Refund Policy

Everything you need to know about our refund policy – when we’ll give you a refund, when we won’t and how much you’ll be entitled to when we do.

Meaningful Travel

"Money Back Guarantee"

Under i-to-i’s money back guarantee, you’re entitled to a refund of your placement, less the cost of any training completed (eg a TEFL course) should you not receive the placement that you booked. This refund will be 100% of your placement fee (less the cost of any training completed) prior to departure or a pro-rata refund once you are in-country.

This refund, however, will not be applicable should we find you a suitable alternative placement either before departure or within 5 days of you notifying us once you are in-country.

Cancellation fees

We start to process your application when we receive your booking form and non-refundable deposit. We inform our In Country Co-ordinators of your application immediately, and they start organising your placement. This is the reason your deposit is non-refundable.

In the event of your cancellation, i-to-i retains part of your placement fee, depending on the number of days before the placement start date you cancel. The reason for the reducing scale of refunds is because we and your In Country Co-ordinator need to maintain a good working relationship with the organisations offering placements to ensure work for future volunteers. Please note that in cases where you have already changed the start date of your placement, cancellation fees will be applied with regard to the original start date of your placement.

We will try to find a suitable replacement volunteer to carry out your cancelled placement, and the less time left before the placement is due to start, the more expense and difficulty we will have in recruiting this person. Alternatively we may decide to make a financial or other contribution to the relevant organisation to compensate them and ensure their future goodwill and the continuation of their goodwill.

No. of days before your placement	Fees refunded
121 days & over	Placement fee minus deposit and the cost of any training (eg TEFL course)
Between 120 & 91 days	50 %
90 days & under	0 %

Acceptance onto your placement

If you are not accepted onto your chosen placement, we will try to arrange an alternative. This may be in a different country. The placement fee we charge for the alternative placement will be as per the i-to-i website at the time and we’ll refund or invoice you for the difference in price.

If you are not happy with the alternative, or we cannot find a suitable equivalent project for you, we will refund your placement fee in full.

Please note that in any of these situations, we will not be able to refund additional expenses such as flights, visa and inoculations costs.

Unusual Circumstances during your placement

Your placement may be disrupted by an unusual event or circumstances that i-to-i could not reasonably have foreseen. If the unusual event is serious enough to significantly affect your placement, we will try to arrange a suitable alternative placement as soon as is reasonably possible, at another location where the unusual circumstances are not a problem.

We do not make any refunds in these situations and you will be responsible for any travel costs involved. We cannot accept liability for the effect of any unusual event or for any loss, damage, expense or claim of any description you suffer as a result.

Visas

In the event that your placement has to be cancelled or significantly curtailed due to the immigration authorities not accepting your visa as adequate in the circumstances set out above, we will use reasonable efforts to try to find a placement for you in an alternative country without extra charge, but you are not entitled to any refund of any payments you have made to us, as we have clearly explained the risks to you in our brochure, in these conditions, and in the visa application guidance, at each stage making it clear that you are responsible for making an informed decision and offering you an alternative.

If you undertake other work in addition to or instead of your placement for which you receive payment and are asked to leave the country as a result, you will not be entitled to any refund or alternative placement from i-to-i.

Accommodation and Meals

If you choose to be away for a weekend or holiday during your placement, you will not receive any refund for the accommodation and meals that you have paid for. i-to-i adopt this policy to ensure homestay families and other accommodation hosts receive all finance promised to them.

Ending of the Agreement

If you terminate your agreement with us for personal reasons once you have started your placement but prior to its completion, you are responsible for the consequences of that decision. We will not give you any refund of any payments you have made.

Our responsibility for your placement

If you have had no work for over one month (and this excludes time for holidays both at the placement and your own personal travel), and you have not been offered any alternative work, then we will refund you at our standard monthly administration fee (this is an element of the arrangement fee) as seen in the brochure from which you booked, to a maximum of £250 / €375 / AUS 625 / NZ 700 per month.

If your placement is 28 days or under and you have had no work for one week (excluding time for holidays and personal travel), we will refund you at our standard weekly rate of £75 / €112.5 / AUS185 / NZ 210 up to a maximum of £250 / €275 / AUS 635 / NZ700. This refund, where payable, is the maximum extent of our liability in this situation. Whether or not you are entitled to such a refund, you may not claim any other sums (including, by way of example, any refund/reimbursement of any other payments made to ourselves or to your coordinator and/or flight and other travelling expenses) as a result of not having work during the whole or any part of your placement. Work is offered and arranged as part of a placement in good faith but cannot be guaranteed due to circumstances outside the control of ourselves and your In Country Co-ordinator.

TEFL Courses

Our Promise

You deserve the very best level of service and complete satisfaction with your Online TEFL training. This is our promise to you when you sign up for Online TEFL. It comes with a 100% money-back guarantee.

We promise to:

Provide you with a new tutor at any time during the course if you are not happy with your original tutor's level of service.*
Provide a response to your queries or module submissions within 48-hours (2 working days).**
Provide access to the appropriate course modules within one working day of i-to-i receiving your application.
Operate an equal opportunities policy.
Deal with any difficulties you may have with the course promptly and fairly within 24 hours, Monday to Friday. Technical difficulties may need up to 48 hours.
Provide access, during the course, to the appropriate expertise and support from your personal tutor and i-to-i admin team.
Remind you to submit Module One within one month of your initial application.
Provide subsequent reminders for module submissions six weeks after your last submission.
Provide constructive, individual feedback on your progress.
Provide you with access to the Cancellations, Refunds & Complaints Procedure.

To claim your refund you’ll need to provide evidence of our having broken this promise in writing within seven days of the promise first being broken.

Applying for a refund

If you meet the conditions specified above, and wish to apply for a refund, the following procedure applies.

Contact the Administration department at i-to-i through the following address: helpdesk@onlinetefl.com explaining that you wish to apply for a refund.
If you meet the conditions specified in Our Promise (see above) a refund will be issued.

i-to-i will respond, and make the necessary refund if relevant within 21 days.

If you cancel your course 8 days or more after purchase of the course, or after logging into the first module of an on-line course, i-to-i is not able to make any refund of fees, unless it is a breach of conditions as specified in Our Promise.

Failure to pass

No refunds are possible in cases whereby the tutee has been deemed to have failed the course.

Cooling-off period: Online Courses

If for any reason you are not satisfied with the course you have purchased you are entitled to a full refund within seven days of the date you made the purchase of the course, unless you have started the course itself. For the purpose of on-line courses you are considered to have started the course once you have logged onto the course.

If you do cancel the course any access to course materials (downloads or other) will be removed from your log-in and any gift vouchers will be cancelled. In order to receive your refund you must return all course materials sent to you by i-to-i within 5 working days of your notice of intention to cancel.

Cooling-Off period - Weekend Courses

If for any reason you are not satisfied with the Weekend course you have purchased you are entitled to a full refund within seven days of the date you made the purchase of the course, unless this is within 7 days of the start date of the course. In this case no refund is possible.

Cancellation of a weekend course by i-to-i

In order for a Weekend Course to be run effectively there is a minimum number of tutees required. In the unlikely event of the minimum numbers not being reached, i-to-i reserves the right to transfer participants to an alternative course in the same location.

* You can only change your tutor once. A refund is only applicable if problems continue with your second tutor.

** 48 hour response time is for a week day to a week day only and excludes public holidays in the UK and the tutor's country of residence. See Cancellation and Refund Policy for details.