It's taken 5 months since escaping the South Korea placement for me to be able to write this review. I'd rather forget about this awful experience but I feel I owe it to anyone considering this option.
Your first call with Travel Bud will be great with them promising to honour your preferences and to support you through your whole experience. I was quite nervous about working at a Hagwon considering all the horror stories you see online (which are all 100% valid) and Travel Bud reassured me that I would be supported. I'd taught for 7 years at this point and had previously lived in China, so naively I assumed I would be fine on this 'programme' and I was optimistic.
After you've paid your first deposit to Travel Bud, you'll be passed onto another company which they paint as their close partner but I found out that there are a number of companies including Travel Bud who pass on their clients to this other company. The other company seems to be completely overwhelmed and you are treated as such. In total, on this 'Travel Bud programme' you'll work with 4 different companies being passed on and passed on with seemingly no communication between them.
I was told to keep communication with Travel Bud because the only way problems arise is if you don't keep open communication. One of the companies that you are passed onto after the 2nd company is completely hostile and they are the ones responsible for where you're actually placed, your contract, and your preferences. Turned out the preferences couldn't be honoured at all. I felt stuck at this point because I'd already invested money into the programme and had quit my job, so I continued and hoped things would get better.
Travel Bud had assured me it would be simple to have my fiancé and I placed together in the same school and apartment. In reality, we were placed a 20 minute subway ride away in different schools and apartments with conflicting schedules. We agreed to this in the end under pressure and for the reasons I mentioned above. However, it got worse and my school told me they'd be moving me to a different campus and division once my quarantine was over, a 50 minute bus ride away from my fiancé. I got in contact with Travel Bud and the other companies but Travel Bud didn't reply. I had no choice in the matter and was sent away. I never received my quarantine food box from the government with essentials, I informed Travel Bud, again nothing. At the school, they told me to sign a new contract now that I was in Korea. Massive red flag, I'd already agreed and signed a contract prior to leaving the UK. Again I contacted Travel Bud, and they didn't step in. I was made to sign the new contract.
Travel Bud claims they have a trusted network of schools but they are not the company that places the clients. My school was awful, there was bullying, emotional abuse, gaslighting, and all the teachers were under chronic stress. The previous teacher had done a midnight run after her health became so bad she kept fainting in the classroom. One had to be put on an IV drip because of the stress. My fiancé was placed in a school that hadn't had a foreign teacher in 2 years. My friend was placed in a school which had been reported by two previous teachers and she was still sent there.
I soon realised that I was on my own and Travel Bud appeared to have no say in what happens to their clients. Even now and then I'd get a random message from Travel Bud saying things like you're quiet, must be living your best life! which just rubbed salt in the wound. In fact, I had never been so unwell in my life.
Thankfully, the school gave teachers 5 days off for winter holidays so I was able to organise an escape without alerting anyone. I returned to the UK with terrible physical and mental health. I went out to Korea a confident and excited young person and came back with PTSD, involuntary gagging and sickness, disordered eating, chronic abdominal pain, panic attacks, tinnitus, and a foot injury. Only now after 5 months back home am I able to write about my awful experience. I stayed for the 5 months because the children I taught had such chronically stressful lives at the age of 5 years old that I felt like I wanted them to have at least some respite from it all in my classroom.
I urge you to reconsider this option if you are thinking about doing so. For a time I was even afraid to write a review because of the potential backlash but I have a right to voice my horrendous experience with this company.
Response from TravelBud
Tom, we’re so sorry to hear that you did not have a positive experience.
We pride ourselves on our attentiveness and empathy when our teachers undergo the teaching journey abroad, as our staff have all previously done so themselves and we understand first hand that it can be difficult to adapt in a new country. We are always open to feedback, positive or negative, as it will help us strive to improve upon specific areas and allow us an understanding of how to streamline our service to be the best in the industry. So thank you for taking the time to give us honest feedback and know that we are taking it very seriously.
We have a long-running and successful partnership with our team on the ground and while we are technically different organizations, we strive to keep our values the same to ensure a smooth process, while each of our teams focuses on areas that they are best placed to, in order to break up the varying stages and allow each applicant the best service by the best placed team member to do so at all the many points of the journey. There are some complex and intricate laws that require a Korean in-country team that we need to adhere to, but we prioritise being in constant communication with each applicant ourselves, even while our partners are in communication with the applicant for their specific role in the process.
While we communicate regularly and aim for shared responsibility of each applicant, we understand and acknowledge that in this instance it may not have been as smooth as we would have strived for and will endeavour to change practices to make sure that this does not happen again.
We encourage an open-door policy during the multiple Skype check-ins with your assigned support coordinator and we were under the impression that you were reassured after the many calls and check-ins that are part of our in-country support process.
Placing couples together is something that we are generally very successful in due to the partnership school network. Unfortunately due to the many changes and challenges to the teaching landscape as a result of the pandemic, it was not as feasible as usual. We have since started setting realistic expectations for couples in light of this.
We take our vetting procedures very seriously and pride ourselves on the quality of schools we work with. While each experience is personal and may differ, we can confirm that we have recent positive feedback from the latest teacher and that the school still meets all of our strict requirements.
Below are our set guidelines when partnering with a school:
- The placement team meets with the school and does due diligence in terms of checking the school name and reputation and searching local networks of ex-pat teachers for previous teacher feedback on the school
- The placement team has potentially worked previously with the specific school or another branch of the school, and no significant issues have been raised by teachers
- When adding a new school to the network, the new school would have to get a referral from an existing school
- We have worked previously with the school and teachers have previously completed their contracts without any major issues
- Throughout the contract, we check in multiple times with the teacher and ask for feedback on the school and work environment. If major issues are raised, the placement team reevaluates the school for suitability
- We send a final email at the end of each contract, in which teachers are specifically asked, "Would you recommend future teachers to come teach at this school?” If the answer is NO, we ask them to please explain why and request a phone interview to discuss their feedback in more detail
- Schools are reevaluated if any negative feedback is given, and action will be taken if the issues raised were of a serious and/or persistent nature
Once again, thank you for your time and feedback. We will be reaching out to you privately to continue the conversation.