Complaint Review: Invasion Travel Summer Camp Thailand - Manchester England / Manchester
- Invasion Travel Summer Camp Thailand ordsall lane Manchester, England / Manchester United Kingdom
- Phone: +44 161 222 3780
- Web: www.summercampthailand.com
- Category: Teachers, Travel Companies, Travel Agencies, Travel Agents, Travel Services
Invasion Travel Summer Camp Thailand camp thailand summercampthailand invasion invasion travel sent me to Thailand with wrong visa, did not provide services paid for, ran out of money. Manchester England / Manchester
*Author of original report: insider information
over 100 young kids are now complaining after they ran out of money and left people without the expericnec they paid for..any bad comment are being removed from their site, all complaints ignored and people blocked.
Evidence of emails between directors telling of finnancial shortage and yet still send people
passports confiscated
no teaching certtifcates
destinations changed
accommodaion change to very poor standards
activities did not go ahead
reps drunk
owe tens of thousands to thai companies and just up and left
an absolute disgusting attitude towards these kids
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 11/15/2017 06:17 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/invasion-travel-summer-camp-thailand/manchester-england-manchester-m5-3an/invasion-travel-summer-camp-thailand-camp-thailandsummercampthailandinvasioninvasion-t-1411987. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
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#1 Author of original report
insider information
AUTHOR: Tony - (Spain)
SUBMITTED: Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Very simply EVIDENCE BELOW AND more here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17Mpua7TFsbM_xOQcEyAH4rjoS9YA8rDx?usp=sharing From around mid-July things started to go wrong and this continued up to 28th August. After that date most camps changed location, accommodation and Itinerary. If you were affected in these dates it is likely that you had one or more of the following Your Location was changed Your accommodation was changed Your itinerary was changed Your reps were disorganised and uncooperative You did not get your required hours for TEFL You did not get advertised activities.
Your passports were confiscated You did not get your TEFL certificate You got a certificate from Greenway China. All of these are grounds for compensation and sometimes a full refund. Invasion ( summer Camp Thailand) have offered cash settlements and vouchers to spend with them. If these have been refused then Camp Thailand have ignored further requests and often blocked applicants from social Media and removed any negative comments. Invasion ( summer Camp Thailand) have an obligation to respond to complaints and are choosing not to, probably in the hope that things will go away.
CAMP THAILAND HAVE AND MAY HAVE ALREADY SCREEN CAPPED YOUR FACEBOOK PHOTOS AND TRY TO SUGGEST YOU HAD A GOOD TIME. Again, very simply. I will explain what you need to do to claim a full refund from your bank if you were affected. You cannot simply ask for a refund: I will attach to this email all the evidence I have and suggested format of a letter for your bank. Please read it carefully and add and delete things as needed. Remember your experience may have differed from others so tell your story of what went wrong.
I have tried to make it simple by adding the things the bank will need to assess the claim. You will need to make a charge back from your credit or debit card. You may also claim for flights and associated costs if the same card was used. Be reasonable and claim for an appropriate amount. If your Location or accommodation was changed it is reasonable that you claim for everything as this was not the package experience you paid for. From Here you can either go straight to the attached letter and evidence and make an appointment with the bank or you can read some explanations of what happened and why and also more details about changes to your experience.
All evidence can be found attached to this email. Please do not get overwhelmed by it all, you are right and they are wrong, i am just providing you with evidence that you can take to the bank. Your Location was changed If this was the case then you have the strongest case. This is very simply not the holiday you booked. If you booked with any Travel Agent to go to a certain location in a country, then they need to provide that. They needed to inform you beforehand giving you the option to cancel for a full refund or compensation or accept the alternative location.
This did not happen so you did not get the holiday paid for. It is that simple. It is also obvious that your accommodation was also changed and it is likely that the itinerary was too. The reason. Summer camp Thailand ceased working with their business partner on 28th August 2017. From this date alternative camps were used in different locations. It seems there was a financial problem that meant Invasion partnered with a company called Greenway China and from this date used their sub-standard locations.
Your accommodation was changed If your accommodation was changed then you have not been provided with the package that you paid for. You should have been informed prior to departure and given an option to cancel especially if the location was not to the same standard as advertised. Some accommodations should have been on the beach but were moved away. Some completely different Some accommodation were changed on the day of arrival with reps never being to places and people sharing beds in dirty and cramped rooms.
Some accommodation was only changed for the last part of the holiday ad should have been on the beach with a pool and ended up being miles from nowhere with no pool All of the above are not acceptable and you have a claim for a full refund from your card issuer The reason Summer Camp Thailand were having financial problems, they knew about these problems and still chose to send people to Thailand. The change of business partner meant a change of accommodations also. Reps were often informed only an hour before where they were staying.
I have been told that accommodations were owed money and had not been paid. Your itinerary was changed or You did not get advertised activities. If your itinerary was changed then you are entitled to claim. More so if activities did not go ahead and were not replaced with adequate. Camp Thailand sell and experience, not an itinerary, Some camps did not get activities, some camps got alternatives of a very poor standard. Some camps did not get planned trips, some camps reps did not arrive for trips, some camps never got overnight stays, some camps got half days instead of full days. All in all if you were affected then you have a claim. It is likely that you also had reps that were unhelpful and chaos of unknowing what you were doing day to day.
The reason Again the evidence suggest that Invasion had not sent money to Thailand. You paid them early 2017 and they did not send money. The on the ground partner had demanded money before your arrival from camp Thailand. He was told there was no more money. Camo Thailand had to therefore rush itineraries together, find cheaper options and use alternative suppliers to the ones apparently not paid. Your reps were disorganised and uncooperative Camp Thailand have said to me that the reps did the best they could under the circumstances. It was not good enough and likely had a massive effect on your overall experience.
I have evidence that reps had not been paid and were often angry. Reps themselves did not know what was going on. Many lost their jobs after Camp Thailand moved company. It was obviously a difficult time for them and understandable that they were upset, confused and often very angry. People have been ignored with illness, told they are not baby sitters, said to leave one student in jail to rot, screamed abuse at people, swore at them, encouraged them to drink, been overly drunk while on duty, refused to answer questions. Understandable but not acceptable The reason I have been told by some reps that they didn’t know what was going on it all happened so quick, and they were embarrassed and confused themselves.
Most I have spoken to say they did not have a clue why all the changes, why things were cancelled and were left to deal with the groups complaints without support. Two senior people were sent over from the UK but one was arrested over visa and work permit issues. You did not get your required hours for TEFL If you did not get your TEFL hours then you are not entitled to you TEFL certificate. Many camps only got part of their teaching, others virtually none and some just short. If you did not get these hours, you are not entitled to your certificate and any certificate that arrives is fraudulent in saying you completed your hours.
TEFL has now been removed from the Camp Thailand website. Reason The evidence suggests that most hours were not completed due to the chaos of finance, transport and the change of partner. Mini break sand overnights Many groups did not get the advertised mini breaks. If you were not informed of this change prior to departure then you are entitled to a refund. Many groups went to totally different locations than advertised, others stayed in different hotels from previous intakes that have been described as awful and filthy- Many groups did not get overnight stays at elephant sanctuaries and silk villages and more.
This was advertised and should have been provided. Reason The evidence again suggest finances were the big issue, some suppliers had not been paid and payments often came through in dribs and drabs, or late or not at all. This again points the the financial crisis that was known of prior to your arrival. For those who went after 28th August, you were given a watered down version of the experience you paid for and other applicants were supplied. You did not get your TEFL certificate or You got a certificate from Greenway China. I would imagine the main reason for choosing camp Thailand was because of the internationally recognised TEFL certificate.
If you did not get this then you are entitled to a refund. The reason The evidence suggests that Camp Thailand sent you on the wrong visas and you risked arrest if you volunteer worked in any school. Camp Thailand were warned about this by immigration police and chose to ignore this. It may have something to do with why some people had their passports confiscated. Since then TEFL has been removed from the website. Now not only did you have the threat of being arrested, this may have been discussed in camp, you also did not get the TEFL certificate advertised and are entitled to claim a refund. If you got a certificate from a company called Greenway China, it is likely that if you did your course work before 28th August that this is fraudulent.
EFF ( English For Fun ) was the company who assessed your course work and your school hours and they have given no authority to any third party company to see your work or assess your records. overview Camp Thailand ( invasion) is the company you paid. the evidence suggests they did not send money to Thailand as they had none. It was their responsibility to ensure accommodation and the experience was as advertised and paid for by you, it was their responsibility to ensure the on ground staff and management in Thailand supplied you with the experience, accommodation and Itinerary advertised. DO NOT let them tell you otherwise or pass the blame and ask for everything in writing.
All of this has been put to Invasion and they have seen all of the evidence and refuse now to speak to me as it has nothing to do with me so they say: Camp Thailands only response is, it wasn’t us. Although all the evidence suggests it was. They are blaming their ex partner Phil but as of yet have offered no other evidence other than to name call. Either way, you paid them and they did not provided the services you paid for I can help and send a format of a letter used for the bank to get a full refund, I have had one, as have many other. YOU ARE entitled to claim from your payment card if your experience was not as advertised. https://chargeback.com/what-is-a-chargeback/ Camp B You should have stayed in krasang Buriram and then one night overnight at the Silk Village and 1 night overnight at the Elephant Project and 4 nights at Runa Runa on Koh Samet.
If this is not where you stayed or what you got then you are entitled to compensation. Camp A You should have been staying at the luxurious apartments near the beach with excellent WIFI and swimming pool. You should have gone to a resort for 4 days in Suang Phueng, If this was substituted to a cheap trip to Khao Yai national park and you did not stay in the beach apartments, then you will be entitled to compensation. Camp C You should have stayed at Eco Lodge in Chiang Mai. Your mini break was to be at a near beach front accommodation used by Camp A . If you did not stay here and were moved to Hua Hin hills with no pool, no wifi and very poor conditions, then you will be entitled to compensation. Please feel free to PM for support and help.
ALL CAMPS if your itinerary was not followed or you cancelled and things were not as expected and the dates were from 11th July 2017 onwards, you have likely been affected by the fiasco. Remember you paid for an experience not an itinerary. EVIDENCE BELOW AND more here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17Mpua7TFsbM_xOQcEyAH4rjoS9YA8rDx?usp=sharing including document entitled letter for bank (please review this letter carefully and add and delete as needed for your claim) A letter from the Camp Thailand partner during the fiasco. Please feel free to distribute this response to members of your intake group and others that you want to not have the same experience you had. All I can say to your complaint is that I don't dispute any of what you say and I can only apologize for what has happened. You will see a lot of your questions answered below in a story that was sent to a reporter that has not run with the story as of yet.
What I can give you here is a short summary. Basically, Invasion ran out of money and did not have funds available to pay for the last few intake groups of the Summer season. They initially blamed the problem on Brexit but I'm sure there is more to the story than just Brexit. They tried to borrow money from their UK bank but the loan request was declined. They then ended up doing a deal with a 3rd party company that basically leant them the funds to complete the last few programs. The service that was provided to the affected groups were nowhere up to the standard previous groups received. Cheaper accommodations were substituted, activities got delayed, postponed or even cancelled. The reps that were on Work Permits had them cancelled because Invasion didn't have the money for or didn't want to continue pay for their upkeep. For one rep, Harry Lote, Invasion's COO for S.E. Asia he was taken to the police station. He did not ever get a work permit and like the others has been working illegally. They still have not paid staff bills here at our Camp B and they owe us a lot of money.
The participants were not informed of the changes that were to be made, as required by ABTA's rules and neither were they told that they needed to be on the Non-Immigrant Type "O" Visa (For volunteers) as opposed to the Tourist visa. I am attaching pictures of Dean Halworth, then COO for Camp Thailand being told by our lawyer and the Immigration police in Thailand at a meeting I was present at a few months ago that absolutely the volunteers needed to be on the Non-Immigrant Type "O" visa.
Invasion chose not to warn the participants about this which put them all at risk. With respect to the TEFL certification some participants have already had the certificate checked and told the certificate is not real or fake. Others have pointed out that the company issuing the certificates appears to be only a shell company, and does not operate any TEFL courses of its own or have a Ministry of Education approved school license. That they have issued certificates with a spelling mistake on all of them, that the receivers of the certificates do not have their own individual number on there and the exact minimum amount of teaching practicum hours is not on there is very telling indeed.
Our company, English For Fun Company Ltd. owns the TEFL course and provides the certification. Invasion were invoiced by ourselves but they were not able to come up with the required funds to TEFL certify everyone that did the course. They were able to pay for applicants on previous intakes this year. As of September 2017, they also did not payed the Academic Director his salary for the last 10 months leading up to this debacle, even after he marked the courses. The last I heard from him about this was that he had sent a demand letter to the Directors of Invasion, had not received a response and was seeking legal advice with the intent of suing Invasion in the U’K to recover what he is owed.
Invasion went behind us and got a Chinese company to issue certificates on their behalf. From my perspective and our company lawyers those certifications that were apparently accredited by the Chinese company are not valid because English For Fun has no licensing agreement with the Chines company and we are the only ones that can issue the certification for our own course. Kind regards, Philip Crabb Just 3 short months ago Lee McAteer, Director of www.Americamp.co.uk and WWW.Invasion.com and his business partner, Nick Steiert, Director of www.Invasion.com were riding high on cloud nine, loving life and their staff and customers seemingly loving them. What a difference a few short months has made. Invasion which was, and maybe still is, subject to a formal HMRC audit is now teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.
I have been told by Harry Lotte of Invasion and Dean Halworth, COO of Camp Thailand, that Invasion is now in debt to the tune of around 500,000 GBP. Nick Steiert told us on a Conference call with Dean, on Monday 31st July 2017, that it was around 400,000 GBP. How can a U.K , ABTA, travel company that sends hundreds of U.K University students to the U.S. every year to work in Summer Camps as part of Americamp and thousands of university students to long weekend breaks over autumn, winter and spring under the Invasion Brand and 1,500 paying customers to Thailand and Cambodia to do Camp Thailand and Camp Cambodia, each applicant paying around 700 GBP, be 500,000 GBP in debt.
This is the million dollar question that everyone, including apparently, HMRC wants to know. As an interesting aside it is noteworthy that one of the participants, Megan Henderson, FB: https://www.facebook.com/megan.henderson.98622confided in Mike Walters the Rep over here at Camp Cha-Am that her mum worked for HMRC and she said Invasion was going bankrupt. Nick told Dean and I that the reason the company had run out of money was largely because of Brexit and the subsequent devaluation in the GBP sterling which was around 15%. I am on record by the way as warning them a year ago to hedge the currency but that fell on deaf ears. If you do the math, and I have, 1,500 paying customers at approx.. 700 GBP per person gives revenues of around 1,050,000 GBP.
Even with the currency unhedged, a 15% devaluation would only account for a loss of around 158,000 GBP loss (1,05 million GBP x85%). So where is the other 350,000 GBP loss. Perhaps all the flying around and jet setting partying you see in the above articles is the likely explanation but regardless this black hole is REAL! What where the immediate threats that this Black hole posed when its existence was announced 6 short weeks ago on 31st July, 2017? The most immediate problem was that Invasion had taken in and for all intents and purposes had spent all the remaining 2017 and even the 2018 participants funds that were meant to go cover their program expenses. Invasion had classically been robbing Paul to pay Peter and it had caught up with them, big time! They still had 400 + participants to service between August 1st and the end of 2017. What was Nick’s thought process about this and how to fix it?
Please see the extract below from an email he sent me on 1st August, 2017 which answers this. Please also note that he had obviously been in negotiations with a third party company way prior to our phone skype conference call the day before but he did not disclose this fact on that call. On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 11:01 PM, Nick Steiert wrote: "”Hi guys - I just got off the phone and I may have some excellent news! Following on from our meeting yesterday over Skype and given the dire state of being able to carry out Camp Thailand on the ground, it is fair to say that things are at a very critical time for us and we need every option possible that will allow us to finish the season for the benefit of all of us.
I have been working around the clock and brainstorming and I think I may have found out get of jail free card and saved the program, it's not going to be easy, but i’m very excited to hear your thoughts about it. In fact I am feeling beyond delirious about it, but we need to be in it together and agree. As I mentioned, my parents are re-mortgaging their house in order to inject some funds into the business and ensure that we can continue to run Camp Thailand on the ground. However, even this amazing gesture from them is not enough to get us through the storm and at best, will only get us through the current intake.As promised, we have sent the £20k yesterday to cover rent and salaries for last month however, nothing further can be guaranteed under the present circumstances.
Given that you have no access to any funds now to run the program in Thailand, this leaves us with the following options: 1) We close the program, which would no doubt lead to a barrage of online complaints and litigation from people shortly expecting to come on their trip of a lifetime and all our reputations would be tarnished forever. To be blunt and as I am sure you agree, this cannot happen under any circumstances. 2) We try and raise short-term finance. As I mentioned, my parents are helping in this regard which is a great start, however, given the dire state of the finances for Camp Thailand and the total amount needed we will struggle to raise anything significant outside of family and friends. The banks won’t lend to us the funds needed and thus far have denied us a loan. Plus we cannot get the money in time and have been told we would need to find an investor in Invasion Camp Group. The finances are critical and we can’t raise enough to fund the next intake. 3) We shave as much of the costs as possible from the upcoming intakes to reduce liabilities and hope that the deposits from the bookings that we take for 2017-18 season that go live today will cover the shortfall. To be honest, given the large amount of cash that we need to raise, we will not hit the required amount needed in time and we would still be significantly short. Obviously we would do everything we can to push sales, but again this will result in issues that will cause huge amounts of stress and the program crashing due to lack of funds mid intake, which would be disastrous. 4) Given the dire circumstances and looking for much needed advice I reached out to our contacts within the travel industry, in confidence, to try and get some extra advice on how to deal with what we are facing. I was put in touch with a company called the Green Lion and quite honestly I think it could be the answer to our prayers that will get us through the end of the season!
After lengthy conversations that took place between them I explained the set of circumstances personally and again in confidence to Green Lion to see if any possible solution could be reached with them in order to help. Following on from these conversations, they have offered the following: 1: Match our itinerary pretty much identically. 2: Work alongside us to ensure it’s carried out in the same way and to the same quality. 3: PAY for the program costs but wait for this... (I am currently trying to see what the rate would be), but the AMAZING thing about their proposition is that they will absorb all of our costs and then give us an 8 week interest-free payment term in order to pay it off!
In return for us to strike a deal with them to provide them a route into ops in the US by placing 100 applicants for free with AmeriCamp. I am confident I can get this through the door even though would be a big undertaking for AC as the apps might be from all over the world rather than English speaking countries, but I am happy to take that responsibility. This means that we would be able to pay costs in October and November, when we know that the money starts coming in again, but to say we obviously need your help and input to pull this off would be understatement.
I am extremely confident that if we all work together we can pull this off and we then have much needed time to regroup, refinance and get the season done and dusted. We are still going to need my parents money, but I have to be able to give them the guarantee that we would get through the season and that their money would not be delaying the inevitable. To be blunt we would all be able to breathe and think with clear heads. Phil, obviously we would not agree to anything without your input, but given the current set of very difficult circumstances that we are dealing with and considering all the options on the table, I genuinely feel that this is the best and perhaps only route to go down and could be the much needed get out of jail free card that we desperately need.
There would be a lot of work to do to synergise our respective organisation’s and we’d need your help Phil to achieve a smooth and harmonious alliance, to ensure that the respective teams in Thailand could work very closely together on the ground, but the main thing that we achieve from this arrangement is that the program is funded for now and we keep all of our locations, the pax are happy with their holiday of a lifetime and we can pay the supplier in 2 months with very favourable terms when our cash reserves are vastly improved and then we can continue as normal once the peak season is over.
Let me know your thoughts asap Nick "”” I did correspond back with Nick and gave him my thoughts. Soon after this period, Lee comes back onto the scene and he takes over from Nick (I have not had contact with Nick for weeks now, Lee says he had a nervous breakdown because his parents decided against lending him the 100,000 GBP because Nick’s own brother saw all the negative Social media reports about invasion around this time and reported them to his parents. Lee also told me that the Invasion staff were not able to bring in New sales at this time because all their efforts were spent deleting hundreds of negative social media comments that were being posted on Invasion and Camp Thailand pages.
So now I am left to deal with "Britain’s best boss”. The problem here is that it becomes apparent that Lee and Nick have done a deal in which we have no control over the program anymore. This is why you see people being moved from Bangkok to cheaper accommodations in the countryside and why beach accommodations are abandoned for digs in the mountains with no internet and no swimming pool etc. Some Camps went without TEFL training and didn’t even get to volunteer teach. Add to this equation that we were told and this information (which was previously given to Nick, was passed on to Lee that the particpants needed to be on Volunteer visas Not Tourist visas.
They could have been arrested. Lee claims that he spoke to someone at the Thai Embassy who said there is no problem with their visas. This is 100% diametrically opposed to all the information provided on the Thai Consulate website and what was provided in a meeting (I have pictures from the meeting with Dean and myself and the head of immigration police and hard copies of what is required). Invasion have chosen to ignore the rules and this puts all the participants at risk of being arrested and deported for being on the wrong visa. My wife and I put our feet down and this is what I wrote to Lee Camp Thailand Aug 25 to Lee Hi Lee,
1. We did agree to chat at 5 p,m local time but obviously emergencies come up and I was across the border racing to their 5 p.m. meeting and unable to call you to tell you I had to postpone.Also, Lee, we don't need to phone always to communicate, email is just fine for the most part.
2. Did, Lawrence had no business attending a meeting with Nana without me being made aware or asked beforehand. And, if it was your intention to let me know at 5 p.m. that you had arranged for Lawrence to attend that meeting that would have been unacceptable also. We are partners in Thailand and Cambodia and what happens here needs to include me. I am also aware of what was said to Nana and I view that as an attempt to go behind my back. If anyone was to tell what was told to Nana it should have been me. This is not the first time this has happened, setting up Camp china and Camp india without telling me are prime examples.
3. Somebody changed my password to the Philip@SummerCampThailand.com mail box. Why was this done? Who authorised this? and what is the new password? The same has happened to James at the same time last night Please have the office contact James with his new password because he still has people sending their TEFL phases to him for intakes 1 - 3 months out from now. How can he mark the TEFL's for the people arriving next week if he does not have access? and I have just learned from him that same as with Zoe here in Cambodia he has also not received his salary for a number of months!
4. When exactly are GL going to sort out Camp A accommodation. Also just learned this morning that GL are planning on taking the Camp C applicants to accommodation in Hua Hin not the accommodation at A. This is unacceptable, we are contracted to pay for the accommodation at A so why not stick to it? From the applicants point of view we have free bicyles for them to use, it is only a 15 minute stroll to the beach, there are many shops and restaurants within close proximity and it has a great pool. I have emailed the applicants affected and told them that if they want to stick to the existing accommodation rather than change they should email yourself or Nick.
I also told them that they should ask for an update about the TEFL because I don't have one for them other than as long as the funds arrive from the UK before they depart we will be able to facilitate this. I can tell you right now there is a lot of pent up anger about the TEFL at all camps and they have told our Thai and Cambodia staff that they love and appreciate them but when they get back to the UK they are going to kick off. My advice to you is to try and sort this one immediately. GL are also planning to not give Camp A 3 nights at Sueng Phung resort.
Again unacceptable to rob the applicants of this experience. I have emailed themand told them if they are happy with the change in itinerary then fair enough but if not they should contact youand Nick and request what was originally booked for them. 5. Can you please tell me who you spoke to and at which consulate. This will certainly come in handy if any of the applicants experience a problem in Thailand. This totally flies in the face of what Dean and I were told by the immigration police in Phuket and the documents that were provided to Dean at that meeting (Pictures attached).
Lee, on July 29 2017 I sent an email to Nick detailing of this. Please also look at the following extract from that email that detailed a story (link provided below) in the UK's Dail Mail that showed that young travellers on TOURIST Visas to Thailand ARE NOW basically being targeted. This also happened to 2 of Bom's teachers who were detained at the airport and refused entry to Thailand. The following appeared in the Daily Mail 4 -5 weeks ago "Western tourists visiting Thailand are being asked to show £460 in CASH to prove they aren't 'begpackers', with one even 'detained in a squalid cell' • Immigration officials are demanding proof of solvency at busiest entry points • Some tourists are turned away, while at least one was held in a detention centre • It forms part of a crackdown on street performers, beggars and illegal workers • A record-breaking 32 million foreign visitors travelled into Thailand in 2016 " Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-4713670/Thai-border-officials-crackdown-Western-begpackers.html#ixzz4nqCTne4f Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook For what it is worth I am also attaching the information from the Royal THAI embassy's website and other sources that absolutely states that if you are coming to Thailand to volunteer teach and even if that was only one day, you need to be on the Type O visa, NOT a tourist visa. 6. You Say "I stand by the fact we need to work together and sing from the same hymn sheet." Lee, I agree with you on this one but in my heart of hearts I know you are a great and good person with good intentions but I honestly feel that you are losing the plot and your moral compass is letting you down. Lee, just step back, take a deep breath and try to analyse the facts. We have a serious cash flow problem and as you know more than 80% of companies go bankrupt not because they are not profitable but because they have cash flow issues. We have a responsabilty to the people that are in Thailand and Cambodia and will be coming here next week. For them to enter Thailand on regular Tourist visas without 460 GBP is now a potential problem. Once they are here we don't really know what GL has planned for them. I have seen no hotel bookings for any of the groups in Bangkok. We know for sure that people who have signed up for Camp Bangkok are not going to be in Bangkok. that is not a guess it is 100% fact. We also know that GL does not have a TEFL program so many of these people will not receive the required training. Right now none of those that are attending Camp D qualify for a TEFL certification. Now there is also the issue of legal and moral responsibility. I am basically a guest in Thailand, a legal one with a work Permit but I am not prepared to break laws to make this program work. As for morally, just step back and think of yourself as a father of an 18 year old young girl that has never traveled overseas before. Her family are trusting you and us in Thailand to look after her. She is expecting to go to Bangkok but just look what happened to the current Camp D intake and look at the tweet attached. Lee, as her father is this pertenant information that youwould expect from the companies involved to have before letting her travel. Now, change roles and put on your company hat. Many companies may try to get away with the situation and be willing or reluctant accomplices and complicit in a scheme to deceive the father and his daughter. Lee, we must each search our souls and do what is right, I know that as the father of the girl or even the daughter herself I would want to know everything. Putting on my corporate hat, I honestly could not live with myself by divulging the facts as I know them for the father and daughter to make an informed decision as to what is the correct thing for them to do.They say "The truth will set you free" well now we can all be set free because I am in the process of emailing everyone arriving next week with the facts as I know them and so they can make an informed decision as to what is the correct decision for them. Maybe many of them will not come to Thailand or maybe they will respect and trust us more for being honest. Lee if we all lose everything and have to start over again at least we can live with the fact that we did the right and morally correct thing to do. We are all smart and talented people and if this is the end of the road on this project we can recreate ourselves with another down the road. We will not be the first or last travel companies to go bust. We will have learned an invaluable lesson and life then goes on. 7, Lee, like you I am a fighter and a believer and I hope that everyone will still come next week. I will not be able to speak to you today Lee as I am now making immediate plans to travel to Phuket to meet with the Immigration police and our lawyer so as to be able to secure the safe passage of our 150 or so customers that will be coming to Camp Thailand next week on Tourist visas. As always, kind regards young man, Best, Philip Lee since responded and said that he was prepared to discuss salaries owed to our staff and operating expenses owed for the current intake on the basis that I agreed to stop talking with applicants and their parents. This was not an option for us and I have funded those costs out of my own pocket and Invasion is currently in debt to us for around 40,000 GBP. Nobody received their 120 hour internationally accredited TEFL certificates her in Thailand because the y did not send the funds to cover all of them, They only sent enough to cover 54 out of over 400. They have not paid the Camp Thailand Acadeemic Director back salary of 9 months or around 8,000 GBP. I can give you his email address and a copy of the demand letter he sent. I will leave the parents and participants to speak for themselves about the experience they have endured in Thailand and since they have got back and are complaining to a deaf or non responsive office staff. Based on recordings that I have been provided, members of staff are guilty of lies to the customer. Now, the next immediate problem is as follows. What about all the unsuspecting young travelers that are currently in /Thailand or are due her in the coming months and even next year. They are not going to get what they paid for. Just today the FREE TEFL was removed from the program offerings on the website. Does this mean that everyone who put down a deposit already for next year gets a 100 – 200 GBP refund? What about those deposits? They have all been spent. This looks like one big ponzi or pyramid scheme and more innocent young people are going to become silent victims. Please, Please, Please give them a voice. I would also like to point out that work permits have been cancelled because Invasion did not continue to pay for them which means that all their Western reps working in Thailand are now working illegally and could easily all be arrested and deported in addition to the same happening to the participants cos they are on a tourist visa that prohibits even 1 day of volunteer work. If you look at the FB Page: Camp Thailand you will see a big push on there now to get people to sign up for next year so they can take in money now. The same will be happening in Unis up and down the country next month, they will be trying to get people to pay money for invasion trips and Americamp next year burt there is a big chance that they will be out of business by then Here is an interesting one for you. Look at the www.Summercampthailand.com website and you will see they are trying to charge the applicants 17 GBP in advance for a T shirt that they can buy when they are at camp for only around 7 GBP. Desperate times at invasion indeed! In addition to the other 12 parents and paricipants that wrote to me about getting a refund from Invasion (see attachment) you may also want to reach out to George Stevenson https://www.facebook.com/george.stevenson.16 He has worked for Americamp, Invasion and his only crime was that a few months ago he informed them he would be going back to Uni. In the fall. They (lawrence@incvasion.com COO Invasion, ) apparently sacked him the very next day saying his long term goals were not in line with invasions. Please, we need to put an end to this madness. I have all the documentary proof to back up everything I write about above except for the exact number of the debt Invasion has incurred. I am totally willing to turn everything over to you and will be happy to answer any and every question for your newspaper article. Kind regards Philip Crabb " Character Defamation I also understand that certain staff members at Invasion have defamed my character and tried to warn people off from speaking to me. Why? Because they want to silence me from getting the truth out there!!! Look at the following highlighted text that was written by Harry Lote of Invasion to one of the members of the Camp Thailand Fiasco Support Group. Then look at WYSE’s response below it and then decide for yourself who is telling lies and who is telling the truth! "I must please urge, however, that you tread very carefully when in communications with Mr Crabb - please take another look at the evidence we have provided you with and the behaviour exhibited by him on several occasions. We know he is excellent at playing the victim at times and coming across as a martyr, however did you know he was recently banned from the WYSE Travel Confederation, at which he was recently exhibiting, for behaving in a way to a fellow travel professional in which said fellow could have had him arrested? I don't want to go into the details here as it is off topic, however I strongly urge you to discuss Mr Crabb with WYSE to get an unbiased opinion of him.” Jake Bergquist 11:18 PM (10 hours ago) to Camp, Events Hi Philip, My colleagues Ilse and Weini are on leave at the moment so your email has found its way through to me. Firstly, I want to thank you again for attending the World Youth and Student Travel Conference in Montreal, I hope the business follow ups have been productive and successful. Secondly, I want to assure you that this is not a message which has come from the WYSE Travel Confederations office or our staff. WYSE Travel Confederation has no knowledge of any incident which the below extract is referring to and Gap Odyssey is certainly not banned from WYSE Travel Confederation or WYSE Travel Confederation events. If there were any such complaint, WYSE Travel Confederations policy is to do exactly as you have said below, we would provide the complaint details to the relevant organisation and ask for their side of the story. From there the WYSE Travel Confederation Management Board would make a decision on what, if any, action needed to be taken. I am sorry you have received information as per below, but none of that has been brought to our attention. As in the process stated above, if you wish to lay a complaint about the organisation which has written this then please give me more information and I will ensure that the above steps are taken. Let me know if you have any questions, Jake. Jake Bergquist Business Development Manager WYSE Travel Confederation Keizersgracht 174 176 | 1016 DW Amsterdam | The Netherlands jake.bergquist@wysetc.org | +31 20 421 2800 | www.wysetc.org Interested in becoming a member? From: Camp Thailand [mailto:philip@campthailand.org] Sent: Friday, 27 October 2017 5:55 AM To: Events - WYSE Travel Confederation Cc: Ilse Vogelzang ; Weini Zhangqi Subject: Very Serious Situation Needs Urgent Attention Please! Please feel free to share this response with other members of your group. It is also important that we all do our part to make sure history does not repeat itself and there are no more silent victims and people are not silenced.
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