Complaints

This profile includes complaints for GoFundMe's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  GoFundMe

  855 Jefferson Ave Redwood City, CA 94063-9992

  
• 

  GoFundMe

  815 E St Box 121270 San Diego, CA 92101-6426

• 

  GoFundMe

  PO Box 1329 Redwood City, CA 94064-1329

  

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/08/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I had set up a go fund me to help with outstanding bills because of a medical issue. Everything was working fine until they froze transfers saying they now needed a bank statement from me. Every form that they sent me to upload the bank statement won't allow me to actually upload anything. The links where you would click aren't actually links that work. I've tried every day to get in touch with them. There is no phone to call and impossible to get anyone on live chat that they say they offer. There is thousands of dollars in much needed money now frozen and all I get is an automated bot and automated email sent.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/15/2024

  Hi *******, Im so sorry for whats brought you here and for the trouble youve had with uploading the document. While we do not have a system in place to offer phone support, please know were here to help make this as smooth as possible for you.
  
  I know it can be unexpected when you're asked to complete these verification steps, even after youve already been sent some funds. When this happens, its because additional documentation is needed by our payment processor to support the continued safety of your funds.
  
  Im glad to see one of our specialists was able to assist you with this, and your funds are now on the way. The funds will arrive within 2-5 business days from the date the transfer is initiated, excluding holidays and weekends. Thank you so much for your patience through this process. If theres anything more you need, please dont hesitate to reach outwere here for you!

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/08/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Yesterday I created a fundraiser to assist with travel expenses. My fundraiser mentioned reasons for travel related to political concerns among US citizens and a way to help them with travel expenses to move out of the country as they've expressed they plan to do. It was removed shortly after I posted it, citing that I violated their terms of service by creating a fundraiser that was fraudulent, misleading, inaccurate, dishonest or ************* fundraiser didn't violate anything according to the terms of service. My fundraiser was removed strictly because of political bias. I reached out via email to ask for more information as to how I violated the terms of service. I was sent the exact same verbiage with no additional information. As there is no way to reach GoFundMe by phone, I don't think I'll ever get an answer, just what they intended by making it impossible to speak with someone. This company can just pick and choose whose fundraiser to remove because of personal opinion. They'll repeat the same thing in subsequent emails and will just get away with silencing those they don't agree with politically. This is not right.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/02/2024

  Dear GoFundMe Customer,
  
  Our Trust and Safety team reviews the content of GoFundMe fundraisers to ensure our Terms & Conditions are upheld.
  
  Our team was unable to verify your connection and plan to transfer donations to the people you were raising money for.
  
  We're sorry to say that GoFundMe is no longer able to process donations for your fundraiser. As a result, we have removed your fundraiser.
  
  If you have questions about the reasons for these actions, you can view our terms of service here: ********************************************
  
  Thank you for your understanding.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/06/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My dad set up a go fund me account for my family. My son is in the **** in ************. We have a large family and are occurring a lot of expenses. Go fund me had deposited my money that has been donated by serval people into a bank account that is not mine. No idea where they got the bank account numbers from. They will not contact me back nor refund my money. They have told me since they no longer have the funds in their possession they cant help me. I would like my money refunded asap. My family needs this money

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/09/2024

  Thank you so much for contacting us about this, ******, and our sincerest apologies for the delay given the urgent circumstances. In taking a look at your email thread with our team, we're seeing that an accidental error was made while entering the account number that was used for those bank transfers. Due to how the funds weren't automatically rejected and returned to us by the receiving bank, our Escalated Support Team is currently working directly with our payment processor to determine if they can reverse the bank transfers in question and send them to your updated bank account on file to rectify this issue.
  
  As soon as we hear back from our payment processor, we will send an update directly to your email inbox to further assist. We appreciate your continued communication and cooperation while we wait for their response so we can proceed.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/09/2024

   
  Complaint: 22522020
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  In further investigation on my part along with my husband I did not enter in that bank account. Also I stopped my transfers before any were made and deleted the bank account I originally provided it was a ***** account. Venmo does not accept outside of the us transfers only direct deposits from a job. I kept getting emails from go fund me saying you have a balance in your go fund me account and you need to enter bank account information by January so I didnt lose the money so I went back in to do that and thats when I noticed this bank account that I had never seen before and that my funds did get deposited to not me. I want my money back all of it. My son is critically ill and we are in need of theres funds. I pray this gets fixed.
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** *******

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/24/2024

  Hello, ******. We're so sorry to hear of the circumstances that have brought you to GoFundMe and the ongoing trouble you've been experiencing with this issue. Thank you for providing this added context to the situation. Our team has taken some time to investigate what happened and we're currently working with both the company that owns *****, ******, and our internal team to rectify this for you. While we cannot guarantee a timeline due to the unique circumstances of the situation, our team will be sending you an email directly as soon as we've received an update from ******. Please keep an eye on your inbox for any emails from our team and feel free to reply on your existing email thread with us if you have any further questions or concerns in the meantime. We'll be here to help.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/05/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My family started a GoFundMe for hurricane help. I have provided my license 3 times and they still refuse to release the funds. I need this money for housing. I have submitted the information they ask for and they are not clear telling me what is wrong "just additional information" i want my money that they are holding!!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/07/2024

  Thanks for contacting us here, *********. Were sorry to hear about the issues you've experienced with your transfers set up. Since you provided the requested documentation, our Escalated Support team was able to assist and were happy to see that a transfer is currently on the way to you, but just a reminder that withdrawals can take 2-5 business days to arrive. We're glad we could resolve this together, and if there's anything further we can do to help, please don't hesitate to let us know. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/04/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have tried several times to talk with a representative to resolve an issue with funds transferred into the wrong bank account. I want to begin the process to recover those funds. I had someone reply to the contact form. He gave me this Ticket #********, saying he would get back to me in a couple of days. He never did. I reached out again and was told a member from the GoFundMe team would reach out as soon as possible. That was 4 days ago. My bank needs the transfer number to proceed with getting my funds, and someone from GoFUndMe has to help me get that number. I want to lodge a complaint for TERRIBLE customer service and to make contact with someone at GoFundMe who will help me resolve my issue.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/07/2024

  Hi ********,
  
  Thank you so much for contacting us about this. We apologize for the delay in getting back to you given the urgent circumstances. We can see that an Escalated Specialist has reached out on ticket number ******** to help resolve this issue.
  
  Please reply to that email conversation so they provide further support.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/04/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I set up a Gofundme page for my son about a month ago. I have been trying to get the money from it now for over a week. I have messaged Gofundme 4 times and have never received an answer.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/14/2024

  Hello ******,
  
  
  Thank you for your patience while your account was under review.
  
  
  We're sorry to say that GoFundMe is no longer able to process donations for your account, because it violates our Terms of Service, which you can view here. Specifically, the content of your fundraiser falls under our Prohibited Conduct" section, Term 9; the legal defense of alleged financial and violent crimes.
  
  
  We have removed your GoFundMe account and any fundraisers within it. We also refunded all of the donations made to your fundraiser, so those donors will receive their money back within the next 3-7 business days.
  
  
  We appreciate your understanding,

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/30/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Set up GoFundMe for a student. Donated $50. of my money io start fund. Couldn't get them to post the fund in educational. category where someone could see it. Kept getting robot. got email from { not sure if robot or human.} But no results. Tried for days to contact customer service live person. Constant run around and wasted time no honest help or results. Don't have a customer service phone # to call.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/07/2024

  Hello John,
  
  We're sorry for the frustration this situation has caused you and that our team didn't directly address your problem. We'll be providing feedback to the previous specialists you were working with to help improve our service.
  
  GoFundMe is designed as a do-it-yourself fundraising platform where success is dependent on reaching out to those you know and having them donate and share your fundraiser further with others. When selecting a category for your fundraiser, it does route your fundraiser into the appropriate section of our site, but without sufficient momentum on your fundraiser gained through initial donations, the fundraiser may not appear towards the top of the list. With thousands of fundraisers per category on GoFundMe, not every fundraiser is easily found through the category search.
  
  We hope this helps to clarify. We also refunded your donation and emailed you directly with the details of this refund. You can reply there if you have any questions as we offer full customer support via email and live chat.
  
  Thank you,

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/07/2024

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: It was not listed EVER on correct category list.  I checked this entire list over and over for several days. From top to bottom. I am not convinced that had this been listed properly. And I would have been able to . speak to a human instead of a BOT or someone pretending to be one.   That I would have at least got half of my objective.  But to your lack of concern.  It will cost me the entire amount I set the GOFUND ME up for Or  $5000.    Since I have to foot the whole amount. As I promised I would fund whatever I couldn't raise.  An amount I really cant afford.  \But will somehow keep my word.   The aggravation has probably no helped my health. on top of everything else. Probably one of worst in my over 80 yrs.
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  John M*******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/29/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On October 17, I made a donation to my friend's gofundme campaign to help with his son's treatment. It was for $100. However, after submitting the donation, for some reason, it addsed a zero to the amount which made the donation $1000. I looked for a cancel or correction option but there were none so I requested a refund. I was redirected to an AI chat that asked me triage questions before making me wait a while to get an actual person. I was told that the refund request was set and to allow 3-7 business days for the funds to be returned. On October 21, the funds were deducted from my checking account. I called ***** to see if they can put a stop to the transfer as my acxount was overdrawn and was told there was nothing they could do. However, later that day, the transaction was removed from my history and the funds were returned. I figured, it all worked out. Today, October 29, I received a notice that my checking account was again overdrawn and sure enough, gofundme had again deducted the amount from my bank. I immediately contacted their support which is all by text, no calls and could not get a live person. I would wait for over an hour leave my phone on the same pageto make sure I don't miss a message from the agent but then it refreshes and I get a message saying "It looks like you have stepped away. If you have any other questions, just return here and we can continue our conversation. Otherwise, a transcript of our conversation will be sent to your email address on file." This has happened countless times. I'm stuck in a loop while my bank account is overdrawn incurring overdraft fees all because of simple mistake. I made the donation out of good will. I trusted gofundme but after this nightmare, I will never ever use it or recommend it again!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/09/2024

  We apologize for any trouble here, Mr. ********** We can confirm that your donation was successfully refunded on our end on October 17, however, we noticed you mentioned you've been re-charged the same amount since then. Our team has reached out to you via emailplease reply directly to that email titled 'Important Message from GoFundMe' with the requested documentation, so we can continue advocating for you from our end and help you receive your refund as quickly as possible. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/28/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On 10/25/24 I posted an urgent fundraiser on GoFundMe to help raise funds to cover the funeral expenses for my recently deceased father-in-law. Based on all available requirements I posted enough information to activate the fundraiser. I then shared it with our friends and family who began sharing and donating. About 24 hours later the account was paused with no explanation and after $2850 of donations had already been collected. During this time, no one could donate, I could not contact donors to thank or explain, we were unable to transfer funds, and I could no longer edit the fundraiser. I finally received a notice about 12 hours later explaining I did not provide enough information with instructions go edit the description (which I could not do). I quickly responded with all the information requested. At this point it has been another 16 hours and we have not received a response. The fundraiser has remained paused and locked. During this time we have missed out on many people and possibly $1000-$2000 who have come to donate and thought it was fraudulent or closed. This has caused a lot of stress on the family in an already stressful time. There is no customer service contact beyond email and from what we can tell it will take several more days to ******** largest complaint here is not that they required additional info or wanted to review the fundraiser, but how the situation has been handled. If that information was required, then that should have been very clear in creating the fundraiser. If there is the possibility of it not meeting requirements, the fundraiser should not have been allowed to post until it was reviewed. It is incredibly damaging to announce a fundraiser and then have people come to a page where they cannot do anything. Additionally, funds that were rightfully donated initially are now being held hostage. And to top it all off, there is no way to contact customer service to help and they are very delayed in their response via email.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/04/2024

  Please accept our condolences for your loss, ******, and our apologies for the delay given the urgent circumstances. Our team has since reviewed and verified your fundraiser and you are able to continue receiving donations. Additionally, all donations are automatically being sent out to the beneficiary of your fundraiser. We appreciate your cooperation in keeping GoFundMe the safest place to give, and if we can assist you with anything else, please do not hesitate to let us know.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/19/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On October 12, 2024, our small business, Uniquely Italy, received a donation through our GoFundMe campaign. Upon checking our profile, we discovered that transfers were paused for verification purposes. Despite not receiving any prior notification, we promptly filled out the required form and uploaded bank documents as requested.On October 13, we received an automated email acknowledging our response and stating that the review would be complete within ***** hours if all necessary information was provided. However, we have not received any further communication or updates since then.We have made multiple attempts to contact GoFundMe on October 14, 15, and 19, but have received no response. The lack of human contact options and reliance on ineffective chatbots has made it impossible to resolve this issue or obtain any information about the status of our account verification.This situation is negatively impacting our reputation, as our donor is now concerned and unable to get any information from GoFundMe either.We urgently request:- Immediate reactivation of transfers to our bank account, OR - Clear communication about any additional information needed, with a direct human contact to discuss the matter.If these requests cannot be met promptly, we demand an immediate refund to our donor. The extended holding of funds without proper communication is unacceptable.We seek a swift resolution to this matter to maintain our business integrity and donor relationships. GoFundMe's lack of transparency and communication is detrimental to small businesses relying on their platform for fundraising.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/25/2024

  Thank you so much for contacting us about this, ****, and our sincerest apologies for the delay given the urgent circumstances.
  
  Due to the volume of requests that we are receiving, it has been taking our team quite a bit longer to respond. We know how important these funds are for your business, and we want to thank you for all the effort youve put in to complete everything on your end.
  
  After reviewing your account we're happy to see that as of October 22, 2024, your information was verified and a transfer for the remaining funds was sent to you on that same day. You can expect those funds to arrive within 5 business days.
  
  We hope those funds reach you quickly and let us know if there is anything else we can assist with. We truly appreciate your patience and understanding throughout this process.