I am supremely disappointed, to say the least.
Back in mid-February, I placed an inquiry through Compassion because I hadn't yet heard back from 2 children regarding the financial birthday gifts I sent in early-mid August.
Originally, the first Compassion employee who I reached via my email told me that I could not yet place an inquiry, and that it takes 6 months for the earliest response to a gift, because my gift took 3 months to get to the child, and letters take 3 months to get to me from the child. He told me I needed to wait until 8 months had passed before I put an inquiry in.
First of all, that email put the 1st nail in Compassion's coffin. Letters do not take 3 months to get to me from the child's project, as I have other letters that have arrive within a month of them being written. And a financial gift certainly does not take 3 months to get to the child. This isn't 1985.
Secondly, I knew that Compassion's policy was 6 months for an inquiry if you haven't heard back about a gift.
So, I emailed back, laid it all out for him, and asked if there was someone else I could deal with who would know Compassion's policies better than he did.
The email I got back was, in fact, from someone different, and she assured me that 2 inquiries would be placed for me. Great.
I even got a follow up email at the end of February, letting me know that Sabnam did, in fact, receive the gift, and it listed out what she bought with the money. Also, that email let me know that I would be receiving the letter shortly. Still great, and totally making up for the horrible customer service of the first person I dealt with at Compassion regarding this situation.
Today, that "letter" arrived. Here it is, word for word:
Dear Sponsor,
Greetings to you on behalf of your sponsored child Sabnam H. She has received the birthday gift money of $xx that you sent to her. Out of that money she has got one study lamp, one blanket, one bedsheet, and a lot of toffee according to her need. She is giving a hearty thanks to you for this all.
No drawing from Sabnam on the back where there is a huge space for the child's drawing, no other information about what's going on in her life, and I doubt Sabnam had any part in helping with this letter. She is only 5, so I certainly do not expect her to write her own letters, but I do expect a letter to at least appear as if she helped with the input. Or, if she didn't help with the input, she could have drawn something.
After this experience, and taking into consideration all of the correspondence issues with Compassion, I think I can accurately say that I will not be sponsoring another child with Compassion ever again. I will maintain my current sponsorships because I do believe in what Compassion is doing, regardless of how many letters I receive. But I will no longer be sending extra financial gifts, and I will not replace any kids I lose over the years. If financial difficulties arise, it's sad to say it, but the kids I hear from least will probably be the kids I end up dropping. Right now, I hear from my World Vision kids and Plant-a-book kids way more often than my Compassion kids.
I am so disappointed. When I sponsored with Compassion 4 years ago, things were so much better than they are now in the correspondence department. Oh well, live and learn. Compassion is still doing great things, and I've since learned of other wonderful child sponsorship organizations.
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