Rustic Pathways レビュー 218

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY. Rustic Pathways and their private equity owners, Sabot Family Companies refused to refund and then held $5000 of our money hostage for 18 months, even after they had cancelled our child's trip and received a refund from the supporting airline.

The overall experience with Rustic Pathways was terrible and led us to believe that they may be in financial distress and basically using current customers' payments to fund their operations, causing them to run short of money for students' trips. They:

- Required payment in full a year before the trip
- Refused to cancel the trip it when the destination country shut down all international travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic
- Refused to refund portion of price attributable to airfare, even after the airline had provided refunds
- Were unable to provide evidence of airfares having even been purchased
- Committed in writing to a full refund, and then refused to provide it
- Offered to refund only 30% with the rest to be refunded in 1-2 years
- Ultimately held our money hostage for 18 months before making a full refund

We have a lot of sympathy for small businesses during the pandemic, but this is a company whose founder/CEO was found to have sexually coerced staff members, forced to put the company into a trust, and sell it. It was sold in September 2019 to Sabot Family Companies, who are described by Rustic Pathways' own staff online as "arrogant, manipulative, and micromanagers".

Buyer beware - if you give your money to Rustic Pathways today, it may be used up before you ever get the trip that was booked.

I am disappointed. So disappointed. If I had written this review a in 2019, it would have been 5 stars.

I can't even believe that I am saying this - my daughter traveled in 2019 with Rustic to Morocco. Had an outstanding time. So outstanding she is still talking about it, so Fall of 2019, I hear about a trip for March 2020. I say 'yay!' great company. Stand up company. Alright husband, let's let her travel again. Scrimped and scraped, fundraised for the nearly $3,000 trip.

Then COVID hit, let's push it a year they said (voucher and all that) true enough, no one knew what 2021 was going to look like. But here we are, she's a senior, again no travel, so lets discuss what we're going to do with said voucher. The response - no refunds! WHAT? Problem (1) - The programs/trips that you offer are out of her age range (14-18). (2) You say on your website that you are following CDC/WHO guidelines - good for you. But for those who have a compromised family situation? What do they do?

Problem (3) She's headed to college - so that is the next part of her life that she has to plan for and she should not be forced to consider Rustic Pathways as part of that plan because you are holding the money hostage.

Now, I understand completely, that everybody in one way or another is being impacted by COVID, I type this email with the memory of my aunt died from this illness. My family has a member who (lives in the home with said student) is compromised and has to be VIGILANT and can't be put at risk. It's literally life or death!

Rustic, it is cruel and wicked to expect a student who is out of the age range for the programs you offer, to not even get the "consideration" of a refund. I can respect that you may not have any say over the airlines necessarily - I get that. Your fee for the program - you do.

This position of 'no refund' directly contradicts what it is you say your company stands for - I see words like "positive impact" and your vision apparently is "shared humanity and all decisions are made with a global perspective."

There is nothing humane about holding hostage the monies for a trip that my daughter can no longer benefit from...

How do you have impact with that mindset?

This was a great experience. It gave me a much more mature world view. The global design challenge inspired me to focus my life on helping people who need and want the help. The design thinking approach used by the program is fantastic and allows for students to explore challenges they might have never thought they'd be able to tackle. The staff were encouraging and intelligent. They created an amazing environment for cooperation and creativity. If I had to rate this experience I would give it an 11/10.

It was super fun and I learned a lot, I miss going on trips though !!

This is a terrible company. They used my funds from a cancelled trip for their operations and never refunded me for airfare which they told me was returned to them. The money provided to the them should have been held in trust or escrow. Now, even their phone numbers have been shut down. I emailed the CEO of the company and he never responded.

These people are thieves pure and simple. Do not trust them with your child. They cancelled a trip and never refunded the money.

I think it’s time that all of us left without a refund from Rustic Pathways during this pandemic should ban together to file a class action lawsuit. It’s not cost effective for any one of us who lost a few $k to hire an attorney but hundreds or thousands of us?! Now we’re talking. If you are interested please respond here.

It's all about money and they care less about kids safety during the COVID pandemic.
Customer service very poor. I had to leave several messages on the voicemail before some finally called me back.

Do not use this company!!! I know everyone is experiencing issues with COVID-19. We all are. However only offering a voucher and nothing else is just bad business. You have seniors that will not be able to go on another trip and families who do not want a voucher. Your competition EXPLORICA is so much more honest and sincere. My other child was booked to go on a trip with Explorica. They not only offered a rollover to next year but also offer refunds with a small amount taken out. You are nothing but greedy, insensitive and just bad business. Clean your act up now or no one will ever use you!!

Too bad they don’t offer NEGATIVE stars! I too spent over $5,000. for a trip that is not happening. This is my first post and If I do not receive a refund Shortly will be on EVERY social media site drumming up a campaign.

What an extremely short sighted company. My Husband and I were planning a trip to Costa Rica as chaperones with my nephew for his school trip scheduled April vacation 2020. We paid over 5k for the 2 of us. The schools cancelled the trip because of the PANDEMIC and we were offered a voucher of 65%. After a couple weeks they offered 100% but in the form of a voucher. That is all well but we both lost our jobs (in sales) and we would like our money returned. The schools were forced to cancel by the Governor and it was 45 days prior to the trip. I contacted Rustic Pathways numerous times to finally get an email from the CEO. He explained he could only give us a voucher. 2 Adults- we do not have children (we were going with our nephew because I had lived there for a couple years and thought it would be a great experience) and we are NOT going to return next year for a trip. We do not know when we can travel again as our incomes are gone and this is completely unacceptable. I also have a screen shot of their policy that if it is not safe to travel to their area- WHICH right now is a LEVEL 4 DO NOT travel... they will provide a full refund. Funny, they have since changed their policy. I have a screen shot from March 5 2020. We are now going to the Attorney General and we are filing with our bank as well. Do NOT use this company if you do not have to. What a joke.

I am extremely disappointed with Rustic Pathways. I wouldn’t utilize their services again if they were the last company on Earth! I signed up my high school senior for the March 2020 Fiji trip with Rustic Pathways. When the Coronavirus began to spread around the world I asked Rustic Pathways to cancel my sons trip and refund the several thousand dollars we have paid them. They refused to repay one penny of what I have paid. For an organization that is supposed to be an advocate for high school students I believe they are hypocritical and lack any kind of integrity.

My daughter is set to depart on a trip to Thailand tomorrow 3/13/2020.

Rustic Pathways Stance on travel during COVID-19...

"All is fine and we’re good to go to Thailand! No issues at all. 100% nothing to worry about."

Here in the real world...
NCAA = NO tournament games
NBA = Suspended the season until further notice
NHL = paused
MLB = same, no more games
SXSW = canceled
Schools = shifting to an online only model/canceling classes,
Business = telling people to work at home

Seems like Rustic Pathways is a reckless, and irresponsible organization to me.

I spent two weeks last summer in Fiji on the trip called sun, sand, and international service. This was my first rustic trip so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. My trip was absolutely amazing. Meeting all of the locals and people in my group really changed me. The service got hard at times but it was really rewarding knowing that I was helping the locals. The base is amazing and had the most beautiful views and a pool! The only issue I had was that it was a little unorganized however in Fiji they have something called Fiji time which means that you go with the flow and do things whenever. This trip truly gives you a new view on life and you get to see a new side of Fiji that others don’t get to. I highly recommend this trip to Fiji or any other trip by rustic pathways.

I do not recommend this program. My daughter went to Fiji last summer with Rustic Pathways and she was very disappointed. Relative to other trips my daughter has taken, this one seemed extremely expensive for what students got. The schedule was poorly organized with amounts of downtime with nothing to do, and not in a nice location that would allow, fror example, walking around on a beach. We were sent a single photo of all of the students on the trip which is pathetic, especially given the price of the trip. Other groups my daughter has traveled with have had someone taking photos all the time and posting them for parents. I think this organization is only good for very wealthy parents who have relatively young teenagers who want to travel abroad and be supervised. It provides poor value for the money. Parents pay a lot of money to subsidize quite a few young adults flying to Fiji supervising the flight, which my daughter definitely did not need. Also note that Rustic Pathway's Facebook page mysteriously deletes all past parents' reviews and comments. So if your child is going on a trip all you'll see are other new parents asking If anyone has a child going to Fiji in 2020, and so you don't get a sense of feedback on previous trips.

i hate this camp with a passion the councilors make you do everything and it’s a total rip off ur paying 5k for clogged toilets for 1 shower for 18 kids for unfiltered water so never go here and leave a new bad review #periodt

It was the most amazing experience I've ever had. It's been two months since my trip and I still think about the experience every single day. This may sound cliched, but it changed my life completely.

The Elephant Conservation Center and Amazing Thailand program that I attended last summer through rustic pathways was truly amazing. I learned so much about taking care of elephants and the Thai culture. All of the Rustic staff were so responsible, caring, and fun for having been with a group of teenagers for 2 weeks. All of the food and accommodations that Rustic provided were perfect and I will never forget the local Thai people that welcomed us into their country with smiles. In addition, the other teenagers on my trip have become some of my closest friends and I keep in touch with them today. Thank you Rustic Pathways for the best experience of my entire life!

This is the 2nd summer my daughter has traveled with Rustic Pathways. She traveled to Peru in 2017 and Morocco in 2018. She did not travel with friends, but came home with 2 dozen new friends! I recommend Rustic to anyone who asks and those who don't! The company is highly organized and overly thoughtful to parents needs, kids needs and the impact travel has on the destinations. That is a powerful combination - I'm happy my daughter gets to experience all aspects of travel and immersion/service - not just the fun part! I truly believe that these experiences help our children become better citizens of the world - full of compassion and lacking fear of the unfamiliar.

Everything about Rustic Pathways is awesome, flawless, exciting, and I would never change my thoughts on it. They are experts when it comes to perfectly organizing your trip and making sure nothing goes wrong. They're also great at making sure your travel group will bond right away. Rustic is perfect if you want to work in something bigger than yourself but you have no idea where to begin.