Post your 8th grader travel trip experience
If you have an 8th grader that took or is planing on taking a trip with their classmates to places outside of your state and have had experiences with the trip, I urge you to post a comment here. The purpose is to help others decide on which travel agencies to take or avoid. You can post your good stories as well as your bad ones.
The kids and parents had an interesting time
If you plan on working with World Strides as your tour provider then I must warn you that you will be spending hours doing walking to and from your destinations. They don't believe in tour bus travel unless it is from city to city. In Washington DC the tour guide took a wrong turn and took our group on an extra mile or so hike which took more time for a trip that was on a schedule. Time that could be used to actually see something that is taken up by cross town walks.
It is being proven more and more as I talk to people about World Strides is the fact that they are a cheap skate company that charges for more than they are putting out for. One point is the fact that our group stayed in an unmarked "hotel". Now you tell me where World Strides found a hotel that doesn't have any marks of a name on it. I wonder if a hotel like that even has a business license.
Of course my rants about World Strides could not be complete without a mention about how they make numerous contributions to political leaders. Why would a tour company that specializes in tours to Washington DC make so many contributions....In wonder about that one.
By the way if you have missed it, take a look at the other posts in this blog to see the comments made by former World Strides employees and customers. It is a real eye opener.
If you really like the information in this blog and want to make other people aware of the facts please Stumble it, Digg it or Tweet about it. The more people that are informed the better and maybe one day our kids and schools will not be taken in by this kind of company anymore.
It is being proven more and more as I talk to people about World Strides is the fact that they are a cheap skate company that charges for more than they are putting out for. One point is the fact that our group stayed in an unmarked "hotel". Now you tell me where World Strides found a hotel that doesn't have any marks of a name on it. I wonder if a hotel like that even has a business license.
Of course my rants about World Strides could not be complete without a mention about how they make numerous contributions to political leaders. Why would a tour company that specializes in tours to Washington DC make so many contributions....In wonder about that one.
By the way if you have missed it, take a look at the other posts in this blog to see the comments made by former World Strides employees and customers. It is a real eye opener.
If you really like the information in this blog and want to make other people aware of the facts please Stumble it, Digg it or Tweet about it. The more people that are informed the better and maybe one day our kids and schools will not be taken in by this kind of company anymore.
World Strides, a company full of controversy
Because of the very informative comments that this blog has gotten regarding the tour company, World Strides, I will try and keep the blog up beyond the date of the children's trip. Just visit some of the blog posts regarding World Strides and you will read the many people that have had both positive and negative results with the company. Former employees have also left not so nice comments about the company.
Worldstrides the tour company your school should stay away from
In my previous post about our problems with Worldstrides (you can read that post here) I mentioned the fact that Worldstrides had been involved with a bankruptcy. I had found that information via a private members only message board. It may or may not be in error but apparently the post got the attention of Worldstrides themselves. It is amazing to me that a blog that gets only 3 visitors a week would set off alarms at a small travel agency (Worldstrides only has 300 employees worldwide, hardly a large corporation) Because of that post I got a long 5 paragraph email from Mr. Martin, one of the VP's at Worldstrides trying to "correct" my blog post.
In answer to that email I will "correct" the word bankruptcy with a link to a court document that goes into great detail about how Lakeland Tours (which is what Wordstrides use to be known as) debts mounted up and how Worldstrides was formed under questionable dealings. You can see that document in full here. You can form your own opinion about Worldstrides after reading that.
Next I would like to mention that Mr. Martin prided himself in the fact that the Better Business Bureau of Richmond, VA gave Worldstrides an A+ as a rating. That is indeed true but on the same page they (the BBB) mention the 18 complaints against the company, in the last 36 months alone that were "resolved" (it was not mentioned how they were "resolved")
Another website also listed complaints against Worldstrides and you can see them at this link.
Mr. Martin's email goes on to mention the fiasco with the Bush inauguration which I had mentioned in the prior blog post. He said and I will quote him here, "During the inauguration program we provided an additional 1-2 days of lodging, meals, sightseeing, and transportation for over 1,000 students affected by both security and weather issues. This was done at no additional cost to the participants." Since I have no way of knowing if that is true or not I will give you a link to the news article that started of of this and let you decide. Here is the news article. Of course Worldstrides did not give out refunds to those kids, why am I not shocked. They like to keep what ever money comes their way and they stick to their no refund policy - they kept my money didn't they.
That is not all the news I have on them. Stay tuned for the next installment because there is more!
Those people at Worldstrides should have given me my money back. Now they will get lots of unwanted and free publicity.
In answer to that email I will "correct" the word bankruptcy with a link to a court document that goes into great detail about how Lakeland Tours (which is what Wordstrides use to be known as) debts mounted up and how Worldstrides was formed under questionable dealings. You can see that document in full here. You can form your own opinion about Worldstrides after reading that.
Next I would like to mention that Mr. Martin prided himself in the fact that the Better Business Bureau of Richmond, VA gave Worldstrides an A+ as a rating. That is indeed true but on the same page they (the BBB) mention the 18 complaints against the company, in the last 36 months alone that were "resolved" (it was not mentioned how they were "resolved")
Another website also listed complaints against Worldstrides and you can see them at this link.
Mr. Martin's email goes on to mention the fiasco with the Bush inauguration which I had mentioned in the prior blog post. He said and I will quote him here, "During the inauguration program we provided an additional 1-2 days of lodging, meals, sightseeing, and transportation for over 1,000 students affected by both security and weather issues. This was done at no additional cost to the participants." Since I have no way of knowing if that is true or not I will give you a link to the news article that started of of this and let you decide. Here is the news article. Of course Worldstrides did not give out refunds to those kids, why am I not shocked. They like to keep what ever money comes their way and they stick to their no refund policy - they kept my money didn't they.
That is not all the news I have on them. Stay tuned for the next installment because there is more!
Those people at Worldstrides should have given me my money back. Now they will get lots of unwanted and free publicity.
A sad day
Today I had to call Worldstides and cancel my own daughter's trip. Try as we might we could not fund raise enough money to even come close to paying even 25% of the total amount due. My daughter took the action well. What upset me was the fact they would NOT refund any...and I do mean any, of my money, stating the amount is too SMALL!!!
Worldstrides, if you are reading this, no amount of money is too small to refund in this economy. I did let everyone else in our small school group know about me not getting a refund and they were totally shocked.
Also today I received a rather long and odd email from a Mr. Martin from Worldstrides. He apparently has visited this little blog and he was not happy with my findings via the internet on Worldstrides. I will be sharing what he wrote in his email in a post that I am drafting. I would not have even mentioned his "interesting" email until I was informed about the "sorry but that amount is too small to refund" policy they have at Worldstrides. If they had not pissed me off with not refunding my money I would not have dug really deep in finding even more dirt on Worldstrides. Let's just say that I will be sharing my sources of information with the readers of this blog.
Worldstrides, if you are reading this, no amount of money is too small to refund in this economy. I did let everyone else in our small school group know about me not getting a refund and they were totally shocked.
Also today I received a rather long and odd email from a Mr. Martin from Worldstrides. He apparently has visited this little blog and he was not happy with my findings via the internet on Worldstrides. I will be sharing what he wrote in his email in a post that I am drafting. I would not have even mentioned his "interesting" email until I was informed about the "sorry but that amount is too small to refund" policy they have at Worldstrides. If they had not pissed me off with not refunding my money I would not have dug really deep in finding even more dirt on Worldstrides. Let's just say that I will be sharing my sources of information with the readers of this blog.
Fundraising updates
Since the chili feed in December the group has been very busy still trying to save up enough money to at least defer some of the payment for the trip to Washington DC and New York City. Here is a list of what we have been up to:
Flea market and craft sale at the Elk's Lodge in Lebanon, Oregon. That was on the Valentines Day weekend. The results were 4 - 5 items sold over the course of 2 days. As a group we decided not to do those types of events anymore. The buyers were mostly neighborhood retired folks with very little money to spend.
In February we sold snacks during Lacomb School's science fair. Nachos, chips and sodas all sold well.
On March 7th we were at a garage sale held in the gym at Pioneer School in Lebanon. Items sold in the $2 and under range and I am not sure of the money amount made but it was a lot better than the Elk's Lodge flea market by a long shot.
Last night it was family night at Pioneer School. For .50 you could watch Madagascar 2 with a bag of popcorn in the gym. Our group sold candy bars, chips, fruit snacks and sodas. We almost sold out of everything which is a good sign.
Flea market and craft sale at the Elk's Lodge in Lebanon, Oregon. That was on the Valentines Day weekend. The results were 4 - 5 items sold over the course of 2 days. As a group we decided not to do those types of events anymore. The buyers were mostly neighborhood retired folks with very little money to spend.
In February we sold snacks during Lacomb School's science fair. Nachos, chips and sodas all sold well.
On March 7th we were at a garage sale held in the gym at Pioneer School in Lebanon. Items sold in the $2 and under range and I am not sure of the money amount made but it was a lot better than the Elk's Lodge flea market by a long shot.
Last night it was family night at Pioneer School. For .50 you could watch Madagascar 2 with a bag of popcorn in the gym. Our group sold candy bars, chips, fruit snacks and sodas. We almost sold out of everything which is a good sign.
Headaches with Worldstrides
The time is getting closer for the parents to come up with the money for trip. In a few weeks all the money is due. I will be calling Worldstrides myself to see if they offer any financing options for the price of the trip. As a group we have been highly disappointed with Worldstrides as a company to deal with. They are constantly adding $15 late fees and $6 processing fees to each monthly statement we get from them. At those rates their monthly payment system is more expensive than using a credit card.
This is the first time that the Lebanon School district used Worldstrides and it will be their last. The school district had been using a local travel agency for years for the trips and had heard good stuff about Worldstrides (via Worldstrides own publicity no doubt) that they thought that they would give Worldstrides a try. The only problem with that is the fact that we are suffering because of it and it might put the kids trip into jeopardy.
In the last few weeks I have done some internet searching to see what I could dig up about Wordstrides. I have found out that they did have abankruptcy (see updated blog post for the truth about Worldstrides in great detail - click here), not an official bankruptcy but failing to pay huge debts. Around 2005 and they were also investigated by the Federal Government for fraud concerning a group of high schoolers that purchased a trip from Worldsrtrides to see President Bush's inauguration. They never got to the inauguration.
This is the first time that the Lebanon School district used Worldstrides and it will be their last. The school district had been using a local travel agency for years for the trips and had heard good stuff about Worldstrides (via Worldstrides own publicity no doubt) that they thought that they would give Worldstrides a try. The only problem with that is the fact that we are suffering because of it and it might put the kids trip into jeopardy.
In the last few weeks I have done some internet searching to see what I could dig up about Wordstrides. I have found out that they did have a
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