Justgiving and their sneaky 10% 'Voluntary contribution'

[editor]

I'm really pissed off about this. I was just making a donation to a local charity and there's usually some tickboxes involved in the process, usually about tax. So I was supremely fucked off to realise that I'd unwittingly agreed to 'voluntarily' contribute "10 to JustGiving.

And they know it's fucking dodgy because a little box appeared AFTER I'd paid saying, "Did you meant to give the 10% voluntary contribution"?

I said no, but there was no choice to get it back. Really underhand stuff. That's £10 that could have gone to a local charity.

 

[8ball]

That sounds like something that's really not going to make them popular.
Was this on a phone or PC (I find they kind of hide this stuff away better on phones, maybe thinking people aren't looking so closely)?

 

[editor]

Here's how they sneak it in:



And if you click on the link (which I didn't)....



I'm annoyed with myself for missing it, but I've donated quite a lot of dosh recently and this is the first time I've come across such sneaky tactics.

 

[editor]

That sounds like something that's really not going to make them popular.
Was this on a phone or PC (I find they kind of hide this stuff away better on phones, maybe thinking people aren't looking so closely)?

It was on my PC but as you can see above, if you read the first line it sounds like it's the usual tax stuff.

I've mailed them and asked for the £10 back.

 

[8ball]

It was on my PC but as you can see above, if you read the first line it sounds like it's the usual tax stuff.
I've mailed them and asked for the £10 back.

It seems sort of noticeable, but I'm already looking for it and it's a very big snapshot, though I have a donation to something I'll be making later on so will keep an eye out (which tbf won't make my opinion any more relevant since I already know about it).

I guess the proof in the pudding is that you got past it before noticing and couldn't recover it.

I guess you could argue that whichever way you give to charity is going to involve some kind of processing cost, but being up-front is important for trust reasons.

 

[Teaboy]

I reckon you'll be able to email them and explain the situation and get your money back.

 

[editor]

It seems sort of noticeable, but I'm already looking for it and it's a very big snapshot, though I have a donation to something I'll be making later on (which tbf won't make my opinion any more relevant since I already know about it).

I guess the proof in the pudding is that you got past it before noticing and couldn't recover it.

I guess you could argue that whichever way you give to charity is going to involve some kind of processing cost, but being up-front is important for trust reasons.

It was the pop up that showed up AFTER I paid asking if I was aware of the 'voluntary contribution'. I said no, so you'd think there'd be an option to get that money back. To me, the existence of that pop up suggests they know it's fucking dodgy.

 

[editor]

I reckon you'll be able to email them and explain the situation and get your money back.

Tweeted and FB'd

 

[8ball]

It was the pop up that showed up AFTER I paid asking if I was aware of the 'voluntary contribution'. I said no, so you'd think there'd be an option to get that money back. To me, the existence of that pop up suggests they know it's fucking dodgy.

Yes, that is highly steenky.

 

[editor]

I guess you could argue that whichever way you give to charity is going to involve some kind of processing cost, but being up-front is important for trust reasons.

Agreed, but definitely not £10, which is what they sneakily snaffled from my £100 donation.

 

[planetgeli]

Pretty sure this is a new thing because a) I've contributed several times to different things in the past and never seen this and b) google says this

We charge a 5% fee for our Gift Aid service and this is taken from the amount of Gift Aid claimed on a donation. Charities are able to opt out of this service by contacting us. Across JustGiving, our payment processing fee is 1.9% + £0.20.

 

[editor]

Pretty sure this is a new thing because a) I've contributed several times to different things in the past and never seen this and b) google says this

I've been donating to a lot of sites recently and never seen this before. It won't happen again mind, but it's a really underhand way for them to fund themselves.

 

[8ball]

Agreed, but definitely not £10, which is what they sneakily snaffled from my £100 donation.

That's quite a hike from what I'd expect. And yeah, you have a good case for getting that back.

 

[8ball]

I've been donating to a lot of sites recently and never seen this before. It won't happen again mind, but it's a really underhand way for them to fund themselves.

It seems very different to what they say here too:

What are your fees? (UK Only)

 

[editor]

Here's the form here
Donate - JustGiving

 

[skyscraper101]

How do Justgiving make their money without this then. Do they take a fee anyway from the receiver?

 

[moochedit]

This says it varies in different countries.

www.justgiving.com/info/fees-2019-march

 

[scifisam]

I've noticed that before. I don't mind giving them some money but not 10%, so I always change it to I can't remember what, 3% or something, which seems reasonable.

 

[moochedit]

Found this.

JustGiving drops platform fees for UK charities

Is justgiving a charity itself or a profit making company?

 

[8ball]

Is justgiving a charity itself or a profit making company?

The latter.

 

[editor]

They've responded:

Hi

Thank you for raising this issue with us. I would be more than happy to help you with this. Firstly, I want to apologize that your last experience was not a satisfactory one. As a company we are constantly changing and evolving and our goal is to make our user's experience a smooth and pleasant one.

This starts with your feedback as our valued customers. This feature is relatively new and we are constantly discussing how these changes are affecting our customers, either positively or not so much so. Unfortunately at this present moment, we do not have a system process in place that would allow us to refund just the voluntary contribution (this is being worked on currently).

What we can offer is to send you a compensatory postal order with the voluntary contribution amount you added. We would hate for anything to taint the relationship we have with you as a customer so I do hope this helps matters slightly. I also want to assure you that we are taking your complaint very serious and will be providing this feedback to our product and design teams.

If you need help with anything else, please don't hesitate to let me know.

 

[scifisam]

A postal order

 

[editor]

A postal order

Probably written out with a quill.

 

[8ball]

Probably written out with a quill.

I hope there's a wax seal.

 

[editor]

I hope there's a wax seal.

It'll be delivered by a Telegram Boy.

 

[alex_]

They've responded:

Can you just ask them to cancel the transaction ?

This seems to apply

Online and distance selling

 

[8ball]

It'll be delivered by a Telegram Boy.

It's kind of sweet that an internet company does this.

 

[Steel Icarus]

I hope there's a wax seal.

And a Fimo walrus.

 

[alex_]

I've been donating to a lot of sites recently and never seen this before. It won't happen again mind, but it's a really underhand way for them to fund themselves.

They are a company, they already deduct a percentage from your donation.

They are one of the worst sites to use for this sort of thing, as they deduct the most from the donation.

Top charity giving sites

Alex

 

[cupid_stunt]

Probably written out with a quill.

Apparently Postal Orders are basically cheques printed out for the exact amount required nowadays, rather than pre-printed for a set amount, which you could add stamps to, to make up to the right amount.