Deposits - the what, why and how

Funding update: 25/07/2024

From 31st August 2024 onwards, our funding will have run out. This means you will need to fund your flights on all programmes (unless we clearly email you to say otherwise.) You will also need to self-fund your TEFL training and support by paying a fixed fee per programme (regardless of duration). See details here.

For programmes running before 31st August 2024, the rules below will still apply:

Our programmes require that you pay two small deposits. The deposit simply confirms your commitment to participation, and will be returned to you once you have completed your programme commitments. For more info, please read on

How much is the deposit?

The deposit is set based on two instalments of £100 GBP each. If you are paying in a currency other than GBP, Paypal will automatically work out how much you can pay in your local currency.

We use PayPal to accept the deposits, PayPal is chosen as it gives strong consumer rights and protections to the deposit maker. We cannot accept deposits through any other channel.

*A £30 discount is available on the first deposit, you can request this on the payment page by simply doing the requested tasks.

Why do I need to pay a deposit?

Our programme requires the 'application deposit' instalment to be sure of your commitment before we take your application further, the 'programme deposit' is requested to confirm your commitment to joining a particular project, our partners need this commitment guaranteed so that they can prepare for your arrival (e.g by issuing you with a visa invitation letter, saving you a space, rejecting other applicants etc).

•We need to ensure our limited number of placements are not wasted, withdrawing after being made an offer can mean a place ends up never being taken up - so we need a policy to protect that. 

•Additionally, significant team resources are allocated to you as soon as you enter our application system, so the deposit is there as a security to ensure the resources are allocated effectively. 

Explanation of the 2x compulsory deposits

During our application process, you will make a total of 2x compulsory £100 deposits, an 'application deposit' and a 'programme deposit'

The 'application deposit' instalment is required when we confirm your general place on our programme - this means we are committing to make you a placement offer and just need to iron out the final details. This will be requested if after viewing your application we can make you a general offer. This will be before you submit your video interview.

The 'programme deposit' is requested after we confirm your place on your a particular project - you will first have the chance to view the offer and choose to accept it. The placement deposit confirms you wish to secure the offer, once you pay it our admin team can launch into final preparations for your arrival.

*Optional extra deposit so that we can buy flights for you

Our programme is fully funded, and all project costs are paid upfront (e.g meals, accommodation, activities, TEFL course). However some costs need to be paid first by yourself and then reimbursed by us some weeks later, such as the flight. We want to run a financially inclusive programme, so in exceptional cases, if you can evidence straitened financial circumstances then we will buy the flight for you if you pay an additional £300 deposit. This policy means that we may pay as much as £1500 for a flight for you (peak season, SE Asia) and you need only cover a small portion of this to show you are committed to boarding the plane. If you'd like to know more about this policy, please email us.

When will my deposit be returned?

The deposit is returned to you once you have finished your programme with us and completed its obligations. Obligations are usually just that you fill in our feedback form and complete tasks linked to any funding you received through us (e.g. completing your TESOL training). Please only pay once you are happy to confirm your participation in the programme in line with this. Please review points 8, 9, 10 and 11 of our terms to ensure you are familiar with other deposit terms. If you pay a deposit and don't participate in a programme then the deposit is not refundable, so you need to complete one of our programmes to be eligible for a refund. Once the deposit is paid, it is only refunded inline with the terms above.

Please note that if your deposit was sent to us more than 180 days before it is returned to you, then Paypal will charge you a small service fee of around approx 5% (e.g on £100, the fee tends to be around £4.60).

Is this deposit fully refundable?

Upon programme completion only are you eligible for a refund.

Gotoco will refund the deposit without levying any additional charges and fees on our side, we want this to be a fully refundable deposit.

However, sometimes, there are some small deductions from PayPal. PayPal may charge you some small fees, these are usually for deposits held over 180 days or for transactions where you didn't originally pay in £GBP. In these cases you'd usually receive £95.40/£100 returned.

If you paid through a credit card, sometimes the card may also charge you.

Gotoco don't charge any fee in this process. small fees levied by the online payment service, such as PayPal, are deducted prior to reimbursement and are your responsibility to be aware of.

*Other FAQs recently submitted by would-be Gotoco'ers:

Will the application deposit be refunded if I am not accepted?

We run an entry-level programme, so once we only invite you to make a deposit we are confident that you will receive a placement offer. If in rare cases you do not receive a placement offer, then of course the deposit can be refunded.

Can I defer my deposit?

In cases where the deposit isn't refundable, we may be able to let you defer a deposit to a future placement. We assess this case-by-case, you can only request deferral once.

Please check out this FAQ for guidance: https://questions.go-to.co/article/150-deferring-a-place

Will the application deposit be refunded if I change my mind about coming?

If we have invited you to make a deposit, it means we'd like to give you a placement in the time-period you have applied for. Congrats!

Once you make the deposit, you secure a place on our waiting list. The sooner you make the deposit, the higher you will be positioned in our waiting list, but if you delay too much then you may lose this opportunity altogether. Deposits are usually not refundable if you change your mind about coming, so you will need to weigh up what you want to do.

For Gotoco, a major  purpose of this deposit is that you only put it down once you are 100% committed to participating, it thereby helps us allocate our placement vacancies and team resources with the confidence that would-be Gotoco'ers that have made deposits are intending to participate. If it were to be refundable in cases where one has changed their mind, then it would no longer serve one of its important functions, accordingly it isn't refundable if you change your mind.

Caveat: if there are gravely serious and evidenced extenuating circumstances, e.g the type of thing that would enable you to receive deadline extensions at e.g school/university or time off work, then we can consider those as grounds for a refund - this can be assessed case by case.

If I pay a deposit and then get some other career opportunity that I want to do instead, what happens to my deposit?

Well, first we'd recommend you join us instead! Our programme will probably be more fun and more interesting and more educational than e.g a corporate internship in a grey office! We intend to show you a new world of career possibilities, you may find a whole new career pathway opens up for you in teaching. Please don't settle for a 'career' until you've explored this better pathway.

Of course, if your job offer is from a 'good employer' or one of those grad-schemes, then they should usually adhere to 'investors in people' principles and should let you defer your offer so that you can gain life-changing experience on our programme first.

In such a circumstance, your deposit isn't refundable, so if you are applying for lots of other jobs then we suggest you don't make a deposit with us for now. The downside of not making a deposit is that you may lose this opportunity to someone else, but c'est la vie.

Will the deposit be refunded if I don't get my first choice of programme?

We do our utmost to give you your top preference, however, we don't guarantee it. When we don't give you your top choice, we strive to give you a good alternative -e.g similar region or similar project.

In applying for Gotoco, you are requesting an overseas placement with a teacher training course. We don't make country specific offer guarantees. If you think you'd pull out if offered e.g Vietnam instead of Thailand, then we recommend that you don't pay the deposit.

Refund options.

As per our terms and conditions that you sign when making a deposit, we can only allow refunds after you actually complete a project. So, we advise that deposits should only be made when you are committed to completing a project.

Deferral option:

If you aren't able to attend this year, we may be able to offer you a deferral, which would mean you can defer the deposit into a future intake and regain it upon completion of a future project. To do that, you'd need to make all deposit requirements of the year that you wish to attend and upon completion you'd be eligible for all deposits to be returned (ie the year you attended + the year you deferred).

Alternate uptake refund:

You are welcome to receive a refund at any time by referring another candidate to go in your stead - to do that just let us know when a referred candidate needs to pay the deposit and we can then officially transfer it. If you'd like to refer someone, please email us and we'd strive to expedite their application, subject to eligibility.

Refunds permitted for verified and exceptional cases:

The policy above is already a flexible approach, but if you have an evidenced emergency then we will seek to be even more helpful - we aim to offer a very flexible and helpful programme and we do our best to help. If you'd like us to consider a full refund request for a serious personal emergency, please use the form below. This form enables us to manage the workflow in a fair and reasonable manner. On the form you will have the opportunity to explain the situation and context to the request and provide a referee to affirm it, we may then email your emergency contact or designated referee in order to confirm things. Once it is filled in, it can go before our appeals team who look at cases 4x per year. You can find the form here: https://www.go-to.co/personal-emergency-deposit-refund

Even if you fill in the above, if your project is due to start in 2x months, it is not likely that a refund can be made - this is because you will have likely taken up a position that someone else could have benefitted from. We only have limited places and it is important that places aren't wasted when people withdraw at late notice.

Referral is recommended if you wish to join us in future

If you are eligible for an exceptional refund but you also hope to join us in future, we advise that you defer rather than cancel your place and get refunded. If you cancel and seek the refund then the offer is cancelled and you'd not be permitted to apply again - unless you had extenuating and evidenced circumstances. More on this here