I would avoid using Global Work and Travel in future and would never recommend this company to anyone. We have not received the “premium” service that Global Work and Travel claim to provide. The initial communication and assistance before arriving was ok, however, since arriving into New Zealand on our Global Work and Travel Working Holiday - it has been nothing but awful. Despite telling Global Work and Travel that we would be travelling to Europe before we left for New Zealand, and being assured that this was not a problem, we were informed whilst travelling that we would need to have all our interviews for a job while we were abroad which was not possible due to issues with us travelling and general wifi. We communicated this with our Trip Coordinator Kim and this was fine to set up once we arrived. We had notified Kim before our travels in Europe that we had issues with our flights (as expected due to all the ongoing issues around Covid). We were due on Thursday 6th October and Kim arranged our interview for the next morning (7th October) at 9am which was really not ideal due to jet lag and needing to prepare. I would like to add that Kim was aware of our arrival date prior to us leaving Europe and arranging this interview. We don’t understand why this could not have been initially requested at a later time even during the time considering it was known when and where we arrived from. We communicated this issue to Kim and on request this was then changed to Monday as this was the earliest time for the interviewer. However, with some hindsight, this could have been organised much better. With Global Work and Travel, you get 4 nights hostel accommodation covered. With our interview on that Monday (October 10th), all accommodation moving forward would need to be covered by us. As of now, it is currently October 26th, my partner has accepted her role and starts on the 29th whilst I am still in contact waiting for the job to be confirmed. This is three weeks of paying for hostels out of our own pocket. This has definitely put us on the backfoot. When I attempted to contact Kim regarding the first initial interview that I had, an issue that I had to raise to the HR team for the company that I interviewed for, she claimed to have not received my voicemails despite calling the correct extension. Moving forward, we have agreed that email may be best. Kim reached out to us last week (Thursday 20th) by phone to discuss the issues we were having and we explained the issues around the job and asked her to confirm a couple of items. It wasn’t until today (Tuesday 25th) that we got a response from her after I followed up with her by email (on Monday 24th). Again, it just seems like there is a lack or delay in communication. These issues around the job that we have faced has made us look to alternatives in case nothing was secured in time - definitely not what was advertised to us when booking with Global Work and Travel. Before booking, we assumed the ‘Extra Interviews’ meant that they would support you and arrange other interviews if there were issues. This is not the case. As we mentioned above, there was an issue with our flights due to Covid. This resulted in us arriving in Auckland on October 6th instead of October 5th. Global Work and Travel had booked us into the normal hostel that they use for their travellers. However, due to the change, it meant that the hostel had no availability to change the arrival dates. So, they booked another hostel for us and sent us the details. We were fine with this as it was something out of everyone’s control. However, when we arrived at the hostel, the room smelled of damp and actually had mould around the windows. This is a hostel that Global Work and Travel have sent other travellers to with no issues. However, our experience of this was not great. When we called Kim to express our concerns she did to her credit immediately look at other options. As this was over the weekend, there were limited options but she did find us another hostel that they also have used in the past. In this hostel, the images shown online were not what we got. As an added bonus, there were bed bugs and hairs on the bed of which we provided images to Kim. This was not the greatest experience that we have had arriving into a new country where we hope to spend the next year. However, Global Work and Travel have sent other travellers to these locations and it seems like the hostels haven’t been checked properly by the company. Again, I would not call this a premium experience in the slightest. We notified Kim that we would not be staying because of the above reasons and arranged to stay with a family friend. As a gesture of goodwill, Global Work and Travel offered an extra 3 nights of hostel accommodation to use but this should not have happened in the first instance if the hostels are properly checked by the company. As mentioned, Global Work and Travel offered us the 3 nights accommodation that we did not use in Auckland. We used this in Wellington at a hostel that we picked as we had honestly lost faith in the company in picking a hostel. Any ‘“help” about tax numbers/setting us up in accommodation/ a bank account was just a link to an online form or website that we had already been using. For example, looking for accommodation we were told about Facebook Groups and Trade Me. I don’t consider this to be “premium” support. With setting up a bank account, Kim provided us with a link to set-up an account with BNZ prior to our arrival into New Zealand. At the time of writing, there are still long delays with setting up a bank account in New Zealand. This prevented us from obtaining our tax number. We found this out on our own and then started reaching out to other banks in New Zealand so we could set up an account. When we informed Kim about this, she was already aware of the delay but this information would have been best communicated with us so we could look to other banks to obtain our tax number sooner. Global Work and Travel advertises giving a New Zealand mobile number & SIM with loads of data & credit for your first month. In our experience, this was simply untrue. Kim told us that this would be available at the hostel when we arrived. When I spoke to the hostels reception, they pointed to the side counter where you could pick up ‘pay as you go’ sims unloaded with any value. It wasn’t until orientation that we were informed that they refund you the amount you load in but this was not communicated in the slightest. Ever since we have arrived in New Zealand, our trip has been made more difficult because of Global Work and Travel. We have met and chatted to fellow Global Work and Travellers who arrived in our group who have felt the same way and who have also expressed their disappointment in communication with the company. Honestly, it is cheaper, more effective and less stressful to do it yourself - everything that Global Work and Travel claim to provide in their premium service. I am honestly still trying to work out what premium service and support we have paid for.