Volunteering Solutions

What an amazing experience! From start to finish the team is really helpful and I had full support throughout the trip. There were atleast 30-35 other people in Arusha and...Read more

What an amazing experience! From start to finish the team is really helpful and I had full support throughout the trip. There were atleast 30-35 other people in Arusha and it was amazing to meet and make friends for life. The food, accommodation and project were all great and I couldn’t ask for more.

Scammed !!! About the medical program (dentistry) in Chiangmai This is in my opinion complete fraud! For 4 weeks the charged me €1,680.00€ with zero value provided by the so-called...Read more

Scammed !!! About the medical program (dentistry) in Chiangmai This is in my opinion complete fraud! For 4 weeks the charged me €1,680.00€ with zero value provided by the so-called organisation. The quality of the volunteer house is a disaster: A super tiny, shared room on the third floor with stairs only and a small bathroom in bad conditions! There are nearly 10 people in the house sharing one fridge and one TV on the ground floor. Every day a man came to each bedroom when no one was there, with the excuse of checking whether the AC or the light was on. This is a pure violation of privacy especially when considering that the rooms where for girls only!!!! The breakfast consists of Muesli, yoghurt and bananas to maximize the profit of this rip-off! about the management: Of Course, they won't pay any money for picking us up from the airport. It was with the company truck which I had to sit in the back of it with my luggage. On the first day they just got me to the hospital in the back of the same truck, showed me the dental clinic of it and told me here are the dentists go introduce yourself, which I believe, I could have done without them. They told me I must manage the time with doctors that I’m shadowing myself and there is no specific schedule! There was not one second in this program that I felt I’m here to help someone which is the definition of volunteer work in the name of charity. It's just a way of making money in the name of charity and providing the worst quality of stay to maximize the profit! For a long weekend I stayed in Hua Hin at the beach in a super nice private room with an amazing pool including breakfast and it cost me only €21 a night. I have no idea what this organization is getting money for if you just compare the value! The only thing they told me about the hospital was to coordinate with the doctor, so I did and asked the doctors to take one day off and then on Monday I receive very rude and disrespectful messages from Imm trough one of the volunteers, accusing me of not showing up at work before even contacting any of the doctors. After complaining at Volunteering Solutions in the UK I was told I must talk directly to the local agency to sort out the problems. My contract is with Volunteering Solutions and not with any local sub-contractor. I will report the company for fraud and claim my money back in court if necessary!

SCAMMED by Volunteering Solutions I just returned from a volunteer program in Borneo. I was the only volunteer. The other volunteer, there were only 2 of us, was with another...Read more

SCAMMED by Volunteering Solutions I just returned from a volunteer program in Borneo. I was the only volunteer. The other volunteer, there were only 2 of us, was with another U.K. company. Volunteering Solutions the ONLY thing they do is charge you a high price to send you there. I feel like I have been SCAMMED by Volunteering Solutions. They only care about the money and that you send them pictures of the project or share your profile with them. To sign up for any program they force you to pay a fee of 199 euros. In my case, I asked for a single room and had to pay almost 170 euros extra, that's in addition to the 1,500 euros that the 12-day program costs (not including flights, of course). In total I paid about 1,900 euros. The other volunteer did NOT pay any fee to the company, and she did not pay anything for the single room and I did. I have claimed these amounts but they refuse and make excuses. The program met my expectations, in Borneo there is a Malaysian company that works all year round in this project, it is APE Malaysia (Animal Project and Envioriment Education). They are the ones who take care of absolutely everything. Surely it is better to contact them directly, and cheaper!!!

Our 18 year-old daughter went to Portugal for the 2-week experience in September 2019. It was one week in Lisbon, then one week in Porto. The week in Lisbon was...Read more

Our 18 year-old daughter went to Portugal for the 2-week experience in September 2019. It was one week in Lisbon, then one week in Porto. The week in Lisbon was outstanding, but her experience in Porto was an utter disappointment and potentially dangerous. After two days in Porto, we counseled her to leave the program.

In Lisbon, she stayed at an Impactrip hostel that was sex segregated and safe. In Porto, she stayed at a run-down hostel and was assigned to a room with a middle-aged male tourist—not a program participant. In Lisbon, she was with a cohort of other program participants her age. In Porto, she was alone. In Lisbon, she worked until 6 PM. In Porto, she was expected to work alone until midnight and travel alone back to the hostel. Perhaps you can see why she and her parents were so surprised and disappointed by the Porto experience.

We talked with a VolSol rep in Lisbon and told her that the situation was unacceptable. The rep offered to find another volunteer option, but by this point, all trust had been lost. At our own expense, we put our daughter up in a hotel and she finished out her remaining days in the city as a tourist. The clear reality is that VolSol has a strong program in Lisbon and a terrible, ineffective, and dangerous program in Porto.