Pod Volunteer Reviews

Name: Pod Volunteer
Address: 5, Noverton Lane, Cheltenham, Prestbury
Rating: 4.74

4.7 Rating 429 Reviews

96 %

of reviewers recommend Pod Volunteer

Company Reviews

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4.7

Based on 429 reviews


Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email, Telephone
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour

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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Email:

info@podvolunteer.org

Location:

5, Noverton Lane, Cheltenham
Prestbury
GL52 5BA

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Pod Volunteer 5 star review on 30th January 2024

Cassia Z

Pod Volunteer 5 star review on 27th September 2023

Colette G

199

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“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.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 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 6 years ago

“Way too expensive, used the advised service to book flights but regretted this when we found out we had to pay extra for luggage half way though our journey and we were not told! Had to also pay extra for our journey to the airport due to a failure in the flight booking service. Next time I will book through the (for example) elephant park direct. Also followed an out of date handbook!”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi Amy-Louise Thank you very much for your feedback. We greatly value all volunteer feedback and take it very seriously. We would like to respond to your points. I'm sorry you feel it was too expensive. We operate on a non-profit basis in order to keep costs as low as possible for volunteers whilst still ensuring a high level of service and that the projects are receiving enough money to cover the costs of volunteers on the ground. For many, the additional support that we provide to volunteers is why they choose to book with us. By booking a project with us, they know that the project they are joining has been visited and vetted in terms of both ethics and health and safety. We offer ABTOT payment protection as well as all the back up 24/7 support in case something goes wrong. I know for example we were able to help you with your flight details when you couldn't locate them while you were away. With regards to your luggage allowance, this is unfortunately set by the airlines and so is out of the control of Pod Volunteer or our recommended flights agent. I understand this was because your international flight allowance was 30kg which but the domestic flight allowance was a lower level of 20kg. This is detailed on the tickets and we advise all volunteers to check the weight limits in the flights section of our Volunteering Guide. I'm sorry that this was missed and you had to pay an additional charge. We will talk to our recommended flights agent to see if they can make it clearer for volunteers. The additional pick up cost that you incurred was due to booking your return flight for a non-standard departure day. All volunteers who fly on the Monday following the guidelines that we send to volunteers when they book are provided with an airport transfer included in the cost. Unfortunately when volunteers choose to book their flights outside of these times and days, the project has to organise a private transfer, the cost of which needs to be covered by the volunteer. The additional cost was communicated to you when you sent your flight details 2 months prior to your trip. Our volunteering guides are regularly updated and these are sent to volunteers at three stages (on application, on confirmation of booking and two weeks before they travel) in order to ensure that they always have the most up to date information. If there are any particular sections you felt were out of date please let me know and I can check these. If you’d like to discuss this further or arrange a phone call, please just let me know. Best Wishes Erin, Pod Volunteer

Posted 7 years ago

Pod Volunteer is rated 4.7 based on 429 reviews