Customer service was extremely rude when I asked for a refund for my kid's upcoming trip. Because of COVID-19, I don't want my kid traveling, especially on an airplane. Their customer service stinks and they won't even offer a refund. They keep $600 of the $1800 trip cost. The price is already a rip-off, so why are they so selfish? And if you, like me, thought that they would have adapted their customer service and refund policy to be more understanding amidst a worldwide pandemic, you thought wrong. Other trips I had planned like a beach condo gave me full refunds, but now World Strides. I don't plan on every paying for a trip with this company again. read more

We purchase the DC trip for 3 of us through our daughter's school. Trip has been postponed twice now because of Covid 19. We are asking for a refund at this time. Several emails and have yet to receive a response in over 3 weeks. Right before the original trip they even sent a additional charge of $14 per person even though I paid in full along with my other family members. If the fee was not paid they would add late fees. To me this is extortion. That $42 along with an additional over payment taking out by Worldstrides of a $127 sits as a credit in an account along with the original money paid. We paid roughly $8500 for a trip we never went on, plus an addtional $169 that just sits as a credit for some reason. I will probably never pay through a travel agency again! I have taken 2 weeks off work to not go on either trip. read more

This review is based on my son's feedback on this class trip to Washington D.C. He had a great time with classmates, but food options were scarce for him given his food alergies. We were assured that there would be plenty of options for someone with celiac and an egg allergy, but this wasn't the case. Multiple times he had to use spending money because there weren't options on the meal card he was given. For lunch one day he texted me the menu of the fast food restaurant they stopped at and his only option was to order baked beans and coleslaw. I wish I would have been provided with the list of restaurants they would likely eat at so that I could make sure he had food available before spending almost 2k on his 2.5 day trip. read more

7 months later still waiting for a refund/ insurance claim to be processed

If I could give 0 stars I would! Due to a very unforeseen circumstance, we were unable to continue our trip. This was not through a school but was a trip that the program leader, who also happened to be a teacher, has done for over 18 years and had all the ins and outs of the whole trip down to a science. We felt very comfortable and in good hands going on this trip. That was until the program leader was arrested! No one cancelled the trip, World Strides made that call to cancel. The trip had only been booked for a month, only one monthly payment had been made and we were still over a year out from our trip so really, world strides hadn't done any work for the trip yet except to set up a trip ID and take a payment. I had paid close to $900 dollars for 3 of us to travel. I got $97 back for my husband and me and $53 for my kid so $247 total out of the $900 put in. Beware of all the legal speak and fine print when you book anything with this company. Very poor customer service for people using them, especially when they made the decision to cancel. read more

WorldStrides offered no service and not giving full refund. Did not honor their commitment of prompt refund in 14 days if no service offered and cancellation not made by customer. Their charges were expensive but it was graduation nite of my son so I spend my hard earned money on booking the trip. I would in future plan a private trip on graduation eve for children rather than wasting money on such company. read more

SHAME on WorldStrides. Profiting from a pandemic is disgusting. My son was supposed to attend a trip to NY and DC with his class on March 23, 2020. Well LA, NY, and DC are all on lockdown and the company is REFUSING to refund our $. All airlines, ticket brokers, and hotels are already refunding all $, SHAME ON WorldStrides for taking advantage of its customers and STEALING FROM THEM. SHAME. The company is playing a game where they 'reschedue' the trips, since they wont cancel they wont refund the $$. Everyone impacted please contact your attorney general, BBB, and come and like this page, as we are organizing with a class action lawyer. https://www.facebook.com/SHAME-on-WorldStrides-108261840822623/?epa=SEARCH_BOX Update 4/2/2020 : We are supposed to be getting a refund minus a processing fee. I will consider revising this review once I receive that refund in May. It is a difficult situation for everyone (including WS), but the initial response to the pandemic was appalling. read more

Horrible Customer Service! Schools advised to stay clear of this company! You can always tell a companies true colors when a crisis hits like the current Covaid-19 situation. A complete lack of information and sending out information like this: · Any participants who did not purchase the FRP and are unable to join the program on the new dates typically would fall into our normal cancelation policy where WorldStrides retains 100% of monies paid toward the program. However, in light of these extraordinary circumstances, WorldStrides is providing a way for families to maximize their investment by altering the standard cancellation policy for those who cannot travel on the new dates. · With the amended standard cancellation policy, for those participants without the FRP, WorldStrides will retain 15% of the base trip price to cover a portion of our nonrefundable costs. Families can elect to transfer this credit to another student or parent for a future program or the transferable credit may be used towards the cost of enrollment in any WorldStrides program, across our family of brands. THEY clearly are only thining about THEIR well being and not the students who they THINK they care about. THEIR money has already been credited from the different agencies and THEY just want to pocket Yours and your KIDS hard-earned money. This Company will make millions on the backs of hardworking people! SHAME! read more

horrible company. my 8th grader had an east coast trip planned for march, but the trip was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. THEY canceled the trip but refuse to refund us the money. their solution was to either attend the trip next year (seriously, is a high schooler going to want to go back to their middle school and take a trip with 8th graders??) or a credit voucher worth only 85% of what we paid, for another one of their programs. the voucher is good for only one year, so we can't even pass it to our second child, who is two grades younger. at this point, why would we want to to do business with this company anyway? avoid this unscrupulous company. you can come up with a similar itinerary on your own for way cheaper. read more

This company should be ASHAMED of themselves! They have no moral compass and they run their business unethically! Here we are in the middle of a pandemic and they refuse to refund the full $6,000 (two 8th graders and me) my family spent on an upcoming school trip to Washington, DC. Hotels, VRBO, airlines and travel agents are refunding at 100% but WorldStrides will refund at 50%? What money are they even out for this trip? They are using this opportunity to make money on all of us who trusted them and have spent money with them. Most despicably, the company is trying to separate the parties into individuals in order to strong-arm them into feeling helpless, rather than deal with our school as a whole. I highly suggest you never use this company for travel! read more

This company has got to be the worst travel company I have ever dealt with!! Our high school student was booked for a trip to France through this fraud of a company and not only did they overBill us $1500! They refused to refund the overpayment IN ADDITION they are refusing to refund the money that we had paid for the trip that was cancelled due to Covid19!! $6500!!!! They STOLE $6500 from us!! We are now being forced to sue this unscrupulous company and will forever tell anyone who asks what an awful company this is!!!! read more

I wish I could give negative stars. I signed my daughter up for the DC trip offered through her school a year before the trip was scheduled. Paid in full at that time to get the discount. Two weeks before the trip-I find out the trip is only 4 days long (keep in mind, all of the information and virtual meetings led us to believe the trip would be one week long). We live in Idaho-so two of the four days were spent flying. I had to have my daughter at her school at MIDNIGHT so they could shuttle the kids four hours to the nearest international airport. They flew from SLC to Dallas....then on to Baltimore. Arrived in time to "jump" on the first tour bus and go site seeing for a couple hours before dinner and then bed. Fast forward to day of departure. Kids have to be up, ready to leave, have their bags to the lobby by 6am. Few hours of site seeing and on to the airport for departure. Have to pick my daughter up from her school at 2:00am. So.....no sleep for these kids 1st our 4th night. Two semi-full days of site seeing...oh-and four kids to each room which means my child sleeping with another unknown student.....all for the BARGAIN price of $2400. Don't make the same mistake we did. Don't EVER use Worldstrides. I pray they go out of business. read more

It is unfortunate that this company cares so little about their customers, especially during this time of financial hardship. My daughter had been told about the 8th grade Washington D.C. trip for years by her mother (who went when she was in 8th grade). This $2k ish trip was jam packed full of fun tours and I was excited to send her and I was going as well. All in, close to $5k. Me, being an experienced parent, purchased their "full refund program," just in case. Well, just in case happened and they elected to not cancel our trip but to delay it for a year. Knowing that so much can change in a year, I requested a refund (which I had to pay over $400 for between her trip and mine). Was told they'd get back to me. Was hoping to take the money and spend it on something nice for my daughter, because she was so disappointed. A week goes by, nothing. Another week, nothing. When I email, I get vague responses. Today I finally got a response that they'd let us know something by the end of next week. So three weeks later, no refund (despite paying for an insurance plan) and horrible communication. I have younger kids that are going to be in 8th grade in a few years and there is no way I would ever trust this company with my money again. They do not control COVID-19 and it's impact on travel, but they do control refunds. If they charge extra to be able to get a refund, it should be given as soon as possible. So disappointed. Have filed a complaint with my state attorney general and am trying to do a charge back with my credit card company for this fraudulent company. Run for your life! read more

World Strides provided a reasonably priced stellar Washington D.C. experience for this middle school trip! All around safe, educational, highly coordinated, fully packed, fun learning experience for students and adults! read more

Great trip, minor problems. I would more rate this 4.5 stars, but I just decided to round up. My one week trip to Washington D.C. was awesome! I got to go to the original preserved colonial towns, Busch Gardens, museums, and even entering the capital! But, there were a few hiccups of the trip. Like some of the other low review scores, the transportation was a problem. The bus that transports everybody to the airports were a half-hour late, which was considerably stressful when the trip costs $2,500. Also, the experience of visiting the colonial towns, although cool, was also on the same day as the two flights to arrive there. So most of the students say that they hated it, and it was the worst part of their trip, and everybody agrees that the trip would've been worth it if everybody had some time to rest. The theme park, Busch Gardens was really fun, and we spent most of the day in there. There were some problems in there, like a girl that unbuckles her seat so that the ride had to stop, and maintenance in one of the rides, but that really isn't WorldSrides's fault. The museums, while cool, couldn't be fully checked out due to the time constraints, but plenty of tine to at least take a lot of pictures and check out the gift shop. The tour guide, Ira, was nice and very knowledgeable about the topics of where we were, at one time even more than the guide for the place. He can provide us information quickly, so that we don't have to read some of the texts inside the museum, and at the National Museum of the United States army, my group of friends and I had a wonderful chat about how Ira and our parents are connected to a part of the military. The hotel was better than I expected it would be, and the breakfasts in the hotels were nice. Speaking of food, WorldStrides does give vouchers and coupons in a couple of food courts for the students to get food for themselves, yet they don't give money for the students at the airports. The walks were long and tedious, but a good tour of most of Washington D.C. in a couple of days is hard without just walking most of the time. All the students can handle walking several miles, and there are stops to take pictures and rest during those days. There is also a bus, which is a good time to rest. At the National Reagan Airport, though, Vanilla gift cards don't work, and you had to owe one of the chaperones $30. If you can afford it, I'd say the experience is worth it, especially since if your friends come along with you on the trip. And also bring some really comfy shoes, not the nice ones, because you do walk a lot on that trip. tldr; Great trip, wear comfy shoes, Ira is awesome, and expect some small problems during the trip read more

An update to this review is that they have now lowered the amount that they will not refund to $300 per person. Still, we are out $900 and wouldn't use them again or recommend them. read more

I highly suggest staying AWAY from Worldstrides based on the way they are handling refunds during the global pandemic. I paid just under $4500 for my high school senior to go to Paris and Italy for 10 days with his school. Fortunately, I purchased the extra cancellation protection. Upon notification that the trip would be cancelled or rescheduled, I contacted WorldStrides to process my refund. Was told I needed to wait until a new date was set so that the "clock" would reset and I'd get all my money back. Took almost a MONTH for them to change the date, a full 375 days away. I then called to process my refund and was told that they would keep $600 for the cancellation insurance and "non-refundable vendor fees". I gave them an earful, to no avail. Then people started complaining on sites like this. Just got an email that WorldStrides is going to refund all money except the cancellation insurance, but get this: IN TWO PARTS. The first part will be the amount they initially told me ($3847) and the second part would be the "non-recoverable fees" of $350 that are now miraculously recoverable. This is where I really got SUPER pissed: It will take 8 FREAKING WEEKS TO GET THE FIRST PART. What the heck for???? I made regular AUTOMATIC payments every month, which were promptly processed. Why does it take 8 WEEKS to print a paper check?? Not to mention that I submitted my refund form two weeks ago, at which time I was told it would take 4-6 weeks to get my check. Now, its going to TAKE EVEN LONGER. Oh, and the other $350? Won't get that until the end of the summer (NO SPECIFIC DATE). Should I be grateful to WorldStrides for giving me back the money I paid which they DID NOT EARN because the trip was cancelled? Should be on my knees in thanks because they honored the extra insurance I also paid for? I think not. They should have done this from the beginning, and it shouldn't take 3 MONTHS TO DO IT. WorldStrides IS GARBAGE. read more

I am a single mom that tried to get my daughter lined up to go on one of these trips. I applied for the scholarship and received $89 (trip costs over $2000). when I questioned the amount, a rep told me they save the bulk of their funds for those on unemployment and government assistance. my daughter ended up switching schools and can no longer go on the trip anyways and they also refused to give back my deposit. Terrible company with awful customer service. I offered to provide any proof they needed and they denied it. on a single mom income, if my child can no longer go on the trip due to MOVING, I could really use the money back. read more

Has no regard for customers, refuses to say our trip to Italy is cancelled so they don't have to refund money! Have paid almost paid $5000 and purchased the insurance and only want to give 3700 back as best case scenario. Have called and each time get different answer and it gets harder and harder to get through! They keep trying to reroute us somewhere else in europe! No one is traveling!!! Want my money back!!! They did finally came through and figured out a solution! read more

Booked a trip to Italy May 2019 for my senior, once in a lifetime opportunity. Made monthly payments to be able to afford to give him this memory. No one saw Covid-19 coming, with that being said Full Refund is needed and deserved. Keeping $800 of a $3,700 trip from families that are struggling with out paychecks right now is just the wrong thing to do at this time, there's a time to abide by your policies and there is a time to be a human being! DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY, take the trip with your family if you can instead! Promised some money back in 8 weeks! Ridiculous, waiting since February, they cancelled last minute March 12, trip was planned March 13, he wasn't going we all knew it but it was prolonged for too long and here it is late April and still nothing! read more

I cancelled my sons trip due to covid 19. I got an email saying my refund will be processed by August 13 2020. When I signed up for this I had paid 115 for the insurance on the trip so if for some reason he couldn't go we would get our full refund. when I called they told me the refund would be 8 weeks after the departure date. I will not ever use this company again when someone pays extra to have the protection if needed. I understand a lot of people are cancelling trips due to the Covid 19 however when someone pays extra I feel that they should be able to get their money back sooner. read more

My son has traveled with this company three times. I was excited to let my daughter do the same thing. I purchased the full refund program which I always do. She was hospitalized for 8 days during the week they were supposed to depart. I was unable to notify them until the Friday morning they departed and was told I was not eligible for a refund because I did not notify them 24 hours in advance. HMMM, I'm sorry that my daughter was in the hospital and I was not in my right mind to make phone calls. Illness is considered Under their exceptional circumstances. One would think that 8 days hospitalization would be defined as this. I have contacted BBB because they still refuse to give me my refund or at least some of it. read more

This global health crisis of the COVID has brought about the kindness of people to be more humane of reaching out to those affected but this company is heartless!!!This pandemic is beyond our control. Just because we did not purchase a refund insurance, they would not even consider refunding some of the monies minus the refund fee. $2520 of hard earned saved money to pay for our child's trip down the drain. Credit into another trip date next year is not feasible as our children are moving into high school. During this uncertain times of fear of health and job loss, it's the least they can do. Never again make business with this company!!! Read everything on their contract. Update: 4/3/2020 World strides have reached out to us families and I am thankful that your company is able to refund some of monies paid. Truly grateful that despite all the problems we face, compassion still prevails. Thank you and may you continue the good work you do. God bless us all! read more

Worldstrides is such a disappointing company. I have not heard back from them for my refund and seeing all these reviews saying they are going through the same thing makes me really regret deciding to travel with this money-greedy business. Even with the global epidemic occuring right now, Worldstrides has no compassion for the families that just want their money back and have decided to take $299 for "unrecoverable costs. Worldstrides has done nothing for us- no trip, so why do we still have to pay? read more

In the wakes of COVID-19, this company cancelled school class trips and kept hardworking families money. Worst customer service ever. I highly recommend #christiantours as a more reputable option. I checked 1 star they don't deserve any and only because system requires to post comments. read more

For the $2k+ for 3 nights, I was hoping to have more detailed information on where the money was going towards. At the informational meeting at the school they handed out a very high level sheet saying it went towards hotel, 3 meals a day, & transportation. The days leading up, we saw that the hotel offered free breakfast, the first night I had to send him with money because that meal wasn't covered, and then two other meals were $10 voucher for a food truck and $15 for airport grab and go. They had the kids sleep 4 to a double room (but wanted to follow Covid protocols....). I called customer service, emailed customer service 2x, and even followed the contact us on their site to ask a question -- NO RESPONSE!!!! Horrible customer service!! They booked a late flight for the kids to get into DC, and then had bus problems so the kids hung out at the airport for hours. Didn't get into the hotel til 1-2am. Also had bus problems the first day. He saw a lot and went a lot of places. He just felt like everything was rushed and a blur. He did have fun with his friends so that's the positive in it all. read more

My daughter did not have a good experience at all. 2 days before the trip we didn't have an itinerary. They didn't go to a lot of the places we were originally told they would, but instead took them to military sites and museums. At the same time, history was being made across town and it was never once mentioned. The guide had his spiel but otherwise didn't seem to know much, and didn't do much to keep the kids engaged. My daughter and her friends were left behind more than once. I wouldn't recommend this tour company and I will let our school contact know this as well. They were overpriced and did not provide the experience for my child I had hoped for. read more

Lost money dealing with them. Was told would receive cancelation protection as an incentive for signing up in April 2021 for a school trip scheduled for mid 2022; however upon cancelation, company says there was no incentive on my account. Trip coordinator had same understanding as I did, but Worldstrides didnt care. Who would sign up for a trip mid covid with no cancellation guarentee??!!! I didn't think a company that provides educational trips would be such scheisters! If they are your only option for your child's trip and you child is begging to go, get EVERYTHING in writing before you hand over any money. Don't depend on school employees/coordinators to assist even though Worldstrides tries to create confusion by referring everything back through them. Trip planners, use another service or be ready to deal with angry parents and company issues! read more

I so wish I would have took the time to read these reviews prior to booking our New York/Washington DC trip with our school. We booked back in Summer 2021. With Covid regulations still in place I was getting concern with our trip heading into New York City. It was confirmed with our coordinator last week the trip would not go to New York like originally planned but stay in Washington DC and be extended. My daughter wish was to visit New York city so we are disappointed and upset. We wish to cancel our trip since it was not going to be the one originally planned. We did not select trip protection. I have thoroughly read their standard cancellation procedures and of course I have a hearty 25% penalty fee to pay. I did request to pay $1000 instead of the whole 25% because the trip plans were changed, which is more than enough since they are doing absolutely nothing for us and profited $1,000! They won't and also decided to gauge me more by charging $99.00 per account more for registration fees! What a joke. This company is so fraudulent on so many levels. Please do not book your trip with this company. It deserves the bankruptcy its about to endure. I just got off the phone with three different people demanding to speak to a manager, this will be a lost cause. I might take below advice and contact my bank for a faster refund. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!! read more

Same song, different verse as prior reviews. In short, I cancelled my twins' 8th grade DC trip. $265 cancellation cost PER child and 12 weeks to return my money. In the end, I paid $530 for them to push a button to cancel the trip, and waited 3 months for them to return the remainder of my money. I will never recommend this scam of a business to anyone, nor use the services again. read more

The bus showed up three and a half hrs late. The missed a stop that we paid for also the bus broke down 2 times. When I reached out to them directly as all the boys where stuck on side of road and was told I would get a call back never heard from anyone from this company called multiple times with concerns about my 14 yr old child. I would never recommend them to anyone no concern for you children. I do understand things can happen but the leak of respect to even call back. I would not let any of my kids go with them again. read more

The trip went good but my kid left the cell phone on the bus when leaving DC. My kids called and spoke to the bus driver who found and it said WorldStrides would ship it back to her. We waited 5 days and heard nothing from them. I called 4 times, the group leader called 2+ times and they always said they would check and get back to me in 1 day max. On the 3rd call they set my case as urgent!! They never called ... NEVER!!! After 11 days I called angry wanting answers and they told me that they do not ship anything back, that its not up to them to find it. I have to find and call bus company and ask them to ship it. They are not responsible. They dont care!! I would even respect that as a policy if they told me that a week ago when I first called but I had to waste 11 days and call them tons of times only to be told of their "policy" that they do not ship phone or anything. A total waste of time for me. But I already fully paid for the trip so I no longer matter!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My kids took tons of photos of her trip and those are all lost now!!!!!! There was her atm card, money, student ID and medical card in the phone -- ALL LOST!!!! And what does WorldStrides say after 11 days --- Sorry we don't handle this. Call the bus. Find it on your own!!!!! WOW What a bad unprofessional company and policy!!! If you kids go on a trip with them make sure you don't lose anything or you can kiss it goodbye. In fact don't even try to call to get it back don't waste you time as I have!!! ------------------------------------------------------ UPDATE ------------------------------------------------------ I called the bus travel company and they said they still have the phone they called worldstrides to pick up the phone and ship it. That is what is supposed to happen when a company like worldstrides rents a bus they become responsible for lost items. SO THEY LIED!!! WOW WHAT A SHOCK!!! The bus company will now send me the phone overnight at their own cost, I asked to pay for it and they said no. So worldstrides now is screwing a small bus company out of well earned money!!! They are such a bad service company. The tours are good but the service if you need help is horrendous and they LIE!!!!!! so pathetic. read more

I was told that my son would share the room with another student, not 4 students! The hotel that they booked had bathrooms in the rooms with no privacy, no bathroom door, no shower privacy, no way to keep others out. One of the other students that bunked with my son decided to make a video of my son naked in the shower, all while my son was unaware and all his private parts were showing. This kid then decided to send the video to the entire 8th grade class in his school and on social media. read more

Just a waste of money. 3000 to travel to New York and on top of that having to buy own plane ticket and meals while there??? Customer service stinks and rarely answers the phone or emails . I will warn people to stay away. read more

I am updating my post to reflect a one star. Just received an update that even though parents were notified that it would be shipped out and provided by Tuesday, the items are still in the hotel across country. This is beyond ridiculous. Very disappointed in the performance of this company. read more

Credit Union and VISA recovered my funds in 2 weeks vs 12 weeks or "generous 6 weeks" from World Strides! Ongoing local government pandemic mandates actions in news vs months later updates from World Strides will leave you hanging and subject to the whims of local minions. read more

UNPROFESSIONAL!!!! ALL THE OTHER REVIEWS ARE TRUE! DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY OF YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY. THEY ARE SWINDLERS AND I AM IN THE PROCESS OF REPORTING TO THE BBB. We also were talked into going on a "trip of a lifetime" for my son. This would be a trip that he will remember "until well into adulthood", so said the informational meeting. Well, he will remember it, as will all of us, as we are out $2600 due to Worldstrides and their dishonest ways. Read the other reviews. They pretty much sing the same tune. This company will refuse to refund you when clearly, there is no way this trip can work out for these kids, due to COVID-19. They refuse to give any of it back if you didn't buy insurance, but even if you did, they would only give 85% back. What gives? I would highly recommend NOT using them on any school trips. read more

Terrible, it was so bad, they do not care about the safety of the kids we were left walking around an airport trying to find a worldstrides worker so they could help us find our luggage, we had to run to catch our flight read more

Update: they have agreed to a full refund minus $249 which I am completely thrilled about. They are losing money in all this too and I think it's only fair that they keep something. DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY!!! World Strides rescheduled my sons trip for a time that he cannot go and are only offering a travel voucher that he will never use!! Terrible customer service in these troubling times! They will get their money back and keep MY hard earned mon read more

Horrible company. My daughters class trip is stranded in Miami on trip to Costa Rica. Flight got cancelled and company just tells them to 'stand in line at airport', zero help from WorldStrides'. 8 hours standing on line and no updates. Looks like bunch of kids are spending night in airport. Maybe 2 nights with zero concern from 'World Strides'. read more