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:04/21/2023

  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 organized a fundraiser via GoFundMe and for 3 weeks now has been trying to 1/collect money, 2/get a response from the company how to resolve why i am unable to collect the money. I am still unclear what is the hold up to collect the money from the platform. They are not responding to cases raised over the email, the chat bot is the only way to communicate with the company by reading documents. I have never had this much trouble with a fundraisers or a company in general. This makes me feel like this is an illegitimate business and other users need to be warned. Never again will I use their platform and will ensure to warn others.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/01/2023

  Hello ****,

  Thank you for reaching out to us. We apologize for the delay given the urgent circumstances.
  
  Our team conducts reviews on accounts in order to maintain compliance with our Terms of Service, strictly enforced policies administered by the payments industry and the U.S. ************************** of ******* Asset Control. This may result in withdrawal holds and we apologize for the frustration.
  
  Upon further review of your fundraiser, we have lifted the precautionary hold on your bank transfers. A transfer has been sent on April 25, 2023 and funds should be deposited to your account on file in two to five business days.  
  
  Please get in touch with us if you have additional questions or do not receive your funds.

  With kindness,
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/19/2023

  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.

  A fundraising account was setup for a family that has had multiple tragic events in the past 4 years that have caused their teenage children to be bed-ridden with little hope for recovery. Both parents have had to quit jobs or lost jobs due to the responsibility and stress of taking care of the children and income at this time is extremely limited. The extended family helps as much as possible. However, additional financial help is needed due to the dire circumstances just to keep a roof over their heads. A non-profit organization has volunteered to help but needs to send the funds through a legitimate non-profit instead of an individuals. After several donations, suddenly GoFundMe has decided to no longer accept these donations and refuses to give a reason. They are also refunding private donations by personal contacts that were made in response to the GOFUNDME page being shared online. This will leave this family with no roof over their heads and no way to pay utilities as the little the father is able to make with his medical conditions only pays for groceries and gas. This goes against everything this site claims to be about and I believe they should no longer be able to operate with these kinds of business practices..

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/29/2023

  Thank you for getting in touch, *************
  
  
  Our Payment Review Team constantly reviews fundraising activity in order to keep our platform safe for donors and organizers alike. Our aim is to ensure all activity on the GoFundMe platform abides by our Terms of Service, payment industry requirements, and all applicable laws.
  
  
  We apologize that the teams review in question resulted in a determination that didnt align with your desired intentions as the fundraiser organizer, and that the outcome resulted in certain donations being refunded. Wed like to discuss this outcome with you further, and a senior member of our team has already reached out to coordinate that conversation.
  
  
  We appreciate your desire to make a difference for your family who youre raising funds for, and thank you for your feedback and continued collaboration with our team.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/17/2023

  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.

  Hello On 31/03/2023 i have donated 91 CHF to this fundraiser ******************************************************************************* , later i have been told that it is created by scammers to raise funds. I have contacted GoFundMe to reverse the payment per their Donor Protection Guarantee program, but they have refused. I ask you to contact GoFundme and tell them to return the funds back to my card. Because per their agreement the donations made on their platform is guaranteed for up to a year if something goes wrong. They took responsibility to refund the funds back to donors if fraud occurs on their platform.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/27/2023

  Hello,
  
  
  Thank you very much for your feedback and concern. GoFundMe is on a mission to inspire hope and change lives through giving, and our team works around the clock to ensure your safety and protect against fraud. One key way we achieve these goals is with the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee which helps protect donors and their donations in the rare case of misuse or abuse on the platform.
  
  
  We take each and every allegation of misuse or abuse very seriously, and our investigations into these claims assess the allegations to make sure were objectively analyzing relevant facts and considerations- that our donors provide, as well as those available to us via internal tools and processes
  
  
  Unfortunately, after our review of the facts present in this situation, our team determined that your donation is not covered under the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee. We certainly appreciate how that decision might be frustrating to you please know, it is not a decision we take lightly.
  
  
  For complete details and limitations of the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee, please review our full GoFundMe Giving Guarantee Policy (********************************************************************************). We encourage you to contact law enforcement officials in your area if you believe fraud is being committed. We will cooperate with any investigation that law enforcement deems necessary.
  
  
  Regards,

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/07/2023

  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.

  My mother has cancer and a go fund me was started to help her finacially during treatment and recovery. She has been getting emails from GoFundMe saying she needed to verify her informtion and directions to log in and how to verify. The directions however tell her she is verified. She has also gotten an email from an employee of GoFundMe telling her she was in fact all verified, only to get another emakl saying she was not a few days later. GoFundMe is threatening to hold payments and even refund donations if not completed by a certain date. We are wanting GoFundMe to figure out if they have my mom's identity confirmed or not as it is clear something is not lining up oin their system, and for the threats to withold donation to cease. This is causing uneeded strees for her when she needs to be focused on healing. Instead she is left worrying if she is going to be able to pay her bills if she continues to not work as ordered by her doctors. Attached are PDF's of the most recent emails received from GoFundMe and a screen shot of her account showing she is verified. Her email address for GoFundMe to locate her account so they can correct their issue is in both emails. I have also reached of more than one ocation attempting to resolve this. The account screenshot shows verified and a button to add data under bank account. This does not allow for any documents to be submitted though nor does it ask for anything more.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/10/2023

  Hello,

   

  Is it possible to update the complaint? I was unable to see a place to add information. We did receive an email from GoFundMe again today with information about missing transactions to my mothers back about. We are unsure however what this is in response to as our communications with them have been quite clear that we are only looking to get the verification emails to get resolved and nothing more. 

   

  *******************************

   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/12/2023

  Thanks for letting us know about this, ******. We are sorry for the trouble regarding those email alerts. It looks like our teams may have been able to clarify the issue. Please feel free to follow up in the ongoing email thread if we can help assist with any questions or concerns.
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/04/2023

  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 started a gofundme to ask for help paying rent after losing my job and I've had nothing but trouble with my account. It seems that my fundraiser is paused or I'm locked out of my account practically every other day, and willing donors are sending me messages saying they can't. This is to the point where I'm being ousted from sharing platforms meant to bring in donations for appearing to be scam even though I'm just genuinely asking for help, all because gofundme can't seem to decide whether they actually want me to have a functional account or not. I just want my account up and running gofundme to stop making me look like a liar by s******* with me like this.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/13/2023

  Hello *******,
  
  Thank you for reaching out to us.
  
  Upon further review of your fundraiser, we can see that our team was able to work with you to get your new fundraiser up and running. You can find more information about transfers here: ****************************************************************************************
  
  Please keep an eye on your inbox for an email from our team detailing further guidance. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
  
  Kind regards

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/02/2023

  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.

  Has taken almost two weeks and I still haven't got access to my money. It's been the required business days, it's so hard to actually get assistance because its only online and normal business hours. I'm three hours from home with a critically ill child in the hospital and haven't been able to work. I need the money and have followed instructions. I keep trying to verify my bank, started 3/24 and I've waited the five business days and have not been offered a solution. Since it's the weekend I can't get a hold of anyone either. It is literally money given to me being held hostage after they've already taken their share of it

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/10/2023

  Hi *****, 

  
  
  We are sorry for the trouble with your bank transfers and we apologize for any delay in our reply as we are receiving a large number of requests at this time and it's taking some time to catch up. 

  
  
  It looks like one of our Specialists was able to support you in resolving your request, and we can see that bank transfers have been sent out successfully since their last email to you.

  
  
  If you have any other questions regarding your bank transfer setup or timeline please reply to our Specialist's email and we'd be happy to continue assisting you. 

  
  
  With kindness,

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/31/2023

  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.

  Gofundme offers a guarantee which states when someone donates money and the cause turns out to be fake or inaccurate, they will return the funds. I contacted Godfundme about a fund raising campaign whereby the fund raiser changed the purpose for which they were raising funds after they had received said funds. Gofundme reviewed my complaint and responded with a stock email stating my request for reimbursement did not meet the criteria for their guarantee. I responded asking as to why my complaint did not meet their criteria, Gofundme did not respond. I therefore must conclude the guarantee is just a marketing ploy by the company to give a false sense of comfort that the fundraising campaigns they host are legitimate when in fact they do not truly have a guarantee.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/20/2023

  Hi *****,

  Thank you for your outreach and we appreciate your patience as we worked with our Trust and Safety team to investigate the customer's claim.

  Our Trust and Safety team has completed their investigation and we have a reply ready to submit to them.

  Should we have that reply included in a reply here, or can the complaint be re-opened so we can submit that through the normal procedure within the BBB portal?

  We will look for your reply so we can proceed.

  Warm regards,
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/31/2023

  Type:Order 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.

  Our family turned to, ****fund-me," for assistance for a ************************* donated around $2000, so we could celebrate the life of my 31 year old brother. Everything started out fine. I was asked to explain my relationship to my brother & elaborate on my relationship with those donating. The next step was getting our. bank account verified. Go-fund-me deposited $1.00 to make sure we had an active account . They emailed confirming our verification. We set up the account for a month, but family asked for it to be closed early because the money was needed. That was when it all went down hill. We could no longer access our account anymore & was emailed saying our account was now on hold to be verified. We were confused because we had already been verified. This time was nothing like the first !! We continued to follow directions, yet got NO WHERE! The only way to contact them was by submitting ********************** through a digital agent. This became frustrating , most the time it couldn't understand our questions. No matter what we asked it always replied with, " We'll get back with you in 2 or 3 days."

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/10/2023

  Thanks for contacting us here, *******. Were sorry to hear about the delay, but your account looks fully verified now, no worries. In taking a look at your account, we can see that the bank transfers were sent to your bank account on file in January, and should've arrived within 2-5 business days. Our ************* team will reach out to you directly (it won't be a digital specialist) so we can investigate further regarding the missing funds you can look out for their reply in the next 1-2 business days at most. Hope the funds reach you quickly and were standing by to help.Tell us why here...

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/11/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* Day

  I am making arrangements as we speak to prove that the money was never deposited. I look forward to hearing from you in a day or two.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/17/2023

  My name is ******* day. I need to keep my complaint open with go fund me, because after you contacted them, they never got back to me like they said. I was supposed to contact you guys within five days if go fund me did not do what they said they would. Can someone please get back to me as soon as possible because I still need my situation resolved. My telephone number is ************. Thank you so much for your time.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/21/2023

  Hello *******! Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We currently offer full customer support via email and live chat, so we are not able to offer a phone call directly; however, on April 10th our ************* team sent you an email titled "Important Message From GoFundMe" (ticket #********) to assist you in locating the missing transfers. Please reply directly to that email if you have further troubles and the team will be standing by until this is all sorted out.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/29/2023

  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.

  Gofundme assisted the scammers to defraud people in collecting funds to go towards my deceased daughters funeral and mine and my other other Ajoonis medical and hospital bills. Despite of notifying them to investigate and providing the paid bills and credit card receipts paid for by me(*************************) they did not take any action towards the fake beneficiary and fraudulent fundraiser. They were told that the ** office detective ***** pulled statements proving funds went to ************************* and *********************** personal expenses and some towards *************************. None of those funds were used for the reasons stated in the fundraiser. This was all secretly done from me, the mother and sole custodian of my child. Additionally my minor childs picture and graphic images from the accident link were posted on gofundme. Gofundme doesnt have a phone number not customer service. They responded to be after 3 months and helped the criminals in larceny by trick despite of me providing recorded phone conversation proving otherwise. This organization should be fined and shut down for fraud. The website for my daughter ******* is still up but just closed for receiving funding. They are very much a part of this fraud and only concerned with their commission violating privacy of my child and family. Im attaching some receipts as proof.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/19/2023

  Hello,
  
  Thank you for taking the time to reach out to our team. Our Trust and Safety team has reviewed your report and determined that you are not an intended beneficiary of this fundraiser. 
  
  In addition, our team opened an internal investigation into the account based on the information that was provided.
  
  At that time, we found no evidence that the funds were used contrary to the intent on the fundraiser. If you have more information on anything related to this case, you are welcome to follow up with us in the existing email thread and we can be sure to take it into account.
  
  For complete details and limitations please feel free to review our policy here: *********************************************************************
  
  Thank you for your understanding.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/19/2023

   
  Complaint: 19870760
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The funds that were collected were transferred to beneficiarys account and distributed amongst themselves instead of helping to pay bills, funeral or medical expenses. I provided phone recordings, hospital bills and conversations to Gofundme as a detective was assigned to this case (whose information was also provided to Mac from Gofundme) The investigation is still ongoing because money was given to one of the sisters who used it for her wedding in October 2022 as per bank statements. Some other money was given to my ex husband spend on personal, leisure without my daughters and I getting a single *****. Gofundme allowed fraudulent activity, without verifying the identity of the beneficiary. Even when they were notified now the beneficiary is trying to put some money back into the account to avoid jail time. I want Gofundme to conduct their own investigation with ALL statements to date as Im the sole custodian of my kids and this is criminal. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/24/2023

  Hello,
  
  We understand your frustration and do note that our Trust & Safety team has reviewed all information and is unable to move forward with your claim under the GoFundMe Beneficiary Guarantee as previously stated.
  
  Please note, while we are not able to continue with your claim, our Trust & Safety team does review all complaints and will continue their investigation. We do recommend that you work with the beneficiary directly to resolve any disputes regarding any agreements for payment. We also recommend that you work with law enforcement if you feel a crime has occurred. GoFundMe does happily work with law enforcement regarding any investigations as needed. 
  
  Regards,

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/27/2023

   
  Complaint: 19870760
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  This is breach of privacy as I am the sole custodian of my deceased daughter and graphic image from her accident was listed in the gofundme without my knowledge, along with her pciture to fool people. Gofundme has many complaints about similar situations where the identity of the beneficiary is not verified and GOFUNDME serves as an accessory for ciminals in commiting larceny and fraud. This website should be shut down as it took me months just to get a response after hundreds of peeople including donors complained about this fraudulent page. There is no customer service phone number or any means of contacting these organization and they ************ their fees and let people commit fraud. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/28/2023

  Type:Billing 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 fund raiser for myself. all of a sudden gofundme canceled my account stating an unauthorized donation was made to me. they "offered" to me that I restart a new gofundme donation page if i donate to myself, which kind of defeats the purpose as i would not receive the donation I made to myself. one person made a donation that was supposedly made and then was labeled as an unauthorized donation. that person should be liable, not me. a friend of mine legitimately made a donation to me after the unauthorized donation and prior to my account being shut down. they never sent me the legitimate donation my friend made to me. they have no right to keep a legitimate donation that was mad to me. the person that made an unauthorized donation should be the person liable, not me, not my friend who made a legitimate donation. if someones bank account is used for fraudulent purposes, their bank covers those types of issues via fraud insurance, all funds are insured federally. I should not be liable for someone else's actions, nor should my friend who made a legitimate donation. this whole platform is a fraud, they are scamming people out of money people are already begging complete strangers for financial help as they have fallen on hard times and do not have money. They need to either return the donation to my friend or transfer it to me as they should, this was a legitimate donation.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/07/2023

  Thanks for writing in about this, ******, and apologies for any frustration as that is certainly not our intention.
  
  
  Our team has responded to your email directly with a solution, so please be sure to check your email to continue working with them to resolve this, and add any additional questions you may have there.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/08/2023

   
  Complaint: 19861497
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  They DID NOT send an acceptable resolution. Someone else committed fraud, I DID NOT, they want me to pay for the other parties actions, I am not liable nor should I be for someone else's actions. The response they gave me was the would "allow me to open a new fund raiser, under the condition that I donate $291+ back to myself". Kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it? They will only let me post a new fund raiser if I pay for the other person's actions. A friend of ********* a legitimate donation after this and and they didn't transfer those funds to me as they should have, GoFundMe is the one committing fraud. They kept my friend's donation to try and cover the other fraudulent donation that was apparently made. If someone else committed fraud by making a donation either from someone else's account or reversing a donation, they should be held accountable. All banks are federally insured for any fraudulent activity. I should not be the one penalized for someone else's actions. The whole point of my GoFundMe fundraiser is I don't have money and am in a dire situation. I don't have money to pay for someone else's actions, think about it. So for them to cancel my fundraiser and tell me they will "allow" me to set up a new one if I pay for the other person's actions it ridiculous. I think the GoFundMe platform is a scam all the way around, they take people's donations and keep them for themselves ripping off the poor people that are trying to get help. They have NO RIGHT to keep a legitimate donation that was made to my account. That is absolutely fraud. It will be reported by my friend to their banking establishment, they made a donation to me, they kept it and didn't transfer it as they are supposed to, period, that is FRAUD, keeping money that doesn't belong to them. I am the only one paying for anything in this situation, no one else, not the person that made a supposed "fraudulent donation", not GoFundMe, they kept money that wasn't theirs. People need to be aware of the whole GoFundMe scam, and I assure you this isn't over!
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/13/2023

  Thank you for reaching back out to us. We apologize for the frustration here.
  
  Our team conducts reviews on accounts to help ensure that fundraiser organizers and donors are protected, and that funds are delivered safely and securely to their intended recipients also known as beneficiaries. This may result in withdrawal holds and account closures.
  
  Please keep an eye on your inbox for an email from our team detailing the status of your account review as well as the next steps. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
  
  Kind regards,
  The GoFundMe Team.