GoFundMe

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.

The site appeared to integrate well with a large audience of like minded people nationally and internationally who were supportive and provided donations. I posted the link on Facebook and it was easy for people to use and easy for me to update. GoFundMe directions were very easy to understand then I was led through the process of setting up the fundraiser with no problems. People who wanted to donate provided donations directly to my PayPal account.

Considering the convenience, the fees were very modest. They did not charge very much. I did not pay upfront for anything. GoFundMe took about 5% out of each donation. Particularly when compared to other fund raising sites, that is quite reasonable. The site worked so well, I never had to seek customer support. Direction and answers to common questions were readily available. Some of my issues included how to distribute the GoFundMe fundraiser to a wide audience, how to get the donations, how to provide updates and goal setting. All this information was already very clear on the site.

Social media sites are an excellent way of getting the word out about your charity or whatever you need to raise money for. When you share your content it can be shared by others as well. I found filling out the information was easy, yes you do have to give your social security number. You can also update others on how things are going. Fees are minimal. You do pay a fee to have them send you a check. Depending on how much you received from fundraising decides how much in taxes you will pay. I really didn't need to deal with customer support. I had no problems with my fundraising event. If you are having trouble with the site or others, please let them know.

It was very helpful to raise fund for an unfortunate cause to help pay for medical bills. Great for being able to post on Facebook to get the word out there to friends to raise the most funds. Very easy to use and set up the entire process. The fees are very reasonable for what you're getting out of it. It was well worth the process and with the help of the site funds were able to be raised.

It was easy to set up and I really didn't deal with anyone from the company! You set up what you are needing help with. It is good but, the amount they take from the donors is too expensive! We got help from some of the people we know, not anyone who we didn't know!

Never had an interaction with customer service. Go on the website and open the cause you are donating to. Pick an amount and enter your details. Donated to various causes on the website. It has been easy to donate and received periodic updates on the causes. Love the interface, only wish they could help the cause more and charge less.

Too many updates after a donation. Extremely simple. Click, donate, paypal and done. I would prefer not to get repeated updates and requests to donate once I have already donated to a cause.

I have never had to use customer service for this site. You set up an account and click on a button basically. I decided to review Go Fund Me because they have some people/situations that seem to need some very immediate attention. I feel like I am helping in a direct way.

Paid thru PayPal, which made it simple for me. There is a lot of "talk" about money being collected with a specific purpose, and then being able to be withdrawn without proof that it is going to the originally specified place.

This is usually a worthy cause site, but have seen some questionable "causes". Used a credit card. Some prescreening would be good.

There were no customer service issues with my donation. The site is easily accessible with a clear route to making donations. This site has all of the recipients listed in categories, related to the causes that they are requesting funds for. I also found it helpful and delightful that donors can leave comments for the recipients.