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IFRE Volunteers has a rating of 4.47 stars from 18 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases. IFRE Volunteers ranks 5th among Charity sites.
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I volunteered in Guatemala February 2020. It was an amazing experience. I signed up at the last minute and the organizers at IFRE were very accommodating despite the rush. The contact person in Guatemala picked me up at the airport even though my flight landed at 12am! I was very appreciative. The host at the house where I stayed was amazing. She was always trying to make sure that I was happy. The home stay provides 3 meals a day which can help with your in country expenses. I do suggest that if you are going to a country where they don't speak English, you should take lessons before or during your stay. I spent a lot of time researching volunteer opportunities abroad and IFRE was by far the least expensive! Everyone that I have come in contact within the organization has been very helpful and professional. I plan to use them again next year when I volunteer abroad.
DO NOT GO THROUGH IFRE! They will try to ask for more and more money! They do not communicate and after 3 days of missed calls, they will tell you that its more money than originally planned. IFRE is a scam company that is not what it appears! The images that they have posted on their Instagram account are FAKE! I crossed referenced those images to google search and they are some the first images that come up for searches such as mission or volunteer abroad. This is a scam company that will try to ask for more money! Get out while you can! I do not want anyone to be scammed by them like we almost were. I started a club to go on a medical mission trip as high schoolers and IFRE seemed too good to be true. Until our contact started acting shady and losing communication. The very first time that we talked to our contact we took detailed notes of everything. From where we would be staying to the cost of the trip... down to every penny. After a few weeks, our contact told us we would not be staying with host families but in hotels changing what he had originally said, and that the price was $200.00 more than what they originally said. Looking back at our notes we knew what they were saying is not what they told us before. However he claims that he had already told us this. Placing the blame on us even though our detailed notes were proof of him lying to us. Looking at more reviews we found out that IFRE was indeed a scam. PLEASE do not book with IFRE! They are a SCAM! And will take your money without delivering and always asking for more!
DO NOT GO THROUGH IFRE! They will try to ask for more and more money! They do not communicate and after 3 days of missed calls, they will tell you that its more money than originally planned. IFRE is a scam company that is not what it appears! The images that they have posted on their Instagram account are FAKE! I crossed referenced those images to google search and they are some the first images that come up for searches such as mission or volunteer abroad. This is a scam company that will try to ask for more money! Get out while you can! I do not want anyone to be scammed by them like we almost were. I started a club to go on a medical mission trip as high schoolers and IFRE seemed too good to be true. Until our contact started acting shady and losing communication. The very first time that we talked to our contact we took detailed notes of everything. From where we would be staying to the cost of the trip... down to every penny. After a few weeks, our contact told us we would not be staying with host families but in hotels changing what he had originally said, and that the price was $200.00 more than what they originally said. Looking back at our notes we knew what they were saying is not what they told us before. However he claims that he had already told us this. Placing the blame on us even though our detailed notes were proof of him lying to us. Looking at more reviews we found out that IFRE was indeed a scam. PLEASE do not book with IFRE! They are a SCAM! And will take your money without delivering and always asking for more!
I am writing this review because I got scammed and I don't want to happen to anyone else. I paid a lot of money believing that I was going to help by volunteering in the less economically countries that i went. The truth is that they did not only take advantage of me by taking all my money but they also take advantage of people which leave in a less economically developed countrie and are really poor!
They are just asking for the money, its so bad, if you got lucky you will do the program but if you have a problem no one is there to help you.
For I stoped them when a girl asked me to sent 1100$ via western union in the same day, rushing me all the time to pay, pay and pay, but may placement was in June.
They are crap very bad company and no proffesionls at all.
Now I am no getting may money back, no one reply to my mails.
But I am going to review in every single page I can.
Hello,
I would like to share the experience I had with IFRE in India. I have recently come back from a one month summer volunteering project where I worked in a slum school in Faridabad. Overall, I had an incredible and very positive experience in the country. However I also experienced a couple critical points with IFRE:
1) According to what I had to pay for this four week volunteer program, I realized during my work experience that certainly not a lot (if any) of the money reaches the school. There are no proper tables, no exercise books and few reading books in the school. For this reason I am wondering how the 1,899$ that I paid for this trip has been used by IFRE.
2) I noticed that IFRE does not require any background checks of the volunteers. Anybody, whether with good or bad intentions can work with the children in the school. This could be a potential danger for the students.
3) Volunteers do not need any teaching experience to work in the school. Additionally, no lesson plans or instructions on what to teach the pupils were given to me when I arrived in India.
4) I had difficulties with the payment of the trip; I was overcharged on one occasion and asked to repay the entire program fees on another occasion. Also, I had to email IFRE for an invoice.
5) Unlike mentioned on the website, where it states that "IFRE's staff also visits each volunteer every 1-2 weeks", the other volunteers and I got no such visits within my 3 week stay in the school.
6) IFRE (or Global Crossroads who IFRE works with) did not follow the program mentioned on the IFRE website accurately. For example I did not get to visit the city of Ranthambore at all. Unfortunately no alternative excursion was proposed to me.
7) On one occasion, my parents contacted the country coordinator in India and he gave them incorrect information about my location in the country.
8) During the time I was sightseeing, I was asked by the local IFRE/Global Crossroads contact to give extravagantly high tips to the drivers and guides.
Therefore I do not recommend traveling with IFRE Volunteers.
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IFRE Volunteers, Non-Profit 501 (C) 3, offers Volunteer abroad programs in 18 countries worldwide, volunteering opportunities with meaningful programs like teaching, conservation, orphanage work, HIV/AIDS etc, at just $140 per week
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