GoFundMe

I have previously had a GoFundMe page and successfully raised $ 5,000.00 with it. I set up another GoFundMe page which was a ministry and actually an outpouring to the previous page. GoFundMe repeatedly sent me emails suggesting my page was reported for fraud. There has never been any fraud, never will be any fraud, and I have answered all GoFundMe concerns many times. They have disabled my link and refuse to even respond to my emails. I do NOT recommend this site for anything as we do have haters in our world and GoFundMe apparently doesn't even take the time to answer the emails of the people who legitimately try to use the site. In short, I believe GoFundMe is the fraud. DO NOT USE THIS SITE. You will regret it and be made to look bad even when practicing truth and integrity, which is something GoFundMe might want to try.

Names are changed to protect privacy --- We clicked on our friend's Facebook page link to send a donation to help their family member, Johnathan. When we got to the page it showed a picture of our friend, Johnathan and his kids. We gave our donation but our credit card statement showed a different "Johnathan". When we requested a correction with a credit to our account, GoFundMe refused to issue the credit, so the money is going to a stranger. This is wrong and is illegal. They need to get their system errors corrected and stop the 'blanket' email messages refusing to work with the consumer. We will never use GoFundMe ever again and have escalated this dispute even more with our CC company. They are doing business in a fraudulent manner!

www.GoFundMe.com became very nosy about my "Campaign" to help a friend in the ICU. They would not release all money raised unless they spoke with my friend in need who was in ICU. This is a complete SCAM and FRAUDULENT company. I demanded they send all funds over six times. They declined and said they would keep the money. #SCAM #FRAUD

I am raising money for my dog's emergency expensive surgery (http://theladyslounge.com/nina-needs-your-help/) and raised over $600 on GoFundMe. I've only raised enough to pay the deposit but the first time I tried to withdraw money and transfer it to my bank, the transfer was cancelled a few days later, without any explanation. I emailed to inquire and was told that my bank account information was incorrect and to go back in and resubmit it. Every time I do that, I receive an error message telling me to "confirm your bank account number" and it won't let me withdraw any money. I emailed them again and have heard nothing back. My dog's surgery was Saturday and I still can't pay for it. I'm so frustrated. I recommend using PayPal or internet money transfers. GoFundMe is fun because everyone can see who donated, and how much, but it doesn't help if you can't ever actually have the money.

I have had a terrible experience, I started this account to help my father with expenses that have accrued as my mother has terminal brain cancer. My mother recently passed and we would like to use the funds to help pay for the funeral. When I went to my account it said that there were people that wanted to donate and have been able to, I tried to get the money off the account to help with funeral costs. I can only get so far and then nothing. I have tried to do several that the site says to do, nothing. I think that this site just ropes people off that are grieving. How can people be so heartless?? Don't trust this site with your loved one's money.

I set up an account for a terminally ill friend who lost her home and car to the flooding in Houston caused by Harvey. I began receiving donations, and wanted to withdraw those immediately in order to send the cash to this friend, but after I filled out the required fields with my bank account information, an alert box appeared informing me that my withdrawal was under review. Six days later, I have only one email reply from a GoFundMe representative promising an answer with in two day. Two days have passed and I have heard nothing further.

We were set up an acct 14 months ago. I have been battling them 14 months. Our money was fraudulently removed. They froze out and never informed us of this. After 14 months and jumping thru every hoop and trick they offered us 528.00 of over 1600.00 if their supervisors OK it. So, in a nutshell all our friends donated and we never received one cent. How is that fair or right. I want an attorney and public exposure to their policies. They say all their donations are protected, but not for us. They let people I don't know have my money. I'm so humiliated. Buyer beware they're not what they're cracked up to be.

I am an RMN raising funds for an elderly lady. I have had the most ridiculous experience. It has taken me more than 3 weeks to withdraw the funds raised for this lady... complication upon complication. Don't use them. They stall then delay and I still haven't got my lady's money!!!!

I am highly upset, 2 of my friends donated $100 each anonymously and I saw it there and next day money was gone, I been trying to email and can’t get answers, I monitor my donations along with the emails I receive of donations and these 2 are missing, so are they stealing money from campaigns when they're anonymous? I am very upset because people work hard for their money & this issue is making me wanna take action.

I started a GoFund account when I needed a little money to keep from getting evicted. They suddenly closed my account, saying I was fraudulently getting money, which I most assuredly was not! They are attempting to take back every donation I received, overdrawing my account and as of today, not one of my contributors has received any money back. They refused to answer my emails about what happened. I think this is a scam, frankly.

I started a funding campaign for a dear friend who suffered a horrible house fire, lost everything. Fundraising went well, so my friend needed the funds. Site states one can choose between a check or bank withdrawal: wrong, only bank withdrawal. They wanted a voided check. Done. Then they wanted a bank statement (??). Done. Then they wanted 2 govt id's. (???). Done. Then they were "blurry. " resent. Then they wanted the backs of id's. Done. 3 weeks later, no withdrawals. They stall, and stall and stall. Don't use this site! I sincerely believe they are scammers, to people in the middle of crisis. I don't know how they sleep at night!!! Can't communicate with them. Their 5 minute email response is a joke. No n phone number. Customer service is non existent. Use a different site.

I tried setting up a campaign but halfway through I got stuck at the 5% per donation charges taken by GoFundMe.com. I found the below statement on ConsumerAffairs website regarding GoFundMe, so I believe it to be true: "GoFundMe, based in San Diego, launched in May 2010. Its users collectively raise about $4 million every day in varied categories such as education, medical, volunteer and emergencies. To date it has raised in excess of $2 billion." This means GoFundMe receives $200,000.00 everyday in charges from campaign owners. For a business to raise over $2 billion dollars (pocketing 5% or $100 million in campaign charges) with no physical phone number and a business address of a P.O. Box this seems a bit suspicious at best.

Autocrats with no dispute/grievance procedure - My campaign was a little of nothing, really; just wanting to raise money for matters quite trivial in comparison to what's been mentioned here. My account was suddenly closed with a notice telling me that their "payment processor" couldn't process payments; and my email was immediately banned. I was further advised that I would not be given any further information. I can't abide by the idea that a payment processor, in businesses for 100+ years and so widely trusted can't transfer funds from one account to another. I am confident that GoFundMe believes I violated their TOS; and there is absolutely no way to plead my case or even to be advised of what they believe I did or intended wrong. I stand accused, and obviously guilty, of some wrongdoing as far as GoFundMe is concerned. So don't be surprised if GoFundMe just slams the door on you for one reason or another and calls it good.

I received a note from my friend who said that she was unable to donate to my campaign and when she tried to donate received the following message: "There's an issue with this Campaign Organizer's account. Our team has contacted them with the solution! Please ask them to sign into GoFundMe and check their account."

I NEVER received any sort of message and my campaign, which is providing education for underserved teens in Compton, lost countless dollars. We are already underfunded and need every single penny. There was no phone number to contact them and two hours later, I am still awaiting for a response from the technical team. I am going to every consumer site I can to let people know they are better off going with Kickstarter.

I looked over the "How it works" before I set up a campaign, and nowhere did it say there were "Requirements" of any kind to get your campaign listed with them, just set it up. Once I did so, I could not find it on their site. I waited awhile since it could take time to index, two weeks later, nothing. I contacted them, and I was told it would not be listed unless I posted a link to it on my valid Facebook page. That is something I had no intention of doing and I think GFM knows this, that's why they keep it quiet. If they can get us to sign up we may do just as did and follow through with the unreasonable demand, like it or not, since I have already gone to all the trouble. If they disclose it all at first, we may not set it up. I have little doubt that is what's behind the lack of disclosure, but it doesn't end with that.

So I shared it with explanation of FB that I didn't like it but they required it. Several weeks later... Nothing... Not listed. I contact them and I'm told they don't list until we get a certain amounts of shares (Didn't say how many). So now they are forcing me to do more of what I never wanted to do, things that they knew I wouldn't want to do so that's why they hide the fact I had to do it. Now I'm essentially forced to show that I will make them more money before they will even bother listing me?? They actually do nothing, I could have posted it all on FB page so, in effect, all they are doing is taking our money. Most people can pay through PayPal so getting payment isn't a problem. Meaning their service is almost worthless as they do no promotion, and pretty much nothing but bait/switch, and trick you into doing what they want you to do... Make them more money.

After they added the second hidden stipulation I gave up. I mean I figured if I do that, what next? No listing until I do something else I don't want to do? I have to do a thousand shares or more to get listed? What else? I'll look into a site that's a little more honest and up front about the requirements so I'll know what I'm getting into first. People that don't give full disclosure and hide things so they can mess you around and make more money from you, are people I have to wonder what other dishonest thing will they do next? No thanks, GFM.

I opened a GoFundMe page to help pay for a surgery for my Siberian Husky. She has a huge mass on her leg. I was shooting for $5000.00. It was going to cost a little over that. I reached my goal according to the website but I didn't really since they took 400.00 in fees. Most people who opens one of these pages are for serious things and because they need help with the money and people give in good faith not realizing that some of it is being wasted to pay these people. That is 400 dollars I could of used. I would not recommend this to anyone.

Klee ** started a GoFundMe account for me, Michael **. People who donated just shy of $19,000. I was homeless, I have major PTSD from being shot and beaten so bad, from what my friend/witness Daniel ** said by 9 staff member at Hoag hospital in Newport Beach that they broke my back and strapped me down in 5 point restraints for four days, denying to my family and friends that I was there and on the fourth day they took me in an ambulance to Royal mental ward is Santa Ana where they heard my side of the story and released me immediately.

Anyway Klee ** ended up MIA with half of my $19,000. I have many people who donated to me that are extremely irritated and are taking legal action against him. Nobody knows what his address is, his birthday, or even has ever met his girlfriend he had spoken of often. If you find any information please contact Rick **. Thank you.

My friend and I raised $5,250 for a young friend in need. When we reached our goal - he began the services that the money covered. When we tried to withdraw money they said we no longer had access. They have no contact number, no live chat, just email that doesn't help. We have been told twice that they will be getting back to us in 24 hours but it hasn't happened. They are scammers and probably screw a lot of people out of their rightful money. Would never use again. If you have a problem, get ready for a nightmare ride on their customer "care" email team. I'd be interested to know if they've been sued over this before.

In October 2016 I started a campaign on Go Fund Me for a neighbor that was in need of support after the death of her husband. However, when I went back to her to gather additional information for the campaign she advised me that she was not interested. I have made numerous attempts to have the one donor refunded with no success. Go fund me states on their website that you will get a response in 5 minutes... Not true!!! All I want is to refund the donor and shut down the campaign. I would not recommend this site for fund raising.

I am currently in the middle of a debacle between GoFundMe and WePay because of a donation I made, that is NOT being refunded to me since the account that the donation was made from is now CLOSED. They refuse to allow me to provide another means to receive my money, the bank CANNOT receive it since the account is closed, and WePay is not providing any assistance as well. Currently writing to the BBB. This is absurd.

It was disturbing to see how much they take for themselves. Here we were trying to raise real money for my sister who has cancer. Then they take a huge percentage, in my opinion for not extra exposure or helping promote our cause. Therefore I would not recommend this to anyone.

You can share the campaign on social media. Others who are interested will click. Some may even donate. Social media helps spread the word faster. This can help others through a campaign quicker. It's easy to use. You just enter a few bits of information to sign up for a account. After, you can see if there is a campaign you are interested to support. If you decide to monetarily support a cause you can just enter your payment in a quick, fast manner. There is no fees to the consumer. There is fees to the campaigner but very few. The fees are to keep the website running for future users. Without fees, the website would not be able to help others and their causes. If you need customer support there is many ways to contact GoFundMe. You can contact by email, social media. I'm not sure but I think they might have a phone number too.

I wasn't satisfied with the amount of money they keep out of the funds. Regardless I never did share on facebook as I do not want my friends to know how bad things were. I did activate. Nothing happened. It was pretty easy to use. The uploading of photos and the ease of the filling out the information and setting it up to share. Setting up the fund was easy and I had no trouble activating, editing the information, amount of goal. I didn't know when setting the funds up that such an amount would be taken from the funds. While I appreciate the opportunity to raise funds. I just felt that they shouldn't charge a fee.

The only way these sites truly work is if the cause is a tear jerker. The sharing and emails are simple and generic. As I recall there wasn't a campaign option for how often to share or how often to email blast. It's all fairly straightforward. Filling out the information, pleading your case and then pushing the information out there. It wasn't overwhelming. There's no negotiation on fees for tax stated nonprofit organizations. Understanding that the site needs to make money too, I wish there was a scale or a way to plea for a lower rate.

YOU CAN link it to all social media networks to allow others to donate and spread the cause. It also shows how much you have raised towards your goal and allows you to update the current situation of the benefit. They make it too easy for anyone to create new accounts and spam social media to get others to pay for everything. It makes people ignore all posts from the app. Extremely overpriced. It makes you have to post your goal substantially higher than the actual amount needed. At least they do not make you buy a monthly membership to use the site.

The program is very used into integrating the Facebook so that way more people would be able to see it and shared among the many friends. It is so easy to use it. Anyone can use it. Setting the countertop was easy, quick, and painless, and anyone would be able to do this even a child. The fees and/or additional fees are very minimum which makes it easier that you will actually end up with more of the money to use for your GoFundMe account. I have never had to use their customer support. From what I hear it is very top rate and they respond to your concerns and questions very quickly and efficiently.

After creating a campaign, GoFundMe allows you to post your campaign directly to your Facebook page to be shared with your friends, which is great for exposure. Honestly, it only took me about 15 minutes to create my campaign, and there were tutorial notes for each step. First, you start by "telling your story," and elaborating on why you need help. Next, you add pictures to help others connect to the campaign. Finally, you create a title for the campaign and preview the whole piece.

After you complete everything, you can either post your campaign instantly, or wait, and the funds you raise, once cleared are yours to keep whether you reach your goal or not. There really are no fee for creating a Gofundme campaign, but there is a small fee for donating to the campaign, which the website does warn you about upfront. I've never had to write any complaints to Gofundme customer service, but they have been helpful in emailing me with news about my campaign.

The integration of this site is very good. It can be easily used and there is nothing better than that. I would recommend this site to everyone! This site was very easy to use. I was able to use it with no problems at all. It was fast and quick to navigate through the site and I found it a very good quality site overall. The fees were low and a one time fee. I thought the fees were worth the quality of site you are using and receiving. I would recommend it. The customer support for this site was wonderful! As soon as I had a need or a question I was able to get the answer or help I need easily and efficiently.

It helps get the word out when people set up the GoFundMe page to help people in needs with money or food or donations in any kinds ways. It can be very easy to use. Just one click of the button and it very secure and safe and can be anonymous. You can donation any amount of money and you can put your name or leave it blank. The fees are very cheap because this is to help people in need of money or whatever in need in any way. The are free and cheap, awesome and trustworthy. They have friendly staff that are there to help with anything need or just to ask a question whenever need. If there a problem they are quick to fix it.

I cannot feedback on this aspect of the process. I do not use so-called social media. I have heard the integration is good and that people love it. I take this at face value. I will not go against my own beliefs to find out. GoFundMe is extremely easy to use! I did not have the need or opportunity to access customer service. I have heard it is satisfactory.