Worldstrides

This company has contacted me times in the last year, of them in the last month, two of them in the last week I am a teacher and they leave a message on my voicemail to call "Ivy Duncan at work, 866-878-6464." The name and number aren't always the same As a teacher, it is school policy to return ALL phone calls and to return calls from parents the same day whenever possible As this company refuses to state the reason for their call I am forced to call them back even though I know they aren't a parent needing to talk to their child's teacher The first time this unethical marketing tactic was used I asked them not to call me again as I would not be willing to trust a business that has to resort to unethical marketing Now they have called me three times in the last month Obviously they don't care about wasting my time I would never do business with such an organization and would suggest no one else do so either Their continued harassment of me is a testament to their poor character I'd suggest finding someone else to give your money to

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the offer and/or response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]
Regards,
*** ***
Below was the email I sent to the company in response: Jessica S***
Thank you for respondingNo, this is NOT the way that the contract is lead for the consumer to believeNor is it even what I was told yesterday; one rude rep, two supervisors
I've been told multiple thingsOne which I understand a $depositFINEI understand that $goes to the total balance of the tripKey word "total balance." I was told I would get a refund for the 80% (your company said 75% just yesterday)I was given a figure two different dates $The supervisor even acknowledged that that's what I was quotedThat amount didn't make sense then, neither does the
At this point this is hours+, states away and more trouble than it should've beenShe doesn't go to the school and we do not live in the stateI give you the 75%This makes up for the $depositIf I don't get the proper refund, I'm continuing with the Revdex.com Complaint
Thank you,
*** ***
Account Service Representative
Commercial Services
** *** *** ***@worldstrides.org>

Revdex.com:
I have
reviewed the offer and/or response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I do not accept the explanation presented by Worldstrides for the following reasonsI called WorldStrides on April and paid my bill(at their request) in full for both my son and myself They quoted me the total for both trips and according to their guidelines we could not book travel without a FULL payment at that time I fulfilled their request trusting in the fact that ALL bills were paid(which they assured me) I had no knowledge and was not presented with a balance of any outstanding debt at the time of departure It was not until later that summer(June/July) that I was told of this balance This seems very suspicious to me when the company was adamant about my full payment before departure just a month earlier According to their own rules, I still do not understand how we were permitted to go if there was a balance on any accountAlthough numbers are provided, many of these numbers are not consistent with a number of details throughout the trip’s planning The deductions and reimbursements were never clearly stated throughout the trips's planningThis is the first time a full itemized bill was presented to me throughout the process and because of this timing I still question its validity
For a company that claims to be student/family friendly this experience has been at the very least frustrating and at the most deceitful I am very disappointed in this lack of communication and/or professionalism of this organization
Regards,
*** ***

This is by far the worst company I have ever attempted to do business with in my entire life! Every time I call I get a different story from each person to whom I speakMy daughter did fundraising in school to help pay for her tripHer school did not mail the check for her fundraising until after the final payment was dueI called prior to making my final payment and was told the I "needed to make my final payment in full and that the school check would be immediately refunded TO ME once it was received by World Strides"One person today told me that the school authorized the release of the check and that they needed to transfer me to accounting in order to get that check sent to meThen when they were "transferring" me to accounting they hung up on meWhen I called back I was told that the school had still not authorized the release of the check to meNONE of the stories being told to me by customer service are the sameI am being sent in circles & chasing my tailIf they

How does Revdex.com rate this company with an A plus when the reviews and complaints are all negative!?! According to their rating system they base it off of complaints and on how they are resolvedBased on the artificially correct responses by World Strides, there is no true resolutionShame on Revdex.com and World Strides for their terrible customer service, their hidden fees and over priced so called "educational" experience of a life time

My daughter had a trip that I paid for and use a debt card and then the trip she wasn't able to attend I requested a refund that I paid and have no success getting my money back I would not recommend using this company with their excuses and the run around you get when you paid for insurance and can't get your money back !!

We signed our son up for a trip with Worldstrides to travel to Paris with a group from his school Unfortunately, we had to cancel the trip when my son was suddenly unable to attend Though we purchased the trip reimbursement insurance, we were told that it was impossible to grant us a full refund because the company had already purchased admission to events totaling nearly one-third of the trip's cost Additionally, we were told that an additional $1,of the trip's cost could only be refunded in the form of a voucher on future travel Unlike the "prepaid cost" issue above, this provision was located in the fine print of the travel agreement, though it was very poorly disclosed when we signed up In summary, nearly 3/4th of the trip cost either could not be refunded or could only be refunded in the form of a travel voucher we are not likely to ever be able to useI recommend parents and schools stay away from this company as they showed no regard for our concerns whatsoever when we contacted their customer service Additionally, they lead you to believe that by purchasing the travel insurance when you initially sign up (which is often way in advance) you can make changes if your circumstances change This was a lie and we lost a lot of money by trusting this corrupt company

Good Afternoon, *** ***
Thanks for your candid response. Please let me assure you that we are not intentionally being unfair or deceptive. I do understand your position and I am sorry for your confusion regarding our Terms & Conditions.
Although, I believe that the Terms & Conditions you were presented with upon registration (copy***) clearly explain the cancellation and refund policies, I have discuss this matter further with the *** and he has authorized an additional refund on your account
WorldStrides is proud to be the oldest, largest, and most trusted educational student travel organization in the nation. We maintain an A+ rating with the Revdex.com because we review and respond to every customer complaint with compassion and understanding.
We will provide you with a refund of all monies paid with the exception of the $non-refundable deposit. I will speak with the *** *** ** *** *** today and ask that this refund be rushed to you
Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns
Thanks so much. Have a great day
*** ***
*** *** ***
***
*** *** *** *** *** ***
*** ** ***
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
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I signed my son up for this trip not knowing that I would be moving in the upcoming months I also did not know that I would not receive a full refund if I canceled

Dear Ms***,Thank you
for contacting WorldStrides regarding your daughter’s accounts. It is my understanding that *** was scheduled
to accompany *** *** *** *** on their upcoming trip to *** *** *** *** *** Our records
indicate that you
registered *** via our website on March, 14th. Upon completing the registration you would
have received an EZPay Confirmation that would have shown the complete payment
schedule and a first payment draft date of April, 24th. On April, 18th we also sent an additional
reminder email notifying you that your first payment was scheduled for April,
24th. After review it does not appear
we received your mailed request for cancellation and we searched our phone
records for April, 15th, using the primary number on your account, but
could not locate any record of a call received on that date. Our records indicate we received the first
request for cancellation via email on April 24th. Below is a copy of the request received.*** *** *** Sent: Sunday, April 24, 5:PM To: Customer Service Subject: *** *** ***I need to go ahead and cancel
this tripI do not wish to be charged and the child has decided she does not
want to attendDo not charge credit cardI have not received anything for
billing.*** *** We responded
to your email on 4/at 10:EST confirming we had received your request for
cancellation and notifying you that your first payment had already had been
withdrawn, but we would ensure all future payments were stopped.Thank you for contacting
WorldStrides! This email is to confirm we have received your written request to
cancel your accountSince you were signed up for EZpay, for the automatic
payments, the first payment has already been charged on the account but I will
stop all future payments.We have
already begun the refund process and are providing a refund in the amount of
$150, the $payment we received minus the $non-refundable deposit I will submit a request to have this refund
rushed. We certainly
hope that *** is able to travel with WorldStrides in the future. Should you have any further questions or
concerns, please feel free to contact me directly at *** *** We will be providing a copy of this
correspondence as part of our response to the recent filing you made with the
Revdex.com (Case #: ***) in Richmond.Sincerely, Jessica S*VP Customer
Service

My nephew and I took a very expensive trip through your world strides companyFirst I need to begin about the tour guide she was from ParisI can at least tell you that she should be trained a little more at the job that she was given OK sure she is a very fast person and she walked extremely fast what she didn’t realize was that she had adults on the trip also that could not keep up with her me myself having asthma was always the back of the line getting help from the other parents because Julia would not stop at all if you were lacking in the back and a few times I almost lost them in places I know nothing aboutLet alone most of it was up the stairs and down the stairs and up the stairs and down the stairs also every hotel we stayed in was like staying in the hotel from the movie psychoI don’t know who chooses these hotels but there in the middle of nowhere and you can’t get even a bottle water if you need to I do remember having dinner with Tour guide one night at the table and her mentioning that she would never be able to stay at these hotels if it wasn’t for this trip and that they may have taken her opinion on some of the choices that we stayed atI must tell you the hotels were horrible my nephew was sick and we had to stay in the hotel one day and the hotel is in the middle of nowhere I couldn’t even get a cab to get him something for his illness there was no food or water or anybody in the office that day or night the hotel was completely emptyThe most thing that bothered me was that she used the subway a lot the metro I do not use the metro I do not take it I never did and there’s a train coming that was empty we had our feet on the floor and she told us to jump back off the train why I don’t know next train came was jam packed with people it was like a sardine can and in as much as I was protecting myself and my nephew because The guide she was no where to be found and we were squished in with all these people I felt somebody tugging at the bags I had in my hand while I was trying to protect them somebody got into my pocketbook that was strapped across my body under my jacket and they stole my wallet that had exactly $in American money four credit cards my drivers license and my Social Security cardThis did not surprise The guide no call was made to any police because it was 11pm and no need I was told until I got To my hometown New Jersey and made a police report in my hometown to what I was missing that was the second day that we we were there needless to say I had to get money from home in New Jersey in order for my nephew and I to be able to stay thereBetween The guide having no compassion for anyone that was having trouble walking or at her pace running through the store or me losing my wallet or the hotel business or running past places that we would’ve like to stop in to see or shop that her immaturity was shining bright that week she had children to 16-year-olds out at o’clock in the morning in the freezing cold in Paris that eventually got sick on the plane ride homeBut she more acted like a little sister to them then a leaderWe paid a lot of money for this trip and it was the trip from hell and your guide was 90% to blameI requested a full refund for both mine and my nephews trip with us paying for this trip for year and a half and it was horrible I thought I was going to end up in the hospital in Italy trying to keep up with your tour guide naturally to speed up is a little is fine but to be running is ridiculous and also not taking proper steps to ensure you keep your personal belongings safe the only time she ever did say anything about keeping your wallet safe was after mine was stolen after she wouldn’t let us take the first train that nobody was on it she just shove us on the second train that was jam packed with people so again I requested a full refund for the amount of my trip and my nephews tripI told them I’m hoping to hear back from you within seven days if I don’t hear back from you I not only will contact my attorney who already knows the story and I will contact *** ** *** *** *** *** and I will contact any other news channel that will help me get my point across that for people on a tour of places they never been before you send one maybe 23-year-old tour guide to make sure everybody safe which is truly ridiculousYou could’ve sent two tour guides even though our adults were there on the trip from our school they had no idea where they were going eitherSo I expect to hear from you within seven days or like I said you will hear from my attorney and I really would not want to go to the news services but I feel I have no choice if people that take these tours want to be protected and don’t want their lives completely turned upside down by theft that could’ve been prevented and warned aboutThe reply I got was oh we will fix anything that went wrong about the hotels we will work hard to fix your other complaints and are sorry for your loss of your wallet but we are unable to give you a refundWell it’s out of my hands nowTrust me if your reading this and considering a trip with this company run run away

My husband and I paid for a trip to Washing DC this past November (11/9/15) Around March they said they would have to double the price of the trip due to lack of interest We could not afford to pay the extra money so we requested a refund They did grant us a refund but took dollars claiming fees they ensued It seems to me to be a scam where they charge you money then up the price out of your reach so they can take more of your money It's a rip off scam In addition to the they took a dollar nonrefundable deposit I feel they should only be entitled to that amount If there were other nonrefundable fees that should be addressed before the trip was paid for not afterAfter we paid for the trip they sent us an offer to pay an additional dollar full refund guarantee offer They are misleading the public and taking advantage of families that want the best for their children

I cancelled my childs trip mailing them a letter on the 10thI also spoke to customer service on the 15th who said it would be cancelled and I would not be chargedUpon checking my account on the 24th, I was pending a charge from themI immediately sent them an email request to stop the draft and cancel the serviceThe charges were still put throughI also had a $credit on the account and I was previously told I would not be drafted till MayThere was enough money there to cover the first few paymentsmember id *** *** ***

Worldstrides is a travel agency masquerading as a youth talent organization We were contacted informed that our son was selected to participate in their "honors performance series" If we put in a deposit and he was accepted, he would get to participate in a chamber choir where he would learn from instructors at *** *** and *** *** *** While the trips are real, there is no singing coaching offered and the choir is not a chamber choir but well over students If we had been made aware of this, we would not have signed up We essentially were duped into believing it was something it was not We tried to cancel this, on Jan 5, 2018, fully weeks before the first event and months before the second event, but we were not refunded The company does not report any actual damages and in fact said they only charge $** to students who were not "accepted" I was also informed that the manager I spoke to had never given a refund to an "accepted" student, meaning w

On *** ** *** I registered my daughter for a Europe school trip through WorldStrides, thought it would be a great experience for her On *** *** ***, * days later, I called to find out how to cancel the trip I spoke with *** ***, a company rep, she informed me that because I had cancelled the trip within * days of registering, I was due a full refund of everything I paid, including the trip cancellation protection I had purchased, and would receive a check in *** weeks All I had to do was send her an email requesting the cancellation, which I did She sent me an email back confirming the cancellation and informed me I would receive a check in my daughters name in the amount of *** within *** weeks ** *** *** *** I received a "Travel Voucher" in the amount of ***, and a check in the amount of ***, obviously not the full refund amount I cancelled this *** trip because I requested a cost break down of the trip, in which the company claimed they

Good Afternoon, Ms.[redacted]
" margin: 0px">I hope this email finds you well.
We have received notice of the above referenced complaint filed with the Revdex.com. I apologize for the delay in my response to this matter
Please also accept my apologies for the difficulties you experienced in trying to reach our Customer Support Team during the month of January. Unfortunately, due to a customer outreach program we ran during this time, we experienced an unusually high volume of calls which led to unacceptably long waiting periods for customers
In researching this matter, I have been informed that the trip previously planned was cancelled by the program leader and that WorldStrides is currently working with him to plan an exciting new trip for
It is my understanding that each participant registered for the trip has been provided a full refund
Please do let me know if you have not received your refund and I will follow up with the [redacted] to determine the status
Thanks so much. Have a great day
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted] [redacted]
[redacted] [redacted]
[redacted]

Good Afternoon, Ms[redacted]
" margin: 0px">I hope this email finds you well.
We have received notice of the above referenced complaint filed with the Revdex.com. I apologize for the delay in my response to this matter
Please also accept my apologies for the difficulties you experienced in trying to reach our Customer Support Team during the month of January. Unfortunately, due to a customer outreach program we ran during this time, we experienced an unusually high volume of calls which led to unacceptably long waiting periods for customers
In researching this matter, I have been informed that the trip previously planned was cancelled by the program leader and that WorldStrides is currently working with him to plan an exciting new trip for
It is my understanding that each participant registered for the trip has been provided a full refund
Please do let me know if you have not received your refund and I will follow up with the [redacted] to determine the status
Thanks so much. Have a great day
[redacted]

Thank you so much for sharing Mr. [redacted] complaint.  Attached is our correspondence and explanation regarding his concerns. Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information. 
 
Thanks
[redacted]

Good Afternoon, Ms.[redacted].
 
We have received your response and additional comments to the Revdex.com regarding this matter.  Please let me assure you that we are not intentionally misleading or deceiving our customers.
 
As previously noted, the Full Refund Program was outlined in detail in the Terms & Conditions accepted by you at the time of registration.  Detailed invoices were mailed to you on 6/2/14, 7/14/14, 8/18/14, 9/15/14 and 10/16/14.  You also had access to your account information through the MyTrip account you created upon registration.
 
I understand your position and am sorry about your confusion regarding our Terms & Conditions. 
 
I would also like to offer my apologies for the delayed response from our Customer Support Team during the month of January.
 
WorldStrides is proud to be the oldest, largest, and most trusted educational student travel organization in the nation.  We maintain an A+ rating with the Revdex.com because we review and respond to every customer complaint with compassion and understanding. 
 
I have discussed this matter further with the CFO and was able to get authorization to make an exception so that we may provide you with a full refund, to include the $49 non-refundable deposit.  I will speak with the [redacted] today and request that this refund be rushed to your attention.  Please note that refunds are provided in the same manner in which they were received. 
 
Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.
 
Thanks so much.  Have a great day.
 
[redacted]

Dear Ms. [redacted]: Thank you for contacting WorldStrides regarding your son 's account. lt is my understanding that Cameron is scheduled...

to accompany [redacted] on their upcoming trip to Washington, D.C. and you have some concerns regarding receipt of payment. In researching this matter, it appears that we have received the following payments on [redacted]'s behalf: $49.00 via online upon registration on June 5, 2015, two $200.00 checks via mail on August 28, 2015 and another $200.00 check via mail on September 14, 2015. It does appear that there was a delay in receiving the checks which eventually made their way to us on August 28, 2015. Our records indicate that this delay was due to payment being forwarded to an incorrect address. Please accept my apology if this was not the case. It seems that we are now in receipt of all payments previously forwarded and are certainly pleased with this result. For future payments, if you are uncomfortable with the mail in option, there are a couple of other options we can provide. When you registered online you had the opportunity to set up a MyTrip account which would allow you to make payments, track payments, check your balance and/or review your payment history. If you have not already done so and prefer to make payments on line, I encourage you to set up a MyTrip account at your earliest opportunity. Payments can also be made via phone by calling our customer support team at [redacted]. I apologize for any confusion and/or frustration this situation has caused you. However, I do hope that the explanation above addresses your concerns. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me directly at [redacted]. We will be providing a copy of this correspondence as part of our response to the recent filing you made with the Revdex.com (Case#: [redacted]) in Richmond. Sincerely, A [redacted]