Pod Volunteer Reviews

Name: Pod Volunteer
Address: 5, Noverton Lane, Cheltenham, Prestbury
Rating: 4.80

4.8 Rating 662 Reviews

97 %

of reviewers recommend Pod Volunteer

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4.8

Based on 662 reviews

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About Pod Volunteer:

Pod Volunteer is an award winning non-profit organisation arranging ethical, inspiring and supported volunteering opportunities around the world since 2001

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info@podvolunteer.org

Location:

5, Noverton Lane, Cheltenham
Prestbury
GL52 5BA

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Pod Volunteer 5 star review on 12th September 2026

Anonymous

323

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“The Projects I participated in went above and beyond my initial expectation. I am so happy I chose to volunteer with Pod!”

Pod Volunteer 5 star review on 7th August 2017

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Posted 9 years ago

“I felt disappointed with the STEP program. As an experienced and avid volunteer, I was disappointed with the time volunteers had spent on the project. Volunteers worked for 2 hours and then played sports at the orphanage for 1 hour daily. I was expecting to have accomplished much more in a day and the result felt unavailing. I was uncomfortable with the mass amount of free time volunteers had each day and I felt pressured by the team to disburse money for frequent "dinning out" when food was supposed to be included in our placement. In addition, I do not understand why local trips were included in our itinerary, but were asked to fund them ourselves without prior knowledge to these expenses. To continue, volunteers were asked to engage in recreational activities at the orphanage under damp conditions where the children and volunteers would fall repeatedly from a wet floor inside the vicinity. That being said, I was fearful for an accident which is a potential liability case if a volunteer had been injured. I appreciate the dream the organization has for these children, but this project felt more as though we were solely seen as cheap labor by the project team and I was disappointed in their lack of professionalism towards myself based on my origin. I would not recommend this program to volunteers that seek to be genuinely productive in their prospective fields or anyone traveling from the West because of the mockery that may await them.”

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Posted 9 years ago

Hi Sabrina, Thank you very much for your feedback which we value and take very seriously. We are of course extremely disappointed to hear that you did not have the experience at the project that you were expecting. We have reviewed your feedback at length with the team in India and would like to respond to your points. Firstly, with the hours worked, volunteers would normally have a role as you say of mornings in the school doing 2 hours teaching and then running activities in afternoons in orphanages and other centres. We have found from our experience that this is about the right workload as there is a considerable additional amount of time needed for lesson planning and preparation on top of the contact hours. It’s always possible to do more and you could have asked us or the local team about this and we would have been very happy to accommodate. It’s also important to recognise you were only there for 2 weeks, which despite being a very valuable contribution, may not allow you to fully evaluate the role and work being done. We are really surprised by your comments about dining out as all main meals are included and Neha will always prepare food for volunteers. Obviously some volunteers like to eat out to enjoy a variety of restaurants but this is entirely their own choice. In terms of the local trips, we have found them to be really popular with volunteers and the local team go out of their way to run these trips. It is made clear in our Guide and local orientation that although the transport and food is included, there is a small entrance fee to pay for each visit. 4 entrances are around £12 in total, which we think is well worth it for the benefit of the trips. I am sorry to hear you slipped while playing games. The local team always warn volunteers about this and we have had never had any incidents or accidents in relation to this. We also visit the projects regularly, I returned from our last visit in May, and completed a full review of our Risk Assessment then to ensure it was accurate. There is of course always a balance between being aware of risks and also allowing local life to continue in a normal way without over-proofing activities. The local team work are incredibly dedicated, working 24/7 to benefit others so this is feedback is very sad for them. They are also surprised and disappointed you didn’t raise any concerns with them while there as they would have liked the opportunity to address them with you. We appreciate that you have taken the time to provide feedback, and would like to again reiterate our disappointment that you did not have the experience in India that you expected. If you would like to discuss this further then please just let me know. Kind regards, Lucy, Pod Volunteer

Posted 8 years ago

“The staff at pod volunteer were great from start to finish at helping me with everything I needed for my volunteer placement.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“They were very good at sorting out any issue. I would recommend pod volunteer to anyone”

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Posted 9 years ago

“I liked POD because it made things simple. Sent paplets with everything you needed to do. POD also handle lodging which was wonderful. However, it's wayyy more expensive to book through pod then to contact the volunteer location directly”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Pod was an easy company to communicate with and provided you with all the essential information you needed to organise your trip successfully. The projects in Nepal (Pokhara) was amazing and proved to be a challenging but a perfect experience for my first time volunteering overseas! Volunteering with a non profit organisation like pod makes it more affordable and you can see that the projects you help out with are really making a difference!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Pod helped me find this project doing diving in southern Belize, and then they were there to answer all my questions about the project and they gave a competitive price. The project with ReefCI was excellent so thanks to PoD for hooking me up with them!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Even though you didn't have the space available, you found a way to Work with my schedule and also to put me with the ellies :) Communication was great with you guys. I am so happy I chose your agency! I ended up working 3 days with the ellies and 2 days with the wildlife. They really need help with the wildlife. I do have a suggestion: they need to offer tools to the volunteers to make our job more enjoyable, like some better gloves, the long rubber ones, (so we can wash them after each use) bc we do clean the animals feces and a lot of times there are vermes in the feces. Some people are doing the work with bear hands... yuck! The work is really hard and It's a 11 hour day with an hour lunch. A lot people felt overwhelmed with the rushed schedule. On my last day there I did promisse to send them a box with things they really need, like gloves, brushes (to scrub the pools) nuts for the animals, etc. and the person in charge told me that podvolunteer donated money that was used to better the place with new enclosures. That made my heart so happy! Thank you so much! I'll suggest your agency to anyone that wants to volunteer with the animals. Thank you so much again, Claudia Mello”

Pod Volunteer 5 star review on 4th July 2017

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Posted 9 years ago

“Working in the Belize Zoo was a great experience! You will never come this close to this native animals in other places. It's e wonderful Zoo, where you can see the animals feeling confortable.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Very organised and efficient, responded quickly and made the exchange feel personal and friendly”

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Posted 9 years ago

“The team of Pod Volunteer were very cooperative and helpful for everything i needed, from the first moment! I didn't worry, i felt safe and i knew that if any problem arose during my program, they would help me immediately. That's very important! Thank you Ellie!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“POD were hugely supportive of me every step of the way. They helped me work out what I wanted to do during my volunteer experience and then they helped me arrange flights, a travel itinerary and arranged everything with my volunteer placement. They then stayed in constant contact to ensure that I was happy during the placement and followed up with me on my return for feedback. They were professional, friendly and reassuring throughout.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Pod was very well informed about each and every single project and could answer a lot of practical and organisational questions. Pod was very much engaged in adivising potential volunteers with respect to choosing the right project(s).”

Pod Volunteer 5 star review on 17th June 2017

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Posted 9 years ago

“Very friendly and easy to deal with!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Pod Volunteer was simply amazing, everyone was so helpful. I have never felt less nervous and more excited to start an adventure and it is all because of Pod. They helped me every step of the way and even once I got there they were always an email away. My experience volunteering was amazing, I was treated like I've been there forever and made so many friends. I can't wait to go back. It was such a rewarding experience and I would recommend it for anyone.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Had a great time at the centre the only thing would be if you want to google the centre's name it's Wildlife Friend's Foundation Thailand, i would say that this is a great place work is amazing with elephants and other animals, the place is hands off except for with elephants. Also it is a lot of hard work so don't expect an easy ride, other than that it was amazingly great lots of people return back. Not sure I would but it was a great experience and you meet a lot of cool people, I'd visit the place again for sure.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Very interesting. Elephant Valley Project doing a great job. Got to meet young people from all over the world. Cambodian life looks tough. Good to see elephants returned to as natural an environment as possible. I would recommend the experience.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“The were very responsive to my questions and helpful.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“POD makes me happy because I have confidence in them. The programs they represent are have been thoroughly vetted and volunteers can be confident they are going to a reputable program. Given PODS application process I am confident that my fellow volunteers have been thoroughly screened. I have confidence that all those involved with my volunteer stay, from drivers to guides to guest house hosts are professional. And I have confidence that were I to experience any difficulty POD has backup support within the community to come to my aid. All this gives me confidence in POD and makes me excited to volunteer through them.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Pod Volunteer are reliable, friendly and make everything easier for you :) Can't recommend them enough!”

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Posted 9 years ago

Pod Volunteer is rated 4.8 based on 662 reviews