Text donations!!!!!"

Norman_Castle

Trying to donate my unwanted mobile balance before changing to another provider. £7 balance lots of £5 or £3 numbers, I 'd like to maximise the donation. Tried the PDSA website, no information on how to donate by text although there are terms and conditions for text donations. Tried contacting them but they needed my address, life history, blood type to complete their form Ageuk has varied amounts, just tried to donate £2, its taken 10p off my credit but not the donation. It should be easier than this.

Donate by text

To donate by text, text AGED05 followed by your donation amount to 70070 (e.g. AGED05 £10).

So is that zero 5 or the capital letter o? I suspect zero but why introduce ambiguity?

Neil_Jones

It's clearly a zero.  A capital O is round. 0 (zero) looks taller and thinner.

flaneurs_lobster

Text donation is hard, gave up trying to give end of PAYG £4 to a national charity (bounced with "server error") and instead had 2 entries on ITV's Win a Range Rover (didn't win).

Norman_Castle

Tried again,https://www.samaritans.org/branches/central-london/cls-news/text-donate/

Text giving is a quick and easy way to support our vital work.

All you need to do is send a text message from your mobile phone to a special, five-digit text message number. The donation gets added to your pay monthly bill or taken off your pay as you go credit.

You can choose one of the following options:

• Text SAM3 to 70470 for a one-off donation of £3
• Text SAM5 to 70470 for a one-off donation of £5
• Text SAM10 to 70470 for a one-off donation of £10

You will be charged your mobile provider’s standard network rate for one text message when you text SAM3, SAM5 or SAM10 plus your donation value (£3, £5 or £10).

If you'd like to donate but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text SAMNOINFO 3, SAMNOINFO 5 or SAMNOINFO 10 to 70470.

I sent SAMNOINFO 3 £3  Received a reply stating "To make a donation please include the amount you wish to give e.g SAMNOINFO 10. You can give 2,3,4,5,10,15 or 20 pounds.

Cost of text taken from my credit but no donation made. Is it me? This should be simple.

flaneurs_lobster

Leave the "£3" off your message, so just "SAMNOINFO 3" . Maybe?

Norman_Castle

gavinbaxter said:

Leave the "£3" off your message, so just "SAMNOINFO 3" . Maybe?

"You will be charged your mobile provider’s standard network rate for one text message when you text SAM3, SAM5 or SAM10 plus your donation value (£3, £5 or £10)."

Exactly "Maybe?" One says SAM3, no info says SAMNOIFO 3. Do I leave the space or not? Try again, waste more time and credit? Its a farce. How many more people try and fail to donate?  I've tried three charities, two have failed to take the donation, one doesn't give the information needed.

Norman_Castle

We have a winner. Cancer research get my donation thanks to their functioning donation system.

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/terms-and-conditions/text-to-donate#newtexttodonate0

Norman_Castle

I'm left with £1.01. Not enough to donate and pay the text cost. The 60p wasted on pointless texts could have paid to donate another £1.

jon81uk

Norman_Castle said:

gavinbaxter said:

Leave the "£3" off your message, so just "SAMNOINFO 3" . Maybe?

"You will be charged your mobile provider’s standard network rate for one text message when you text SAM3, SAM5 or SAM10 plus your donation value (£3, £5 or £10)."

Exactly "Maybe?" One says SAM3, no info says SAMNOIFO 3. Do I leave the space or not? Try again, waste more time and credit? Its a farce. How many more people try and fail to donate?  I've tried three charities, two have failed to take the donation, one doesn't give the information needed.

It would be the £3 thats the issue. The £ sign would cause the problem.

Although why didn't you just use the credit phoning someone?

Norman_Castle

jon81uk said:

Norman_Castle said:

gavinbaxter said:

Leave the "£3" off your message, so just "SAMNOINFO 3" . Maybe?

"You will be charged your mobile provider’s standard network rate for one text message when you text SAM3, SAM5 or SAM10 plus your donation value (£3, £5 or £10)."

Exactly "Maybe?" One says SAM3, no info says SAMNOIFO 3. Do I leave the space or not? Try again, waste more time and credit? Its a farce. How many more people try and fail to donate?  I've tried three charities, two have failed to take the donation, one doesn't give the information needed.

It would be the £3 thats the issue. The £ sign would cause the problem.

Although why didn't you just use the credit phoning someone?

You will be charged your mobile provider’s standard network rate for one text message when you text SAM3, SAM5 or SAM10 plus your donation value (£3, £5 or £10).

I'm past caring what the problem is. I followed the instructions and it failed.

New provider has free calls, old provider was 25p per minute. I would rather donate than call someone to burn the money. Many people choose to donate unwanted credit. 

jon81uk

Norman_Castle said:

jon81uk said:

Norman_Castle said:

gavinbaxter said:

Leave the "£3" off your message, so just "SAMNOINFO 3" . Maybe?

"You will be charged your mobile provider’s standard network rate for one text message when you text SAM3, SAM5 or SAM10 plus your donation value (£3, £5 or £10)."

Exactly "Maybe?" One says SAM3, no info says SAMNOIFO 3. Do I leave the space or not? Try again, waste more time and credit? Its a farce. How many more people try and fail to donate?  I've tried three charities, two have failed to take the donation, one doesn't give the information needed.

It would be the £3 thats the issue. The £ sign would cause the problem.

Although why didn't you just use the credit phoning someone?

You will be charged your mobile provider’s standard network rate for one text message when you text SAM3, SAM5 or SAM10 plus your donation value (£3, £5 or £10).

I'm past caring what the problem is. I followed the instructions and it failed.

New provider has free calls, old provider was 25p per minute. I would rather donate than call someone to burn the money. Many people choose to donate unwanted credit. 

That part in bold is not an instruction, it is a statement of what you get charged when you text SAM3 etc.
The instruction was to send text "SAMNOINFO 3"