Complain about a product or service

People to People

Susalyn of Tayug, Phillipines May 1, 2009

I am a mother from the Philippines & my son was nominated by his school principal to attend a leadership summit of People to People Ambassador Program. But the problem is we will shoulder all the expenses (tuition fee, air fare, & allowance). We also paid for the processing of the passport & the US Visa. Worse, when we were interviewed at the us Embassy, we were denied of the visa because the consular officer could not understand why such scholarship should burden the students family of the finances. The consular officer also could not access & get some response from the Organization when he tried to contact them. That cast some doubts on the officer leading to the denial of the visa. Scholarship is given though, but it is near the scheduled leadership program--which means to say that air fare will be more expensive to secure. This is just an overseas educational blah blah, I should say.

The whole family were denied of a US Visa because of some questionable documents from the organization presented before the US Consular Officer & we were all put to shame.

Lydia of Sacramento , CA April 25, 2009

I ordered earthlink on March 23,2009. When I ordered the product I was told it would be 29.99 to set it up. Cost for Disc and programs they would ship for start-up. They took my credit card number to get it started. I told the that I would pay the monthly charge throught my bill pay service. At that time I was told it would not be a problem. I have not as of this date recieved any disc, program or shipment of any kind. They took my money and gave me nothing. I contacted them for the 14th time because I noticed that they had romeved a payment from my card. I did not authorize this payment.

The last time I spoke with them, a supervisor told me that he was so sorry and that the first month of service would be waived and I would get the 29.99 start up fee returned. After checking my account statement, I was not refunded the 29.99 and was also charged for March and April at 9.99. I contacted Earthlink again via chat. After 3 pages of discussion I was told by the young man that since he was sales and he wasn't going to sell me anything he could not help me. I asked again for an address where I could write to complain or at least get some help.

He connected me via chat to another chat person who was worse. She told me that the service was not earthlink but People PC see informed me that "you need to call them" the number is 1-800- with 24-7 support "why don't you call them now they are always available". I asked for her to translate the numbers from the letters for me. She than gave me another number "The exact number and timings are (866) Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST " I asked what happened to the 24/7 number and she wrote this is the new number to use. I only wanted a simple dial-up service. or for them to stop charging me for something I do not have. and refund my money as they said they would. Last chat person stated that she needed my mothers maiden name for verification, I gave it to her and she typed back that she could not verify my account, than wanted the last four of my card, she once again said she could not verify and than asked for my last four again, at this point I was not sure if she was asking for last four of the credit card or my ssan.These people have taken my time 6 hours (lunch breaks at work 1 Hour each), money My 29.99, 9.99 twice.

Donna of Lawrenceville, GA April 23, 2009

This is the letter that I sent to this organization: My son, Nick, is having to withdraw due to some very serious health issues. I called the 800 number today to find out about receiving my downpayment refund (400) and I was told that he would only receive 155 of the 400 back. When I asked about the other 245, I was told by Annette that the 245 was for insurance. Insurance for whom? My son isn't attending. I am a single mother with 3 teenagers, but I was trying to get my son to Europe, an opportunity that he may never get, and because of his health issues, he cannot attend.

So here's the scenario as I see it. A child and his parent(s) get a letter stating that he has been nominated to go on this absolutely chance of a lifetime trip. Come to a meeting and we're presented with this incredible dog and pony show and its backed by the legendary name of Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is explained by the People to People representative that each child must turn in an application and then set up an interview before it is decided whether the child can go on this fabulous trip. And in order for the application to be processed, a 400 downpayment has to be made to People to People. Each child is given a booklet filled with info and an application.

So this is done and the child makes it through the interview. But....one of two things happen - either the child, who has a health history, becomes much sicker and should not make the trip - or, especially in this day and time, the poor parent(s) realize they cannot afford 6500+ that they need to come up with in a matter of 2-3 months.

So, breaking the child's heart and/or dream, the parent(s) have to cancel. And when they call to get the 400 they put down, they are told that they will only get back 155, the other 245 is for insurance. Whose insurance??? Not the child, because he's not going. Now, this really sounds like a racket. And I am in the position to have this researched - I work for the Chiefs of Police for the entire state of Georgia. I will take this to the news media, I will take this to the governor's office, I will take this to my U.S. Senator - I will take it to whereever I have to so that no one is ever taken in by this money-making scheme again. I am mad.

I am a single mother whose child has taken a drastic turn for the worse (unexpectedly) in his health. I wanted to give him this and now he can't go, through no fault of our own. I will be very curious to find out how many people have been taken in by this scam. I will not stop until this is STOPPED. And I get my entire 400 back.

Furthermore, when I called this morning and talked to Annette and explained to her that my son might be dying, she basically laughed and said too bad, I signed a document and I'm only going to get the 155 back. I will give this program a black-eye, I will assure you this.

Matthew of Berkeley, CA April 21, 2009

This company, which I personally believe continues to masquerade as a non-profit, spends very little on their actual programs. They are a public company; just look at their profit statements! Their reports indicate that they spend only about 20% on providing the programs! So for an 8,000 trip, they spend about 2k. In my view that kind of profit margin speaks for itself, and it is only with this egregious 'honor marketing' scam and the unholy affiliation with a once laudable and now-questionable non-profit that families are duped into paying such huge amounts. A true 'honor' does not cost these kinds of fees, if anything.

Dena of Verona, PA March 31, 2009

My bright, artistic, 4th grade daughter (9 1/2 years old) came home from school very proud one day. Her teacher told her that she was choosing my daughter out of the whole school and that we would get information about it in the mail. Choosen for what we didn't know exactly. My daughter is very hardworking and nice, so I was not surprised that a teacher would pick her out for some sort of recognition.

Well, today, the teacher sent home the letter she received from People to People, asking her to nominate her best students. At first read, my heart swelled. I thought, my little girl has been picked for something very special! Some text of the letter, supposedly from Eisenhower's grandaughter states I am pleased to invite you to nominate your most outstanding students to attend the People to People World Leadership Forum in the 2009-2010 academic year After reading a second time, I thought, students? If it were truly selective, multiple nominations wouldn't be offered to the teacher.

More from the letter please nominate only fourth through seventh grade students who demonstrate outstanding scholastic merit and leadership potential P2P must use this line, now, to justify them telling students that they were nominated, and not plucked from a mailing list. After being so excited, and proud (I almost called my parents to tell them!) a few minutes later, I was concerned, because it mentioned, all students will receive an application for one of more than 20 competitive need- and achievement-based scholarships Red flag moment, what this is going to cost me? And ONLY 20 scholarships?! That isn't even enough to cover one child per state!!!

I also thought, how many parents want their 9-10 year old child traveling without them? At the end of the day, I am totally honored that my daughter's teacher thought so much of her, to nominate her for what she thought was an adventure. But something in my gut told me to google this, and I thank God for this site. The application will go in the trash and I will let my daughter's teacher know that p2p isn't what they claim to be. I just wanted to put it out there that they are trying to get 'legitimate' nominations now.

The whole thing breaks my heart. I thank God for this site and thank everyone for sharing. P2P seems like too much of a risk, especially for poorer or younger children who might have more to loose. It is a crying shame that Presidents' names are on this letter, disgusting! After reading that P2P doesn't even run the trips makes me sick. This isn't a harmless nomination scam like whos who in high school. This has a real potential for misleading parents and children. Someone should call child protective services on them.

Kelly of Vicksburg, MS March 13, 2009

My son was selected to experience Europe this summer. We paid the 400 registration fee and began raising money for his trip. We were told that we could withdraw from the trip 150 days prior to the trip and receive all our money back less the 95 non-refundable application fee. I never received a departure date, except June 1 and it was followed by please disregard this date you will be informed of the correct departure date 150-180 days prior to travel. Since they stated this at the meeting and on their website, I decided to continue raising money until that 150 days prior to travel to see if we could raise enough money.

In January I still did not have a travel date, but I knew we could not raise that amount of money, so I withdrew from the trip. I requested my refund. Several weeks later I did receive my refund less 500. I was told that I withdrew after the 150 days prior to travel, and that would cost me 500. I e-mailed People to People and wrote them a letter stating that I never received a departure date and therefore I did withdraw in time for the refund less the 95. On March 2, 2009 their website still stated that the departure date was June 1, but disregard this date and you will be notified of the correct date 150-180 days prior to travel.

People to People said they e-mailed me the departure date on January 12, 2009. I did not receive this e-mail, and on top of that if they sent the e-mail out on January 12, 2009 that did not give me the time to withdraw 150 days prior to travel as they promised they would. A representative called me to inform they were keeping the 500. I asked him about what was on the web site about the departure date being June 1 but please disregard. He stated that their web site did not say that. I printed a copy of that web site on March 2, 2009. He said it did not say that now and the fee would stand. If I had been given a departure date I would have withdrawn in plenty of time, but I never received a departure date. People to People states that they did inform everyone of the departure date on January 12, 2009. This was 149 days prior to travel. I never received a departure date. I lost 500.

We lost 500.

Johanna of Marion, AL February 24, 2009

In late January 2009, my son received a letter in the mail stating that he had been chosen by Governor Riley and the People to People organization for the opportunity to participate in a trip to Australia. He was advised that there was a parents' meeting approximately 2 weeks later and that in order to reserve his spot, he had to register on line immediately, which we did. The parents' meeting was an hour and a half away from our home and consisted of a brief slideshow and some sales pitches for this trip. The meeting lasted about an hour and there was little time to ask questions. We were told we had to pay the deposit fee of 400.00 that evening in order to be able to be eligible for the trip and to access the web site for further information and for access to the financial aid websites.

I registered and paid the 400.00 and went to the website for the financial aid only to find that the deadline for applying for financial aid was January 31, 2009; the deadline had passed and we were not advised of it even though I had asked about financial aid at the end of the meeting. This is an issue because I specifically told the woman at the meeting that we were not affluent and that we were from one of the poorest counties in the entire country. She assured me that I would find financial aid on the web site. Additionally, everything had been presented in such a whirlwind fashion that I realized that evening that no dates for the trip had been given to us.

The parents' meeting was on a Sunday so, the next day, Monday morning, I called the offices in Spokane Washington to get dates. No one seemed to know what the dates were and I was assured that we would know everything before the actual trip took place. I was also told that the dates would be firmed up in early March, at which point I stated that 1000.00 was due March 1st and that I wasn't going to pay anything more until I at leas had dates. After about 1/2 hour and several people later, a woman came on and gave me an explanation about how they work with the schools to ensure all schools are out for the summer before setting the date. She told me the first day of the trip was June 8, 2009. I told her that they had obviously not checked with my son's school since he would still be in school until mid June. The more I spoke with these people the more uncomfortable I became that something wasn't quite right.

Another mandatory parents' meeting was scheduled for two weeks later (February 22). We drove to the meeting and told the woman there that we would be withdrawing from this trip. We were advised to call People to People in Spokane Washington the next day, 2/23/09. I called People to People as advised and informed them that we would be dropping from the program. Three people were involved in this process. When I told the first person we would be withdrawing I was told to hold on so that I could speak with another individual who would handle that. The second person told me that there would be a 500.00 withdrawal fee. When I stated I wasn't aware of that, he passed me on to a Supervisor who simply stated it was in the terms of agreement that I had accepted and that I should have read them.

Well, I did read them, under duress from the pressure of being told I had to pay mt 400.00 deposit in order to have my son be considered for the trip. I stated that I had paid my 400.00 deposit and that they would not be getting an additional 100.00 from me. During this whole process I told several people I was not happy with the way things were being presented and handled. The whole organization came off as being disorganized at best and I truly began to feel that this was a scam.

As a result, I am out 400.00, plus the time to go to these meetings, time on the phone and the cost of gasoline to attend these mandatory meetings.

Anonymous of Hjakhahkj, PA February 11, 2009

I was nominated for a DC trip by the principal of my school. She had been apparently told she could pick one student to send this letter to. She explained to me how great an honor this is. A few days later, I got the letter. It was very vague in explaining what exactly I would be doing in DC, but it still wanted a large deposit to reserve a space.

Luckily I didn't fall for it. Upon doing more research, I found that the educational trip advertised was not much more that some team-building exercises and a tour of DC, which I had done before on a school trip. And they wanted me to pay several thousand dollars for this opportunity. I don't blame the principal of my school. I am 13 years old, skipped several grades ahead for science, math, and english, and of course she thought she was bestowing some enormous honor on me.

I later went on their website and nominated my brother's pet iguana. We got a letter explaining how he had achieved academic excellence and had been nominated by an educator. This goes to show that there is not even a basic check on names submitted to this organization. It is a complete scam.

Kathy of Lone Jack, MO January 30, 2009

My son received a letter just before going on Christmas break last year stating that he had been nominated to attend a trip to Europe, a 19 day trip. My first thought was how awesome, he will finally get to see some of the sites I saw as a child. When I questioned the cost of the trip, I only received an estimate between 3000 and 8900 for the trips provided by this organization. My son has been busy getting fund raisers going and has had two of his teachers sign recommendation forms.

We wasted two hours of our time at an information meeting that was 45 minutes from our home. They hire some great sales people at this company! They can make anyone want to take these trips! Thank god I had not sent him to do an interview or paid any money at this time. I am so happy I read the posts on this web site regarding PTP and while I wanted to be fair, I read the compliments as well. Noticing on the compliments the dates are mostly from 2007 and are very few in comparison to the complaints listed.

I hope the site will continue to save parents the grief of having a child filled with anticipation and excitement about something that is obviously not completely honest. I am glad we were not able to just fork over the amount needed for the trip and then have no recourse to recover it. For these trips to be an honor, maybe PTP should consider actually letting people who know these students nominate them instead of just being pulled from a mailing list! Good luck to anyone who takes the trip and hopefully you don't experience any hardships while overseas.

Roberta of Brockton, MA January 13, 2009

I received an invite for my daughter, to participate in a 'one time only opportunity' to travel to Japan this summer. I don't have a daughter, nor a son. Where are these people getting these names and why are they allowed to continue this marketing ploy?

This company needs to be stopped from sending letters to people whose names have been 'bought' from who-knows-where. In today's world where identities are stolen every second, this can be frightening. I immediately thought my identity had been stolen. Next question is, what else is being bought and sold?

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