Please sign petition, Phone Co. delaying text donations 3 months

[Babbles]

I can't quite wrap my mind around this one --- AT&T, Verizon, & others are apparently DELAYING donations to Japan (!!!) I wish I could edit that thread heading, it wasn't specific enough, but regardless ---

Please sign the petition after reading the details. Thank you.

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-delay-on-donations-to-japan-2

Dear (Reader),

As Japan struggles to overcome a disastrous string of events -- including a possible nuclear catastrophe -- millions of us have sought to help, often by donating money to urgent relief efforts.

But if you donate via text message, your donations may take up to 90 days to reach aid organizations that need the money as soon as possible.

Even though they're getting large amounts of free media attention for their text-to-donate programs, companies like AT&T and Verizon have chosen not to release the donation money right away. Many customers assume that they're sending funds straight to disaster zones in the crucial days after the earthquake, but donations are transferred after the end of your next billing cycle, a process that can take up to three months.

Masaya Uchino, a law student in San Francisco with family in Japan, started a petition on Change.org to demand that AT&T, Verizon, and other major phone service providers stop delaying much needed donations from reaching organizations doing relief work in Japan.

Please add your name to the petition now:

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-delay-on-donations-to-japan-2

After the earthquake in Haiti, Change.org members and others asked phone companies to provide donations immediately -- and the phone companies came through. But so far they've refused to take the same step, and it's up to us to join Masaya in speaking out.

Thanks for taking action,

- Weldon and the Change.org team

P.S. If you want to donate immediately to relief efforts, join the Change.org staff in contributing to one or more of these great organizations:

Oxfam America: http://chn.ge/hd3n4C
International Medical Corps: http://chn.ge/hhkQhT
Habitat for Humanity: http://chn.ge/e8OX7r
UN Foundation: http://chn.ge/hVZ5uu
American Red Cross: http://chn.ge/eWtkti
UNICEF: http://chn.ge/hDASyY

 

[venray]

Phone companies wont send the money until they actually receive it from customers. There is no need to delay it that long however....so I will sign

 

[BrightEyes1082]

It's really better for the nonprofit if you give to them directly.
When you give $10 through your phone company, the organization
is unable to track what would be very helpful data that is used to
determine where they should focus their fundraising efforts. If you
really want to help, go to their website and make an online donation.
Or if you're not one to use a credit/debit card online, mail them a
check.

 

[Babbles]

It's either bad management or extreme greed.

You're right, it's better to go directly to a valid nonprofit organization,
but for people who would otherwise not donate and/or who choose to do so the (supposedly 🙄 ) quick & easy way with the touch of a button,
this delay is ridiculous, up to 90 days --- it almost nullifies the value of the donation...

I think a lot of people, myself included, also just had no idea there was any such delay to begin with...

There *should be an obvious paper trail in the bill itself, also, I assumed the phone companies would make that information easily available
(it *should be easy to add up what's been earmarked for a particular disaster, electronically...)
but with this revelation especially, I wouldn't trust them with that either.

Unfortunately they're still sitting on all the donations from those who had no idea any of this was occuring.... and this shouldn't be allowed to happen if these companies are taking on the responsibility of collecting donations for areas that are experiencing extreme emergencies....
If they can't deliver (in useful time, close to immediate) they shouldn't be allowed to collect ---

Phone companies wont send the money until they actually receive it from customers. There is no need to delay it that long however....so I will sign

That I would (almost) understand, simply getting the money first -- unless it would literally take a month...
If they want to take such a responsibility I'd think they should be able to give the funds almost immediately...
(and at *three months they're just collecting interest )
So I'm sure these folks would thank you for signing!

 

[venray]

It's really better for the nonprofit if you give to them directly.
When you give $10 through your phone company, the organization
is unable to track what would be very helpful data that is used to
determine where they should focus their fundraising efforts. If you
really want to help, go to their website and make an online donation.
Or if you're not one to use a credit/debit card online, mail them a
check.

Ah but once you give directly you are hit up over and over and over again. I prefer to donate when I can and When I want to without receiving 10 different mailings asking for money.....

 

[Babbles]

I'm still amazed...

(Shamelessly bumping since it'd be nice if enough people protested so the

money these conglomerates are sitting on

might actually be sent to Japan

before the Fourth of July.... )

 

[asutickler]

Despite what they'd like everyone to think, the major cell phone carriers aren't facilitating donations out of the goodness of their little corporate hearts. This is a small part of a quiet, widespread campaign to gradually ease people into accepting the use of their cell phones as a method of payment. Why? So that they can make billions of extra dollars by placing small surcharges on said payments.

So if it looks like they don't really care about actually helping anyone... Well, it's because they don't.

 

[Babbles]

Ok, now I see it...

(That's a really good point... they're damn sneaky and obviously not at all altruistic.... apparently not even a little bit.... )