Example Emails about Invasion

Hi Campers,

I just thought I'd post a few typical emails I received about Invasion. I've kept the authors anonymous for reasons of confidentiality, but I can assure you they're all genuine.

"I booked to do a 3 week TEFL qualification in Thailand with a company called "Summer Camp Thailand" who work under an umbrella company registered here in the UK called "Invasion Ltd"

I was in Thailand and partaking on this programme between the 9th August to 30th August 2017

There were many issues from when our intake arrived in Bangkok. The teaching itself, and the TEFL qualification was very disorganised. Having learnt nothing, we were already disappointed but this wasn't the biggest issue.

During camp, on the 25th August before we were set to leave for our mini break in Cha-Am, we were told that there'd been a last minute change to our accommodation and that we had been "upgraded". On the same day, we received an email from a one "Mr Phillip Crabb" telling us that our accommodation wasn't an upgrade, and we were being moved due to a cash flow problem at Invasion Ltd.

A group of us spoke to the reps on site. The English reps who were employees of the English "Summer Camp Thailand" company were insisting it was an upgrade and told us to ignore any emails from Mr Phillip Crabb as he was no longer an employee of Summer Camp Thailand. So we did just that but our problems only grew.

We had all spoken to our families back home to make them aware that we were moving destinations to Hua Hin, as opposed to Cha-Am. When we arrived at our new destination it was blatantly obvious that everything Phillip Crabb said in his email was true.

We arrived at this hotel, which was a 40 minute drive from the beach and local restaurants/ bars and a 15 minute walk away from the nearest shop as Phillip had surprisingly truthfully stated. The bus driver had to come out of the vehicle and lift electrical wires above the coach in order for the coach to access the accommodation.

After 14 hours of travelling and anxious family members concerned about our whereabouts, the wifi didn't accommodate the amount of people in our intake (67 people). So I had to wait another 10 hours before I could update my family members on my whereabouts.

We were given keys to our rooms. Our bed sheets were stained with blood and other bodily fluids and one person from our intake found a dead frog in their bed. The free food that was advertised was nothing more than basic rice which wasn't covered, therefore covered in bugs. Most of the rooms were infested and there was no hot water. Later we would learn that the air condition and hot water were only installed the day prior to us arriving.

Of course we brought all of these issues up with the reps on site, who called in a gentleman called "Harry Lote" to explain the changes to us. He arrived in a truck, followed by another truck that was supposed to be taking us to Hua Hin centre later that evening. On the truck that he got out of, were large Leo beers and it was obvious that he was intoxicated which made us all a little uncomfortable as he was supposed to be the head rep, and assistant director of the company "Summer Camp Thailand". He explained that Phillip Crabb was a disgruntled previous supplier of the TEFL certificates, and due to switching suppliers, Summer Camp Thailand decided to switch our accommodation too.

The old accommodation that we were supposed to be staying at was 5 minutes from Cha-Am beach and night markets. It has an outdoor swimming pool and had been used by all the previous intakes with no complaints as far as I am aware. It was very very obvious that we were moved to this new accommodation in Hua Hin due to the cash flow problem at Invasion.

The whole ordeal had us very stressed. I'd sent out numerous emails to Summer Camp Thailand here in the UK that weekend and they've only just responded now, and their response doesn't shed any light on the situation.

The programme fee we paid was £699. We paid this fee for the original itinerary that was on their website and to receive a 120 hour internationally accredited TEFL certificate whilst we were there (which we still have yet to receive). In light of the certificate itself, some people did more hours than others. So I'd done 3 days of 8 hours each day then an additional day of 5 hours. Yet some of the intake only did 2 hours each day at different schools.

Now after 10 minutes of googling, I've come across some of your blogs. This man [Philip Crabb] has been working under Invasion Travel Ltd, providing the TEFL part of the course. Since the first email he has sent, he has sent many more emails asking for money in order for us to receive this TEFL certificate that we have ALREADY paid for.

He has also breached the data protection act by giving out our emails and details to people on the subsequent intake for Camp C - Summer Camp Thailand and a reporter from Manchester.

As we still haven't received these certificates, our details were handed out without our consent and we stayed at an accommodation that wasn't listed on the itinerary or agreed to, I'm in the process of seeking a refund from the company.

Given that they are not willing to give us a partial refund, I'll be seeking a to initiate a charge back with my bank. Summer Camp Thailand have been incompetent at answering the questions that I have and are blatantly not responding to my queries."

I'll put more up shortly. Meanwhile, please read my comment below.

Stay safe,
EFL Greg

Invasion Ltd

Hi Campers!

I have now received several reports about the appalling way Invasion treated the August/September intake last year that I can only conclude that as a company Invasion fall a long way short of what they claim to be and how they advertise themselves (click here). I had given them the benefit of the doubt up till now, but no longer so. In addition to the organisational failures, I'm also getting lots of reports about drunken behaviour by some of the reps at some of the camps, as well as drug taking. There was also, of course, the infamous "gun" incident back in 2016.

I'm sure that when Lee McAteer and Nick Steiert started out they were genuine in their wish to create something properly meaningful for youngsters in the form of the Camp experience. Great idea! However, money and power do corrupt, and they seem now only to be concerned with their profits. Any true concern about their customers and students seems to have gone completely out of the window. Basically, they're just ignoring everyone. Rather than being "of the people", they now seem to be adopting a high and mighty stance. The sheer number of testimonials to this is now overwhelming. Rather than list them all one by one, I'm putting a couple of links here so that people can read the complaints against Invasion themselves. Also read my posts, "Invasion and Camp Thailand" and "Invasion and Ethics", both in October last year. The comments there are particularly revealing, as also are the ones back in 2016. In fact, please read the whole of this blog if you have time.

First, there is a Facebook page, "Camp Thailand and Invasion travel fiasco support". you may need to join the group to get full access. For some reason it's down at the moment, but they say it will be up again shortly. In addition to this is the Rip-off Report (click here), which is quite detailed and goes pretty deeply into what happened. However, the second half of it needs to be read with a pinch of salt because it is obviously written by Philip Crabb himself, who was undoubtedly one of the main culprits in the whole saga/fiasco. He mentions "OUR company, English For Fun" and the inevitable "internationally accredited" reference to his own TEFL course, etc. So you may need to read between the lines there.  Nevertheless, the overall report is pretty damning for Invasion. It's all in strong contrast to the massaged write-ups on the GoAbroad review site.

I have written to Invasion to ask them for their side of the story, but sadly they have not replied. It now seems to be their standard policy not to respond to any enquiries related to August/September of 2017. Looking back, the writing was already on the wall by the way they covered up the "gun" incident in 2016 (see my posts of June 2017 and October 2016). Just the fact that they were willingly working with a man as notorious as Philip Crabb already gave some indication of their level of ethicality. They cannot simply blame everything on him, they need to take responsibility themselves. It's important that everyone at every stage of the Camp experience has the highest degree of integrity and is fully vetted beforehand.

Of course, I personally wish people would read my blog before signing up for these camps. Sadly, most people only read it after the event. Anyway, if anyone is reading this prior to going somewhere under Invasion's steam I strongly recommend them to rethink. In fact, I would recommend everyone to boycott Invasion completely.

Good luck for the future!
EFL Greg

Invasion and Camp Thailand

Hi Thailand Campers!

Following my last post I've received a lot of disturbing news. It seems there's been a real bust up between Invasion and Philip Crabb.  In fact, Invasion have dispensed with his services altogether and are now using Greenway China to provide the TEFL component of their Camp experience. I don't actually know anything about Greenway, so I can't honestly vouch for them. What I can say, though, is that Invasion should be applauded for parting company with Philip Crabb and his English For Fun farce. We have been pressing for this for a long time on this blog, so let's hope this move heralds a brighter future.

Meanwhile, Invasion is in quite a state of turmoil, in that there have been several complaints from campers and from parents about the messy way the August / September course turned out. Apparently, there was trouble about visas as well as the switch in hotels from Cha-Am to Hua Hin. It seems that Invasion had some genuine cash flow problems, probably as a result of overextending themselves with too many camps. This was compounded by the possibility that Philip Crabb was embezzling money sent to him by Invasion. At this stage, we have no proof of that. However, it seems the possibility alone was enough to make Invasion act.

Overall, it seems Invasion are trying to do their best in difficult circumstances. For example, they have offered dissatisfied campers vouchers for £250, etc. However, Invasion need to be much more open, honest and communicative in dealing with their camp participants. I'm getting reports of unanswered emails and robotic responses to phone calls. That's just no way to treat customers. They really need to work on their PR

Whatever happened to cause the bust up, Philip Crabb clearly has his own agenda, the main component being to claim Camp Thailand as his own. In fact, many of you may already have noticed that there are two Camp Thailands now, Summer Camp Thailand https://summercampthailand.com/ run by Americamp and Camp Thailand http://www.campthailand.org/ run by Philip Crabb. What it seems Mr. Crabb is trying to do now is to create as much of a stir as he can about Invasion in the hope that they go out of business, leaving him 100% control of Camp Thailand. He even tries to claim that he created the whole project. This is complete poppycock, he is merely a provider of sub-standard TEFL courses, nothing more. For future reference have no doubt that Invasion/Americamp's version of Camp Thailand is the original one.

I'll make more comments about developments in my next post. Meanwhile, please do post your comments or email me directly.

Keep camping!
EFL Greg

Accreditation and Pricing

Hi Campers,

I was just looking at Americamp's Camp Thailand website and noticed that they've put up a whole load of blurb about TEFL certificates in relation to accreditation. I think it's been up a while actually. Click on TEFL  They're no longer claiming that their certificate is "internationally accredited", which is a major step forward. I congratulate them on their honesty. However, what they've put up instead is a pretty vague piece that really tells us nothing at all, just a series of generalities with nothing specific. Basically, it's a load of hogwash designed to pull the wool over your eyes, cloaked in that kind of formal language that makes it sound oh so credible.  "School and authorities"? Yes, the schools they give free lessons at.  "The Ministry of Education"? Take it from me, there's no way the ministry gets involved in farang run TEFL schools. Their concern is state schools and private schools running the proper national curriculum. EFL courses are not part of their domain. The point is that Camp Thailand's courses are completely unaccredited and it's pot luck how good any one course will be. Worst case scenario is if Philip Crabb himself gives the course.

While here, I'd like to remind all you potential campers that you'll be spending over £700 for only three weeks of "training" and activities. So are you really getting your money's worth? Remember that, while accommodation is included in the price, it is bunk beds in a dorm, and even then you have to pay extra if you want air-con. You can stay in a 3 star hotel in central Bangkok for just £20 a night.  So surely they could afford to give you something better than 5 in a room with no air-con for your £700? The TEFL course isn't worth more than £100 and the same goes for the excursions. Camp Thailand's expenses are simply the rent for the  premises and some low salaries for their workers.  Even the trainer won't get more than a $1,000 a month. So you can see just how much money is going directly into the pockets of Philip Crabb and Americamp. They're cutting costs any which way they can to maximise their own profit. Philip Crabb is interested in one thing only, and that's your money. You're being well and truly fleeced.  You really need to open your eyes to that.

So once again, we recommend that you avoid this kind of overpriced summer camp and set out independently. Do an online TEFL course, preferably not English For Fun's, and go direct to a Thai placement agency for a free placement and orientation course. Do the excursions at your own leisure during your year in Thailand. It's such a wonderful country. Just take that bold step to be independent. Thailand is a very safe country if you stick to common sense precautions. You should have a wail of a time.

Good luck, campers!

EFL Greg

Camp Thailand Review

Hi, EFL Greg here!

We've had quite a few reviews of Camp Thailand now, with a mixed bag of reports. Everyone seems pretty agreed that the activity part of the camp, i.e. the excursions and elephant trips, as well as even the live teaching in the schools, is pretty well set up, and has been a positive experience for most campers. Most of this is directly under the control of Americamp, who seem to be providing a reasonably genuine service.

However, it's the TEFL side of Camp Thailand that is seriously suspect. This is run by Philip Crabb together with his Thai wife, and we've had several reports of unacceptable course standards and severe bias in the treatment of students. See the comments on the Camp Thailand post. In addition, it has now been conclusively proved that the TEFL certificate issued by EFF (English For Fun, formerly Island TEFL) is wholly unaccredited, and is basically a junk qualification.  

From the reviews we've received, Philip Crabb, formerly Philip Dunne, seems to be running the place like a dictator, ruling by fear. Anyone who causes him any kind of problem quickly gets removed from the Camp, whether it be a a student or an employee. There are no refunds incidentally. The most disturbing incident, however, occurred just recently when he or his wife actually had some of the Thai workers pull out a gun on some of the girl students just because they weren't using the camp's own taxi and were liaising with a former teacher and employee banned by Philip. We cannot verify this independently.  However, we've heard about this incident from two separate sources. So it needs to be taken seriously. It's possible Camp Thailand is even paying off the police. The incident was apparently quickly hushed up by both Americamp and Camp Thailand.

So because of the atmosphere of fear that Philip Crabb specialises in creating and the sub-standard courses he is fraudulently offering, we're recommending that prospective campers vote with their feet and boycott Camp Thailand until such time as Americamp have dealt properly with the situation and brought Philip Crabb to heel. Anyone who knows anything more about any of the above should come forward and post.

It's always important to remember that in developing countries like Thailand, and even more so Cambodia, law enforcement is weak. In fact, corruption is rampant, particularly within the police force. So don't expect that you will automatically get justice in the event of any criminal or illegal action inflicted upon you.  

Always be careful when committing yourself and putting yourself in the hands of people you don't know, particularly when travelling alone to a developing country.

Good luck with whatever camp you finally decide on.

Greg 

Accreditation

EFL Greg again!

So your TEFL certificate's going to be "internationally accredited", is it? It's easy for any course provider to make a claim like that, but is it really true? First of all, it's unlikely that a course that advertises itself as half fun on the beach and half study is likely to meet international standards. Also, if it has almost zero training with real Thai students, again it's coming up short by international standards. Most importantly, though, any truly accredited course will have an external assessment by that accrediting body at the end of the course. For example, your last teaching session should be observed by someone external to the school you're paying fees to. Everyone knows this is the case with the CELTA and Trinity qualifications. If a school makes it look easy, they're almost certainly duping you.  They're making a false claim as a means to acquiring your hard earned money.

A great example of this is English For Fun's (formerly Island TEFL) claim to be accredited by the University of San Diego. Our review committee recently contacted USD directly, and they confirmed that they do not accredit Island TEFL. Nevertheless, the claim is still clearly there on the Island TEFL website and the English For Fun log-in page. And, remember, these are the same people who will be running Camp Thailand.

So we advise all prospective EFL trainee students to research the academic credentials of the school.  The best way is simply to contact the accrediting organisation directly.

Good luck with your hunt.

EFL Greg

Camps in Thailand

Hi EFL World!

A new trend has been developing recently in the EFL world, and that is the summer camp as a way of combining EFL training, practice and adventure activities all in one package. It's certainly a great idea and very attractive to youngsters today, particularly gap year students. So, as there are quite a few of them, we thought it might be a good idea to have a site committed specifically to reviewing these camps. Often testimonials on the websites themselves are massaged up and don't give a properly objective overview. Hopefully, through this site prospective students or trainees can get a clearer idea of what to expect, and will be better informed when making a decision or choice. 

Please submit reviews to our email address (below) and we will post it if it meets our criteria, which are as follows:

1. Please be specific with regard to the name of the camp, as many of them have similar sounding names, many of them almost generic in nature.
2. State clearly when and where you attended.
3. Who ran the course?
4. Did you feel it represented good value for money?
5. Did you actually receive everything that was advertised?  If not, what?
6. What was the customer service like?  Did they help you overcome difficulties?
7. Describe the main features, positive and/or negative.
8. Please be objective.  Make sure you can support any negative comments, and please don't degenerate into using abusive language.

I hope we can get a good mix of comments about a variety of camps.

Look forward to your responses.

Greg Watson
Secretary,
Camps in Thailand Review Committee
gregeflwatson@gmail.com