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our version of the incident that transpired
First of all, we would like to make clear that we normally do not publicly respond to clients as we much prefer to address clients' complaints directly and personally.
But given in this particular situation, where we are faced with repeated false accusations against our service and threats to slander the integrity of our company until an unjust monetary compensation is issued to the perpetrator, we feel obligated to provide our side of the story and let the public decide for themselves.
This issues has arisen from a former client who booked Spanish courses at Salamanca University an accommodation with a host-family in Salamanca via our website www.salamanca-university.org.
As we believe that it is important to clearly present all details in this matter, this document is lengthy. We feel it is necessary to be completely transparent in this matter as the allegations against, not only our company, but the Spanish host family involved, and one of Spain's most prestigious universities, Salamanca University, are very serious.
In our experience, a direct exchange with the client is the most efficient way to avoid miscommunication and facts being misconstrued often brought about by additional third parties. Unfortunately, we were never given the chance to directly communicate with the client herself (only with her parents) in order to arrive at a positive resolution for all parties involved.
Accommodation in Salamanca - Valentina the Spanish Host Family
The first complaint is in reference to the accommodation offered in Salamanca.
Unfortunately, we do not have any statements made squarely by the client Gabriella herself; despite the several requests made to speak with her directly during conversations we held with her parents.
Profile of Valentina - Spanish Host Family
Valentina is, by far, one of the best and most caring hosts available in Salamanca and the over 10 years of experience that we have worked with her can attest to this fact.
We contacted former students who had recently been hosted by Valentina via our service presenting them with Gabriella's parents' accusations in order to solicit feedback.
For privacy reasons, we have not published the email addresses of the students. But if you would like to contact the students directly to confirm their statements below, we could provide you with their contact information in confidence so that you could get their first-hand opinions yourself.
Statements from previous students hosted by Valetina - Spanish Host-Family
Valentina is a great woman and tries to help in every way possible. She is very caring and I do not understand why this student has a problem with her. If any more questions do not hesitate to contact me on this E-mail address. I enjoyed my stay to the fullest with this lady and wouldn't want her to get into any type of trouble whatsoever because she does not deserve it.
Valentina is a chatterbox and if it had been said that she does not communicate with the student then I do not know where he or she has got that from. I sometimes even had to think of an excuse to go meet my friends because otherwise I would have been in the house speaking to her for hours. She is also very helpful because she gave me Spanish books to read and exercises to do next to the classes. She has definitely played a big part in my intensive Spanish course and I am grateful to her.
Kind Regards,
Anne Mieke Bruyniks
During my stay I found Tini to be incredibly big-hearted and helpful. I know she is very invested in the girls that stay with her; she would always talk about students she had had over the years and seemed to take the girls' safety and wellbeing very seriously. I am surprised to hear that a student has said Tini does not speak with them, since when I was there she would always engage us in conversation at lunch and was adamant that the girls speak in Spanish amongst each other when in her house.
As for the accusation of unfriendliness, I will say that she is strict with her house rules and can be rather brusque, so for someone with a low level of speaking ability or for someone not used to living in a house with rules, I could see how they could misunderstand her.
That said, from my own personal experience, this description of her does not sound familiar and I would have to assume this is all a misunderstanding. Tini is great at what she does and I know that she does care about the students.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch again if you have any further questions.
Kind regards,
Carolyn
Additional Feedback on Valentina - Spanish Host-Family
Apart from the student reviews above, over time we have received a few comments about Valentina insinuating that that she might be too protective of the students.
For example, she would stay up at night to be sure that the students arrived home safely on their late nights outs. Although this may not be ideal for the students, it is however reassuring to their parents which is why we suggest Valentina to student who are adolescents and young adults.
The main complaint raised was that we had promised that there would be other students being hosted by Valentina during Gabriella's stay. No such promise was ever made. What we did initially communicate was the following excerpt which we make sure all clients interested in host-families read and understand:
Spanish host families in Spain traditionally consist of older couples whose children have already moved out of the house, as fewer parent-children families whose children are still living at home have less living space available to be able to rent out extra rooms to foreign students. Host families often (but not always) accommodate more than one international student at a time.
Ironically, experience has taught us that the average student has the image of a Spanish-host family as them living as the only foreign student within a traditional family with children.
Typically, it is students seeking to improve their Spanish skills by experiencing a total immersion environment; living as the only foreign student in the day to day Spanish way of life, who choose this sort of accommodation with the stereotypical image in mind.
Hence, in all bookings regarding host-families, we strive to make understood to the clients the actual nature of host-families in Spain so that they can make a more informed decision based on their needs.
Gabriella’s Stay in Salamanca
Below is a time line which we believe provides a complete picture of Gabriella’s experience during her stay in Salamanca including her perceived frustrations
NB: Majority of the points highlighted below are drawn from Valentina's account.
31st of July (Wednesday).
Gabriella arrives at Salamanca extremely late in the evening.
Earlier on during the day we had received a phone call from her parents informing us that Gabrielle was at the bus station in Madrid and had not been permitted to board the bus to her ultimate destination, Salamanca, despite her having a bus ticket.
On immediately calling the bus station to inquire, we were informed that all tickets to Gabriella's destination had already been sold out days prior. So within the time-frame provided by Gabriella's parents she could, in no way, have been able to have purchased her ticket in order to board the bus at the time her parents had relayed to us.
Nevertheless, seeking to solve the issue at hand, we called the train station to confirm if there were still tickets available to Gabriella’s destination. Upon which, we instructed Gabriella on how to get to the train station from the bus station in order to take a train to Salamanca.
We feel this incident is important to mention as we understand that this experience must have been a negative way to set the tone of Gabriella's arrival in Spain. And perhaps, also a preview of the miscommunication which would ensue between our agency an Gabriella’s parents. Eventually, when she arrived at Valentina’s house around midnight, she declined to eat a sandwich that had been offered to her preferring to go directly to bed.
1st of August (Thursday).
Gabriella had to be at the University of Salamanca at 8 am for the initial Spanish level test often administered by schools to place students into appropriate classes.
Although not being required to do so, Valentina kindly accompanied her to the university to be sure Gabriella arrived. On returning to the house some hours later, Gabriella stated that she believed her test had gone well on being asked by Valentina, Gabriella was due to return to the university later that day at 6pm in order to learn the results of her test and what class she would be placed in. She declined Valentina's offer to accompany her as she felt she would be able to locate the campus on her own this time around.
2nd of August (Friday).
Gabriella was scheduled to start classes the next day at 9am but returned only an hour later visibly frustrated.
Although the flow of communication between Gabriella and Valentina was choppy as Valentina's speaks little English and Gabriella, naturally spoke little Spanish, Valentina managed to understand that the source of Gabriella's frustration was the fact that she felt the level of the Spanish class she had been placed in was too advanced for her.
Valentina then offered to accompany Gabriella to the university Monday morning in order to help Gabriella better communicate her desire to change the class level to the staff there since Gabriella had not been successful in expressing herself with her limited Spanish.
We never received any word of this incident from Gabriella nor from her parents the day that this happened.
We later learned that Gabriella had been to the office at the university complaining about the level but that she wasn’t able to make herself understood that she wanted to join a lower level and thereafter she left the university very frustrated.
Gabriella or her parents did not contact us Friday and we didn’t learn about her problems until Monday morning.
3rd of August (Saturday).
The following day, on coming home from an errand, Valentina discovered Gabriella with all her luggage packed on the verge of leaving the house. She immediately inquired to know what was going on to which Gabriella expressed that her parents had purchased her return flight ticket and she would be leaving. Despite the fact that Gabriella had intended to leave without a word, Valentina kindly offered to make Gabriella a sandwich to take with her on her tip to which she declined.
5th - 6th of August (Monday-Tuesday).
On Monday morning, Valentina informed us that Gabriella had left Saturday.
We were later contacted that day by Gabriella's parents who stated that Gabriella was still in Salamanca staying at a hostel. They also expressed that they were not happy with Valentina - the Spanish host-family, nor with the level of the Spanish class.
We had several conversations with her parents that Monday and Tuesday in which we asked if could talk directly to Gabriella in order to solve the alleged problems. We were never given the opportunity to talk to Gabriella directly. Nevertheless, we attempted to resolve the issues as best we could via her parents.
Attempt at Resolution - Spanish Level Class Change
We immediately contacted the University of Salamanca who confirmed that, Gabriella could indeed change her Spanish class level and that there were several classes with lower levels available. The university policy states that, in general, all students, within the first 5 days of their course, are permitted to change the level of their class if they feel it is not suitable to their skill-set. After these 5 days, all class levels are closed to keep the organisation and fluidity of the classes for a better learning experience. The university also has a leaflet, clearly explaining this policy, in both English and Spanish, that each student receives on arrival which explains this very policy.
During conversations with Gabriella's parents, we made it extremely clear that we doubted very much that the university would make any refund if they decided to cancel the course as their policy is distinctly states that no refunds are made after the course starts (see our terms and conditions).
Attempt at Resolution - Accommodation
We made the offer to Gabriella's parents to book an alternative accommodation in a shared student flat or in a residence (without charging our normal fee).
NB: When booking accommodation via our services we charge a fee of 90€ for finding the accommodation and a deposit of 100€ which we pay to the host-family.
Gabriella's parent's had initially paid 190€ for the accommodation fee and fee for the Spanish course at the university. However, Gabriella had left Valentina - the host-family, without having paid the outstanding fee of 405€ (505€ less the 100€ deposit already paid) owed to Valentina upon arrival as is the policy.
During these conversations over Monday and Tuesday, we implored Gabriella's parents to convince her to consider another accommodation option and change the level of her Spanish class but in the end they decided to cancel the course, despite our warnings to them about the refund policy of the University of Salamanca, and expressed their disinterest in another accommodation.
We were still under the impression that Gabriella was at a hostel in Salamanca. Thus, it seemed very strange to us that not only was she not willing to try another level of Spanish at the university as had been the solution she was seeking to her initial frustration, but that she was unwilling to try another type of accommodation; as a shared flat would have cost her less than the outstanding amount she had not paid to Valentina - the host-family and she would be living with other students which seemed to be the root of the issue to begin with.
It was the refusal of Gabriella's parents to try any other option that sparked our doubts that Gabriella was indeed still in Salamanca that Monday the 5th as they had stated. Of course, if she had already used her return ticket flight home, it was no longer possible for her to try anything else. And hence, their rebuttals of all our suggestions to try to resolve the issues.
After thought
As an agent, we always try to get our clients refunded their money if they have to cancel a course they have already booked.
We had a similar case only a few months prior to this incident where a student had to return home earlier than planned due to a (proven) illness in the family. And although the university cancelation policy does not permit refunds, even in such extreme circumstances as this one, we were able to get majority of the accommodation and course fees refunded to the student because we had the family’s full cooperation in building a sincere and strong case to the university.
In the situation with Gabriella, despite the cancellation policy at the University of Salamanca which we had already made her parents aware of, we - yet again, made a sincere effort to contact the university in order to procure a refund for her.
However, in this instance, we did not have have the adequate cooperation from Gabriella's parents, being that we were never able to speak with Gabriella directly in order to get an in-depth understanding of the situation.
And hence, as we repeatedly tried to explain to Gabriella’s parents via phone and email, we were not able to pit a case strong enough for the university to overturn their strict refund policy and give them a refund.
We understand perfectly the concerns parents could have about their child abroad whose experience is seemingly negative. But if the parents are unwilling to try other options that we offer them in order to solve the issues that they raise; choosing instead to cancel all bookings regardless of refund policies that they previously agreed to, as an agent, we can only do so much to assist.
If one books a room at a hotel but finds that he is not satisfied with it on arrival (size, state of cleanliness, bad view etc.), the next reasonable course of action would be to give the hotel an opportunity to remedy the situation instead of demanding a refund immediately.
If the guest chooses to leave the hotel without first seeking to have the issues rectified, then proceeds to demand a refund in light of clearly indicated refund policies that would, the likelihood of successfully attaining this refund is slim to none.
Our company also offers summer language camps for children of ages 12-17 years old so we have ample experience in dealing with the fears and concerns of parents whose children are living abroad away from home for the first time.
Majority of cases show that certain children can be prone to homesickness which can make everything related to the experience abroad seem negative. But, on being able to communicate directly with both the children and their parents, we are often able to encourage them to give the experience a few more days in order to adjust to the change in environment which almost always results in the children embarking upon a life-changing positive experience.
We adopted the same encouraging attitude with Gabriella's parents; explaining that to immediately cancel everything and bring Gabriella home without first letting their 19 year old daughter try other options would be doing her a disservice. As not only would she miss out on a great experience but may approach others like this one with apprehension in the future.
In the end, Gabriella's parents decide to fly her back home prematurely without giving it another try. As parents, they have every right to do what they feel is best for their child. However, they must also face the consequences of the decision they made; which, in this case, would be the money they will not be able to get refunded.
It is unfortunate that we could not come to a more positive conclusion.
But what is most unfortunate for us as the agent, are the messages of blackmail which we have received from Gabriella's parents threatening to slander our company. They insist that they will leave negative reviews of our service around the web until we administer them a full refund.
They have every right to review an experience that they had with a company whether positive or negative. But the fact that these negative reviews they threaten on diffusing are being written, in grand part, in order to procure money that they consciously forfeited with the decision that they took, is not only illegal, but highly unethical.
Their attitude and actions do not only impact us as the agent, but also the Spanish university, and the Spanish host family - who went out of their way to support Gabriella doing her brief time in Spain.
As Gabriella’s parents have the right to state their side, we also have the right to state ours. Thus, the purpose of writing this piece is to give our version of the story.
We will like to make clear that we will never succumb to such negative behaviour as we conduct our business with integrity.
But a question to Gabriella's parents begs to be posed:
If we pay them what they are asking for - will they then take down all their negative reviews? And if we pay them a little extra, will they then write positive ones to boot?
Regards,
The www.Salamanca-Univeristy.org Team