I am booked to go on a tour through Italy and Germany in March 2022. The company's policy allowed for there travelers to extend their stay for an extra $300 fee, which was due in October 2021. I filed for an extension, paid the fee, and received a confirmation from EF Tours that my request had been granted. On the basis of this confirmation, I subsequently booked accommodation and event tickets for the extra time we would be spending. In December, though, I heard from EF Tours that they were unable to grant my extension due to Covid. I wrote EF Tours asking for an exemption, as I had already booked accommodation and tickets. I also expressed my willingness to waive their Covid related responsibilities. Despite this, they told they were unable to (re-)authorize my extension. When I appealed to a manager, she stated the same thing, and pointed out that, in the fine print of the EF Tours contract, they recommend that, if you extend your trip, you should not book accommodation and tickets more than 60 days before the trip departure. I wish they would have pointed that out to me when I requested the extension. So, I am now either out-of-pocket for over $1,000 of services I cannot use, or I have to spend another $1,500 to purchase my own return flights, as EF Tours refuses to book me a return flight at the time of my choosing. I will never use EF Tours again. The level of service does not match the (exorbitant) cost. I will book my own tours with my children from now on. I wish there was a negative star rating I could give them. read more

Terrible hotels, ie running out of hot water, windows that don't close and then making students share a bed. Yes not a room but a bed. And no not just 1 night. Never were we told students would be having to share a bed. Then one of the tours they were to go on has been closed for over a year. So then last minute my student is having to pay more money for a different tour. Tried reaching out to ef, but it's a 3 - 5 day response time read more

Parents beware. Please use another company in travel for your children. I purchased a trip to Peru for my daughter through this company. She was supposed to travel with a teacher and classmates as a gift for graduating from high school. She worked very hard to raise half of money for this trip. EF cancelled this trip a couple of weeks before travel due to safety concerns so my daughter and her group then agreed to go to Costa Rica. The company said that all of the on-land travel arrangements were made and days before her trip cancelled this trip as well. In doing some digging, I was able to find out the company never booked airfare and this is why it was cancelled. I fully expected a refund because it was company error. instead, I have been put through the wringer even trying to get ahold of customer service. In calling, I found customers aren't allowed to speak to managers, only email them. It took a manager 9 business days to return my email after promising a 3-4 day turnaround for emails. They only emailed me back when I got my attorney involved. They are stating that my daughter can only get a travel voucher to travel with strangers some time next summer and cannot get a refund. We did have travel insurance so now I have to go through a completely different company to try to fight this some more. My daughter was supposed to have an amazing experience this summer, and instead has been given nothing but disappointment thanks to EF. read more

Booked a trip for my high school daughter in March 2019 with plans to travel in June 2020. The trip was cancelled by the company due to COVID 19. They do not offer refunds during these unprecedented times, choosing to keep a $500 fee despite the insurance. They've kept $1000 from others. Despite paying for the trip religiously via electronic funds transfer they're only issuing checks that take 6 to 8 weeks. The company has shown their true colors and does not put students first by any stretch. Look for another educational tour group before booking with them. read more

I'm never one to leave bad reviews but their customer service SUCKS. I had to cancel due to a personal emergency and when I called the worker told me I would not have to pay a cancellation fee. In fact, she assured me because I was triple checking to made sure I understood what she was saying. I still got charged for it and it made my account negative!! I called back and talked to two different people and they were rude and useless. It turns out the first person I talked to that clearly said I wouldn't have to pay anything was a TRAINEE and it's MY fault for misunderstanding her!! Now I'm asked out of over $300 during this emergency!! Unbelievable. They were not willing to help at all. Never again. read more

Worst company ever. Do not use do not use do not use. We are under quarantine and they are trying to steal $750 to refund our money from each kid in high school. I repeat, rudest most unprofessional awful customer service I've ever seen in any company ever!!!!!!! read more

Awful, awful, awful. In every regard. Unfortunately we didn't have a choice but to use them as this Paris/London trip was through my daughter's school. But -- wow -- inept doesn't even begin to cover it. There was a lot of stuff wrong, but my main complaint surrounded how badly they looked after my teenager. She got sick on vacation. It wasn't incredibly serious, but she had tonsillitis and needed to see a doctor for some antibiotics ASAP. You would think they've never had a sick traveler on their tour before! The tour guide (it was his first tour and he was clueless in every regard) had no idea of the protocol to get my daughter to a doctor. My husband and I were on the phone for hours trying to get it organized -- from thousands of miles away. They actually lied to us twice and said she was in the car with a chaperone going to a doctor. Turned out, nope! Total lie. They said that part of the problem with getting her to the doctor was that the tour guide didn't speak French. Could you imagine?! A tour company that can't get medical assistance for a child because of a language barrier? Perhaps they should have prepared the guide with some basic French? Use Google Translate? Find someone nearby that spoke English? Then there was some non-specific insurance issue. This went on ALL day. Finally a chaperone took my daughter to the hospital that night, because they waited so long to take her all the doctor's offices were closed. As a side note, she informed her chaperone at midnight the night before that she was sick. She should have seen a doctor first thing! But instead it took nearly 24 hours. Then of course, she couldn't even get her script filled until the next day because it was 11:00 at night by that point. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN WITH AN ESTABLISHED TOUR COMPANY??? On top of that, as others have mentioned, the hotels are in the middle of nowhere so they spent half the day commuting. The hotel in Paris had no air conditioning. The last night of the trip, the bus company said it had used up all the contracted hours so the kids didn't get dinner. The bus just dropped them off at their awful hotel without any dinner -- a dinner that was supposed to be included in the thousands of dollars I paid for this trip. Mind you, these are only the "highlights." Do not use this company. I don't know how they are in business. They aren't even taking care of your kids which, really, is the most important thing. I thank god it wasn't a more serious medical emergency. read more

Do not trust this company especially with your kids!!!! There are plenty of horrible reviews, horror stories and lawsuits on this company!! They are notorious for leaving minors stranded in an airport for days and not issuing refunds!! Get our children home!! They are currently stuck in Toronto going on almost 4 days now!! read more

Took the EF tour to Scotland on June of 2019. While overall I enjoyed seeing Scotland for the first time and had fun with the group I was with, was disappointed with the monetary value of the overall trip. This is not my first time with EF Tours. We visited Ireland in 2015. And, I have traveled outside the US before without EF, so I do have some perspective of traveling abroad in general. 1. Two days before leaving for Scotland, our group was bumped from the Isle of Sky portion of our itinerary. Admittedly, it was one of the main reasons for me visiting the country. 2. Our ghost walk tour of "Specters of Scotland" did not include us touring the catacombs and spaces beneath the city like it was stated on our EF online itinerary. And, our ghost walk above in the city of Edinburgh was in broad daylight. I know we were visiting in June with longer days. However, as someone who has been on quite a few ghost tours, they start after dark for a reason. 3. Stops in some locations was an hour tops, bathroom time included. Or a stop with lunch time included. So, that meant that you had to rush to see a particular area and try to find a bathroom or decent lunch accommodations. In some cases lunch options were greasy fast food. Even the kids in our group found this to be unacceptable. 4. Our guide was a nice man. However, he was from England and not Scotland. Why didn't we have a Scottish guide? Why nobody who lives and works in the country? 5. While I know that Scotland is not necessarily mostly known for culinary delights, we ate pizza for two dinners. Would have liked something closer to what the locals eat, even if it was a type of fusion favorite and decent quality food. The pizza and spaghetti at the second restaurant was really bad. I barely touched it and was seriously disappointed. It just seemed a lazy and easy choice for EF to cut corners. And, just because we were traveling with younger people is not a good excuse. Several of the younger members of our group of 11 were disappointed. The other dinners were ok. Again, the quality of the food seemed rather low. 6. The train ride over the Glenfinnan Viaduct was on a regular contemporary train and not the coal powered train we expected. We even passed the coal powered train pulling out of the station, so it was available at the time for visitors. A lot of our group were Harry Potter fans and were hoping for the experience of riding in something similar to the movie. Also, our tickets were disorganized for the train we did ride on. Many were reserved for another group and we had to find seats separated from each other. Even sitting in seats not designated according to our ticket. Our guide even got into an argument with the train ticket checker over it. 7. Hotels were far away from city centers. I understand when we are in a rural area. However staying closer to (for instance) Edinburgh would have been ideal to take in shows, see more local/less touristy areas, etc. We and a few of the younger travelers were looking forward to this option. And, especially if you are stuck on the bus for an hour +, it helps to have a place to get out and stretch the legs. Right before leaving on this trip, I had signed up for the EF Costa Rico trip next year. In light of this, I have serious misgivings about having done so. Considering cancelling my plans with EF. read more

Terrible company! I called the company and was placed on hold for over 30 min, (my guess is that they were hoping I hang up.) I finally was able to speak with an agent. During the conversation I explained to her that I signed my daughter up for a trip (the trip was to take place in read more

I share the negative views of so many other customers. My daughter's trip was cancelled by them, and they did not give a full refund. Whatever you do, don't ever book a trip with EF Educational Tours! read more

Quite possibly the worst company known to man. What they are doing to kids and parents, myself and daughter included, is unconscionable. Wish there was a zero option. Keep our money and provide a useless voucher. I would steer clear of this group going forward, unless you like companies that value money over the safety of the children entrusted to their care. read more

Zero stars. Ef tours is awful. There is a serious coronavirus outbreak, the governor has declared a state of emergency the president has banned travelers from Europe entering the US. And if you travel to Europe when you return you must self isolate yourself for 14 days. My son is a senior in high school and paid with his own money to take an Ef tour with his high school. The high school has cancelled the trip and my son has asked for a refund he paid $2999 and is only getting back $1201.50. I contacted Ef on his behalf to get more money back and I was told, tough luck he is not getting any more money back, and I was told this rudely. This situation is very extraordinary and I feel he should get more money back most airlines, hotels and travel entities are allowing for cancellations with out penalties. Which means Ef is making a huge profit off my son. Do not use this company they are rude and awful. They refunded only 41% of what my son paid. They are stealing $1797.50 from my son!!! Schools and colleges are being cancelled, the NBA, NHL, MBL and the MLS all cancelled games but my son can not get more of a refund from EF this is absolutely absurd. BUYER BEWARE DO NOT BOOK A TRIP THROUGH EF TOURS!!! read more

We had a terrible experience with this company. They required COVID vaccines and informed us months after we paid. We declined, so my granddaughter didn't go on the trip to Greece. They didn't tell us prior to paying for the trip, so we lost quite a bit of our almost $5000 payment because of this change, which is wrong. The even bigger problem is getting the remainder of what we paid refunded. I have yet to receive the $3000 plus reimbursement check from them. Every time I call, it is either being "processed", or in the mail. They refuse to send it with a tracking number and this is the fourth time they have said they have sent it. At this point, I am furious. This has taken up so much of my time since the SPRING! I would not recommend this company to anyone! Stay clear and please do NOT give them any of your money! I have now seen where there is a class action suit against them, aqs well as numerous BBB complaints. They are definitely not a company that operates with integrity! read more

This company is a joke . 4 days before a trip to Peru they cancelled . NO REFUND just a voucher . I gave them a 2nd chance and they blew it again. I paid in full and less than 60 days before my trip they told me I had to pay additional $477 on the airfare because the price had gone up . I paid the balance in full by the deadline and they are now making me pay more, it makes zero sense and they will NOT WORK with you . Proceed with caution, they are great at making things look so wonderful but they are not a good company. i will never use them again . Book on your own . it's cheaper and you won't get the run around with this joke of a company. read more

Never again with this tour and I would strongly recommend using a different travel company...I was just on an EF tour to Portugal and I can honestly say it was horrible. Can a vacation really be this uncomfortable? There was a fellow passenger who threatened me on the bus multiple times and nothing was done. It was an extremely uncomfortable situation and I had to leave the tour. After this situation occurred a person from the tour company called me to get the story (since I immediately reported it to the tour director) but never heard from him again. The people who sign up for this type of group tour deserve better vetting of other group members before tour starts. Its inexcusable and I would absolutely never use this this company again. read more

I like the idea and the local tour directors were great. My child went to Costa Rica with EF in June 2022. Pros: 100% Guided tour by locals the whole way Teachers go and look after your kid The trip was fun and interesting, the activities and things really were wonderful Kids have a good time, gain some independence It is education oriented Experience new cultures, food, people and make friends Price is not devastating, it was about $2400 per kid for a 10 day trip (not cheap either but it is 100% guided and included all regular meals) Cons: EF communication is horrible EF management do whatever they can to NOT talk to you (parents) - there is NO flexibility and NO logical/reasonable accommodations for you. Do NOT expect them to be understanding to any of your issues. EF picks the cheapest flights (lots of issues with short layovers, causing other problems e.g. connections) my kid ended up spending about 16 hours to get to Costa Rica and missing the first day activities The tour will recommend a huge amount of money ($800) be brought so that they can up-sell your kid for stuff, like additional tours and dinners Teachers can be a bit pushy on the add-ons. I wonder if they get something out of it because my kid was "punished" for not wanting to pay $20 for a night walk which was the same walk through a jungle they did in the daytime. The teachers confined the kids to their rooms for a period of time. It rained. She (my kid) called and I told her go on the walk so eventually she did - said it was dark and she saw nothing... Teacher made us sign a document for good behavior OR ELSE they will send your kid home at your (parents) expense - oh by the way this is long after a refund is possible. Would I do it again? I don't know, maybe if the world was at peace and there were no COVID... if all goes smoothly it would probably be amazing but additional things made it more stressful. I still like the idea anyway :) and they do make some interesting trips! read more

Complete rip off! Flights delayed, rescheduled 2 days later. HOURS on the phone with little information. EF directs to second party insurance who requires mountains of paperwork. Leaders get all flight, hotel information, not the traveler so have to get information from leaders to complete paperwork - many emails later. Submit paperwork. 3 months later they process. $80! 2 nights hotel lodging, food, $100 farm tour missed and we get $80 back! Little explanation, hours on the phone. What a waste of money. Never again. read more

These people are crooks! My son signed up for a tour with his school to Japan and was very excited. He saved his own money (about $5000) at 17. The tour was cancelled and changed to Iceland and he has no interest in going there. They kept 500.00 of his hard earned money as a "cancellation fee" even though we purchased their "insurance." Do not do business with them unless you like supporting companies that steal from children. read more

This is my first yelp review, I made an account just to try to warn people how much of a RIP OFF this touring company is. 1. WAY OVERPRICED, but I dipped into my savings and decided to let my 12 YO go to Paris and Madrid - looks great on a college app I told myself. All fine and good, until Paris was elevated to a level 2 travel advisory by the US dept of State which triggered CPS (Chicago Public Schools) to force us to decide to cancel the trip OR get credit towards another trip. All parents voted for a cancellation. Here's the fun part, even though our purchase clearly stated this came with insurance, we had to purchase the higher priced insurance to cover the full amount of our trip. So, after paying 500 a month for 6 months I got 1800 dollars back. BUYER BEWARE. I'm filing a dispute of charges with the Illinois Attorney General but hold no hope. Last thing, this isn't the first time this company has ripped off a CPS school, there are TONS of Facebook groups about this scam and why does the school council allow this vendor to sell to the schools? Because the staff gets travel vouchers. I'm coming for you EF Tours. read more

This is a terrible company. Just don't use them. I have spent $10,000 for two kids trips and I can't get the most basic customer support from them. Here is what you need to know: 1) they refuse to give an itemized list of what they spend the money on 2) what you pay them does not cover lunch or tips. Your travelers have to cover that. 3) They pretend that you can extend your students trip. And you can. But guess what? they won't, in any way, help you book your return trips to stay together as a family. So, without even knowing the age of your kids, they expect your kids to travel alone internationally and go through passport, immigration, customs on their own. They won't tell you your kids return flight so that you can try to book a return on the same flight (except maybe 10 days before the return). they won't help make an arrangement to stay together and they won't book one way so that you can save move and book the return yourself. Then, you can't get through on the phone. They have horrible people on the chat, like actually rude. Just don't do it. It isn't worth the hassle these people have created. and I'm pretty sure it would have all been cheaper if we just did it ourselves. Our only hope now is that our kids have a great time with their class. read more

Just returned from a tour from Spain. I would not recommend using this tour company as they are not student focused, not responsive to emergencies and put student lives at risk. read more

EF tour cancelled trip to Equador on June, 2022 because of public unrest and doesn't offer any cash refund only a vaycher for other trip. Stay away from this company. read more

Had a fully paid tour planned for our son (12) in 2020 and then covid hit. We decided to wait and see what the next year would bring. By 2022, however, we decided to request a refund. Simple enough, however, after waiting the 6-8 weeks for the check to arrive it was made out in our SON'S NAME. Shocked that a company would issue a check for such a LARGE amount to the MINOR and not to either of the ADULTS listed on the account. We requested a second check be issued in our names and after waiting over 10 days, the check has still not arrived. Going on 2 months now since we closed the account and this almost feels like a "check's in the mail" scam. Still no refund check has been received. read more

Worst experience ever. We had to cancel due to Covid (which is okay), however when I asked about my refund (as my ex-husband was paying for my daughter's account and I was paying for my account) I was assured my money would go to me. Both refunds went to my ex and now I have no way of recovering. Worst customer support ever. read more

Terrible business practices. During a worldwide pandemic they take advantage of people. I tried to cancel a trip for my daughter well over a year in advance and was told I would lose over $500. International travel was not even permitted at that time. I understand the $95 nonrefundable deposit, but the school has not even rescheduled the trip due to COVID. Now we are out $500! This company is a scam! Don't bother with customer service either...there isn't any. read more

My daughter was stuck in europe for days on end with flights be canceled and delayed left and right. Their Is a group of students that have been abandoned by EF tours essentially. EF tours claim they are trying their hardest but they haven't done Jack Sh*t. Terrible company don't even bother calling or talking to them on a weekend they are on their break sitting on their asses. Terrible establishment read more

Absolutely horrible company! Completely unethical. Refused to refund travelers after they cancelled the trip. Continually changes their policies to benefit the company. Unless you are willing to risk losing all your money, don't commit to a trip with EF. read more

I have tried in vain to get hold of EF tours for a refund as my child will not be able to attend in about 8 months, but cannot get anyone! I don't recommend the customer service! I will keep trying but the chat is no help. BE careful before you go with them as you will not be able to talk to anyone. read more

COVID-19 brought a lot of uncertainty to the Country and the least this company could do is refund the parents without any penalties or additional fees for a trip that was cancelled by them. It's ridiculous the way they are handling this situation. Per their words "company is encountering fees so they decided to pass on the fees to customer." I will not trust this company with my student. read more

We had a tour lined up with EF, but EF made a terrible decision by booking the flights with Air Canada (AC). AC has had a history of dropping flights within minutes of the flight, but the issue is that there is no one to really talk to with AC so nothing can get worked out. We are basically having to forgo our whole trip that people paid a lot of money for because of this one bad decision that again they have had plenty of notice in the past for. EF could be a great company, I wouldn't know, but when they decided to go cheap, they royally screwed up. read more

I have been transfered to 4 different people and they won't let my school cancel the trip or get a second chaperone which is a requirement from our school. I don't have enough kids for a second chaperone but they won't let me cancel. I am so panicked, my job is on the line and they don't care. read more

A completely crazy and difficult time as our daughter's flight was delayed and canceled, but was NOT HELPED or supported at all by EF tours. we are not suggesting they could have changed what happened with the airlines, but they should have communicated with the parents and helped the tour leaders. read more

I just returned as a chaperone on the EF trip to Barcelona and Madrid. Our tour guide, Borja, was fantastic! The local tour guides were also amazing. The trip was well planned and very educational and fun. However the Barcelona hotel was a dump and really ruined my view of the trip planners. The hotel that was posted for our trip on the website was not the hotel we stayed at. It was old and gross and my bathroom totally flooded when I showered and the front desk staff wouldn't help me, give me a mop or extra towels, and were incredibly rude. Everything else was awesome on the trip, but I hated staying in the Barcelona hotel. I've heard from others that most hotels on EF trips are dumps. I probably wouldn't take another EF trip. read more

I have traveled as an adult chaperone and group leader with many different tour companies and most have different aspects that they are best at. Having now traveled with EF multiple times, I can say that EF has provided us with the best combination of service, experience, and value. I have been so impressed with them that I now send my children on trips with EF, knowing that they will have a great time, will be well taken care of, and that my money will be well spent. read more

I have gone on three successful trips with EF. They are not the fanciest trips ever, but they offer quite a bit for an affordable price. My last experience with them has been a nightmare. Our tour to Ireland was originally scheduled for March 2022. Ireland has been listed at a Level 4 by the State Department, indicating it was unsafe to travel to due to Covid. The decision was made to move the trip to March 2023. We were told we could move the money we had already paid to the 2023 or we could request a refund. However, we were told since the trip was being cancelled within 90 days of travel, we would be penalized $500. Even when telling the representative that the trip was now over a year away and not 90 days, they still were going to keep the $500. I was told the refund check of over $2000 was issued on December 11. When it was still not received by December 29, I was told to wait another week because the holidays had likely disrupted the mail. Another week and still no check. I called back yet again and told them I wanted a new check overnighted. I was told the company only issues checks on Mondays and I would have to wait until the next week and then it would be mailed by standard service and not overnighted. The customer service representatives for this company are terrible and did very little to assist with this situation. I will never go on another trip with this company, not would I encourage anyone else. It is not worth the hassle. read more

I would NOT recommend a student traveling with EF Tours. They do not care about the students. They only care about the $. They change policies AFTER you pay and then do not refund your money even though it was their policy change that did not allow the student to travel. I have requested a call from the costumer service management several time but have only gotten 1 email back without answering any of my questions. read more

don't waste your hard earned money. although I was told EF would refund excursions that were cancelled during my 2 daughters' European carousel trip a June 15, 2022. EF took 3 months to tell me that they would not refund the excursions that were cancelled. save your money and take your children to Europe ( we could have for the $13,000 we gave EF!!) read more

DO NOT USE THIS TOUR COMPANY!! They are making money off of this pandemic at the expense of students and parents. They are taking $500 from every person who has had to cancel due to COVID19. Also they will not issue a refund for 4 to 6 weeks!! They were real quick to charge me and get their money for the trip but I now have to wait 4 to 6 weeks to receive mine!! The employees are rude and will not let you speak. They will speak over you! We will never do anything like this again! Save yourself the trouble and money! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! read more

Worst business practice I saw from any company in dealing with Covid. Stole money out of the pockets of children and parents who spent years paying towards a trip - even when all airlines and hotels confirmed they issued full refunds to the company -- and even though they got payments for four years accruing interest on that money in the bank, they STILL kept the money and refused to refund IN FULL. This company has no moral standing. read more