EF Go Ahead Tours
reviews and complaints

I have paid in full for a trip to ***. Recently the Delta variant has caused travel restrictions. I merely want to delay my trip or purchase "for any reason" travel insurance. I have been trying daily to contact them and am in an endless loop on hold with no one answering while waiting in excess of 2 hours. This is not customer service. This is absolutely at a bare minimum the worst experience I have ever had in trying to speak with a travel company. No call back service, no ability to send an email or to contact any representative, no ability to leave a voice message. What is a customer to do? I am concerned if I run into a problem in a foreign country that I will not be able to contact their customer service. I am also concerned after reading hundreds of reviews that people never recoup their money even with the travel insurance. How could they possibly be rated A+?I left one star only because I had to leave something there or could not send this review. I do not recommend them at all and I am contacting my credit card company to begin clawing back my money.

The customer service from this company leaves much to be desired. I paid for the *** extension in full. I called every week once we got out flight info because they did not book us a flight home from ***. They booked us a flight home from Rome. Every week I had someone say they would return my call by the end of the week when no one ever did. Finally 4 days before our trip, I finally received help but the person told me as of that day I would need to pay an additional $700 per person to get home from ***. Mind you I had been trying to get this mistake on their part rectified for weeks, and now I was being penalized because they did not book my flight correctly in the first place. Not to mention I would have to wait on hold for a minimum of 1.5-2 hours everytime I called. I thought booking with this company would Make traveling easier and give me piece of mind but instead it left me very stressed. This is unfortunate because overall the convenience of the tour was nice. Our guide was amazing. It has really impacted how or if I will ever book another tour with Ef.

I booked a trip to *** and *** with them which was quiet expensive. They cancelled the portion to *** which is really the only place I wanted to go because thats where the Serengeti is. When I booked it, I was told there was no *** only tour, I had to do the extension either before or after ***. They cancelled a portion of my trip for the 3rd time, after having to change my work schedule 3 times I finally decided to just cancel the *** part too. When I called to cancel the whole thing so I could book with someone else, they said I had cancelled. They would never get back to me, I called multiple times and asked to talk to a supervisor and I never heard back. Finally I talked to my good friend who is an attorney and she said to let them know I had an attorney as a best friend. Well, what do you know, they called me back within 4 hours. They refused to refund 700 of my money even though they had cancelled on me! Do not use them! You will be sorry! I have traveled all over the world with different companies and have never had this bad of an experience.

EF Go Ahead Tours cancelled our trip a second time in two years and when we requested our money back, we were informed that about $1600 was not refundable. We were told up front that we would receive a full refund should we have to cancel and they even charged us over $300 apiece for insurance that would supposedly take care of the full refund. Their insurance did nothing other than take over $600 of our money while *** took another $900.In emails to the company, I tried to negotiate with them to get satisfaction, but they absolutely refused to do anything other than offer me $900 worth of vouchers for a further trip that had to be booked within a year's time. *** put, EF Go Ahead Tours has proven themselves to be untrustworthy and I wouldn't book them for another trip on a bet.In the end, I lost nearly $1600 to this company who wanted to assure me that they were every bit as disappointed as I was about the whole affair. (*** for them to say, it made them money). If anyone reads this review and thinks this won't happen to them, read on. *** yet, go to EF Go Ahead Tours web page and read their customer reviews. And this was over a trip they cancelled, not me."

I booked a tour with go ahead tours in the summer of 2019. I was part of a large *** and we were scheduled to go in May. *** happened so some of us chose to postpone the trip and hope things would blow over. We ended up postponing for June. That trip gets canceled as well, and we decided to just get our refund back and try again later on. Well, we all cancel around the same day, around March 26th or 27th of 2021 it may have been earlier than that. For some reason, everyone in my *** has received their refund except me. It has been over 9 weeks since I canceled. They claim my check was not mailed till May but even so its been three weeks from the data given to me. I dont know of any mail that takes that long. I dont understand why the money cant be directly deposited, when we had to submit a routing and account number at the very beginning. They directly took money out of my account. What is stopping them from putting it back in the same account? Im beyond mad at this point and ready to ***. No one knows why the money hasnt come when I call and I dont want a new check sent when first couldnt get here after 9 weeks of waiting.

Absolutely a dishonest company and they rob you and make no apologies. My daughter asked about vaccine requirements and wasn't told untill after the cut off for our refund. *** buck gone without any fault of ours. No one responds and you can see how many people they have flat out robbed like they did us. This is inly one step. I will do everything i can to warn everyone we know and are in contact with the school board to make sure they never use this trash company again. Its disgusting and illegal what they did. They know its gonna cost me more to try and get it back. My goal is to spread the word so as many people as possible never use this company. I have lots of time and will do as many reviews and notify as many as i can reach and going to contact attorney general office. This is not right on any level. We where robbed and have no one from the school helping us out as of this review. We are going to the board of education and will make a case that no school use this company that steels from hard working folks trying to make a dream come true . Communication was horrible from the beginning and has a nly got worse. This was because a country had mandated vaccine and our daughter had covid so wouldnt be able to get a vaccine or want one. If anyone can give any advice id appreciate it.

NEVER DEAL WITH THAT COMPANY! I am really sorry that I didn't read reviews before I purchased it. Don't fool yourself by looking on their web site, very well done. II called several times before I purchased a trip, and they answered in 1 minute. After you purchase, you will be on your phone for hours, and they will say that they have a lot of customers. It took them to take money from my credit card, just 2 seconds. I really wanted to go on trip, but I had medical emergency and tried to cancel trip 2 weeks in advance. It took 1 hour to speak to customer service. They refused to give a refund. I never received a call back, or response from ***, vice president, after I wrote a letter to her. They are interested to take your money, and god forbid if something will happen to you. They don't care, but they lie to your credit company, saying they tried to contact me, and saying I didn't respond. As a result, they are trying to rob you with your money, like crazy. Even I cancelled trip, I received a welcome kit from the company. I got a call from emergency team from Europe on the 1st day of trip. It means that they didn't inform a team in another country for cancellation of trip.They still harassing me with offers to buy another trip. If you want to have a good experience, use GADVENTURES tour company. My friends went on 5 trips with them already, and very happy.

This was on an email received 11/9: Feel good about fully refundable trips Sign up for AutoPay or pay in full when you book a new tour, and get every *** back through February 1, 2022 if you change your mind!I have a complaint about EF Tours. In March I booked a trip to Ireland on 3/19, and paid in full. I was strongly advised to purchase trip insurance, which I did, and was told I would receive a full refund if I cancelled 90 days prior to trip. There was no covid vaccine mandate in place at the time, and I was not told of any cancellation fees. I called 7/30 to cancel because of the Covid requirements for Ireland, and told to wait to cancel because the requirements may change. I called 11/11, and was told I had to have cancelled by 8/1 for a full refund. Also, that the $319 trip insurance was non-refundable, and that there was a $300 cancellation fee. I asked to speak with a supervisor, and the representative did this himself, as I was placed on hold. I asked to speak with his supervisors boss, and was told I would be unable to do this. I do not intend to get the vaccine. The frequent emails I receive from EF tours state "book with confidence" and some have stated "100% refundable." I paid a total of $3858. I was told the maximum refund I would receive would be $3239. I feel this is dishonest and deceptive advertising. I was told I could put the tour on hold for 90 days (what good would that do?) or rebook the full amount through 2023. I informed the agent that I would not do this, or book until the Covid issue is resolved.View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe

I booked a tour for the *** in ***. There were some difficulties up front (you get different answers based on who you speak with - and some of the answers I received were incorrect), and I ended up doing some of the leg work getting my flights straightened out initially. It was annoying but things happen. Before booking, I was concerned about COVID and asked specifically, "what if something is cancelled due to COVID" and was told that it was fully refundable. The tour was cancelled by EF Go Ahead Tours because of high COVID numbers in Europe, and of course I would certainly rather not go if it isn't safe (or if everything is closed). But it turns out they only do a partial refund. I either book a different trip with them and use the "credits", or they keep $700. Because I had difficulties getting correct information from them initially, I asked if I could speak with a manager. I was told that they would put me on a list and someone would "try" to get back to me in 3-5 days, but no promises because they're "busy". I was very much looking forward to this trip and many others in the future, but I don't think this is the company to do them with. Although some of the people I've spoken with are knowledgeable and helpful, several just aren't and it can be difficult to get to the right person. My recommendation to EF GoAhead Tours is, first, better training for your support team. And second, when someone is disappointed because their trip has just been cancelled due to COVID, don't keep their deposit! Give your support staff the ability to make things right with a customer. I feel the need to warn anyone and everyone that this can happen when booking with you.

I have read several reviews and I always keep in mind that some people are disgruntled and hard to please much of the time. "I had to walk a long distance." It is a tour! "My airline reservations were not clear." Check with the airline! "The guide was grumpy." Ask the guide to be nicer or email the agency! "I paid for the travel insurance and did not get my money back." Really? That is an independent company. For me, Go Ahead Tours seems very clear on their refund and voucher policies. Anyhow, I want to go on a 17-day trip to *** with side trips to *** and ***. Yes, there is a pandemic and decisions are tough. Traveling overseas to a foreign country is tough. After much online research, which included actually reading their Agreement (contract), I decided on EF Go Ahead Tours. I chatted online to obtain some clarifications. An hour later, I received a personal email to call *** who was very prompt and nice. I did in fact call a few hours later and immediately spoke with a different person. *** was very helpful and was on the phone with me for almost an hour answering all by questions, for good or bad. I went ahead and booked the $6,100 trip for early 2022. There was NO problem reaching a customer service representative. There was No ambiguous or conflicting information online or with the *** you are going to write reviews for "others" to read, please be factual, give appropriate details and most of all be "fair". I feel confident they will handle my tour after all my current research and interaction. I have read many excellent reviews on several websites in this regard. Both 4 and 5 stars. From people who have taken 1 trip or several tours with Go Ahead. I feel confident they will provide a good tour. I too must make that happen.

Two years ago I purchased a tour. I paid in full, myself and a friend that included insurance in case of an emergency. Our tour was cancelled and rescheduled twice by ef goaheadtours and by the third cancellation, my friend and I decided a refund would be better for us.Upon requesting a refund, we were told by customer service that there would be a cancellation fee per person. That didn't sit well with me because the insurance that we purchased stated that if "we" the consumer cancelled that there would be a cancellation fee. I was told that a manager would reach out to me in a couple of days in regards to this non refundable cancellation fee they were speaking of.An assistant manager reached out to me via email. She attempted reaching out to me via phone. Twice in which I answered and she acted as if she couldn't hear me, following up immediately via email.This went on for several weeks in which I was never given a direct number to call. The assistant manager took it upon herself to go ahead and refund us less the cancellation fee.I called back to customer service and requested to speak with a manager about the cancellation fee.There was a manager that reached out to me in a timely manner via email and set up a time to talk via phone.When she called, she pretended as if she couldn't hear me as well and also followed up immediately via email.After giving her via email another cell number to reach me, I was then able to speak with a manager. This manager as well as the assistant manager refused to refund our cancellation fee. $300 for insurance another additional $300 cancellation fee and we were out of $600 per person, $1200 total for a trip never taken.To me that is totally unacceptable for a company to take advantage of their customers. I would never recommend this company to anyone for that reason.

From *** Go-Ahead Tours (Go-Ahead), the year prior to COVID-19, I purchased in full two tickets for two persons--myself and my eldest grandson-- to tour ***. Go-Ahead confirmed that if the trip was cancelled, they would refund my full cost--$8986.00. Two months before our trip, Go-Ahead cancelled the trip due to COVID-19; they rescheduled it for seven months later. Then they cancelled the second trip; they wanted to reschedule it a third time, but I declined and requested my refund. For more than a week, they argued, delayed, and refused the full refund, but I persisted. Finally, they told me they would give me a full refund and that within four days it would be applied to my credit card account. Two weeks later, my refund still had not been applied to my account; I again persisted. In another two weeks Go-Ahead said they could not assist me further because they had sent the refund, and there was nothing else they could do. They told me it was now my credit card company's responsibility to resolve the issue. However, I had already been working with my credit card company from start of my request for a refund, so I knew Go-Ahead was stalling my refund. For the next four weeks, my credit card still did not show a refund. So I again contacted Go Ahead who adamantly refused to verify the refund. They accused my credit card company of refusing to release my refund to my account, I insisted Go-Ahead prove to me they made the refund; they belligerently refused to show evidence that they sent the refund. They refused to hold a 3-way conference call with my credit card company. They refused to cooperate in any way, so I contacted my attorney who said I had a legitimate case. Before I started this legal proceeding, I notified my credit card company so that they were aware of my decision, and they said before I started litigation with Go-Ahead, I could file a claim with the dispute department (of my credit card company). I filed a claim including submitting my initial tour schedule, payment receipts, and re-scheduled tour verifications as well as all of my six-week's correspondence with Go-Ahead. Immediately, my credit card company relieved me of almost two months stress as they worked on my behalf for another three months to secure my refund. And this week--May --five months after I requested my refund, my credit card company notified me that they had secured my refund from Go-Ahead and applied it to my account. I am so grateful to my credit card company. Go-Ahead was patronizing, rude, hostile, untrustworthy, unreliable, deceptive, and dishonest throughout the refund process. I will never travel with Go-Ahead or any of its affiliations and advise prospective customers to heed this advice--select a reputable company, one who is authentic, truthful, and executes their promises."

This company is giving out FALSE information about mentor and free travel program for group coordinators.Website FALSELY states:As a Group Coordinator, well never ask you to go it alone. Here are a few resources well set you up with to help make travel happen.A Go Ahead team just for you Your dedicated Tour Consultant will help you choose the right trip, or plan a Private or Customized Tour to suit your group. Your Account Manager will be at the ready to assist with everything from travelers payments to insurance options and so much more.Mentorship opportunities You'll meet and connect with our Global Ambassadors. These veteran Group Coordinators have learned a thing or two over the years, and theyre eager to share their expertiseand experiencesany time you need it.Our free mobile app You can use it to recruit travelers, view group members' account status, track progress toward your group-size goal, and communicate with your group members before and during your tourto name just a few of its handy features.A personalized tour website Share the link to inspire potential travelers, spread the word about your trip, and keep existing group members up to speed on your tours details.Recruiting materials To help you recruit travelers, well send you personalized flyers, posters, and business cards to hang up and hand out. We'll also send you our trusty Group Coordinator Toolkit.A private *** group Sign in to ask questions, share tips and strategies, post on-tour photos, and chat all things travel with other members of our Group Coordinator community.I have made several calls to get information about this program. Each time I get people who give out different information and I get NO help at all. They refuse to send out materials that are promised on the website. They are misleading the public about this program. DISHONEST company.

I booked a tour through this company over the phone with a sales person. I absolutely included my husband in the booking and asked for private rooms for the accomodation because of his snoring, We both updated our passports at a cost of more than 135 dollars, *** I logged into this site to update information and saw only my name for passport information. Since this was my first time dealing with this site, I incorrectly assumed my husbands information was not yet required. When I logged in to update our safe traveler information, I could not find his information. When I contacted the representative, I was told that the trip was only for me. Obviously, I was not prepared for that answer and requested to cancel. For the record, this payment information was started on April 20th. First payment was $3, 064, second payment was July 8th $3139. These payments included travel protection of $449. I am now told that only $2000 will be returned to me and the remaining would be applied to a voucher for future use. There is no way I could travel with this company in the future. The reason for holding the money is that 1. I cancelled too late. 2. The assumption must be made that since I did not mention my husband's info that I knew it he would not be traveling. As such, My integrity is being questioned. For the amount of money, I paid for the trip I assumed it was for both of us. In addition, I told the salesperson, To scheldule direct flights from JFK and was assured it would be done. When I saw the flight arrangements, I noted there was one connecting flight in the beginning and 2 on the return trip. Lastly, I was now told that the two thousand dollars returned to my card would take 2 to 3 weeks when it took 10 minutes to clear for my payment. I would like the entire amount returned( $6,203) since I do not intend to travel with this company. I feel that agism may be at play here, since I am 76 years old

I booked a tour of *** with EF in Oct 2019 and scheduled for spring 2021. I also purchased travel insurance for both of us at $165 pp. On 08/17, the school canceled the trip due to the pandemic. She assured me I could reschedule a tour and would not lose any money but transferred in full towards another tour in a credit voucher. I contacted *** on 11/18 and booked a tour of *** with a base price of $2229 pp. I received an email with a balance of $3,223 due 01/14. On 11/05, I spoke to *** who related EF now requires all travelers to be vaccinated regardless of other countrys requirements. I requested a refund of my money and was informed by *** I would only receive a refund for $2955. She advised $300 pp for cancelation fees and $379 pp for travel insurance would not be refunded. *** advised she would listen to the recorded conversation with *** on 11/18. I received a call back from ***. She advised she listened to the recorded conversation I had with *** and admitted *** did NOT break down the costs of the increased travel insurance. *** refused to refund a total of $1358. I have paid $4,313 to EF from October -August . I have rescheduled twice, and EF implemented a COVID 19 vaccine policy after my conversation with them in February leaving me no choice but to cancel. I am disappointed EF refuses to make exceptions for customers who have scheduled and paid for tours prior to the pandemic and then implemented a policy that excludes those customers based on their religious or philosophical beliefs. Not to mention, they implemented an increase in travel insurance and did not disclose that to me when I rescheduled. Due to the facts set forth above, I request EF refund me in whole to include the cancelations fees of $600 and travel insurance, they claim, total $758! Considering the pandemic, EF should accommodate ALL customers who booked trips prior to the pandemic!

account number I paid for a VERY expensive once-in-a-lifetime 13 day trip to *** for myself and my daughter. (We do NOT live in the same house, and did NOT room together). I developed some minor cold-like symptoms day 4 of our trip and was instantly tested for Covid--as was my daughter, who had NO symptoms--and we were immediately told we had to quarantine for 7 days, test repeatedly, fly home late...and the tour left. I am a nurse, and said that this can't be right! EF Covid promise:Illness on tour If a traveler is diagnosed with COVID-19 while on tour, the traveler diagnosed with COVID-19 will be required to isolate based on the guidance of the destination they are in. The remainder of the tour group will be required to quarantine on tour and adhere to testing guidelines for COVID-19, in accordance with local guidelines.From *** health care website (https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/testing/get-tested): "You do not need a test if you are:under 55 years of age with symptoms of COVID-19 and you are otherwise healthy age 55 or older and you are fully boosted, even if you have symptoms of COVID-19 If you have symptoms of COVID-19 If you have any symptoms of COVID-19, even mild ones, you should:self-isolate (stay in your room) until *** fully gone wear a face mask if you have to be around other people Do these even if you completed your first round of COVID-19 vaccination, had a booster, or had COVID-19 in the past."So, EF didn't follow their own policy. There was NO need for my daughter and I to miss the entire tour and endure missed flights, extra missed work, missing suitcases... (My daughter never did have symptoms, and mine were gone within 24 hours). Even if we'd been allowed to return home on time it would have saved me thousands of dollars. I can't get them to explain why they didn't follow their policy! and I've been home almost a month now.

Bus tour with EF go ahead tours from May 12-May25, 2022 to ***, ***, ***, and ***. We paid for an excursion to *** in ***. The excursion description said we would go to *** if the flower market was closed and we did not do that Just a tour around the town. Not what we expected at all. We want reimbursement for this excursion since it was not what was promised in the brochure. They will refund us only $75 and that has not been done. We want a refund of the full price we paid of $230.We went by train from *** to ***. The train schedule changed and we had to leave much earlier from the hotel so we couldnt eat the free breakfast at the hotel. We want reimbursement for what we paid for breakfast. As of now, we have not received that refund even though go ahead said they would refund our $29.Then we were supposed to fly from *** to ***. We got to the airport in *** and were told that our flight was cancelled. They booked us on another flight the next day. So we had to go back to the hotel in ***. The flight the next day had a layover in Frankfort so we did not get to *** until 9 PM that night. So we lost 2 days in ***. We only had 1 day in ***. I know it wasnt their fault about the flight but we feel we were cheated on the extension we paid for to go to *** and want our money reimbursed for that too. They are able to offer a $500 future travel voucher to compensate for the missed time. We want a FULL REFUND NOT A CREDIT of $889 pp for a total of $1778. The tour guide also emailed go ahead to make sure we ALL received a full refund for the extra expense of the trip to ***. So we want a full refund of $2037. We also bought trip protection which they are not honoring either. Attached is the insurance policy and excursion descriptions and the invoice of our paid trip. We have written to them 3 times already asking for the same reimbursement and they refused as per above.

My complaint is that we missed the whole first day of the *** Flavors of ***, tour, which was July 24th, 2022, due to the company's inefficiencies. I traveled with 3 other people, so this complaint is for all of us.We paid $1,300 above the tour price to have EF Go Ahead Tours book our airline flights, expecting that they would choose flights that would best coordinate with the tour itinerary. However, since they only allowed 1 hour and 15 minutes to transverse the *** to make our connecting flight, we missed the flight and had to wait 12 hours in the *** until we could get another flight to ***. We called EF Go Ahead Tours Support 3 times during the day, but in the end, there was nothing they could do. Because we were so late in arriving, we missed the transport from the airport to the hotel by the tour company and had to take a taxi. They did reimburse us for that. Arriving at almost midnight, we missed exploring *** on our own and the welcome drink and dinner at a *** restaurant. One piece of luggage took another day and a half to catch up to us. On the return flight home, EF Go Ahead Tours booked us on, "standby," which we did not know until we got to the airport. After three hours of working with the airline staff, (EF Go Ahead Tours Support was called, but could not do anything for us), we were fortunate to get on the plane, but were sitting all over. I sent a certified letter to EF Go Ahead Tours at the *** address detailing this and requesting a refund. It was received by them on 8/17/22 and I have not received a response. My fellow traveler has been calling the EF Go Ahead Tours *** since our return on 8/3/22 but has not been able to speak with anyone who can address our complaint. We calculate that we should be reimbursed for one day of the tour, $350, plus the fee EF Go Ahead Tour charged us for booking the air flights. I estimated that to be $130 per traveler.

I booked the guided tour in August and called them a week after I booked the tour. I called them to talk about getting a room together with my two travel companions, as we had booked the single rooms as suggested while booking the tour. The woman on the phone said that it was best to keep the single rooms as rooms overseas can sometimes be very small and not the greatest for sharing. I said that that was perfect. I went on to tell the woman that I was traveling with the two companions I mentioned above and that we would really like to have rooms somewhat close to each other. She said that would be fine. a few months later, as it got closer to our tour date, my companions and I started to receive our hotel room information as well as flight information. I have called this business on multiple occasions to fix a major discrepancy with my companion's flights and hotel rooms, or lack thereof, and told them on those occasions that we were traveling together. On the website, it states that we can request flights to that of traveling companions. As it got closer to our tour date, I noticed that my flight back was different from my companions, and was confused because this company knew that I was traveling with said companions. I called again to remind them that I was indeed traveling with two people, and to fix the flight so that we could be together. This company said that they understood and they would see what they could do. Seeing that nothing was happening to fix this problem, I called again on the six of April to fix flight discrepancy. I finally received a call from this company and they stated that I would need to pay over $1,000 on top of what I had already paid to make this happen considering it was so close to the tour date. I am so frustrated. This tour is not cheap, in fact, we paid over $5,000 for it so that we didn't have to worry about anything. I should not have to pay for something that wasn't even my fault to begin with.

My wife and I signed up for a tour to go to *** and the tour was cancelled due to Covid. I spoke with *** on 11/16 and I asked for the company to refund my tour price I have paid but they want to keep $300/person and not fully refund me. I did not cancel the trip, they did. She said: "I understand it was not your decision to cancel. However, I would like to note that Go Ahead must follow the instructions put in place by the State Department, CDC, and World Health Organization. We postponed your tour to comply with government regulations and amended many of our policies to provide the options I have stated above. We have modified our policies so that the withdrawal fee from your tour is the lowest tier possible, which is your trip deposit amount of $300. This trip deposit is not refundable because as soon as you book your tour and put down the deposit, you are paying for services from Go Ahead. We book suppliers and guides on your behalf, provide a customized online account portal and mailed materials, have tour consultants and traveler support specialists available to answer your questions over the phone, etc." but she they also allow you to rebook using the full amount you paid. They did not postpone my trip, they cancelled it. I don't want to leave my money with them with the possibility of future travel. Who knows when the world will open up for travel, let alone when we will be comfortable traveling or if they will still be in business. I had flights scheduled with *** and they fully refunded me for those flights even though they were non refundable flights and Go Ahead should do the same if a customer requests it. My sister did a dispute with her credit card company and they gave her the entire amount she paid back. Also, I did change my trip at one time and there was a $50/person rebooking fee. I do not expect them to refund that amount which was $100 for the 2 of us. Also they did not postpone my trip, they cancelled it.

I reached out to EF Go Ahead Tours starting in mid-May to see why my flights were not uploaded to the app. My tour was supposed to leave June 23. The message displayed on the app told me they would be uploaded on May 9. It was concerning because my two travel companions received their flights but I did not. I sent at least 10 messages through their contact us page. A few of those times I received an automated response but never a person responding. I called 7-8 times over the span of a couple of weeks. Each time I was on hold for at least 90 minutes, usually over two hours, before reaching someone. When I finally did reach a representative, they could not answer my questions as to why I had no flights. They told me each time that they would look into it and get back to me. They did not. Finally, I spoke with a representative and he was the one that told me the following:Because I was the last person to join this group (I wasnt - I signed *** in August), I was waitlisted and told that there was no room for me in the group. I received this information 16 days before I was supposed to leave for the trip for which I had paid in full. He said that someone should have reached out to me to confirm my booking/trip. He apologized and said that this was an error on their part and he did not know why no one reached out to me to supposedly confirm. He explained this is why I was the last person on my trip and therefore waitlisted. I was told there were 27 travelers allowed on this trip. I was traveler #*** (supposedly) who requested a private room (I do not remember requesting a private room - I could care less who I stay with). My travel companions said they had never heard of this confirmation either and yet they still have their reservations. He said that he would try to make an exception for me on this group, but if he could not, I would be fully refunded for my trip and would not be going to ***. He said he would call me today, but nothing so far

I purchased a guided tour of *** and *** from EF Go Ahead Tours that ran from June 26-July 7. The company advertised that they would take us to major tourist sites, such as *** and the Dead Sea. The company also assured tour participants of its covid safety measures vis a vis its "safe traveler agreement," which required us to wear masks, test upon developing covid symptoms, and isolate upon receiving a positive test result. I am filing this complaint because EF Tours did not meet any of its advertised promises. For starters, the guide did not take us to ***, citing very vague "safety concerns." And, while the guide did take us to what he claimed to be the Dead Sea, the portion we visited had extremely dirty water that you could barely float in, and did not have any of the infamous Dead Sea mud or salt as advertised. As far as the covid safety measures, one tour participant showed up the first day obviously sick with an incessant cough, never wore a mask or underwent covid testing, and ended up infecting four (of thirteen) people by the end of the trip. When I asked the tour director to enforce EF's covid policy re: this sick tour participant, he flippantly responded that "covid was a government conspiracy." In addition to these many missteps, the tour director also only allowed tour participants to shop in places where he received a kickback on sales. One store even went as far as to lock us in and not let us out unless we bought something (I refused to buy anything, and was given a very hard time by the store manager). After speaking with EF Tours about my concerns, their only response was that their *** tours are always "a bit less glamorous" than their European ones, which is not at all evident on their website. I, thus, feel compelled to report this company to the Complaintsboard.com so that their dubious advertising does not continue to go unnoticed. I would also like my money back for this poorly advertised tour.

My mother and I had booked a tour for last April with EF Go Ahead tours for ***. We bought the insurance and was told it was good for any cancellation reason. Between the two of us we paid $4914 (tour and excursions only, not airfare) for the tours. Naturally it canceled due to Covid. I was pressured to quickly rebook. So we rebooked for March this year. I have now found out we lost that original insurance money then. We rebooked and bought more insurance. That tour has now canceled. My mother is older and does not feel comfortable traveling overseas with all that is going on. I requested to simply get our money back. I was told that is not an option. We can only get a voucher for the travel (and of course we will again lose the insurance money). We don't want to travel overseas. In looking at their US options - they are 3-5 days longer than what we had planned originally and often much more expensive. So we are not interested in that either. I pushed back saying I know *** (where EF Go Ahead is headquartered) has various laws to protect the traveler and I also pointed that airlines have had to refund money fully when they cancel. I understand this is a bad situation but they not able to provide the tour offered and I think legally they need to provide a full refund (other than the insurance again). They come back and offered the following: 1. Rebook to a future date or a different tour - everything would transfer over to a future date. If you rebook the same tour to the same month in 2022, we can price match it for you. If you choose a different month, or a different destination, we can price lock your tour up to an additional $300 per person. 2. Place Your Reservation on Hold - Not ready to make a decision? You can place your reservation on hold through May 31st. 3. Accept a Future Travel Voucher - The voucher you had would be reissued to you in the full amount paid to date. It is transferable to another person and can be used on any future Go Ahead Tour. 4. Refund outside the Cancellation Fee & Insurance - Refund of $1,698 and a AnyReason Protection Voucher for $1,000 per person With number 4 we are losing $3216 total. I don't see us traveling with this tour company again - or we would simply take the original voucher. I have let EF Go Ahead tours know that is what I want and they are unwilling to reconsider the $2000 vouchers.