International Living Reviews 292

IL offered a special trial of the magazine stating it could be cancelled at any time. Was informed that the subscription could be cancelled on website. There is not link found on the website to cancel (very well hidden, if there at all). Sent several emails to cancel before received anything from IL. Received a charge on credit card. Finally able to get a phone number and called and had to wait on hold. When finally talked to the rep, she said they couldn't cancel the subscription until January, 2023. Total mess! Poor customer service. Very deceptive advertising...

Thank GAWD I checked reviews before buying a subscription!! Do yourself a favor a don't believe the so OBVIOUSLY paid for fake reviews that I'm surprised Trustpilot let them post on here. Thanks for REAL reviews guys.. you saved an old lady on Social Security some money. I just checked them out on the BBB website and the horror stories from people were unbelievable! People's CC kept getting charged, they bombard your email account, and Helen "she works for IL" fights back with a vengeance basically calling people liars. One person had been fighting them for 2yrs & not until the customer threatened to go to the MD DA did she promptly get a full refund. For your own sanity STAY AWAY.

If you have plenty of time on your hands and lack any interest in getting useful information, this will be just what the doctor ordered. But it’s mostly voluminous copy offering only an attenuated tease. I guess they were trying to draw me in and close the sale. I’m a patient guy, but I eventually decided I was tired of wasting my time.

I have no idea how worthwhile their magazine is. What I do know is if you try to unsubscribe from their emails trying to get you to sign up for a paid subscription, it won't ever happen. I have been unsubscribing for weeks now, but the once or twice daily emails keep coming. If someone knows how to get them to stop harassing me, I would be forever grateful.

*** I posted this review September 3, 2022. It has taken them until January 28, 2023, to respond to my review. The suggestion to click on "unsubscribe" is ludicrous and insulting, as that is what I did with each new email from them for months.

First, I should have learned from my first subscription thirty years ago when I all I got for our subscription $ was so-called investment advice. Thought they might have improved by now. No, they’ve just mastered spam. Second, get ready for SPAM Ex. James Rickards opinion on globalization which If I wanted his opinion I’d buy his book. Preemptively block the domain @londonreal.tv because you’ll get them all. Third, there is no customer service, no responsive email address, no phone number just an empty phone tree. What your subscription money really goes to: staff to disseminate your information and pound out bloviated email ads for the next product level of International Living sales, seminars, get-in-on-it-while-you-can hyped marketing scams. A complete and totals rip-off.

I'm baaa-aack! I subscribed to IL years ago, for many years. My "gypsy heart" loves reading about all the wonderful locations in the world that I might visit and possibly even live! Life changed, moved on, and I didn't have a subscription for many years. Decades maybe? And now, at 53 years and my partner at 61, we are starting to truly weigh where we want to spend our "next chapter" and I've resubscribed. I'm thrilled! You've stoked the fire yet again, IL, and your insight is priceless! Looking forward to feeding myself your excellent research and seeing what tomorrow brings. Thank you for providing all you do!! Julie Tallman, Asheville NC

Nope. Don’t waste your money. The magazine is pathetic - usually only about 30 pages filled with articles you’d expect to find in your local paper’s travel section. All the “exclusive” info they claim to offer can be found anywhere online for free. OR, you must shell out cash to get the “inside” scoop.
Enjoy emails every day inviting you to drop substantial amounts of cash to get “reports” and online “webinars” that hook you up with some grifter that promises fantastic deals on real estate and tours.
Just a front for upselling.
Avoid and do your own research

International Living Magazine and its subsidiaries like RETA are selling a dream, and that is the easiest thing to sell in the U.S. They make it look appealing and interesting, which is why I gave 2 stars: for the production value. We all want to believe in our dreams and are vulnerable when someone tells us the dream is possible. As someone who has now "lived the dream" by following ILM's guidance and buying property through RETA, I can tell you that it has become a nightmare.

The magazine is a fantasist delusion: There was a time, years ago, when the claims made about living outside the U.S. were true but those days are gone. The most appealing areas to live have already been taken over by people from the U.S. or Canada and those people have created an economy equivalent to what they knew in their home country. Based on 18 months of experience living in Mexico I can tell you that if you want to live "cheaply" there you will live need to completely immerse yourself in the culture and language and live like a local. Which means you will live in a small village, or in a cheap apartment in a mediocre neighborhood in a larger city. Yes, you can live "cheaper" than the U.S. if paying $3000-$5000 a month rent for an ocean view condo seems cheap to you.

I and numerous other people from the U.S. bought, through RETA, into a "pre-built" condo complex in San Miguel de Allende. I paid $200,000 USD for a small condo; significantly more than I would have paid at the time for the equivalent where I lived in the U.S. The Developer did not even break ground until one month before the contractual completion date. Now, a year after that date, the building is still not completed. Myself and many of the buyers have filed lawsuits against the Developer. During the 18 months I was living in various places in Mexico, I discovered that "pre-build" sales that then never get built are a common phenomenon.

Enjoy reading International Living Magazine in the same way you enjoy a novel, because it is fiction. Prettily packaged but a fantasy all the same.

After scrolling through 6 pages of up sells and clicking no thanks, I got to the end of the marketing and paid $89 fo a 2 year subscription, which was supposed to include a 176 page Escape to Portugal, a $99 value free. I never got an email confirming the free book, but did get emails offering it to me free by signing up fo the subscription I just paid for. They also hit my credit card for three charges. Two of them were $92.56 and one at $89. I’m waiting u til Monday morning to call them and ask fo a refund. I only wish I looked at these reviews first before impulsively buying.

International Living is terrific in some ways and heartbreaking in others. The magazine is beautiful and interesting and has sparked some serious relocation considerations for me. There are first-hand reports from a wide variety of people. I am imagining my retirement life very differently because of IL.

That said, there is one real downside and a discouraging experience that I had that I want to share. First the big downside. They have a "financial advisor" named Jeff P. Opdyke. In the year that I have subscribed, Jeff's primary financial recommendation has been to push cryptocurrency, and he pushes it HARD. Reading him led me to do my own research, including conversations with several people at my financial institution as well as reading, podcasts, etc -- pro and con. From what I can tell, cryptocurrency is way too sketchy an investment -- and way too immoral an investment -- for anyone to take seriously as anything other than a get-rich-quick ponzi scheme. And if you get into it now you have missed the get-rich-quick part of the equation. Some of us don't really want to get-rich-quick by exploiting other people and investing in a chimera. He feels like a bad guy to take investment advice from.

But the magazine! I got so excited I became a Platinum member of IL. Then it came time for me to get actual help for planning a move to Spain or Portugal. Here, I ran into a wall of disappointment. Somehow I missed the secret back door to a Fire Sale opportunity in Spain, even though I wrote to the realtor and said I was interested. Then that same realtor promised to help me view property in Portugal, and set great expectations for wonderful homes at good prices. I had dates and an airbnb and tried to set a time for the viewings of these wonderful places, but the realtor didn't produce. He said he had contacted a "local collaborator" to set up the visits, but wouldn't give me that person's name or contact info. Radio silence. So I ended up just walking into a local real estate office and seeing some properties they could show me. But what a letdown! This dude is Geoffrey Donoghue. He is also really condescending. Not fun!

When I called customer service to share my frustration, they kept saying "so you want to cancel your service?" I kept saying "no, I just want some help from someone other than Mr. Donoghue." I was told I would be getting an email from someone in management to address my issue. All I got was an email about the cancellation of my subscription. The moral of the story: don't complain or you are out of the club.

I can't imagine that all of IL's local realtors are as irresponsible as the one I dealt with. If I could rate this a 2.5 I would. Enjoy the magazine and maybe have low expectations for "services" IL can provide. And for God's sake, don't run out and buy a bunch of crypto currency, whatever Jeff Opdyke says!

ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS THAT THERE IS NO EMAIL CUSTOMER SERVICE! No longer pleased! Spent a lot of money over YEARS When I ran into challenges traveling and miss $1,000 event—(no internet in jungle!) I was “beyond” their refund policy timing. Would NOT even issue a credit or partial credit for future!!! ALSO !! Followed advice on 2nd passport ($$$$$$) then 1st trimester I attempted to use it. at entry booth “what is your Address in——“. They wouldn’t let me use it!!! Was forced to use my regular PP!!! No help with this either !

I will limit my review to basic facts. If you look this up on the Better Business Bureau website, there are a long series of 5 star (a few four star reviews) which were all one time reviews and they were all posted between 2/5/2021 and 2/25/2021. In addition, these reviews are almost exclusively by people who have never posted another BBB review. In addition, note how the five start reviews here have very similar wording and are again one time reviews. There are a few 2 or 3 star reviews that complain of Spam, etc. I had someone forward a link to this magazine to me because I am actively looking to move to Europe. I am merely sharing what I discovered in my research prior to signing up for it.

Quite simply the very best of resources for anyone thinking of, or actively pursuing the life of their dreams.

Spam, spam, and more spam.

You can get literally nothing from this site unless you pay a significant price. Totally ridiculous. And then they send you emails 'teasing' sites but will NEVER tell you without payment.

Simply natural scam has cost me and so many I know a lot of money. The lie that they are trying to fix things is just another lie.

I first bought a subscription to the magazine, then I became a member of the platinum circle a few months ago. The publications that come with the subscription are very helpful. Because of the information in these publications.my wife and I are planning a visit to Panama to look into retiring there. The value of the books alone more than paid for the cost of my Platinum Circle Subscription. I have contacted Customer Service a few times and they have always responded quickly. The have always been very nice and helpful {Even when I asked, what to me seemed like stupid questions}.

International Living is a very diverse resource for anyone even remotely thinking about living overseas. It is a pay to play website, where you can sign up for the basic weekly newsletter, or get in depth research reports and guides about specific countries, or get guidance towards making your decisions about where and when to make a move. You can connect with tax advisers and other professional resources that I for one would not know where else to find. You can connect with a real estate expert who scouts out phenominal deals worldwide. They offer coaching for many on line do it from anywhere income opportunities, to use your existing skills and knowledge, or to learn new ones that can support or supplement your new living experiences. I am amazed at the diversity of their offerings. I know they are not the only resource for such information, but they offer plenty for me, more than I can really digest. I continue to recommended them to many people, both friends and strangers. Personally, I am sold on retiring to Costa Rica, asap.

I have found International Living to be very valuable in helping to choose where I might like to move or spend part of the year. IL offers in-depth investigative information about virtually anything which is helpful in deciding where, or even if, moving abroad is meant for the reader. IL even offers mini trips to some of the destinations for people to see the country for themselves before making a decision. One of the most important features of the familiarization trips has been that there is NO sales pressure whatsoever. Participants see a variety of options for buying a lot and building their own home, as well as visiting several homes of varying styles to determine which might be to their liking. The newsletters, monthly magazine, "International Living", books, seminars, podcasts and conventions all add to the amount of information available to help people make the best decision for themselves.

International Living has been an invaluable resource for our retirement overseas. I highly recommend their services. They have an incredibly diverse "library" available, you can find a reliable (very important!) answer to just about any question you can ask.

My experience with International living overall has been positive. I enjoy the magazine and the trips. Very informative and helpful when looking to purchasing property all over the world. I would be lost without it.