Way Auto Body

Hello,
Thank you for being in touch with your concerns. EF Education has several policies and we make amendments to policies in light of world events
EF follows the State Department and will not travel to a country where a formal travel warning has been issued. Following the events in
Europe, there was a travel alert issued, which is not uncommon. This was the 5th Worldwide Travel Alert the State Department has issued in the last years. The current alert advises that US travelers exercise vigilance and be aware of their surroundings while traveling, however it did not recommend against traveling in general
All of our tours ran as planned and we continue to monitor the situation with the State Department and our local staff around the world to make any changes to itineraries if necessary
We have our Peace of Mind Policy which allows up until days before your tour, you have three options for your tour. Your group can change their tour or date, your group cna work wiht EF to amend their exisiting itinerary or change to a different tour, or you can choose to receive a future travel voucher
The investment we have decided to make in our policies is to provide as much flexibility as possible to students and teachers traveling-- even if that means we have to move destinations or departure dates at the last minute. This allows us to provide groups the option to change their tour, change their date or receive a future travel voucher
Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns
Sincerely,
EF Education

Given the extenuating circumstances regarding this cancellation we have made the decision to refund the customer in fullTwo separate checks will be sent for the initial $deposits to the address on file

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ***.
Every time I have called during business hours I get a voice recording saying everyone must be in a meeting and I cannot leave a messageI have requested they email me.
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ***
I spoke with EF Tours and explained to them that $was not satisfactory and EF Tours insisted that they would mail me a check anywayI told them to do whatever they felt they needed to do, but the $was not acceptableI'm not sure if they mailed the check or not, but I will not be cashing it because I do not accept their offer.
Regards,
*** ***

Thank you for contacting us. We are very sorry that *** will not be able to travel with us. It looks like members of our customer service department had gone over the cancellation process and fees with you a week before you officially closed your son’s account. There is
always cancellation fees associated with cancelling an EF Tour. In this case, your cancellation fees were actually more than what you had paid in. So while we would never ask for the additional fees to be paid, we would also not be able to issue a refund. If you have any questions regarding the fees themselves, please feel free to review our booking conditions at ***. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact us at ***
Best, EF Tours

Thank you for your response The cancellation fees that you were charged are proportionate to the amount of planning that goes into a student tour. As you can imagine, there are significant costs associated with preparing and arranging a day European trip for a large group of high school students and teachers. In order to secure airline tickets, hotels rooms, restaurant reservations for breakfasts and dinner, and many other important aspects of the tour, we must pay for them well in advance of the trip. Please note that the account for *** is still open, so if you would like to cancel or try and work with us to help *** travel, please contact us at ***. Best, EF Tours

Thank you again for your response A representative will contact you by email to go over your options We appreciate your patience EF Tours

Hello We are sorry your school cancelled your trip. After looking into everything, it seems as though there are still two trips available to you. One is going to Ecuador and one is traveling to Paris, The Loire Valley, and the Riviera (almost identical to your previous
trip). Both *** *** and *** *** have tried to contact you several times to go over these two tour options. We would be happy to reinstate both *** and *** on either of those trips if that is agreeable to you. It seems as though the school has enacted our Peace of Mind policy for this situations. The policy provides three options up until days prior to your scheduled departure: Change the departure date of your tour, Work with EF to amend your existing itinerary or Cancel your tour and each member of your group will receive a future travel voucher for all monies paid (less the $enrollment fee and other non-refundable items). They chose to amend the existing itinerary. Again, we are sorry to hear that the school has canceled the tour but hope that this information provides more clarity around the options that are availableBest, *** EF Tours

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ***Please add your rejection comments below.
Their words with my responses:Group Leaders who travel with EF are expected to chaperone and supervise their studentsFree time may be available on certain tour itinerariesIt is up to the Group Leader to decide how they would like to handle free time with their particular groupThis does nothing to address the words in EF Tours own Safety Handbook that again states "Your child's group leader (or designated responsible adult) must accompany the group at all times, including meals, sightseeing excursions and optional excursions on the tour". A copy of that page from the document is attached here it is reasonably written in this case. In my daughter's case free time was available each mid day for lunch and would last from to hours wherein the group leader merely told the minors where to be, a time to be there, and to get lunch in groups. Again, he concurred this was in direct violation of the Safety Handbook but he was never taught during his training he had to stay with minors. The result is minor American girls wandering around London, Paris, Florence, and Rome during Ramadan and the World Soccer championships with no known adults in sight or even watching themA far cry from "must accompany them at all times" that statement doesn't parse out free time from meals yet the company does.EF offers a 6:chaperone student ratio to help facilitate a safe, enjoyable tour.Again another misleading statement. Here is what EF Tours wrote me in the attached email conversation, rising to the President of the company, regarding the maximum number of students:In regards to the maximum number of minors, that is again something that is assigned at the discretion of the group leaderOur tour size is based upon maximum bus capacity (generally around travelers) and we suggest a ratio of six students per adultAgain, that is purely our suggestion and not a requirementSome schools decide to bring equal numbers of adults as students and some about one adult to students, based on their larger sizeIn my daughters case the return trip was assigned to a different "responsible adult" as the first group leader wanted to be without the children even longer and opted to stay back in Europe. What the new "responsible adult" didn't know was that she also was getting another tour group as well namely that of our first group leader's sister. All in all the new leader was now in charge of almost children and, by her own description, was overwhelmed, didn't know what to do or who to call, and wasn't even sure if EF Tours knew she was in charge [they say they did]. The result was my daughter being left in the *** terminal with another student, who was having what was described as a nervous breakdown after striking a third traveler on the flight from Rome. The new "responsible adult" in a panic simply left them behind because they were late for their connection and she was worried they wouldn't make it on time. Eventually my daughter caught up and made the connection but through no help of the "responsible adult".EF Tours can say all they want about how responsible they are but in practice it doesn't happen. They rely on our schools to hire good teachers and then get them to recruit the students as new customers for EF Tours. If the teacher finds students the teacher travels for free benefiting both EF Tours, and the teacher, all at the expense of the safety of our children. There is no expectation from EF Tours that the teachers conduct themselves in any professional way, let alone EF Tours own published brochures, there are NO background checks, NO contract signed between them, NO training required, and even when EF Tours receives information that conflicts with their own "Safety Handbook" there are NO reprisals our original group leader is already on the books for next year's trip. EF Tours uses teachers to exploit our children to get themselves a nice little profit and that is where their concerns end.Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ***. I am sorry but your policy does nothing to address foreign terrorismThat is not my issueIt is also not my fault that your company does not think a travel warning/advisory is a serious matterThere is one issued by the U.SEmbassy because of the Brussels bombingAgain, I am asking for a full refund of everything I have paid so far and if this goes until after my next payment teansaction, I would like that addrd on as well
Regards,
*** ***

Thank you for being in touch about your concerns, on behlaf of EF, we would like to apologize that you have felt frustrated with our Customer Service Department. We understand there has been some confusions in regards to payments on your account and your family members accounts.
Our Customer Service Manager has been in touch to rectify this situation.
At this time, if you wanted to cancel your account, our standard cancellation fees would apply, as per EF's booking conditions.Our booking conditions can be found at the following link:
www.eftours.com/BC
Sincerely,
EF Education

EF Tours mailed a written response to your concerns on 11/22/to your address at *** *** *** *** *** *** ** ***. We will send it to you via email. Best, ***

Thank you for your response. We are sorry to hear about the cancellation. When we spoke with ***, we explained that the reason for cancellation may be covered under the insurance that is provided on both of the accounts. We have started the claims process for you and paperwork
will be sent. Please visit www.eftours.com/coverage or call us at *** for any additional questions. EF Tours

Thank you for being in contact about your concerns. From our records, it appears that your daughter was enrolled on the EF website on 01/14/2016, Before you can register your child for a tour, you must agree to EF’s terms and conditions. This includes our cancellation policies which are
as follows: days or more prior to departure- Full refund, less the $non-refundable deposit, all non-refundable fees and a $cancellation fee149-days prior to departure- Full refund, less the $non-refundable deposit, all non-refundable fees and a $cancellation fee109-days prior to departure- Full refund, less the $non-refundable deposit, all non-refundable fees, and 50% of the program feedays or less prior to departure- No refund will be issuedWe incur costs long before a group travels, which is why these fees existWe also must be fair and treat all customers the same, so we cannot be flexible on refunding these feesSince you purchased the Global Protection Plan, your reason for cancellation may be covered. You would need to file a claim with the insurance company to see if this claim would be approvedPlease feel free to contact the EF Traveler Support Team with any other questions or concernsSincerely, EF Education

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ***Please add your rejection comments below. After seeing the doctor again yesterday for a hour procedure and making another appointment to finish the work, I realized that my medical emergency and ensuing bill that is preventing me from making the Greece trip is serious enough that EF Tours should refund the $as initially requestedThis medical problem occurred far enough in advance of Greece trip that it is not causing them any financial lossI do not mind forfeiting the $deposit, but for them to keep more than that is mere greed on the their part and not good customer relations
Regards,
*** ***

Thank you for your inquiry We are sorry to hear that you had a negative experience on tour We have received your information and will be writing back a response that will detail what we are doing with your feedback and the information provided from Mr*** If you have any other questions please contact us at 1-***.EF Tours

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ***.
[Finding a positive solution would be solving the issue through which the customer finds comfortable when the company is at fault and then training their employees to commit to their advertisements promises or changing themI never said I would not engage in conversation and in fact I have responded to the managers emails in a very timely manner and did not get a response on the last oneI said I would not give my new number to them because I did not wish to hear options of traveling with them one and a half months later after my complaint was madeThere is no reason for them to call me if they were going to settle this the way I asked, so any sane person would not give their number out. Your booking conditions also states they can be changed at any time without noticeI am sure of what I saw and what your agent told me on the phone before I booked online which is why I had no problem with a non refundable $feeIt’s a shame that I called and didn’t email the agent insteadYour cancellation fee is absolutely absurd considering you have complaints that state they're that high because you start to plan the trip as soon as its booked, but the company will cancel at last minute if there isn't enough people scheduled on the trip.Like I’ve stated before there is no possible way I would enroll in automatic paymentI had no clue and the copy of my attached email will show I was totally unaware and wondering why I didn't have a September paymentIt was only after this I noticed that my September payment was already taken out and because my account and your agent told me my bill was due on the 3rd I left it as isWhich my bank account statement reflects what I’ve stated. However, this company is missing the biggest issue which is their site states I can reschedule my trip if it is within days of my departure which it was and there is no exceptions or rules to that, but when I first called to cancel and asked when was the latest time I could go I was told SeptemberThere was no reason for that date when to this day your company still has openings in October, November, and DecemberThis is advertising and it is illegalThis company is not in the right just because they try to make things right with one person (1/months later) considering the other thousands that purchase under this understanding and may not have any clue how to go about it if the company didn't keep their advertising promisesLike I’ve stated in my email to the manager ***, they should better train their agents on this and if they had maybe at the time he would have gotten someone higher up to come up with a solution for me like they are now since that is what your company states, after allI do not feel comfortable going out of the country for 10+ days with a company who can't even keep their commitment to what they advertise until a complaint, dispute, and 45+ days have passedThis company should take responsibility and I should be entitled to all my money back, but like I’ve stated before I am willing to let this company have $and only want to keep my $which was disputed (so in actuality they are keeping $156). **side note** Revdex.com, It is a shame this company is still a A+ rated company considering that is what most people look at when they come to the site, but when you look over their reviews 75% is negative while 25% is positive and there are over complaints that did not get resolved or was never answeredThis company falsely advertises and their rated score should be looked over so people, specifically young adults, know who they are really buying from and don't get taken advantage of. ]
Regards,
*** ***

Tell us why here
Thank you for contacting us about your concerns. We were disappointed that you cancelled your trip to Europe
Our traveler protection plan does not cover cancellation of your tour for any reason, it covers the following situations:
http://www.eftours.com/coverage
When you and your family members registered for you EF tour, you signed the following booking conditions which outline our cancellation policy
http://www.eftours.com/eliterature/BookingConditions_ETUS_16.pdf
Please feel free to contact our Traveler Support Team with any questions or concerns
Sincerely,
EF Education

Good afternoon and thank you for feedback We will be addressing the issues with that hotel and will be offering refunds for two hotels nights to you and others that were affected by the heating problems We apologize for any problems this may have caused We will be contacting you
shortly to go over any other concerns you have and to discuss the refunds for you and your daughter Best, EF Tours

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ***.
I just called the Boston Revdex.com as I have not heard anything since the November 20, email letting me know you were waiting for feedback from the tour directorthe customer service person advised the complaint was closed as resolved on November 26, I DID NOT ACCEPT ANYTHING nor was anything resovled and don't have any email after November 20, 2017. Regards,
*** ***