GeoVisions Reviews

I joined the Conversation Corps at GeoVisions and volunteered to tutor a family conversational English in Lille, France. Lille is a beautiful city just less than an hour from Paris. I loved it there.
I liked the Geovisions staff before I signed up. They made me feel comfortable with my decision. The person I had the most dealings with before I signed up was named Chris.
Once I signed up, Marybeth contacted me and gave me all the information I needed to complete my host family packet. They request a copy of my passport, a dear family letter, photographs and a background check. I waited about two months before I got my placement.
I will tell you there is no formal orientation for this program. You arrive and make your way to the train station closest to your family. They pick you up and a few days later you can meet staff if you like and get an orientation.
My family was wonderful and they took me on little weekends out and I was able to meet the extended family too for birthday celebrations and the like.
I highly recommend Conversation Corps and I would recommend GeoVisions and have to most of my friends.
If I were going to report any downsides it would be they do take time to make a placement or a "match" as they call it. And during that time it can seem like forever. But my "match" was perfect and I was able to travel with other tutors in the same area and they were all having a great time.

In sum, Geovisions is not only a for-profit company, but their disregard for my safety in using a third party volunteer organization, OTEC, actually put my life at risk, both in their poor choice for host family matches and their abandonment of myself, when I became severely ill on my project. Finally, almost every aspect of my trip that Geovisions touched was not what was promised, unorganized and made me feel that Geovisions only was concerned with my "volunteer fee" money to pawn me off to OTEC and let them be responsible for my customer satisfaction and health.
When I became severely ill with the swine-flu and an e. coli infection, their third party organization, OTEC, did not attempt to help get me medical treatment, and in fact, refused to refund a portion of my services fee so that I could pay for room and board. I was forced to leave my project, which was completely unsafe and was basically digging holes in the dirt, to return to the US, having lost 30 lbs in two weeks and having to pay for all my emergency travel expenses and my medical bills ON MY OWN, even though Geovisions facilitated my purchase of international insurance, Seven Corners.
When Seven Corners refused to pay even once cent of my treatment in Costa Rica or my emergency treatment in Colorado, Geovisions took the side of the insurance company and stipulated that my treatment was outside of the terms of our contract:
"International Students, visiting Faculty, Scholars, or other persons with a current passport or student visa, who are temporarily residing outside their Home Country or regular residence. The Insured must be engaged in full-time educational or research activities of the Participating Organization outside the United States..."
The Seven Corners representative sent me the above statement to justify why my medical treatment was denied, which I feel takes a hermeneutic of generosity to conclude means that they don't have to pay if I seek treatment outside of the country in which I volunteered. Then, when I tried to get the doctor I saw in Dominical, Costa Rica to forward his receipts to the Seven Corners agency, he wasted until the new year, when all records are destroyed to let me know that he no longer had my expense receipts. I tried to send Seven Corners my banks statements for my treatment but they said that these were not good enough and denied every singe bit of my treatment.
When I paid Geovisions $2365 for my 90 day volunteer trip, I tried to make sure that all of my medical training would be put to use, which it was not. My volunteer projects were completely different from the ones that we agreed upon and Geovisions misled me to let me believe that I would be helping in a medical capacity (my paramedic internship as at a private clinic that I had to pay once again and they hand no calls the whole time I was there (6 weeks)).
I found out that after Geovisions and OTEC took their cut of my "volunteer fee" that my nightmarish host families received only $150 bucks a month to pay for my room and boards (which is probably why OTEC/Geovisions had so many terrible people accepting volunteers).
In sum, the costas were severe for an unemployed college graduate wanting to help in a Central American country: $2365 + $700 travel + $800 room and board on my own + $600 in medical expenses in Costa Rica and in Colorado. I am still in debt from this tripand geovisions continues to shrug me off as I try to seek some sort of justice in their wrongdoing.

I want to issue this as a word of caution to anyone who reads this. I am literally sick to my stomach. Read this email from GeoVisions:
Hi (me), Good news! We have a host family for you. The family of ***** of Madrid would like to welcome you as their English tutor. You should email and/or phone your host family today to become acquainted. My partner in Spain mentioned that the host family would like to phone you on Wednesday (tomorrow!) if possible. You can ask about their level of English, what sort of tutoring lessons they are interested in, and what they enjoy doing in their free time. You should also discuss your exact date and airport of arrival. Once you have agreed upon your arrival and departure dates with the host family, let me know and we will confirm with our partner, then you will be able to purchase your flights. Please confirm your receipt of this email, and then let me know once you have communicated with your host family. So glad we were able to arrange this placement in time for you!
Does that indicate doubt for anyone? It didn't for me, and I was SO excited. I began browsing the area of their home, making plans, etc. I spent hours on that and created a countdown to my trip. The next day, I was sent a statement that I needed to pay the remaining $710 balance for my trip. I am a full time college student who works about 35 hours a week--I barely have time to breathe, and my parents have left me completely on my own with this, so financing this trip has not been easy for me. But I was so excited, I did it without hesitation. After months of countless unanswered, unacknowledged emails and phone calls to GeoVisions, I was finally able to relax because I had been assigned my family!
Then, a couple hours ago, I get in touch with my family, per the email's request. As stated in the message, I ask my host father when I should book my flight, since ticket prices are going up as we speak for trips that are so close. He tells me, with complete nonchalance, "Well there are other candidates, so we'll be back to you within a week after we decide." How else can I describe it--I am devastated. I feel used. GeoVisions has over $1,000 from me, my trip is in little over a month, and now my summer is upside down. I don't blame the family; I doubt they were aware that I was so unaware. I understand competition and not being selected. Had I known the program worked this way, I would not have been deterred, but I would have at least liked to be made aware. GeoVisions, you have crushed me. Even if I am selected, you have already tarnished my experience. I wanted this summer to be the best of my life, and until a couple hours ago, it had all the potential to be just that.
So, potential customers, don't knock it yet, but be careful. When they are trying to hook you, they will be more diligent (still not too responsive, but relatively speaking, more diligent) in responding to your calls. When they have your $300 deposit, good luck hearing from them again unless they need documents from you; they will then send an unpersonalized email asking for these documents, and then won't confirm ever receiving them. They never respond to emails or confirm receipt of materials. They don't return phone calls. It seems very poorly organized and managed. I hope that my summer still works out, and if not, I expect a full refund, minus the $50 they warned me of if they cannot match me with a family. Which I was told was very rare, but hey, at least they warned me about that. I didn't know that there was any ambiguity in the words "would like to welcome you."