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CampLeaders has a rating of 3.89 stars from 61 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases. Reviewers satisfied with CampLeaders most frequently mention application process, customer service, and best summer. CampLeaders ranks 1st among Camping sites.
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Thank you for my placement and smooth process. I wish I could return next year! Very helpful customer service.
I would like to say beware, do your homework, review camp staff reviews, prepare for the worst & hope for the best. Weight up your options. Is working long hours for 2mths & little pay, worth it? Then there is the risk of going to a bad camp, with staff that for some unconscious bias reason does not like you. USA employment laws are unfair & there are camps that exploit overseas kids. I'm writing this as a parent that had almost 2 weeks of HELL! I am not going to go into that. Many States do not need a reason & can fire people at will (Camp Leaders in US, conformed that). We needed to get our daughter back home asap. The camp let her go immediately, before we had organised anything. As soon as the camp knew she had to leave, they were not interested in why, it was pack up & go. No compassion or empathy. We contacted the Visa sponsor, they promised they would help with accomodation & flights home. That did not happen. With help from our travel agent (on the other side of the world) we got her home. What I do not like is the lack of follow up from Camp Leaders. There are good camps and bad camps. Do Camp Leaders vet the camps that use them? Do they ever hold camps accountable? If camps are exploiting overseas workers, Camp Leaders are allowing it to happen & that's what is damaging their brand. When I spoke to Camp Leaders US staff, I quickly realised there was lack of staff training. There was a lot of assuming, lack of understanding with poor questioning & communication skills. My advice, if you want to go to the States, just save and go for a holiday.
I would love clarity from camp leaders about how the money they take from the participants is actually justified. The total costs have been £500 approx with the camp contract received showing a payment of additional £1000 approx to camp leaders. Therefore a total for camp leaders of £1500. This has paid for an interview, reviewing paperwork and will pay for a flight and insurance. Also someone will attend the visa appointment. As flight to the USA cost around £550 return currently and travel insurance for 3 months no more than £100 it is not clear where the remaining £850 is spent. The upfront costs are clear on their website but the amount they are paid from the camps is not broken down or justified anywhere. £850 camp leaders - what do you do for this?
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Think of Camp Leaders as a super hero factory. You? ۪ll tell us what makes you great and we'll match you up with an awesome camp in America. We can help you sort out your application, your visa, even your flights. Basically, we? ۪ll take the best care of y...
Hi Issy G,
To provide some background to the payments due to Camp Leaders, the full cost of sending a participant to work on a camp in America would be out of the reach of the vast majority of our participants. So, to make the program accessible to all, we have set up the fee structure in such a way that the participant only has to pay a portion of the fees in advance of their departure to America. The rest of the fees are then covered by the camp at which the participant will work for the summer. The camp pays this agency fee to Camp Leaders when the participant completes the full contract. So in essence, the participant is 'working off' the fees which have been covered on their behalf. Camp Leaders therefore take a financial risk in paying out in advance for the costs associated with a participants placement.
The average flight cost last season was £550 and will increase this year so you can see that straight away the cost of the flights isn't even covered by programme fee which is paid before departing. The fees associated with attending a camp go to cover (but are not limited to covering)...
- Cost of interviewing participants
- Work done by Camp Leaders in processing all paperwork and providing all the information required for the trip to the resort (e.g. Guidebook, preparation stage of the application, online application etc)
- Work done by Camp Leaders in finding a placement at a camp
- Preparation day (venue and staffing) - this day is a requirement of the US Department of State
- The cost of visa paperwork which Camp Leaders applies for and purchases on the participants behalf
- Embassy appointment meeting space (venue and staffing)
- Medical insurance
- Remainder of flight cost
- All other admin work, including phone calls, emails and advice given to ensure we have provided all the correct information and documents in order to go to the USA
- Costs and overheads of running a business
I hope this helps to answer your question. If you have any further questions then please feel free to get in touch with your customer service team.
Thanks,
The Camp Leaders team