Global Work & Travel Reviews

I sent my 16-year-old daughter to Sri Lanka in August 2014 on a "turtle conservation project", and my experience was UNBELIEVABLY BAD (although my daughter had a grand time when she was there, despite this Global outfit). My complaints are far to many to post here, so I'll just post a few: I probably exchanged 100 emails with various people in Australia and Vancouver, and they honestly couldn't do anything right - asked for a deposit up front and then immediately demanded the balance before doing anything; didn't know anything about the project when I tried to ask; booked a flight scheduled to arrive two days after the "program" was scheduled to start (there was no program - anyone can arrive on their own and volunteer with the turtle project); I eventually saved literally $1000 by booking her flight on my own, but still had to pay these shysters a $400, I think it was, admin fee - if you do get sucked in by this outfit, buy your own ticket and save yourself some money; when she did arrive, her pickup took her to the wrong place, so she missed her week-long "orientation" in Kandy, only doing it later because she insisted, and she wasn't reimbursed for the cost of the travel to Kandy and back to the coast, which she had to arrange herself; her food and lodging was supposed to be paid for, but the food was so bad and so meager (and she'd backpacked in India before, so she knew what to expect) that ALL of the volunteers ate all their meals out - I suspect the locals pocketed the money, if the Global shysters paid them at all (or maybe paid them peanuts)... I could go on and on. Expect NO support before, during, or after (we've never heard from them again). The contract you have to sign at the start, after you've left your hefty deposit, is all about Global ensuring you can't weasel out and protecting them from any sort of repercussions - NOTHING about their obligations to the earnest traveller (OK, there might be something, I don't have it in front of me). This outfit should not be in business.

I registered with Global Work and Travel in 2009 and I am still fighting with them to get my money refunded as they never found me work in the UK. I DO NOT recommend using them under any circumstances!!!

Global Work and Travel are very misleading, you could say it is a scam. My friend and I paid $6000 for each of our 18 yo's to have the experience of a life time in Canada, but for us, the parents, it was knowing that our boys had a job to go to, as a ski lift operator and to be provided with accommodation and start work the next day, was the reason we decided to go though Global instead of organizing this trip ourselves. This is the spiel of the initial contact with the Global office in Brisbane Australia. We also requested the state of Alberta and they said that that would not be a problem as they had plenty of jobs! In retrospect if we had of organized it ourselves our boys would have been working in the positions they were aiming for. Both the boys had worked as Ski Lift Operators at Mount Buller during the Australian winter, thus had experience already. When they arrived in Vancouver - they were put into a very crumby hostel by Global - they were then told to go to British Columbia - Whistler - and that they had a housekeeping job for them. After one day of training as a housekeeper the boys didn't get asked back, but at least they tried, given that for 18yo boys, this wouldn't be their first choice of jobs. Global Vancouver had done nothing to help and haven't even replied to us. Our boys were left stranded with the obligatory $2500 that you need to get into Canada, and considering they were going to start a job within a few days and have accommodation and a skiing season pass (comes with ski lift operating) that amount of money would have been fine. But any one would know, you would not go away with such a small amount of money if there is not a job waiting for you. $4000 at least should have been sum of money that you travel with. So basically our boys were left high and dry by Global and not only that, the Brisbane office didn't want to know about it and it seems that they had well oiled answers that they had to explain many times before and I would say they were down right rude. Apon reaching Vancouver and the hostel, they discovered that other people had been let down by Global and all of them were very upset. Basically the others were abandoned by Global also and are now doing their best to try and find work for themselves. The boys were knock for a sixer for the first 10 days and now reality has taken over and they are trying to move on. So this is definitely a case of "buyer beware". Shame as Global could be a great company - but instead it leaves a lot of angry people in it's wake. The attitude of Global is extremely disappointing. So yes - Global is a scam or at the very least - misleading. Don't use Global - you could be very upset like our two families are.

DO NOT use Global Work Travel they are a con. They are very accommodating until the $5700.00 is paid. After that no customer service. My son is in Canada on the promise of Ski work for this winter 2012/13. They gave 1 unsuitable lead and now they will not return emails or phone calls. My son has been there 3 weeks with limited money and no ongoing support. We were of the assumption he would not travel unless they had lined up work. At 18 we thought the security of Global network would be the best way to tackle his first working holiday. With all money well and truly paid they don't care now. My son was adamant he didn't want to go away without work lined up and this is exactly what has happened to him. We were always lead to believe they would not book the flights if all was not organized the other end. Lets face it the easy thing is to book flights and travel insurance - we could have done that a lot cheaper - but we thought we were paying for the employment and network side of things. Initially they say they will refund $1500 if they don't find them employment but they now correct themselves saying they offer OPPORTUNITIES which is not guaranteed employment.

I paid for a package "Get it all" for $1585. I was constantly harassed to pay the full amount for my airfares and travel insurance, VERY EXPENSIVE. As soon as I did...it was as though I never existed and the promised help at finding a job was virtually non-existent. I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE TO USE THIS COMPANY - THEY WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY AND LEAVE YOU WITH NOTHING....BEWARE!!!!!!

BEWARE Global Work and Travel Co, they have ripped off HUNDREDS of young travelers including myself and they DELETE ALL NEGATIVE COMMENTS ABOUT THEM on the web, on Facebook and anywhere they can!

The Global Work and Travel Co are a complete SCAM! They famed me and have scammed HUNDREDS of travelers. They take ALL negative remarks off the web, don't fall for their scam! The don't guarantee jobs, and leave travelers high and dry overseas. BEWARE!

GWAT will promise you the WORLD and give you NOTHING! Stay Away, they will take your money, charge THOUSANDS for NOTHING and then only MAYBE get you a job interview if you are lucky and if you don't get the job they will then say their part of the deal is done as it is for a work "opportunity" only! You can do it alone or use a reputable company, Global Work And Travel is NOT one of them!

GLOBAL WORK AND TRAVEL CO DO NOT EVEN DESERVE ONE STAR THEY SHOULD GET NEGATIVE FIVE STARS, PLEASE DO NOT GIVE THESE SCUM BAGS A CENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If i can stop at least one young traveler from making the same mistake i did ill be happy!

I made the stupid mistake of signing up to global work and travel before signing up i was told by a guy on the phone that all costs were fully refundable if i was not found a job or did not qualify, I was also told that the balance of $945 was not due until 2 weeks prior to departure, I also asked if my existing medical condition would affect my ability to participate in the program they said no of course not I signed up for the USA aupair program as all flights ect were included in the program fee. They seem ever so lovely on the phone after signing up they kept bugging me to pay the remaining amount plus deposit, once I had paid all of the money and returned all of my forms I didn't hear from them for about 2 months when i decided to call them to see what was going on as i had said that i wanted to leave the following month which they said was no problem at all. I waited another four months and got sick of waiting as i had lost my job because i had told my boss i was going overseas, i called up and asked what was going on and tried to hurry them up she said that i did not qualify as i had been treated for mild anxiety, which if she had of read my forms she would of found this out 6 months ago. They then tried to palm me off to aupair in Germany except i would pay my own airfare, visa etc and would only be able to stay in the country for a few months. Then when i tried to get my refund they said i had signed the contract and i wasn't eligible for a refund i could just have $700 worth of travel vouchers what a load of bull. My dad got very mad with it all and started calling them to try and get my refund they accused me of lying about what i had been told on the phone, they said that the guy i had talked to on the phone had been fired as he was giving customers incorrect information, and said there was no possible way of getting a refund, we even went to speak to a lawyer and he said that they were complete scum and that there was nothing we could do about getting a refund as it was all stated in the terms and conditions. The day after being told I couldn't participate in the program i went back onto a non agency website which i had been on previously but decided it would be safer to go through an agency within two days I found my perfect host family in London and am heading over in a months time. :)

not only have they wasted my money, they have waisted my time which i could have been working or even overseas as an aupair through organising it myself, not to mention the emotional side of it i was made feel like some mentally unstable lunatic just because i had received help for mild anxiety which almost half the population suffers from.

SO PLEASE NO ONE GIVE IN TO THE GLOBAL WORK AND TRAVEL CO!!!!!!!!!

They are worthless people, who should be disgusted by themselves, I don't want any other you travelers to go through what I've been through, you would be better off organizing everything yourself which is pretty easy there days, if you do decide to go through an agency you should steer clear of any that are asking for an upfront payment and should read there terms and conditions thoroughly even get a few people to read though them if i had of got my dad to read through them i would not be in the mess I'm in, anlso you should steer clear of any agencies that are only based in QLD as my lawyer said that any company based in QLD automatically rings alarm bells for him as their government laws are not as strict, and they can get away with far more.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and happy traveling!

SCAM do not have anything to do with Global Work and a travel - my son applied to him for work and without seeking advice, as wanted to do everything on his own went ahead and gave this company $1500.00. No job offers, he found his own job in Canada by calling the ski fields directly. The ski field had never heard of Global! Even thought Global said they would get him a job there. He was laughed at when he phoned them to get a refund! We r seeking legal advise.

Do not believe there facebook page! If you write a negative review they delete it and block you! WARNING do not use this company

Global Work and Travel are con artists of the lowest order preying on young people looking to work overseas. They promise the world, but read the fine print, namely Clause 23 of their service agreement...."GWAT does not charge me a fee for attempting to secure/securing me employment. All payments are made to GWAT for travel related products..."

In reality they are just a ripoff, overpriced travel agency.

DO NOT USE GLOBAL WORK AND TRAVEL CO!!!

I'm still in the middle of trying to get money back from them after a lot of drama.

THEY ARE SCAMMERS AND LIAR'S

I signed up to a volunteer program in fiji for next year and like most of the people on this forum they sweet talked me into paying a $600 deposit and didn't stop bothering me until i paid the deposit. I paid it and heard nothing for 2 weeks, then when i called them they had apparently sent my package to the wrong email address. I started to become suspicious when they threw random figures in emails for flight proces with no dates or airlines. I found out I was pregnant a few weeks later and had to cancel my placement and got no reply for a week, when i followed up they referred me to the cancellation department who sent me a generic email saying i cannot get a refund. I'm sure they haven't even read my email explaining my situation. I am yet to hear back and it has been a week. I checked their registered address which is a shack on a QLD highway and traced one of their phone numbers which was traced to a shabby motel in queensland. THIS COMPANY IS FULL OF ****.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!! I went through an AWFUL experience with them!!! In fact the experience was hardly even WITH them because as soon as I got to Australia there was barely any contact with them AT ALL!!! They didn't find me anywhere to live, nor did they get me a job! They offered me absolutely no support or help then said it was MY fault?! I paid them a LOT of money to help me find my feet in Australia and they did absolutely nothing!!! I had a horrendous time there, knowing no one, having no money and nowhere to live. I was there for less than two months and had to come home because it was so awful. NO APOLOGY FROM THEM AT ALL AND STILL NO CONTACT!!!! PLEASE DO NOT GO WITH THIS COMPANY!!!! THEY ROB YOU BLIND AND DON'T CARE AT ALL!!!

I emailed this company, just inquiring details about one of the programs and I was harassed and called so many times I actually had to block the number. The first phone call was really sneaky, I spoke to someone for a matter of half an hour and he pushed me right through to the payment people. It was rushed, I had no clue what id even be doing, all I knew was that I was supposed to pay these people over the phone after speaking for thirty minutes... It was awful. The guy I spoke with didn't even know how to put me on hold. Do not trust this company, they are trash and absolutely should not be legal.