I have signed up with EF for two trips. My first experience with them was in June 2018. I signed my daughter and I up for a trip to Great Britain with a 2 day extension to Paris. My daughter was over the moon. About 3 to 4 months before our departure, and after we had paid IN FULL, we were informed our small group of 5 were being transferred to another "similar" trip, but without our extension to Paris and it was two days shorter. It sucked, but made sense because our group was so small. We never got a refund, compensation, or apology. When I called and inquired about a refund I was simply told "Oh they make it even out." Didn't learn until later, much later, that our group leader got some sort of refund....thanks for sharing that information. Our trip was very fast paced, frantic, and at times I completely forgot where we were or what day it was. The food was horrible! Very simple meat, cheese, and croissants for breakfast and dinners were bland chicken and fries or some vegetable. At one point of our tour, we were awoke at 2am by smoke and fire sirens going off in the hotel. Our tour director, as well as our group leader, left my daughter and I behind. Our group leader later bragged about being the first one's outside.....we appreciate you leaving us behind. She later tried saying "We didn't know what room you were in." Not sure why not? They said our names and called out room numbers every time we checked in to a new hotel. Maybe she should've kept track. Our tour guide left half the group behind on 3 separate occasions. My daughter almost got stuck on a London train because the tour guide wasn't paying attention to what stop we were at and listened to some French guy, then yelled for everyone to get back on the train. My daughter hopped back on looking for me, I was on the platform looking for her. I saw, at the last second, one of the other high school boys grab her by the hoodie and yank her off the train just before the doors closed. Needless to say, our tour director didn't get a tip from me and a few other parents on the trip.
So for my upcoming trip, the second with EF. My son and I have been paying to go on the "Bell Italia" since October of 2018. Always been on my bucket list, have been really excited. In January, again after we had paid IN FULL, we were informed our group of 15 would be moved from our original 11 day trip to a "similar" 8 day trip with our extension to Pompeii canceled, but we could add it for an additional cost. Our group leader, same lady that literally left us in a possibly burning building, actually had the balls to tell them "I don't think so." They then decided they would accommodate our group on a "special private tour" of Pompeii at "no additional cost." They issued everyone a refund. I thought "Wow, they've really redeemed themselves!" Two weeks later I get an email saying I owe $460/person. Since I am only a paying customer and not the group leader, I am unable to contact the woman in charge of our trip, Eliza Quigley. This is a business practice EF has put into place so only one person can communicate with the person in charge. I did happen to get her email and emailed her. The NEXT day, I got another email saying we now owed $560/person! I once again contacted our group leader and emailed Eliza again asking for an explanation. While waiting on her to respond to EITHER email, I started looking up prices for a day trip to Pompeii. I found out EF charges 4× as much as other companies. A day trip to Pompeii can cost the average person around $134, EF is charging us $560/person!!!! And if you book a "private tour" on the same extension, the total cost is $1160/person! I'm not sure where they are getting their pricing from, but it's obviously going into their pockets! There is so much wrong with this company! From the experiences on our last trip to the hassles we've had to deal with on this one, and we haven't even left yet, I will NEVER travel with this company again and will be sure to contact not only the BBB, but will write a bad review on every travel website I come across. This company is crooked and should NOT be allowed to take people's hard earned money! At this point I have no choice but to pay the refund back and take the trip. I can't cancel because we are only 52 days out and because of their outrageous cancellation fees, I would be losing more than half of what I paid in. It's a shame they take advantage of hard working people. Do your research, plan your own trip. DO NOT TRAVEL WITH EF!!!!