Haiti Charity Fail

FAIL.

I can’t help but feel sorry for the girl.
:duncehat:

$10 per call to send $ for charity!?! What a scam!

UPDATE: I did a little digging about the Haiti Charity cellphone venture. Some of you seemed concerned because you hadn’t heard about the fee. This is what I found at the PBS website. And here’s a portion of an interview that is relevant to the topic:

TONY AIELLO: In this case, it’s text the word “Haiti” to the number 90999. So, “Haiti” is the body of the text message, and 90999 is the number you’re sending it to. The mobile user gets a response message, text message, asking them to reply yes to confirm their donation. Once they do, that triggers a billing event, and their mobile phone bill is tagged with a $10 donation. So, they actually pay that donation to their wireless carrier the next time they pay their bill.

TOM BEARDEN: The cell phone companies then pay that money to mGive, which distributes it to the appropriate charity. Neither the carriers nor mGive receive any portion of the donation — mGive normally charges charities a monthly fee, but it’s waived that for the Haiti campaign.

Other companies providing texting support for Haiti relief efforts include Mobile Commons, Wireless Factory, and the Mobile Giving Foundation, among others. Nonprofit organizations which use the technology say it makes giving extremely easy.

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TOM BEARDEN: Unfortunately, the whole payment process isn’t quite as quick as punching a few buttons on a cell phone. Charities don’t usually receive any money until people pay their cell phone bills. Sometimes, that can be as long as three months. …While the majority of organizations collecting money for Haiti are legitimate, the FBI has warned donors to watch out for bogus online and telemarketing campaigns.

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