Erasmus+ Horror Stories to Avoid When Choosing an Erasmus+ Partner

Choosing a reliable Erasmus+ and Turing partner is not easy, especially if you are new to Erasmus+, you likely don´t know which partners are established enough to entrust with your trainees and students.

We have worked with many institutions that deal with work placements abroad from around Europe and you wouldn´t believe the stories we’ve heard over the years!

Having worked with thousands of Erasmus+ learners from 15 different countries we have encountered some crazy stories. Many of our customers found themselves in dire situations before contacting us. Since they’ve been with us, those customers have turned into long and lasting members of our TravelEdventures community.

When we did our last audit, we realised that many of our biggest Erasmus+ institutions that we work with have transitioned from their old partner to using us, because they had problems which their previous partner. Of course, we all know that nobody is perfect and that problems can occur, but the difference between a good Erasmus+ agency and a great Erasmus+ agency is how well and how fast you fix problems. Nobody wants to be left waiting in the dark and everybody wants to have a fantastic time during their Erasmus+ traineeship or Turing Scheme experience.

So here are some of the horror stories that we mentioned at the beginning of this article. They are designed to show you what can go wrong and how to avoid these types of problems.

Here are the Top 5 Horror Stories Erasmus+ Sending Institutions have Encountered

Horror Story Number 1: No Backup Plan with Partners

One of our current customers had arranged flights to Toulouse for a group of students who wanted to do a vet learner internship in agriculture. It was an extremely specific internship and related itself to horse training. Just 2 weeks before the start of the internship, their original partner cancelled the stay and the students were stranded with flights booked and with no local partners.

There was a happy ending. The organising team at the school contacted us and we agreed to arrange the traineeships. Luckily, our Erasmus+ team in France did an amazing job organising the required placements with such short notice. In the end all the trainees worked with horses and completed their Erasmus+ internship successfully.

Horror Story Number 2: Leaving Organisation Too Late

An institution sending 48 students to 6 countries had scheduled all trainee departures within 3 weeks after they received funding money from Erasmus+. Their original partners jumped ship and couldn´t organise the trip with such short notice.

Lucky for the partner they contacted TravelEdventures - we solved that problem by organising all traineeships in just 2 weeks of receiving the list of names. We pulled it off by pulling resources from several international teams at TravelEdventures, worked together and placed all students on time making sure all candidates successfully completed their vet learner internship.

Horror Story Number 3: Partner Agency Promised Something Different & Organised an Unsuitable Stay

One of our now biggest clients experienced this Erasmus+ horror story with a previous partner. A group sent to Vienna by an NGO from Greece had specified exactly how they wanted their Erasmus+ project to look like, before travelling to their destination. In the end the original agency provided something outside of the scope and outside the students’ field of education. This was unacceptable to the group since Erasmus+ mobilities must be within the field of education of participants.

They were promised something different and only found out when they were already at their destination that their stay wouldn´t comply with their Erasmus+ requirements. The group contacted us – in a desperate attempt to organise suitable educational content for their students. In the end we pulled our resources and helped them within 24 hours to at least finish their Erasmus+ project on a high and make sure that it complied with the project requirements. We did this without charging them anything!

In the end they were so impressed that we were contracted to do all of the NGOs Erasmus+ mobilities, turning them into one of our biggest clients sending up to 1000 Erasmus+ mobilities every year to 6 of our best Erasmus+ destinations for vet learners.

Horror Story Number 4: Erasmus+ Partner Agency Overcharged Tremendously

We were contacted about organising a future Erasmus+ internship by an Erasmus+ project manager from a vocational college in the UK. As we were talking about organising the following year’s mobility, the client mentioned that they were afraid their current agency was overcharging them. I talked to the client and said that we don´t normally try to poach clients from other agencies, and firstly recommended that they stay with the original agency.

After discussing pricing for our next year’s project the client quickly realised that the current Erasmus+ partner had overcharged them significantly for their stay. After checking the quote, it was clear that the proposed accommodation would have been sub-standard, and the price would have been at the top end of their budget.

We ended up creating a very transparent offer for them with much better accommodation, more pocket money and otherwise similar inclusions, for a fair price. We also offered to arrange everything for their stay including flights to give the group additional budget protection.

The client ended up very happy with the quote. Unfortunately, because of Covid-19 the trip got postponed and again the client was lucky to have worked with us. We were able to shift the Erasmus+ mobility to a time after Covid-19 without charging any additional costs for moving the date.

Horror Story Number 5: Partner Agency went Bankrupt

This was probably the biggest tragedy of all our customers. A "dodgy" agency had taken a deposit and then disappeared with the money without doing what they had promised to the group. There was no way to get the deposit back. Luckily, the group contacted us: We arranged their internship in our "best-value" destination for a very special price, so they could still organise the mobility successfully and stay within their allocated Erasmus+ budget.

Avoid these and similar horror stories by booking with a partner you can trust. In the article above we have shared some of the worst Erasmus+ horror stories we have encountered and luckily, we were able to solve for the customers. If you are currently in a similar situation, we are here for you if you need us. Some of our best and most loved clients have joined TravelEdventures after running into problems. So, if you are in dire straits, contact us and we will help you out.

Here are just some of our many advantages when it comes to organising an Erasmus+ vet learner mobility through an agency:

Advantage 1: - Success Guaranteed

We guarantee placements and guarantee all goes well with documentation for Erasmus+ and Turing.

Advantage 2: - We Accept Your Payment Terms

We come from a place of abundance and don´t require huge down payments. You pay when you want to. We will accept your payment terms.

Advantage 3: - We Offer a Full Money Back Guarantee

We offer a full money back guarantee in case there is something wrong with the mobility. We have never had to do this, because of our 100% success rate with Erasmus+

Advantage 4: - Full Payment Insurance

Your payment is safe with us: All customer payments with our agency are fully insured by HDI Insurance.

There are so many more advantages when working with us. Contact us if you would like to talk to one of our Erasmus+ and Turing experts to arrange a vet learner mobility for your trainees. We look forward to hearing from you.