This organization should be flagged for scamming volunteers' out of their time and money

Ratings
Overall
1
Impact: 1
Support: 1
Fun: 1
Value: 1
Safety: 2
Review

I scheduled to be here for one month doing the HIV/AIDS programs, and it ended up being the worst volunteer experience I’ve ever had. First of all, I was the only volunteer, and they left me in the place by myself after 2pm, and so I had to fend for myself for the rest of the day. Breakfast and dinner is not included in your fee. They said your program fee includes doing sight seeing but they will never take you anywhere. They even tried to over charge me and when I mentioned the mistake they acted surprised. They charged me 175 US dollars to pick me up from the airport and when i later told other tour companies they laughed and said I had been cheated because getting picked up in a 2002 four runner toyota does not cost that much one way. I thought the 175 included the way back to the airport as well, but they told me once I got there it did not, and acted surprised to think I would need a ride back to the airport.
I decided to pay them by week instead of all at once, and i am glad I did because I moved in with a host family a week later, and when I explained to the program manager that I was not going to stay by myself, they said they wished they had known earlier. Well, they only came once a week to pick up my money so how could i let them know. They said I still had to pay 75$ for lunch meals 5 times a week as well as the volunteer fee, except we did no volunteering so I did not understand the purpose of the fee.
They had sent me a schedule weeks ago because they had known I was coming, but every single day that I came in, I could tell there was no planning involved and no effort. Being the only volunteer, they pathetically tried to keep me “busy”, but whenever they do not have volunteers, they do absolutely nothing, which defeats the whole purpose of this organization that is funded by the government. They said I would be working with kids, but when I got there, i was told kids are not in school, which they obviously knew before.
Their HIV program is not a program. I am a go getter and worked really hard to do thing in the community such as outreach programs and advertising around town, and so Cornerstone cannot call their program an actual program because there is no planning or execution done throughout my time there unless the volunteers work really hard and basically do it themselves. I explained to the program manager that i want to volunteer my time and my money if I am also getting an educational experience, and they tried to fix things, but the next week ended up being the exact same. I have heard of several host families having volunteers from cornerstone and they almost always leave unhappy. I do not understand how they have some good reviews. After talking to the program manager I expected things to be better, but I come in the next day and another manager does not acknowledge my presence, and the staff member said I have to let them know when I'm ready to start the volunteering because if I don't then he sit by the computer all day. When I confronted the staff member, they seemed to be completely ignoring me as they deleted emails off the computer acting too busy to pay attention to me. The complaints go on and on but I really hope no volunteer ever has this experience. Whats the point of risking your time and money here after even one bad review.

Would you recommend this program?
No, I would not
Year Completed
2016