I’ve been trying to reach Rustic Pathways for the last few months to use a voucher given to us when my daughters trip was cancelled. No one calls me back, no one emails. I’m on the verge of hiring a lawyer; this company is engaging in fraud I would never advise dealing with them.

I would not recommend associating with this company in any way. I was contacted to work a trip (I am not an employee, but have an acquaintance who is) because one of the guides tested positive for covid days before a two-week trip across Alaska with 14-18 year old children. The company was completely disorganized, and recruiting random individuals at the last minute to supervise children in the backcountry. (As a parent, I would NEVER trust this company to look after my children!) The company was sketchy, the pay rate was awful (especially considering the price they charge per head for these trips), so I declined working the two-week trip. Instead, they offered me a "job" shuttling another worker from Anchorage to Glennallen (about 6 hours roundtrip) and I agreed. I made this drive on July 21st, using my own vehicle and my own gas money, and was promised pay within the week. It is now three weeks later and I have contacted the only company representative that I can reach (Patrick) who keeps assuring me that I'll receive pay within 2-3 days, and the pay never shows up. This company is completely disorganized, dishonest and unfair to their employees, and as a result are forced to hire unqualified and unverified people to supervise children in the wilderness. Do yourself a favor and avoid this company at all costs.

Good trip to Costa Rica. My son loved Manuel his leader. Thank you so much to Emily for helping us choose this for him

Swimming with the manta and snorkeling in Hawaii was amazing. Waterfalls lots of gorgeous experiences and great memories with the other students on my trip.

My daughters took the trip to Peru and they had the trip of a lifetime! From the very beginning, Rustic Pathways handled every single detail and the execution was flawless. My husband and I were both very impressed with how thoughtful every aspect of the trip was. From deadlines to packing lists and everything in-between, we always knew what we had to do, what to expect and our communication with RP was terrific. I cannot recommend RP enough. My girls are already trying to decide which trip they will take next summer!

The local staff are paid far below what the international staff are paid. This is a problem because they preach about the benefits Rustic has to the Fijian community, yet... discrepancies.
I spent most of my time with the local staff having already lived in the country for years before I joined Rustic, so Rustic did not in any way bring me to Fiji, I was already here.
One international staff member who had a problem with me on the Fiji experience, had me fired without warning. I showed up late only once to an excursion. Despite contractually that a staff member should receive two warnings before being fired, I was fired for being twenty minutes late once. The international staff member who had me fired was a person I had previously labelled as 'fake'. That shows the toxic environment the staff have to work in.
After my departure, my fellow marine staff member quit after, citing for separate reasons how bad this company is.

The worst experience for my daughter ever. The counselors on her trip were rude and punitive, they did not manage the bullies and it was torture for the girls who aren't bullies. Infact they took the side of the mean girls without even getting other perspectives. The counselors have no training in dealing with this. I wish I had brought her home early. Plus, kids got continually ill and some had to return home early. I had to call to get them to monitor her. Never never again.

I had an amazing trip with Rustic Pathways in Puerto Rico!! Cody and Anna are awesome!!! The best program leaders I have ever had and I've been on multiple programs. Thank you for another unforgettable experience! :)

Despite the pandemic, they refused to offer refunds to our trips and offered travel vouchers instead. However their trips keep being delayed indefinitely (it was moved to 2021, then said 2022), so basically if you want to get your money back you need to ask to cancel on your end where they will deduct your money as cancellation fees, or you can wait indefinitely till the pandemic is over to go on a trip you don't really want to go on anymore because of a bad provider.

I went on the Off the Map: Alaska trip over the summer and had an AMAZING time! Over the course of 2 weeks we camped, hiked, packed rafted, white water rafted, climbed a glacier, etc. It was an experience I will never forget with some really cool people from around the world. I even met up with one of my friends I met in Alaska 2 weeks later in Wyoming! This trip taught me so much about myself and I am so grateful for it! Definitely recommend signing up!!

Again, still waiting on a response. It is unfortunate that this company has become so untrustworthy. Not sure how anyone would feel safe sending their child on a trip with a company that does not return phone calls, emails and does not call about any type of change.

Do not trust this company. My daughter had a trip scheduled to go to Peru, then Covid hit… We decided to be nice and leave the almost $5000 with the company until we decide what to do. Never did they tell me that once it turned into a voucher it would only be good for other trips. Fast forward almost 2 years because of Covid and they're holding my money hostage. They won't give it back, my daughter doesn't want to go on any of the other trips, we have called numerous times and emailed numerous times and we are just ignored. And I am supposed to trust this company with my daughter. I have five kids all my other kids went on GLA trips. I never had a problem with GLA in all the years my kids traveled with them. You think at least they return our calls… We have now called nine times, and I've emailed three times. It's silence. And they won't give us her money back. Do not, I repeat do not go with this company.

SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF REVIEW

Spoke to RP soon after COVID lockdowns last March. At first they were engaged and helpful, even having an advisor call to update on the trip to Cambodia my son was scheduled to take. We purchased the CANCELLATION INSURANCE and alerted them well in advance of the specified deadline to do so. A rep called to confirm, but said due to a backlog, our refund would take approximately six months. I have been waiting patiently but no refund has been issued in over a year.

I understand the difficulties COVID created for many businesses, and how cash flow would be a problem at RP, so I am sympathetic to their inability to satisfy all of their clients.

HOWEVER, not only am I out the money for the trip, but I am also out the insurance surcharge. They are apparently not honoring the cancellation insurance contract. And they seem not to.

Repeated calls to the main number result in a long hold time, followed only by the ability to leave a message. No response has come to messages I've left. Emails I've sent to resolve the issue have also gone unanswered.

My two older kids took RP trips and enjoyed them, and before this we would have recommended RP to anyone.

I'm not sure what to do. A stock answer from them here might says something about their wholistic approach to the communities they work in, etc. It is an answer that many people seem to receive, sometimes with a reminder that they have a travel voucher they can use for their child. Also in these responses is an email address, the same one that has yet to respond to my emails. Again, I understand things are difficult. But a refund is due. There is no discretion in this case. I paid the EXTRA cancellation insurance fee.

Unconscionable.

****UPDATE: Not sure if this review had anything to do with it, but we finally got through to RP customer support and were promised a refund. The refund was processed and credited back to our card. It took way too long, and was too hard to accomplish, but the matter has been resolved to our satisfaction.***

Terrible service and company. We are in the same position as many have stated. They are holding onto money for trip that was promised by the agent. The agent advised us the trip would run. We only found out it was cancelled as we checked. We were not contacted by Rustic Pathways, it is a constant struggle to have anyone contact you. How can it be safe to send your child with these individuals with such a lack of care.

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.