Beware!!!

Read "Disappointed's" review. It is an accurate review of the problem. I have just lost $25,000. My son was dismissed from the program after 29 days and I am getting no money back as of now. I am not trying to state that Year Course should compromise their standards if my son did not follow the rules but I should be getting an equitable amount of my money back. I tried to be fair to Young Judaea and said that even though I paid $25,000, please just give me back $15,000 even though my son was only in the program 29 days and they said no. Instead, I got a perfunctory three sentence reply and that's it. They did not reply to any of my concerns which are too long to list here. But what I want to make clear here is that the only place where it says that you will not get your money back is in their "Information Guide." For Year Course 2015/2016, this "Information Guide" was for all practical purposes the last step of the electronic application guide. I am 58 years old. I am very unfamiliar with electronic applications. I pushed my way through it. Upload, download, upload, download. I frequently had to contact Young Judaea to upload my information to the application because I could not do it myself. By the time, we got to the "Information Guide" we were to far along in the process to back out. Plans had already been made. It was too close to the departure date. I had no choice but to sign at that point. This information should be upfront and widely available. It lacks integrity and is deceptive to have it hidden at the end. It hurts more because I am a former Young Judaean. I worked for free for the movement for many years. It's a long time ago but I still did it. I never expected to be cheated and have my money basically stolen by Young Judaea. My son said they are stealing your money and we all said, no don't say that but the truth is he is right. My son knows that what he did is wrong. He, the one who got kicked out, has more honesty and integrity than Young Judaea. Do they realize that what they are doing is wrong? No offense to used car salesmen but I didn't think that is what I was involved with. I never expected to be cheated by Young Judaea. As I said in my letter to Young Judaea, just because something is legal doesn't make it ethical or moral. Young Judaea is the last place I expected this type of behavior. Other programs have a prorated amount of money that you will get back if your child has to leave the program for any reason. Other programs try to work with the child (i.e., allow them to leave the program for a period of time and return). Also, in the application process they also give the impression that they will work with your child if there are some issues. This is not the case. Again, I am not disputing their right to manage their program as far as what type of behavior they will tolerate or not tolerate. But their refund policy was hidden at the end of the application process. There are so many issues to address but I want to get it out there now for people applying this year-don't do it unless you are certain of your adolescent's behavior. My son also didn't want to give the names of the other kids (approximately a dozen rule violators) because there was no point in their parents' losing $25,000. Kate Nachman didn't even have the decency to tell my son to his face that he was being dismissed from the program. She sent him to a relative because she didn't want him going on a trip they were having and a counselor called him the next day and told him. Can you imagine? Be very careful. It is not the Young Judaea that I remember. Also, my son reached out to one of his favorite Young Judaea counselors from Tel Yehudah and to the best of my knowledge she never contacted him. Like "Disappointed" said, they are no longer interested in him. I am putting this out there because I want my money back and I want to influence Young Judaea into changing their policy about their refund policy and how they advertise their refund policy. Be upfront about it! I want people to send their children on Gap Year Programs to Israel but please be careful unless you have a lot of money. Most important, my son is missing out on a crucial year in Eretz Yisrael. As "Disappointed" said, we cannot afford to pay for another program. I pray that my son will have the maturity to realize that Young Judaea's values as they were shown to him do not represent the values of the Jewish People and that he will have more positive opportunities in the near future.