Poor administration, poor communication, more expensive than others

I have done a number of volunteer placements on a number of subjects and each have run smoothly and worked as advertised. Until now.
I enrolled in two projects, both with months of notice and planned a three month holiday around the dates of the projects. For both quite a bit of travel off my beaten path was involved.

For the first "teaching" project I was advised three days before the start of the project that I was unable to go to the school and teach as the school had something else on. I did get my fees refunded. But by the time I was advised I had already spent money especially to get to the area where the teaching was happening so then had to return to where I came from.

The second placement was in another country from where I was in Asia and I travelled there and went to the school, only to find that they didn't know I was coming and had some obligations that meant that I could not teach there either.

Right from when I registered for the first project the communication was terrible with me having to send two or three emails before I got a response. Then to be told three days before the start of one project that it was not going to happen is really poor.

Open Mind advertise as a low cost Voluntourism option. In comparison to other projects I have done, they are not. Most projects are all inclusive costs, where the two I enrolled in did not include anything other than the administration of the project. By the time I added in my accommodation, meals, travel to the school etc it was no longer a low cost option and actually cost more than many others. and in my case they didn't happen either.

If I add in the lost airfares and accommodation deposits that I paid for projects that didn't happen then this project was very expensive.