Someone in another review put it well "this is not an honest business". I wish I had seen that…read moreburied review before I chose this program. It was based at a local middle school, so I figured it was legit.
My daughter was enrolled for 3 days before we pulled her out of the program. On the surface, when we arrived, the program seemed lackluster - I wasn't provided the basic orientation information before our first day of camp, it wasn't clear what my kid would be doing or any of the basics of what to bring or expect. I'm used to peppy camp counselors with name tags and clipboards, helping to shepherd kids where they need to go, and helping the littles feel comfortable. There was none of this. It was held in the library of a middle school (I hope they went outside, but I'm not really sure), and seemed disorganized. But I figured that at worst, it would be a boring but benign 2 weeks of summer. My kid is pretty outgoing, so I figured, what's the worst that happens - it's located at public middle school, it's got to be legit, maybe just underfunded. At least they have field trips?...
But then my daughter fell and hit her head and gashed her eye, and the staff did not call me.
I didn't find out until pickup, and when I arrived, they told me that it was because they were not given the emergency numbers from the central office, and they were not able to reach the central office. I have worked with children in many places across my career - I have been a camp counselor, and this seemed absolutely implausibly unsafe.
I immediately withdrew my kid from the program - called and left a voicemail that I was filing a complaint and initiated a refund through ActivityHero. But that's when the fun began. I didn't hear from anyone until the next morning/afternoon, and really not until I called back saying I was going to file a complaint with the City of Millbrae. But getting in touch with CAM EDU was surprisingly difficult. Firstly, there is no number for parents to reach staff at the summer camp where the kids are. I was only able to reach the phone number of a central hotline, which was rarely answered by a human--I got more response from chat bots/emails. Then, I realized that there are no academic staff listed on their website - the faces I recognized from the summer camp had titles like "Website developer", which made me pretty nervous - who is taking care of my child? The person who was alleged "camp director" isn't listed as staff on the website. And all staff on the website are listed without a last name, so there's no way to actually confirm their identity or role with the company. When I heard back from CAM EDU, I was put in touch with their General Manager/HR person, who is based abroad and has never seen their facility herself. However, she was very understanding, and provided an immediate full refund. But this still doesn't excuse an academic site where the administrators are not involved in the day-to-day programs.
The entire company appears to be run through Google Voice phone numbers, and it gave the impression that there is in-fact no central office (the business address routes to a work/live loft in Millbrae), and does not follow basic safety protocol. There was no way I was going to let my kid go on a field trip with them. I now have more questions around the validity of the business, who the owners are, and who were the adults present. I strongly encourage other parents to do their own due diligence before sending their children to this camp.
