Complaints

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:07/26/2024

  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 initially signed up for a one-time donation. I then noticed a charge the next month as which tiime I sent an email to change.org to cancel my membership. I then noticed a new charge the following month, and again the month after. I emailed again to cancel my membership but I continue to get charged each month. Today I disabled my acccount and also email change.org to obtain a refund and also to make sure then cancelled my membership.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/29/2024

  Hi!
  
  Your membership has been cancelled, and I have refunded you the 3 payments you made - this should hit your account soon.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/23/2024

  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.

  Like other complaints listed here, change.org has been collecting monthly charges from my credit card without my knowledge. I do not remember enrolling in a monthly subscription, but what's worse, is there is no paper trail about any of these charges. I don't have any emails notifying me of enrollment in the program, no emails about monthly charges, nothing. I can't even figure out when/where this started, and I can't find the account that these charges are linked to. I've submitted an email through their help department, but I also want to post here as the whole thing feels really shady, tbh. I've never submitted a complaint with the BBB, because I'm normally not the type of person to post reviews / complaints / etc. online, but this feels really wrong. I think the company knows this as I am clearly not the first person to have this experience. Sad. Change.org markets itself as a part of the solution, but it seems like they prey on people who want to make a positive difference in the world. In actuality, they seem to be part of the problem themselves - profit-driven and fraudulent.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/29/2024

  Hello,
  Im sorry to hear that you are unhappy with your experience on our site. 

  
  Unfortunately, from the information you provided in this BBB forum, I am unable to identify your account to investigate whether the recurring payment has been canceled by our Help Desk team. If it hasnt been resolved, please directly email our Help Desk team at **************** If you did not intend to become a member, you can request a refund in addition to the cancellation of any future payments.
  

  In the standard processing of a new monthly membership, the person agreeing to become a member should receive an emailed receipt indicating the amount of the payment. If you did not receive a receipt, please let our Help Desk team know that you didnt receive it. They can escalate the issue to our internal engineering department to identify whether there is a bug in the receipt system. 
  

  (Please email the Help Desk team from the email address you use to login to Change.org so they can investigate the appropriate account details.) 

  
  I am hopeful and confident that we can resolve this issue for you. 

  
  Sincerely,
  Change.org
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/21/2024

  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.

  First of all, I wish to commend Change.org for allowing people to bring their petitions to this platform. I have run two very successful petitions and am now running a third petition. Without the Change.org platform, none of the prior issues would have ever been addressed much less investigated. My problem has to do with timely customer service for the most recent issue. Yes, I am clear that promotions are a hit or miss and the Change.org team actually manually promotes favored petitions. I get it. However, I would like to supplement my advocacy efforts with strategic promotions to start on weekends only. For some odd reason, when I try to run a promotion, the petition preview does not include the photo. Since Friday, I have emailed Change.org five times about this. I have not received a response from ***** or *****. ***** normally responds promptly, so she may be out of the office. However, ***** sent me an email on Saturday offering to fix this and advised me to clear cache, check browsers, and so forth. All of that was done, and the problem is not on my end. So this is now my 6th request for answers. 1. Why is the photo missing from the promotion preview ad? 2. When will I be notified that it has been resolved? 3. Did Change.org run the prior promotions without a photo? All signatures for the past few days have come directly from my contacting organizations and individuals who have an interest in the cause and social media sharing. Some supporters are even Change.org members, but my previous petition promotions never reached this target audience. Supporters advised me that although Change.org promotions run on a preferential system, its still a good idea to occasionally run the promotions regardless of the outcome because you may connect with 2 or 3 people who have massive reach. Now that I clearly understand, I can wisely invest in promotions. As such, I would like some resolution so that I can schedule promotions to supplement advocacy.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/22/2024

  Hi ******,

  The best way to resolve these questions is to email us directly at **************** as you have in the past. That allows us to dig in and do our best work to help you. Can you please email us there?

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/13/2024

  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.

  Change.com has been fraudulently charging me monthly subscription money without my knowledge. I signed up to pay a ONE TIME $10 donation in July of 2023. Change.org charged my credit card TWICE in July (on 7/21/23 AND 7/23/23) and then once monthly Aug. 2023 through June of 2024 without my knowledge. I think this company is tricking people into monthly subscriptions without their knowledge.I tried contacting Change.org via an email form about three weeks ago and have not received ANY acknowledgment. I would like my subscription to be stopped immediately and get refunded on the money that I paid last few months

  Business Response

  Date: 07/15/2024

  According to our records, we replied to your email on July 13th. Please have a look in your spam or junk folders! That is the best way to resolve your concern.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/04/2024

  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.

  Change.Org has been manipulating signature totals for the Rethink Awarding ********************* Award To ***********************. CEO *********************** is friends with ***** and affiliated with his and other foundations associated with this award. Inserted flag warning 3 days ago warning potential signers to research first due to false information. This, after the petition took off to over ******+ signatures in just 7 days. It now reflects ******. Requests for specific info from company have resulted in run a round responses. They / ******** are suppressing signatures to benefit their own financial / personal gain. Hold them accountable

  Business Response

  Date: 07/08/2024

  Hi there,

  It sounds like you have some concerns regarding fluctuating signatures. Signatures can be removed from a petition for a couple of reasons: 

  1) the signer never confirms their signature via email, or asks for it to be removed

  2) our team believes the signatures to be spam or otherwise false/inauthentic

  If you would like more information about your particular petition, please reach out to us at ***************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/03/2024

  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.

  Fraudulent transaction.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/04/2024

  Hi ***,

  Your monthly membership has been cancelled and the two charges refunded.

  In the future, feel free to reach out to us via help.change.org and we'll be happy to assist!

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/16/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore 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.

  Change.com is fraudulently charging me monthly subscription money without my knowledge. I paid it for one time and it kept charging me every month without my knowledge. I think this company is tricking people into monthly subscriptions without their knowledge. I would like my subscription to be stopped immediately and get refunded on the money that I paid last few months

  Business Response

  Date: 05/21/2024

  Hi there,

  Happy to help cancel and refund your monthly contribution. However, I don't see any charge under ***********************. Is there a different email you might have used?

  Let me know so we can get to the bottom of this!

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/21/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and Iam not sure what email is given. Can you check *********************. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************** *******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/29/2024

  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.

  This company is promoting a false campaign that is defaming my family. I requested to have it taken down and have not heard back from them yet. Due to the fact that this campaign is up and running my teenager daughter is getting bullied and harassed and does not want to go to school. This is completely unacceptable to create a smear campaign for an innocent family. I have already contacted my lawyers . My poor children have suffered enough and now this harrassment. Its disgusting and disgraceful. I am appalled by this and especially that not one person got back to me.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/30/2024

  Hi there!
  
  Sorry to hear you've been struggling to get this reviewed. If you follow these steps: ******************************************************************************* your complaint will go straight to our team.

  Let me know if I can help further

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/30/2024

   
  Complaint: 21642920
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  I have reported it and they have not taken it down. My name is listed in the article that is shared in the petition and I want it taken down. My kids are getting bullied at school because of this petition. It is very traumatic. My daughter has been receiving therapy because of the harassment that is going on and this needs to come down. 
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business Response

  Date: 04/30/2024

  Can you please send me a link to the petition? I can see what the hold up might be.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/30/2024

   
  Complaint: 21642920
  
  I am rejecting this response because my name is listed on the article and it is causing pain and suffering to my family. It is about my husband and my family . Please I encourage you to delete it, my 13 year old is getting severely bullied in school because of it . I had to go pick her up today. I beg you to remove it, my children are suffering because of it. I have included the link

   

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

  Business Response

  Date: 04/30/2024

  Thank you for sharing!
  
  It sounds like our trust and safety team is reviewing this and should be getting back to you shortly. That is the best way to get a petition removed. Thanks for your patience :)

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/30/2024

   
  Complaint: 21642920
  
  I am rejecting this response because they are asking for documentation that I dont have. The whole petition is defaming as well as the article attached. My name is involved as well as my family. This is just ridiculous that my family is suffering because of this . 

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

  Business Response

  Date: 05/01/2024

  The best way to work with our team is through the email chain you already have with them. Unfortunately, we are unable to follow any other actions through this channel.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/01/2024

   
  Complaint: 21642920
  
  I am rejecting this response because this is ridiculous. Im telling you that my family is being harrassed and bullied and you ask for a court order. 
  

  thank you for not helping . I have all the threads that if something happens to my family regarding this a report will be filed. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/19/2024

  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.

  Change.org removed the option for signers to comment on my petition. They have also removed the ability to promote the petition on the site for me and supporters. (Promotion allows people to chip in after signing to boost the petition's visibility to hopefully get more people to sign it.) These restrictions are supposedly due to violations of the terms of service. The only valid violation was that I included a link to my PayPal, which is not allowed. I removed the link immediately as soon as I found out it was in violation.The other violation was that the comments left by signers was somehow inappropriate. There are a total of five comments left on my petition since I started it in 2021. None inappropriate. No offensive language, improper links, nothing. The only thing I can think of is that someone reported the petition or a comment. (Not surprising given the nature of the petition.)I have been trying for 6 months to restore full privileges to my petition so that I can run a successful campaign but keep getting the run around. At the very least to have promotions restored. Comments would be great but are not as important. The violations were addressed and I made the necessary changes. I have reached out to support several times in order to find exactly what I need to do to have my petition restored to full privileges. But I keep getting vague, generic responses telling me to referring to the terms of service. The most recent response:"Petitions may be ineligible for the ***************** services for a variety of reasons. Reasons may include: risk of policy violation, user complaints under investigation, and more. To learn more about our policy on *****************s in general, please visit our Terms of Service. You should receive an email today from our Support Team with more information."This does not tell me exactly what I need to fix to restore my petition. If the petition itself is a problem then why allow it to still be published?

  Business Response

  Date: 04/23/2024

  Hi there,

  
  Thank you for reaching out to us with your concerns regarding the restriction placed on your content. We understand how important it is for you to express yourself, and wed like to provide you with more clarity and transparency regarding our content guidelines.

  
  To ensure our community remains safe and respectful for everyone, we sometimes have to make difficult decisions about the content that is shared. Your content was restricted based on our Community Guidelines, which are designed to prevent harm and ensure a positive online environment for all users.

  
  I will be following up with you via email to provide more detailed information about the specific reasons behind the restriction of your content. This will include the specific guidelines that were considered and the resulting decision.

  
  We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in helping us maintain a safe and welcoming community. Please look out for my email, and feel free to respond if you have any further questions or need additional clarification.
  

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/23/2024

   
  Complaint: 21600340
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Change.org is a force for good and many people have achieved victories for a variety of issues. It has been my hope to be one of those to achieve success with this platform. Being able to reach people and gain support through signatures is one of the best ways I can do this. This becomes even more challenging when efforts to reach a wider audience is stifled due to some simply disagreeing.

  In your Guidelines, you state: Where information is verified to be untrue, we will remove (or, in this case, restrict) it.

  The Guidelines also state: Tell your personal story. Explain the problem, how it impacts you, your family, friends, or community.

  My petition is concerning an issue that affects me personally. Not only me, but it also affects my family, friends, and community. How have you "verified" that my claims of what affects me personally are untrue and is misinformation?

  You referenced the Guideline on misinformation which states: We may ask you to substantiate any claims you make if they are disputed or distorted.

  I have not been asked to substantiate my claims. My petition was simply restricted without warning, by what I am assuming was a complaint. Someone simply read the petition and made a judgment call and did not reach out to me to discuss or allow me the opportunity to substantiate my claims.

  It also states: Be open to disagreement. Listen to other peoples opinions. You might disagree strongly with a petitions content, but change happens when people with different backgrounds and perspectives can participate in a constructive conversation. To say that my petition promotes misinformation is disingenuous because you have not verified any evidence. You have read the petition and made a judgment call. Do not confuse information you do not understand and/or disagree with as misinformation. It is an easily verifiable fact that the technology I reference exists. What I and others like me are trying to do is simply prompt an investigation government agencies into the illegal use of this technology. You have not verified this is not happening. Therefore, your justification for restricting my petition is based on opinion and not fact. This violates the guideline referenced above.

  There is substantial credible evidence that proves my case that is not included in the petition 1) for safety reasons and 2) there is simply too much information to present. That is the purpose of my request for an investigation. To help gather more information that I can't in my current capacity. Same as any other crime that needs an investigation. Do you ask other victims to verify crimes they reference in their petitions? I am doing my best to raise awareness. I have the petition, social media, and a podcast. Being able to promote my petition will go a long way.There are literally dozens of similar petitions that have not been restricted or removed. I referenced some of these petitions in this ******* video:************************************************

  It would be unfair for these petitions to remain published with full privileges while restricting mine. Plus, many of these petitions are worse than mine.

  Please reconsider. My intentions are honest. I work extremely hard on my petition and my cause. I only want justice. Let's work together.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Your response was:

  Upon reviewing your petition, we have found that it contains content that makes serious unsubstantiated claims that could be interpreted as fear-mongering and oriented toward conspiracy theory. This is not fully compliant with our Community Guidelines, specifically:
  
   9B. Misleading or Unsubstantiated Claims 
  Clearly label opinions and beliefs as such, and provide evidence or sources when making factual claims, especially when discussing civic issues or elections. We may ask you to substantiate any claims you make if they are disputed or distorted. Otherwise, we will restrict or remove content which is misleading or unverified and has the potential to cause harm to others. In some cases, we may add a banner to the top of a petition that instructs users to conduct their own additional research related to the issue.
  
  We understand that discussions around various topics can be complex and passionate. In the case of your petition, you have not provided verified evidence of the broad, sweeping claims you make related to a relentless campaign of terror being perpetrated by researchers, contractors, and other bad actors who spend a great amount of time and resources, subterfuge, and manipulative tactics to secretly and covertly test military-grade weapons in plain sight. 
  
  As a result, your petition is restricted in the sense that it is ineligible for paid Promotion using our Promoted Petition service.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/24/2024

  Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are working to make our platform as safe as possible and we will be taking appropriate action to address concerns of potential misinformation in content published on our platform.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/24/2024

   
  Complaint: 21600340
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This response does not address my last response's appeal for you to reconsider. Instead it appears to only focus on looking at other petitions and possibly restricting them as well or worse.

  Again, our cause is not misinformation. You do not have an adequate information or understanding to make that determination.

  Please restore my petition to its full capabilities. Our cause matters. You cant just decide something is not true because you don't believe or understand.

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

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/27/2024

  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.

  The website besmirches innocent people and the signatures gathered are rarely of ever verified. Our public company came under attack and false claims made of fraud when there was zero fraud. Additionally the signatures falsely appeared a shareholders of the company when in fact 100s of people merely click and email without any knowledge of the context t of these petitions. Its scam to collect monies from unsuspecting people and besmirch individuals and organizations

  Business Response

  Date: 02/29/2024

  Hi there,

  I hear you and understand your concerns. Let me try to clarify for you. 

  We do verify all signatures. We send an email to the signer and they must confirm their signature that way for it to count. We also monitor for fraudulent signatures and remove them. If you believe that the petition you're mentioning here violates our community guidelines, you can report a violation by following these steps: *******************************************************************************

  I hope that clarifies things.