As a parent I can understand other people's frustrations with the covid situation. However, I do feel that their cancellation policies were clearly stated. In addition, as a tour leader myself I cannot say enough positive things about organizing a trip with EF! My tour consultant, Taylor, has been nothing short of amazing when it comes to helping me organize my tours. I thought I could never organize an opportunity for my students like this but working with EF has honestly been hassle free, it has been a breeze! I can't wait to plan my next adventure! read more

EF tours is the worst company I have ever worked with. I was scheduled to go on a trip over spring break through my university, and they refuse to give me a travel voucher or refund for my trip. Mind you I am a student with severe asthma and two heart conditions. I provided them with a note from my cardiologist and physician stating I was not fit to travel in the midst of this pandemic, and they refused to give me any type of compensation because my trip was not to Europe or Asia. They directly ignored my doctors wishes and those of WHO and the CDC regarding nonessential travel and are willing to put students at risk for money. They're inhumane and unethical, and I would not recommend any school or person to use their services EVER! read more

EF is not about the customer. They've been slow to communicate during the Covid outbreak in terms of options for refunds. After learning more about the refund options, there primary position is to give you a voucher for the full value and you can go sell it on your own. This is garbage, the only refund option comes with a penalty they retain. If their tours are so wonderful they should have no problem rebooking to meet contract levels. I wouldn't trust my children with them when their position is not about the customer and about their retention of funds to cover what if scenarios with suppliers. read more

EF tours canceled our trip to China due to their own policy in regards to travel with the Corona Virus outbreak. Despite having purchased their insurance, they will not refund our money. They actually admitted over the phone that their insurance doesn't really do much and that is why they made up this "Peace of Mind" program which is a farse as well. They offered a voucher that had to be used within the next year or 40% of our money back. The trip was canceled over a month before we were scheduled to leave. This trip was booked over a year ago. They rendered 0 services to us and could not provide any receipts of any money they had spent. I highly recommend staying away from this company as they do not have any interest in your student other than taking your $$$$$$. read more

EF Tours will not refund my trip without taking more than half of over $3000 in "cancellation fees" during a GLOBAL PANDEMIC!!! Horrible business practices!!! Why should we lose our money due to cancellations beyond our control? We hard working parents don't have money to piss away!!! How can you keep $1700 of MY MONEY for a trip not being taken in APRIL!!! read more

DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH EF TOURS I wish I had researched this company before I booked my daughter's trip to Costa Rico. My husband and I thought this would be a great senior trip for her and her friends. She was excited until she found out her two best friends weren't going. Her trip isn't for another year, so we decided to cancel. I wasn't worry about it the non-refundable deposit or the cancellation fee (even though it was more then I expected), everyone has some kind of fee, but when I called to cancel the lady on the other side named off other fees I would not be getting back. We cancelled a year before the trip and they are keeping over 20% of what I paid. The dumbest part of all that is I have to wait 3-4 weeks to get my refund. That's ridiculous. Not professional at all. That's not even the worse part. When I asked to speak with someone in management the lady told me there was no one above her, she was the manager. I have worked many places and know there is always someone high up the chain than the person answering the phone. After arguing with her I finally asked her for the corporate number and again she said very politely "This is corporate." The lack of professionalism floors me. read more

If I could write a review that gave them ZERO stars, I would do that. This company is only out for the money that they get from parents who are excited for their kids to go on a school trip. My son's trip was a disaster. They were put in a hotel that was under renovation. I am sure that this lowered their cost, but of course, they didn't pass those savings on to the group. Because the hotel was being renovated, there were no breakfast offerings. Every morning the kids had to get up, board their bus, and drive to a place that gave them a pre-made, cold (not because it was supposed to be cold, but cold because it was made so far in advance) breakfast. EACH meal was allotted 1 hour and 30 minutes. Kids don't need that much time to eat their meal. Even one hour would have been enough given that it was Spring Break. So, after their morning ritual of getting breakfast, they would then start off to Washington DC where most of the school groups were already there. They were supposed to see the National Archives...you know where the Constitution of the United States is? But, they missed it because the line was too long. What's worse, is they were told to say that they had seen it. The coup de gras was on the last day when they had no bus arrive in Williamsburg to take them back to Washing DC for sightseeing before they boarded their plane to go home. They were supposed to be picked up in Williamsburg at 8:20. Their bus arrived at 2:30. The only thing that they could do was head straight to the airport....4 hours away. This company is clearly only out for the money they can get. The details of the trip are something that just gets in the way of them making money. read more

This company knows its niche. That's why I'm giving them the 3rd star... can't blame them for trying to make money off of people who honestly don't know any better. They market to families through middle and high schools-- families that have little experience with international travel. They want their kids to experience things they couldn't. They hear "$4200.00" to send Jr. to Italy for 7 nights? Well... makes sense to them, as far as they know Europe is 'expensive.' It is. But not THAT expensive. Your entire family of 4 could fly to Italy for 2 weeks, stay in better accommodations, eat better food, buy unlimited rail passes for internal travel, and pay local guides for private tours for about $800 more than what you're paying to put Jr. on a bus with 49 other people. Does NO ONE at your child's school travel regularly? Have them form a small travel group of 6-10 students and just GO. You'll pay half as much and have a more valuable experience. Although I do have to say that traveling Europe w/EF on a high school trip (I went to a small rural high school) where our group of 6 was added onto a busload of girls from a Catholic prep school did offer a perspective on the world that wasn't described in the itinerary... so maybe our parents got their money's worth. read more

If you are a seasoned traveler then you will immediately become angered by EF's tours. I accompanied my daughter on a school trip to Europe and was shocked to see that the money we paid quite obviously went to lining EF's bottom line and not towards ensuring that the students received adequate consideration towards their needs as well as experience. Meals were as cheap as they come...basic spaghetti in Paris with a roll and water (meals were always cheap and not indicative of the cities we were in). Planned excursions were cancelled with little or no notice, we were only given about 15 minutes free time to look for souvenirs in Amsterdam and we were routinely treated poorly by hotels and restaurants because we were part of an EF tour. We were booked on the cheapest flights seated in the back of planes with no ability to make seat changes without paying extra and we only received 12 hours notice before our departure home (a notice that was only communicated to the teacher and not even our guide) that our flight was happening earlier and was being completely re-routed home. It's also important that parents know that the teachers are fully comped for their travel and our particular teacher (as I found out on the trip) uses this side hustle as a way to visit family in Paris for free every Summer. I can tell you as someone who has traveled throughout the world A LOT that I could have taken the money that I wasted on this "experience" and provided my daughter with a much more enriching and comfortable adventure. One last note, the meal options outside of breakfast in the hotels were so bad that most of the students ended up skipping their free dinners and opting to pay for food elsewhere. Also, they crammed as many students into a room as they could as an additional way to save money (oftentimes 4 to a room). You do the math! read more

EF has been an amazing company to work with. They are always willing to listen and work with you on whatever you need. They have friendly, prompt customer service and amazing tour consultants that work with you to make each trip into a special event for your group. I would highly recommend using EF for all of your student travel needs. My tour consultant TJ has been wonderful during Covid at keeping us informed and giving us all of the info that we needed to make the best decisions possible for our group. read more

Have taken 2 trips with EF tours and they are very average accommodations. Was planning on a third trip in May since they are educational and planned for you but the Corona Virus has other plans. Even after being a loyal customer they are not offering refunds, except 50% for the $20,000 dollars spent to take four people on their trip. Essentially EF wants to walk off with $10,000 of mine without rendering any services. Absolutely ridiculous. read more

Scammers! We purchased travel insurance for our child's trip. The trip was cancelled due to covid-19. The cancellation fee was $500 even though we purchased insurance. The company should have their own insurance to cover these costs. They are stealing from children. We requested a refund on April 22nd. I'm still waiting on June 20th. I wonder if I will ever see any money from this company. It has been over 8 weeks. When I contacted the company again I was given an estimated date of July 31st for a refund. read more

My life has been so positively impacted by EF. From personal travel to student and family travel, they are unmatched in the industry. I am so glad that I am a part of the EF family. Have traveled with other companies and educational resources and EF provides the best, most thorough care and product possible! read more

My daughter's program has been cancelled twice and they refuse to offer a full refund. A representative said that they would be keeping $500 because they have invested that money with their partners. Hotels, buses, and tour guides have not provided any services todate and would not be charging any fees. All reputable travel companies have given full refunds to clients. Will not recommend this company in the future. read more

Do not use EF Educational Tours! We had an 8th grade trip schedule to go to Washington D.C. As a teacher, I volunteer to go with my daughter's school. I spent a year paying $5200 for both of us to go. Less than two weeks before our trip, EF canceled due to Corona Virus. They are monopolizing on our money along with everyone elses. They will make hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest alone over the next year in which they told us we can make up our trip in 2021. They need to be stopped!! read more

Just read the reviews. Everything that you see is true. Because of a lost credit card while making payments on our trip, and then a huge "late fee" they gave me the option of pay it all or or pay the enormous late fee. We paid it, but wiped out all of our savings. When the pandemic hit and life got bad (remember the savings were wiped out) their insurance covered "death or loss of full time employment" only. They base the amount they keep based on how long out you cancel (we were over a year out), and in my case zinged me for 10-15% of the total cost of the trip PER person ($560 per). They will give you the option of getting back another 1-2% if you manage to get someone to buy your trip from you. I could write a lot about the people I had on the phone, but I am going to quite bashing. They pretty much are a company YOU SHOULD AVOID. read more

Would not recommend. Similar to what many, many other people have said, my daughter was scheduled to travel this summer, and when EF Tours cancelled the trip they said they would happily provide a refund minus $1000, or more than a quarter of what was paid or we could get a voucher toward a future trip. My daughter found a "Graduating Seniors" trip for next summer to transfer the voucher. My daughter would not have been 18 at the time of the trip, so I called and spent a significant amount of time on the phone with a representative who said that as long as she had graduated, we could complete a minor form and she could still participate and he got her signed up (I received a confirmation email and this was reflected in our online account). The language on the website supported that. That was two months ago. Then this week I received an email saying "Sorry, she can't go after all, please call us for options." When my daughter went back to the website to look at the language again, it had been removed. And they had removed her voucher from the new trip without bothering to tell us. So what are our options, you might ask? We can lose hundreds of dollars and get a partial refund. Or my daughter can book a trip after she turns 18, which is pretty impossible since that is not until the end of August, when she will be leaving for college. Or we can reschedule for 2022 so I can give EF Tours an interest-free loan of thousands of dollars in the hopes that some future trip might actually work out. What makes it worse is when we got her voucher transferred over, she convinced a friend to sign up for the same trip. So now, her friend is signed up alone (and obviously can't get a full refund) and my daughter is heartbroken that she can't go. What is EF Tours response to this? "We're really sorry." But obviously not sorry enough to actually make the situation right. Very poor customer service experience. read more

My advice as a parent, do not use this company. I had a recent experience with this company related to the corona-virus disease outbreak and it is my opinion that the responses provided by EF Traveler Support team were shocking, exposing a complete lack of sensitivity to an issue involving children and lack of care for the well-being of the children traveling in these groups. read more

If you care about your teen, I suggest finding another program besides EF. If you are a host family or a student who is lucky enough not to have any bumps in the road, you could very well have a good experience with EF. However, at the slightest hint of trouble, the coordinators and staff will drop a host family and exchange student like a hot potato without any attempts at rectification or working together to find solutions. Once there's an "issue," it's poor communication, pacification, rash decisions, being shut out and/or threatened, and the right hand does not know what the left is doing. It is one thing for a host family to go through these issues; it is an entirely different (and terrifying) situation for a young student, alone in a foreign country, without a support system, to experience this. While it may seem on the surface like EF cares about their students and host families, there is no true concern. EF hides behind policies and procedures meant to "protect" students, but they really don't have an ounce of concern about the students as individuals, whom this program could not exist without. EF is not unlike a dysfunctional family, turning a blind eye to the parts of their program that are damaging to families and students. Much room for improvement! read more

DO NOT USE EF Tours!!! Fair Warning! EF Tours has No interest in you or your child's safety! This companies only expectation is to profit off your miserable experience (or experience you never take). They have a No refund policy even in the wake of a Global Pandemic. The may offer you a voucher and then ask for even more money to attend. There are far more reputable companies with better service that can accommodate your educational needs. read more

I love the company itself. Not the US branch, the actual Swiss company and its concept. EF has many great programs what comes to language learning, however, their US office is a joke. I almost never get an answer for my email unless I follow up with several additional emails. Everything takes long time and everyone takes long time. They really need to work on their customer service and make sure people in charge of clients do their jobs properly. To not get answers to emails sent several times is unacceptable. read more

Was booked on a trip to Spain in June, they obviously cancelled due to Covid and instead of getting my money back they're taking 600 DOLLARS out of the money I had paid for "cancellation fees" for a trip they cancelled! Absolute BS, would never recommend this company to anyone, what a scam. read more

Our school was scheduled to go on a trip with EF Explore America in June. Our trip was canceled by our school, due to the Covid19 crisis. EF tours will so graciously refund all of our money, except $750 per person. With my daughter and I both going, I lose $1500!!! What a rip off!! Do NOT book with this company. They're greedy! read more

Do NOT book with them no matter how much the teacher wants to sweeten up the deal!!! We are in a covid pandemic and I definitely was able to cancel my tour, but for a $500 cancellation fee when I was told it would only be $95!!! Stay away and take your own kids on vacation. Not worth it! read more

Shame on EF Tours, they are keeping 1,000 dollars per family from trips that were canceled due to corona virus. They are fleecing hard working Americans in a time of crisis! The vouchers are useless! We cannot go on our tour which was rescheduled to next year. Will be reporting them to the BBB and the governor. These travel companies are included in the relief bill but but won't pass any relief on to their customers. Shame!!!!! read more

I would NEVER EVER take an EF tour again!!! We paid about $8,000 for 2 people to go to Eastern European countries where the dollar is strong and the costs are low. With that kind of money we could have afforded some amazing meals and hotels but we stayed in the dingiest out of the way hotels with horrible food! We are all fed one meal with zero options and at times it felt as if we were being fed the cheapest of food so they could make money. The hotels seemed to be 1 or 2 star hotels at least 30 minutes or more from the areas of interest. The tour guides were great but don't make up for this kind of money for this quality. I am angered and feel totally ripped off! read more

This is an untrustworthy company. They have reviews from employees and teachers (who travel for free). The reviews from parents and travelers are real. I'm guessing that when things go well, this company plans a fun trip and handle the details well. If anything goes wrong, I would not want my fate in the their hands. During Covid, they've insisted on keeping 30-40 percent of the $2790 that we paid, despite cancelling the trip and despite the numerous articles and congressional acts that force airlines and hotels to refund money for trips not delivered. The facebook page EF class action has many more stories of their poor customer service and terrible treatment of customers who have worked multiple jobs for years to pay for their dream trips - only to be denied much of the refund read more

I couldn't be more disappointed in the unethical practices of EF. I have a group of students who have worked for YEARS to pay for a trip. The trip was canceled because of the pandemic and they are only being offered a refund with a $1000 penalty. Unacceptable and disheartening. read more

As of today - no response. Seems to be expected from this 'company'. Would be nice to make this right. As of 01/05/20 - no contact as promised! And here we are 01/15/20 - nothing from EF! Surprised - not. read more

Our 8th grade class has a spring break trip to Spain through EF Tours. Obviously the trip has been canceled and we were given 3 options: travel in July, travel w/next year's 8th grade or obtain 2/3 of the trip price as a 'refund'. EF wants to keep $1,000 per person. That is a lot of $ at this time. Who really wants to travel to Spain in July? Not me. Note a similar company, ABC Tours, is doing the right thing by their customers providing a full refund. I'm going to tell everyone I know to travel with ABC Tours in the future. Of course it's not too late for EF Tours to do the right thing and provide refunds to families who had spring break trips scheduled. EF Tours can receive financial support from the 2-trillion dollar stimulus signed by President Trump yesterday. read more

Do not book a tour through this company. During a pandemic they rescheduled a trip to Japan for 2021 without aligning dates with parents and then hold back $760 for canceling. We didn't cancel. There's a level 3 travel advisory to Japan. The same trip for 2021 is cheaper but they want us to accept a travel voucher for future travel. The travel insurance is useless. Airlines and hotels are providing full refunds. read more

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: I normally shy away from this, but legit want to save anyone else from the bad business EF Tours runs. Backstory: In November 2018, we signed up our daughter for a trip that is happening in June of 2020. We paid $95 to reserve a spot and $165 for trip insurance. My 12 year old daughter had to pay for the rest of the trip, so she started working to earn money and was putting in monthly payments (through us) to pay for the trip. For a host of reasons, we needed to cancel the trip. I called to cancel the trip today, figuring we'd be out the $95 and the $165 trip insurance. At this point we'd paid $687, so I was expecting the $427 back. NOPE. They also told me they'd be taking a $300 cancellation fee, leaving us with $127 out of the $687 we'd paid. Thinking the $95 and $165 was what would be lost backing out, I asked what the $300 was for and was given a canned answer of they'd "already made reservations." I told them I doubted that since the trip was 16 months away. Wanting more than a canned answer and to know the reasoning behind this, I asked to speak to someone else. The representative got short with me and refused. At this point, I got irritated and again asked for someone else. Refused AGAIN. I pictured myself being THAT person that asks for the manager, so I let it go (plus it's not the call representative's fault). Let our misfortune be a warning alarm to anyone who reads this. DO NOT get involved with anything that EF Tours is a part of. If we had been smart enough to read their awful reviews, we might have avoided this. Got to love big corporations teaching my kid about corporate greed at a young age. Sorry for the negativity, but being a consumer, I needed to tell others of this horrible company so they can save themselves. read more

Horrible company. Beware once you commit to monthly payment. You'll never get it back if so e u foreseen happens and you can not go on trip.

Just like everyone else, I lost $1,000 when they cancelled my wife and daughters trip. They claim that they had already been out laying money for the trip but I would bet that they got full refunds from the hotels and other vendors they use. Enjoy that $1,000 EF because you will never get another penny from my family and I am making sure to tell EVERYONE I know (and don't know) to avoid your company. If you are employed there, you might consider looking for a job because you may have unscrupulously kept enough customer money to stay in business for a while but the long-term damage will eventually and deservedly put you out of business. read more

After using this company for 10 tours, they decided to charge us more ($600-1000) because we had too many adults going. We were NEVER told that this price increase was a possibility. Adults already pay a hefty supplement. EF would not work with us at all to make good on their advertised price. After cancelling our tour, we were told we would lose our registration fee and insurance, $260.00 each. read more

My experience with EF Education based on 100% actual events: my kids were signed up for an 11 day Europe tour via their high school. Given this pandemic, we bought the travel insurance as the very tiny fine print in the original agreement mention that, in the event of trip cancellation (by you, by a majority of people going on the trip if the trip attendance dipped below 10 kids or if the school cancels the trip), there will be a $500 fee if you choose to get your $$ refunded. I don't agree with that because they will have had my $$ for over 1 year and will have made $$ off of my $$ via investments but we had insurance just in case. Our school cancelled our trip. We were forced to take the refund option as our child is a Senior in HS. We still lost the $500. Then, we were presented with Option #2--a trip inside the US (Nat'l Parks). 6 day tour / bad flights with multiple layovers / seedy hotels on the outskirts of Vegas in a bad area. The trip was somehow $500 more expensive. This was also the experience of parents with kids on the same trip, parents who tried to send their kids on trips in the past 2 years. My $ was 100% *grifted* / scammed from me. Would I send my younger child on an EF trip or do business with them in any way ever again? Not under any circumstance for me personally. Further, any time I try to call / online chat with them / email anyone at EF, there is no one to return any correspondence. I'm wondering if anyone actually works at the company. The only reason I gave this review 1 star is because you have to choose at least 1 star. I couldn't choose 0 or -5 stars. read more

Like many others dealing with EF tours during the Covid-19 situation our trip was canceled and rebooked for the next year. Unfortunately that date did not work for us and despite paying for the travel insurance we are being charged $500 to cancel the trip. The trip total was $2,715 so they are keeping 18% of the trip. If we canceled this trip on our own, this would be reasonable. Since it is beyond our control we shouldn't be charged. NEVER BOOK ANYTHING WITH EF TOURS! read more

My child is in her final year at her school and had a Summer 2020 tour scheduled. The communication that I repeatedly received from her school when inquiring about the changes anticipated due to Covid-19 was that they were waiting to hear back from EF. Then, suddenly our tour was rescheduled to Summer 2021, $20 was tacked onto our balance (which sat at $0) and The link provided to "review other options" didn't take you anywhere but the sign in page repeatedly. I reached out to EF and it took them over a week to respond. Then they said they'd refund, minus $350. $350 for what?! I signed up for a Summer 2020 tour, which is not happening. And even if they kept our travel insurance fee, this is beyond that. The email was short and didn't explain any reasoning. So I'm going to reach out to my school district, other parents from my school and my other child's school that also uses EF, and my state government to see what kind of complaint can even be recorded. This is not okay. read more

The response by EF Tours to the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the worst examples of customer service I have ever seen. Both my daughter and I were scheduled to travel in June and forced to cancel by our school board with no option for future travel with our group. Unfortunately, we had no choice in the matter and, even if we had, this unprecedented global event is beyond anyone's control. Not only is it insulting to deal with the large amount of money they aren't willing to refund, but since I never want to deal with EF Tours again I have no desire to try and receive a voucher for future travel, while still losing money and paying more for the same itinerary in the future. read more

Very disappointed in this company. We have lost $900 on a cash refund charge due to our trip being cancelled after two postponed trips. This is after spending money on insurance. If we would have cancelled the first time we would have gotten all of our money back. This a lot of money to take from families that could not control the circumstances. If you plan on a trip with this company, i would ask a lot of questions and read the fine print. read more