 (512) 480-8866 |
Web: |
|
Add contact information for ISA by WorldStrides
Add new contacts
ISA canceled my daughter's study abroad trip in Australia, in February. They owe me nearly $3,000 on a pro-rated basis, but their position is simply that they don't provide refunds except in the rare cases when their own vendors are willing to refund to ISA. This is crazy -- ISA customer's should not be victim's of ISA's poor business practices.
So, I paid them for a service, they cancel the service, they keep my money. Completely unethical. They cannot legally hide from their defrauded customers.
I've tried to contact their legal department at the address ISA provided ( *** ) but I've gotten no reply from my multiple emails.
I contracted with and paid ISA for a semester of study abroad for my college aged daughter and ISA cancelled the study abroad program mid-semester due to COVID and refunded a fraction of the cost. We also incurred the cost of an emergency airline ticket we needed to purchase due to the cancelled program. The refund barely covers the cost of the ticket and not to mention the cost of the program we didn't receive.
August
13, 2020 This serves as a response to
complaint number *** filed by *** in relation to her daughter’s
study abroad program through International Studies Abroad. *** voiced her
dissatisfaction with the refund amount via phone and email (see Document 1 in
supporting documentation attachment) and was provided with prompt and
applicable personalized responses in each case as well as the opportunity to
speak more about the topic with one of our members of leadership. *** did
not respond to the email sent on May 29, 2020, nor has she been in touch with
any of our staff members since that date. Though ISA understands her
dissatisfaction with the refund amount, as you will see from the supporting
documentation, it is in line with our company policy that has been communicated
to *** throughout this process. *** daughter, ***, enrolled in a semester long study
abroad program with International Studies Abroad (ISA) at Universidad *** in
***, *** for spring 2020. The program dates were January 12, 2020 to
June 6, 2020; however, all spring programs were suspended due to the COVID-19
pandemic. The decision to suspend the in-country portion of *** program in
*** was not an easy one to make. ISA made the decision based on the
evolving nature of COVID-19 and the impact it was having on international travel (flight availability, border closures, etc.) as well as the general concern for our students' health and safety. It was
in the best interests of the students and their families that they returned
home to finish their academic programs remotely prior to further escalation of
the situation. As ISA would not be able to support students appropriately under
lockdown conditions, the safest choice was for students to promptly return
home. *** was informed of her program suspension on March
15, 2020 and was told that she needed to depart the country by March 20, 2020.
She departed *** the next day on March 16, 2020. Upon her return to the
U.S., *** continued with her classes online and received a transcript
from Universidad *** for the credits she earned (Document 3). *** signed the ISA
cancellation policy at the time of application on April 23, 2019 . Thus,
according to the ISA policy, she is ineligible for a refund of any sort
(Document 2). Due to the special circumstances of COVID-19, ISA has made an
exception to standard policies and is refunding all recoverable costs. ISA has
been consistent in communicating via email and on our website, that spring 2020
refunds would correspond to recoverable costs. Recoverable costs are the
program costs that ISA was able to receive refunds for from our onsite vendors
for housing, activities, and insurance. The ISA program fee of $11,750
paid by *** and *** includes tuition to Universidad *** as well
as ISA’s comprehensive advising and support; Bridging Cultures orientation
Program; accommodation for the duration of the program; weekend excursions;
cultural activities; health insurance; and ISA Resident Staff. In ***’s
case, she received a refund check for $1,079 corresponding to her recoverable
program costs ($510 for housing and $569 for excursions, activities, and
insurance). Host university tuition was
not recoverable as students were given the opportunity to finish their courses
online and receive a transcript corresponding to the grades and credits earned.
We were able to recover a portion of ***’s housing costs and that
amount was returned to her in the refund mentioned above. Excursions and activities scheduled to take place
after the program suspension were included in the refund total. Insurance was
cancelled once students confirmed their safe arrival home and these refunds
were pro-rated. The program fee also includes
administrative fees that go towards the cost of running the organization and
additional services that ISA provides before, during, and after the official
dates (Enrollment Management, University Partnerships, Health & Safety, Academic Records,
Accounting, etc.). A large portion of these services were administered before
*** departed
from the U.S. and have continued to be provided following the program suspension.
For this reason, administrative fees are non-refundable. Flights are not included in ISA's program
costs; therefore, return travel expenses or ticket change fees were not
reimbursed for any spring 2020 program participant. As mentioned previously, members of ISA management have been in communication with
***’s mother, ***, by email and phone regarding her concerns. As
*** had previously expressed satisfaction with her program and interest
in studying abroad again in the future, ISA offered *** a discount on a
future program as a gesture of good faith. During these
unprecedented times, ISA has made a diligent effort to request refunds and give
any recoverable costs back to our students. We understand and share the
disappointment surrounding the suspension of spring study abroad programs;
however, refund amounts are final and non-negotiable.
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:This ISA program was poorly run from the beginning. We contracted with ISA to have my daughter live with a host family in *** and attend *** University for a semester and take Spanish classes. After asking many times, with her departure to *** days away, we finally heard about her living situation. She was not placed with a family after all, but rather with a group of other American students. (Email attached). I reached out to ISA to voice my concern, but *** assured me that my daughter would have just as good an opportunity to learn Spanish in the apartment with American kids as with the host family. I also voiced concern because with the host family, certain meals were provided, but in the apartment no meals were provided. It was only after I voiced my concern with ***, that ISA agreed to a monthly stipend of $100 to cover two meals per day ($3.33/day or $1.65/meal). Although the cost of living in *** was less expensive than the US, it wasn't that much less, so we had to supplement. ISA is only refunding $510 of the $1,900 room and board cost. They should also, at the very least, refund $100/month for food *** was not in *** (2.5 months not receiving the stipend = $250).I contacted ISA in May to express my concern/discontent with the refund they were offering. We had a number of phone calls and exchanged emails. I didn't respond to ISA's last email because it didn't warrant a response. (Email attached).In my contact with ISA, I asked if they would be willing to offer a discount for another study abroad semester, not because we would do business with ISA in the future, but because by offering us an additional amount as a credit, they are admitting that there was additional value which was not refunded to us in cash. Indeed, they were willing to give us another $1,500 toward a future program, indicating to me that they believe at least another $1,500 in value is still with ISA. (Email attached).The time between when ISA notified the students of a mandatory departure from the country to when they were required to leave *** was 5 days. They were notified Sunday and had to leave by Friday. This resulted in the necessity of purchasing an emergency return airline ticket for $671. We would like to be reimbursed for this. (Email attached).I've attached my correspondence with ISA regarding the refund I requested for the terminated contract. In this correspondence, ISA provided a breakdown of the costs associated with the study abroad program, which I've also attached. Please find attached the email string between my daughter and her ISA point of contact in *** regarding the termination of the program and the time she had to make arrangements for departure from ***.(please note the time stamp on the emails and the required departure timeline). On the detail breakdown of costs, ISA is only reimbursing $500 of the $6,050 in "Other Expenses". The program originally ran from mid-January to mid-June, so 5 months. Averaging these costs over those 5 months, is about $1,210/month. The program was cancelled after 2 months, so ISA should take $2,420 for the time they serviced our contract and it seems fair that they refund the remainder ($3.630). They are only refunding $569. We are not asking for any tuition reimbursement. This study abroad was a dream of my daughter's since she was in middle-school. She worked hard to scrimp and save for the program, saved her birthday money, Christmas money, worked all through college to save up for it - we purchased from ISA in good faith that they would provide the experience as advertised and spelled out in the contract. When they could not fulfill their contract due to COVID, I fully expected them to make good on our agreement and refund to us the portion of the contract they left unfulfilled.
Regards
Hi.....my daughter *** recently came back from a great international study abroad program in New Zealand, arranged by International Studies Abroad. As part of this program, she had to give them a $300 housing deposit. She completed her program on November, 2, 2018 and still to this date has not received her deposit. She has been in correspondence with the company and all paperwork is completed and she will be issued the deposit but they are saying it will still take 2-3 months. We feel this is not right and the deposit should be returned immediately.
After looking into Mr.’s complaint, I see that his daughter, ***, did receive a full housing refund in January. I’ve attached Refund Communications *** (an email communication chain between *** and her Program Manager). This communication informs *** that her refund check was ready and asked her to please verify her permanent mailing address so that the refund check could be mailed. This was done and the refund check was sent. I also investigated to see if Mr. had ever contacted ISA to voice his concerns regarding the time frame of the housing deposit refund before he wrote to the Revdex.com. I did not find any indication that he had been in contact with anyone at ISA. We do apologize that he felt the time taken to return the deposit was not satisfactory. I have notified our housing department to make sure that clear communications are provided to a student and their parents, should they inquire, so that expectations are clear.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Although some of their statements are not true, my daughter did get her refund shortly after I submitted the complaint. Thank you
Regards