Can you file a complaint on the Salvation Army.?

Q: Have you ever had a problem with them, regarding donations?? Ok here is the story.1 wk b4 moving out of my apt I calld the SA to schedule pickup for donation on some bedroom furniture, he date for pickup was 1 day before i had to turn in the key-I thought that would be ok-Well I asked VERY SPECIFICALLY that they had to pick it up that day b/c the very next day i had to turn in my keys,the time frame was 1:15-3:15, I had moved everything else minus the donation furniture out the weekend before.Well we had arranged that the mngr of the apt would open the door for the pickup crew,they just had to go to the office.Well the didnt go til after the office was closed,they didnt bother to call me that night( i would have rushed over there) nor did they call me the next morning.So i discovered that the stuff was still there the last day i had the apt. only bc i went to double check the apt. & make sure it was clean before rturning keys. I called the SA back & all they could say was it was cancelled & they couldnt do anything but reschedule me. Anybody who has lived in an apt. knows they will not return your deposit if you leave the apt dirty or you leave items there. Otherwise I would have made other arrangements with another donation center or given them away to someone else. So this puts me in a very bad spot-I'm STUCK with no return on my deposit & still dont know if i will get charged more for leaving furniture there. A simple call from them would have been sufficient, but they were very rude & of course they dont care because they are not at loss here. Arent they supposed to help people C'MON?!?! I was just trying to do good thing & it bites me in the @ss

A: There are regulations governing all charities so yes a complaint can be filed. The place to file would depend on what the complaint is. If they refused a donation you do not have a complaint basis because anyone or any organization can refuse a gift and there are times when it would not be wisdom to accept. If it is a question of valuation of an in kind gift such as say clothes or furniture their standard valuations are in their web site and anyone can check. If you feel a donation was misappropriated then contact the local captain or the state or national SA headquarters and if you do not get the problem resolved there contact your state secretary of state's charitable organizations division. That may be listed under nonprofit corporation regulation depending on the state. When I was a child we had a neighbor who volunteered w/SA who some neighbors said didn't do right but as an adult and in positions where I worked closely w/ SA and saw what they do I have not observed wrong doing. Sometimes their decisions differ from what I would make but it is not because they are doing wrong it is just different choices. Since it is made up of humans I am sure there can be some who do wrong just as w/any other group but on the overall I believe SA does a good job of keeping things straight.

Related items