<p>I am currently getting scammed by People to People. They are trying to keep $695 of my money. I will be reporting them to the BBB and anyone else I can think of.</p>
<p>People To People Ambassador Program - My experience lies somewhere in the middle. My son was “nominated” for a trip in 6th grade. I agree that being nominated in not really an “honor” and pretty much any student can go. However, I would hardly call P2P a ripoff.</p>
<p>My son attended months of meeting leading up to the trip, where he was able to bond with other participants. Also, they were required to do a bit of research and make a presentation. Yes, it was very over-priced. However, the trip delivered on all it promised, and my son made some lifelong friends.</p>
<p>More importantly, my son grew quite alot from this experience. He was also bitten by the “travel bug.” For sure, I would not recommend parents over-extend themselves to send their child on a P2P trip. However, if it is financially doable, this may be a good experience for a student to experience international travel.</p>
<p>I haven’t done it personally, but my mother did it when she was in college, and (granted it was a long time ago, like Berlin Wall era) she loved it. She has told my brother and I that if we ever wanted to, we should just tell her and we would work out the finances. That would be easy for us because we live in a very small, supportive community (buying skis for a kid who lost his on the mountain, funding art centers, helping pay for band trips, ect) and in fact, a student from my school went to China with P2P and paid for it from fundraising. But she said it was very informative and interesting as well as fun. So I can’t say anything (except that I want to do it in the future) and that my mom is practically urging me to go. So yeah.</p>
<p>It’s not a scam as scams go. However, many would argue that they could take their kids on the same trip for a lot less money. The cost is highish because part of the cost is paying for the adults who are going…and likely paying for some of the mailers that are going out to others. </p>
<p>I could tell you that I’ll take 5 of your kids to Europe, and the cost wil be X (high) because 1/4x of the money is going towards my total costs and salary. Am I ripping you off? No, but you’re paying more than you need to. </p>
<p>That said, I don’t like the whole nominating idea that P2P presents. This causes naive parents to think their child has been specially selected and therefore DESERVES to have this money spent on them. In truth, any “good” kid can go.</p>
<p>Smart advice M2CK.</p>
<p>^^^ Agree. That being said, my kids did the athletic and academic P2P in Europe and Australia when they were in middle school. I googled P2P back then and realized it was like a travel summer camp. Back then I had extra cash and the chaperones were local teachers so I let them go and they enjoyed it immensely.</p>
<p>What bothered me the most is how many people are taken in, and because their kid has been nominated to be an “ambassador” that makes the trip fodder for donation appeals. Had to duck the parents of a kid S knew (nice people, but a little naive) who were holding fundraisers and asking for donations. When I couldn’t afford to send my own kids to Europe.</p>