As I walked into the building, there's no reception. Unfortunately you have to find your own class here. And luckily, it was right where you enter. Okay, so the instructor Nicole something, let's say not at all welcoming at all. Not even friendly, not a greeting, just nothing. Once instruction began, she never introduced her to us. Idk, what do we call you? Honestly, we just preformed "missions" like we did in the online portion in portion. We did do actual CPR on dummies and dummy babies. It's straight forward but I was honestly just waiting for it to be done. So then, since this was a hybrid class and was only 1:40 hours long. We were out 20 minutes early since no one had questions. I'll probably renew my certification somewhere else. read more

I've taken Health-care provider and regular CPR/First Aide and AED for a very long time and a few of those times through ARC with no problem or incidence. But since they changed how they do things I will never take another class with them. 1. Instructor was unprofessional and a liar regarding getting our certificates to us once the class was finished the same day is what she said. 2. Wasnt informed on line or over the phone, after spending over $100 for this class I would have to wait more than 2 days to receive my certificate. 3. ARC customer service was of no help, kept saying they have to email the instructor to have her email us the link for our certificates but she has 48 hts which she already exceeded. She just ignored them and as of today we still don't have our certificates. I will be asking for a refund. 4. Also their website is horrible it keeps freezing if you opt to complete part of your work on line before class good luck with that, kept asking me every time I signed in to creat a new pass word. And also making me start from the beginning instead of where I last left off. 5. No longer a fan of red cross for my CPR/First Aid/AED, they may help in the community but not in the class or on the phone for that matter. 6. Will make sure I take this through my employer next time or somewhere, where they make their emploees take or have accountability. read more

Some of the workers here are rude. They leave the doors locked so when you try to put more coins in for parking, you'll have to wait outside. I saw 3 of them and they all saw me by the door, yet none of them opened the door to let me in. read more

American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me - Oakland, California

I went to the Oakland Red Cross last week to get my CPR certification. My Dad, Willy F., also got certified. It was good that he was there so that I could pinch his inner arm anytime someone said something stupid. I was expecting this to be a horrible, long day, but it was not. The class moved along at a nice clip, without much chance for the stupids to take hold and ask all their stupid questions. Our instructor, Jon Gourdine, was excellent. He really knows his stuff, and seemed to be really happy to be there, which, as a teacher myself, I know goes a really long way. If there's anyway to make sure he's your instructor, I would recommend that. As a mother, I had a very hard time with our unconscious baby dummy. I had a hard time getting through the baby CPR stuff without tearing up imagining my own baby being in trouble. There is free coffee and a fluorescently lit eating area with tables and vending machines. I would recommend packing a lunch, like we did. We only had a half an hour for lunch, so it was nice not to have to spend part of that time going to buy something. I needed a place to pump my boobs, and so did another woman in the group. Jon found us a lovely cubicle in back of an office. CPR is tiring. The muscles in the backs of my legs were sore the next day. If you only take one piece of advice from this review, it should be this: Don't stand up too fast after practicing your rescue breathing. I saw stars a few times. You wouldn't want a roomful of people who just learned CPR watch you go down. read more

I am new to the area so I decided to join Oakland Red Cross. I was a Red Cross volunteer for 5 years in my homecountry and since I've moved to California, I had the wish to continue volunteering because it's something that I like and makes me happy and I enjoy it. I've scheduled an orientation at the Oakland Red Cross (even though I know ALL about values, history and principles of the Red Cross, even though I finished courses in CPR, Disaster Management, held many workshops myself and organized camps for children without parents, etc, etc... I held those orientations to new volunteers in my country actually). Despite all that, I still wanted to go through the basic training. The orientation was scheduled for 1pm today. SInce I'm new to the area (like I mentioned), I didn't realize it's so far from the Bart on 19th street so I ended up walking for 35 mins (21 block!!!), caring my heavy purse and my coat. Not to mention that I left my classes in the school I'm attending early so I could come to the orientation. I arrived at 1.10pm (10 mins late) and the receptionist was like "Sorry, you are late, we don't let anyone in, you have to schedule a new orientation". I couldn't believe it and left VERY disapointed. Not to mention that my boyfriend was supposed to pick me up at 4pm (when orientation was suppose to end) so I ended up paying for a taxi home at 1.15pm and he was shocked when he heard they wouldn't let me in. I realize it was my fault I was late, but stil.. I came there to give them my free time, energy and help and that is what yoI got? Red Cross should not and must not work like that. read more

American Red Cross, where do I even start? First of all, I just want to thank you guys for everything that you guys do for the community and the world. This chapter is pretty small, and their parking lot is really hard to find. Their parking lot is behind their building, but lord knows I had a really hard time looking for it. If you don't want to get lost looking for it, you can always park in front at the Meters. It's pretty cheap, not too bad. Every time I go in, I feel like they're always understaffed, because they will keep you waiting for a while. And to be quite honest, it looks pretty dirty and run down. I also feel like the staff members could be a lot friendlier because every single time that I went in, I wasn't really greeted, and was kind of left wandering around until I run into the right person, and have to ask the right question. read more

I don't know how so many people have had such bad experiences here! Before I went in for my class today, reading these reviews had me quite worried. Parking was EASY, it's in the back of the building. I came in today, a Saturday, and got there 10 min early (their were plenty of spots opened) I rang the door bell from the back side and someone opened it immediately to let me in. I took the 8 hour childcare pediatric CPR & first aid class with teacher Sakiko. She was amazing! She's hilarious, patient, and fun! She had such a great spirit which helped make the class less painful for the amount of hours we'd all spent in the room. She's very informative, patient & helpful. Thanks for making it a great class! read more

I needed to take a CPR class ASAP and found a hybrid class run by Red Cross in Oakland where 70% of the class was online and then the rest was onsite. The online portion was very thorough and I learned a lot prior to attending the onsite part of the class. The Oakland chapter of the American Red Cross looks really sketchy from the outside. It's old and when we showed up, the front doors were locked with nobody around to open them. It took me knocking for quite a while before somebody showed up and I was afraid I was going to be late for the class. This is why I'm docking them a star. Once I got situated in the class, things went much better. Our instructor, Mike Houston, was a superstar! VERY informative, friendly, attentive, and thorough. I can't say enough good things about him and I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to thank him personally before I had to leave. The class covered practice in CPR for adults and infants as well as choking and moving victims around. It all complimented the online components perfectly. The classroom was clean, well-organized, and comfortable. The teacher was superb and his helper was also really great. read more

I'm so happy the way they are helping my family. Our house literally fell off the foundation while we were in it. They Red Cross came and helped us with housing being our house is red tagged. I can't remember the two rep.s names, but they were extremely helpful. read more

I went to the American Red Cross in Oakland on Saturday to get my certification for CPR/AED. I got there at 5 to 9 and there was a woman outside who was all flustered. She told us our instructor didn't show up and we now needed to wait until 10 for another instructor. We were told we could leave and come back at 10. Luckily most of us didn't leave because 8 minutes later in walked our original instructor who was all flustered because BART was running late. It's not like 8 minutes is that late, it's just annoying because it was so disorganized and the other woman was freaking out and annoyed and told us we could leave and some people did. Luckily they came back 20 minutes later and didn't miss much. Our instructor was sooooo slow though. I mean, you could hear a pin drop with all her pauses and ummms. It was actually quite painful and I was wondering if I would need some CPR to revive myself! It got more interesting when it came time to perform CPR and AED on the dummies and she did get us out almost an hour early, so that was a major plus but I was really disappointed with the disorganization at the center. I most likely will not return to this site to take a class. read more

Came here to be re-certified for advanced cpr. The location on 2nd street in SF was booked and this was the only option. I was a bit hesitant at first because the area looked sketchy but the staff there couldn't have been more welcoming. This place is huge. Bring your lunch. You get free coffee or hot chocolate. The instructor reminded me of Ben Stein LOL! The course is expensive but you get "freebies". I'm sure there are free course throughout the bay area but the money you spend goes to a good cause. KARMA PEOPLE!!!! read more

This place deleted my post, but I'm writing it again because people deserve to know how this "org" works. This place is not friendly to hazard victims. My house burned down and when I went to their office first thing monday morning they refused to give me a gift card for relief. They told me that disasters only last 24 hour and that since I waited the weekend I was not eligible. How was I suppose to when its close?! Way to take credit for helping victims, but in the end be cheap. I will never donate or give blood to this organization which claims to be important. During the fire they just walked around looking confused and useless. read more

Janice Reaves instructed the CPR and First Aid trainings that I attended at this ARC facility. This instructor proceeded to use a classmate's personal experience of finding her "stiff deceased" roommate as an example that CPR could have resuscitated the corpse. As a professional in the mental health field, this degree of chastising the classmate's actions of first aid could incur further trauma by leaving the classmate feeling they could have prevented the death of the roommate. I left the training in utter shock that a professional would conduct herself in such a negligent manner. I hope that the lack of professionalism is addressed immediately to prevent any additional offense to future attendees. read more

Wretched telephone service. The answering machine will not let you bypass the foreign language babble. When you press any button to skip the pachuco stuff you get disconnected. Go elsewhere to give blood. read more

Took the adult and pediatric CPR/ AED and first aid course. It's supposed to be a 6 and a half hour class but we got 5-10 minute breaks through out, a lunch break, and got out a little early. No complaints on the schedule. Our instructor was Lisa Hoffman who was just great. Pretty in tuned with the class, clear and descriptive answering questions, hands on, with an energy that keeps the class moving and upbeat. Overall an easy and informative class that has the time just fly by. There's street parking if you can find it, Red Cross has its own but elusive parking garage or so I've heard, in the back, or you can opt for the parking garage just a few feet down the street from the office which has a $18 flat fee. read more

Took an AED/CPR/First aid class with Gary Hundert and it was so obscenely bad. True incompetence on the instructor's part, none of the equipment was working...a true comedy of errors. The facility itself was a real dive but that's fine. It was the gross incompetence of the teachings that were a scene out of a bad movie. Thank goodness the online trainings are decent but the in person lesson was a total joke. read more

Do not take a class here. The instructor didn't show up so I wasted tons of time and AMR just says instructors are their own bosses, we can reschedule you. read more

Took my cna and the testing ppl are so mean and rude don't ever come here for testing

This was the best experience I have had with taking a Adult, Infant CPR First Aid and AED Class by far. After reading all the negative views I had to write a post to defend this Red Cross location. The only good thing I got from any review was that is there was parking in the rear of building. I arrived 15 minutes early and a friendly staff member let me in buliding and guided me to the coffee. The instructor was in class already, which was comforting. The instructor was very knowledgeable and genuinely cared about each and everyone of us students actually learning. As well the class was about 6.5 hours and the instructor made it feel like half that time. I finished class with confidence and feeling good about what I learned. The buliding was clean and located in a area that was easy to access and lot's of great food close by. I would definitely take more classes at this location and recommended it to others. read more

RED CROSS of Pleasanton is a JOKE. RUDE and not helpful what so ever. I will NEVER walk into that place again. RUDE to my girlfriend, and just plain not a pleasant experience. I didn't know I needed to be pre qualified to give blood. they let me make an appointment then told me they COULDNT take my blood because I told them my blood was thick. They didn't explain why they couldn't in terms I could understand and didn't even test me to see if I could give blood. So if you decide one day to give blood to help others DONT go to Pleasanton RED CROSS. read more

Everyone was having a bad day here or something because they were all rude as hell. I finished 20 out of 22 online modules before rushing to the in-person training. They kicked me out of the class because I hadn't finished. Now, I can understand if those are the rules. But this lady was so rude about it. Even asked the rest of the class how much time they had spent on the online portion and pointed out how they had put the work in to be there in contrast to me. So so unprofessional. I just left as instructed without saying a word, fearful that I'd say something just as unprofessional as she did. Dear ARC: A lot of people need employment. Give jobs to those who can represent you better. read more

I've been volunteering with the ARC Bay Area Chapter for a little over a year and highly recommend this service activity to everyone who would like to work with an outstanding humanitarian organization and a great group of people. The Bay Area Chapter is one of the largest in the country and also one of the best. It provides assistance to hundreds of our neighbors every year, and you can also volunteer to participate in state or national relief operations. There are many volunteer activities (e.g. disaster assistance, preparedness teaching, family services, community relations, partner services, government liaisons, emergency communications, etc.) and the training for all volunteers is first rate. I highly recommend getting involved with this organization!! http://www.redcrossbayarea.org/ read more

The guy running the class is bias and rude. Last weekend he didnt let me in says I was late when I was waiting in the front. After denying me access to class for being 7 mins late because of a mishap he the following week is doing the opposite. Stopping class to see if anyones late to let them in. This is questionable why couldn't you do that for me. Anyways he remembered me from last week and gave me a hard time the whole class because i said in a group of people how he acts unprofessionally. Tried to fail me but couldnt because other people were watching. The people in class noticed how he responded to me negatively. Anyways i hope this instructor works on his attitude. And or they find someone better to take his spot. After all this is the red cross. I recommend finding another location if you dont have time to waste read more

Woohoo! None of my digressions or wordplay limbo this time - straightforward liking never felt so great!!