Remote Year The Dark Side Dover Deleware

The Dark Side of Remote Year

 This review shares my personal experience with Remote Year, my opinion of them as a company, and the conclusions I have drawn from my experience. 

I participated in Remote Year for 3 months in 2021. Before I signed up for them I did my research and could not find anything bad written about them. I ultimately did not have a good experience with them and uncovered something that appears to be unethical and according to my attorney illegal in how they do business. What I uncovered is why I believe those looking for a full picture of doing business with this company is missing and buried.  Based on my experience and legal opinion from my attorney, I believe Remote Year is systematically using illegal practices to cover their tracks of the buried bodies they leave in their wake. 

 There were a lot of things that I enjoyed about my experience with Remote Year but these things are included in the many other positive reviews on the web like here at Nomad Nation. 

 What I will be sharing with you is not found anywhere because of how Remote Year has been covering their tracks, from those who don’t have a good experience. (an assumption from my experience)

 I spent three months traveling with Remote Year. They took care of all of the logistics and whenever I needed support they were there for me. I had developed some great friendships and was enjoying traveling the world with the support they provided. 

 I was expelled from Remote Year going into my 4th and final month. There was no warning given or no idea that I had done anything inappropriate. Remote Year in their guidelines say they can remove anyone for any reason at any time and this is what happened to me. 

 When you travel with Remote Year you become fully dependent upon them to handle everything. If you are traveling for the first time overseas they can be an amazing life jacket to help you navigate the many new challenges and experiences that arise when traveling to other countries. 

One morning I got a letter from their attorney saying I was being expelled…these were the shocking points that were conveyed to me in their letter

• I was being expelled for violating community standards but there was nothing specific that I could understand what I had actually done

• I was no longer allowed to communicate with any of my friends

• I had to be out of my lodging in 24 hours

• When I reached out to the staff, many of whom had become friends, I was turned away and they told me they could not help me or talk to me. 

Then I was told that if I wanted to get my deposit back and the balance of my money I would have to agree to not say anything negative about them to anyone. This felt so wrong. It felt unethical. They had so much leverage over me, being that I was fully reliant on them and now they were trying to force me to sign a contract to not say anything bad about them in order to get my money back. It just felt so wrong. 

When I got this letter out of the blue I was devastated, shocked and it felt like a punch to the gut. When I reached out to understand why this was happening I got no clear answer from their attorney. I was turned away by the staff for help. I was left alone in a forgien country to figure it out for myself. 

Now imagine if this happened to you. You didn’t realize you had done anything wrong. No one had said anything to you. You were relying on this company to help you being in a strange land providing you support and lodging. And then all of a sudden you are cast out, alienated and then blackmailed to keep quiet if you want to get your money back. 

It was heartbreaking, devastating, humiliating and soul crushing all rolled into one punch. 

Months later I was looking into what sites I should post my review on and I saw that on trustpilot the CEO was responding to people's negative posts like he cared and wanted to hear and understand the person's experience. 

I just wanted to be heard and understand why they could do this to me. So I emailed him and he said he would have a call with me. But when it came down to actually booking the time he never did. I emailed him four times over a period of several months asking him to set up the time. And I was ignored. He was refusing to meet with me. 

This communicated to me the truth behind the caring words that he posts online. They are meaningless. 

As I was looking into what felt like blackmail I ran across the Consumer Review Fairness Act

https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/consumer-review-fairness-act-what-businesses-need-know 

 A link to this portion of my contract https://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/23971526?key=293f4a426b3c0cad1956f03b2301b67f 

After speaking with my LA based attorney at Parker Stanbury, he informed me that based on the contract they tried to force me to sign they were violating this Act. Remote Year seems to have done something illegal and I imagine I am not the only one who has been bullied in this way. 

If you have also had a similar experience here are some recommended courses of action. 

1. File a complaint with the BBB https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint 

1. Remote Year currently has an F rating with the BBB 

2. File a complaint with the FTC

1. Actions taken against other companies by the FTC who have violated this law

2. To File a Complaint https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/ 

3. File a complaint with the States Attorney General

Remote Year Inc, SEC filing

Ultimately, I refused to sign the letter, after consulting with my attorney on the matter. I felt so powerless but I did ask them to give me my money back and asked to stay in the house I was in till the end of the month. They fortunately agreed. But what they put me through I hope no one ever has to experience. It took a lot of courage to go up against the situation I was in and the leverage they had over me. I am confident that them trying to strong-arm me into that contract was unethical and according to my attorney illegal.

This entire post is my opinion from my personal experience with Remote Year. There is no intention to hurt or harm the Remote Year business, only to share my opinion and experience and empower others with a perspective that has been hidden by this company systematically and to empower others with actions they can do to seek justice. This post is protected by the Consumer Review Fairness Act and the California Yelp Bill