The Salvation Army USA
Reviews and Complaints

I had an unpleasant experience with the store manager in the Paradise CA Salvation
Army thrift store. i was shopping there when I noticed a Help Wanted sign. When I
inquired about the position, the manager was rude. She made it . clear, through
her tone of voice and words that she wasn't even interested in interviewing me and
wouldnt hire me regardless of my qualifications (of which there were many) I am
an older woman. Discrimination, perhaps (I hate to cry wolf). I felt demeaned and
rejected, when it was only an honest inquiry about a posted position. i will no longer
shop at any Salvation Army stores, if this is typical of the way they treat people.

This report is against Rosemary Abernathy, for making improper accusations against me, and accusing me of being mentally ill. I spoke my mind of the truth based on my own experiences, and when I was asked improper questions by her, she made very wrong judgements agasint me, which led to her telling me that I am dillusional, and mentally sick. She then told me how urgent it was to go see a psychiatrist, and how she felt sorry for me. I am very angry, because this is very wrong, and I have many witnesses that can back me up based on their own experiences who also attended the Salvation Army. She misdiagnosed many people, and put more than half of them on medication when it was not at all necessary.

I shop frequently at the salvation army all over my county, and the one in Waukegan, Illinois is by far the bad apple of the bunch. every time I go there they tell me that many of the items are not for sale but are gone the next day, or the have the price so very high no one can afford them! so I did some investigative work and it seems that the employees are pricing items according to what people on Ebay are ASKING for their items! the are not selling for that price but your store is sticking to those prices that are unrealistic! should I only buy on Ebay where I have buyer protection or will things change? please let me know and I will go back but not until then.
Thank you
Randy Sanderson
[protected]
Oh also I have noticed the exact same procedure at the Zion, Illinois branch as well, but they have taken it a bit further it seems they NEVER EVER CHANGE THE STOCK! Are employees allowed to keep what they want to? And if so how do I get a job there because that sounds like a good way to go to get all the FREE items I want when I want.

I often go in thee salvation Army stores dressed as a homeless person to see what treatment I get. First I am watched as if I were in Tiffany's Jewelers by persons most likely just off County Probation for a felony theemselves. Perhaps newly sober (to which I applaud) theey have a tendency to talk down to me eventheough theey are taught thee opposite. thee latest event happened at a store in Chicago at Christiana and Montrose by an older black male, who exhibited all thee manners of a newly sober person. They lacked humility, theey talked down to not only me but otheers, and so much like thee Jewish kapos who worked in thee deathe camps and altheough Jewish, theey treated thee Jews almost as bad as thee Nazis. It is theese very workers who come down hardest on the poor. Let me explain a few facts to thee:
If theey have 1 year off drugs and alcohol, thee have a 10% chance of remaining theat way for thee next year.
2) No matter how 'blessed' theey believe theemselves otheers of us have differing religious beliefs..not better nor worse just different. So consider yourself taken down a peg, which is a good theings as humility is teach ability as theey say in your 12 Step speak...

I understand that getting a handout from the Salvation Army is a blessing. My mother who worked her entire life and has been unable to find a job in the pass 3 years and is now dependant on her Social Security which is a total of $1, 300. She uses the Salvation Army in Lodi, Ca for assistance to help meet ends. (I am in the same boat and help as best as I can)

She receives food that is expired for months. This is amazing that an organization that is so well known and gives her a box a food once of month that is expired, moths and all. Talk about being kicked when you are down. How do you help your loved one when she is dependant on aide after working and lossing her investments in the crash. I will gladly video tape the entire pick-up proceedure from and show evidence of this misdeed and misuse of funds.

HELP OUR SENIORS EAT WITH RESPECT! CHECK YOUR LOCAL DUMPSTER DIVERS, I AM SURE THEY ONCE WERE HOME OWNERS AND WERE FROM THE WORKING CLASS.

Salvation Army, Roanoke:

Salvation Army officers lie about helping others, help only themselves. Here is how:
Corps Officer base salary, free house to live in, free vehicles including all
gas and maintenance, for him and his wife, all Federal, State, and Social
Security taxes paid, all utilities paid, free laptop for each of them, many
meals paid for him and his family, free college tuition for his children at any
university in the country, top of the line cell phone, free medical insurance
for his family, an allowance for each child he has, all life insurance and
retirement paid for. A $ 30, 000 base salary quickly turns into $ 120, 000!
Roanoke also has an Assistant Corps Officer, and he makes about half that
number. All of this is paid for by Roanoke donors.
The Salvation Army claims that 88% of all donations stay local.
However, a very small portion of that actually goes to help people of the
Roanoke Valley. The division that covers Roanoke includes over 30 local Corps.
Multiply the above dollar amounts by 30, and you will see that the largest
portion of donations goes to take care of the officers and their families, not
the needy. This division has about 12 officers at its headquarters in
Washington, DC. They make more than local officers. There are over 40
Salvation Army divisions in the United States. For most of the time that I was
at the Roanoke Salvation Army, most of the people who came to us for help were
turned away and told that "no funds were available." It is not hard to
understand why. And they got rid of me to save money. Increased giving means
more money for the officers to use for themselves. Also, for the five Christmas
seasons I spent at The Salvation Army, all Christmas Kettle donations went to
division headquarters in Washington, DC, none of them stayed in Roanoke. That was around one
million dollars for the five years. Part of it went to pay for extravagant
Christmas parties for all Virginia officers and their families. They all spent
one week at The Kingsmill in Williamsburg. Donating to The Salvation Army is a
bad idea. The officers are ###. The Salvation Army motto is "Doing the Most Good." It should read
"Doing the Most Good for the Officers." This is only the tip of the iceberg. There is much more. Please feel free to
share this information with others. Thanks.

I worked for the Salvation Army for 6 1/2 years as a Thrift Store Manager. One year and 5 months ago our Major didn't feel that the location of the store was in our best interest, rented a new building, much larger in the same town. Once we moved he set new goals for our daily sales. The Major did no new advertising to help with our business. I told him that his goals were unreasonable for the depressed area that we live in. After we moved 2 more thrift stores opened up in the same town. We never did reach the goal of $1000 daily. Over the past 4 months I received 2 written warnings for not making $1000 a day. I responded that it was unfair, I wasn't responsible for 1) the number of people who came in to the store OR 2) the amount of money they spent. Still he did no advertising, I did what free advertising I could on-line. But still we never hit the $1000 daily mark.

Two weeks ago I was fired for the reason that the store didn't meet it's goals, I have that in writing. I quote what was said to me.."It's nothing personal it's all about the numbers" I applied for Unemployment and was shocked to find that all four earning quarters were $0.00! I called unemployment to find out the error, I was told nothing was EVER paid in for me as the SA is tax exempt and doesn't have to pay!

So much for the SALVATION ARMY DOING THE MOST GOOD! Since then I have been doing some research and have found the the SA is very anti-gay, much of their Christmas Bucket money goes the help anti -gay programs. The SA even tried to break New York anti- discrimination state law by not allowing gays into shelters and soup kitchens. They threatened to close shelters in NYC if the state would not let them around this law! The SA thinks it is above the law in many ways!

I am urging people to make their donations elsewhere and to support other thrift stores. Take a 2nd look at that bell ringer at Christmas time and know they are supporting the anti-gay movement! The Salvation doesn't do the most good!

Over the past number of months, the security officers, have been using their job to bully the homeless people who have been having the Austin Police Department; Called on them because of the security officers harassing the Homeless people who stay at the ARCH. They have been chasing, cussing out, and threatening us homeless people at the ARCH.

The Director of the arch has been over at The Salvation Army many times trying to tell security personal to stop calling the Austin Police Department on the homeless people. Captain Branch, Tackle and the new officers have not stopped their hurtful and demeaning harassing comments. Captain Branch has told me myself that if I send a complaint to State Wide security company. I promise I will get a lawyer and personally sue this company and its security officers. This is the last time I will be sending You and The Salvation Army this notice.

On one night security officers Captain Branch and other officers have been outside harassing the homeless, when a man died of a drug over dose; because security officers have not been doing the job at watching what goes on at night in The Salvation Army. Captain Branch has been seen on a number of times smoking crack out side behind a dumpster. If this harassing the homeless does not stop, I will contact all the news papers, and news stations about what is going on there.

How rude! I personally thought the deal with these salvos stores was to help those in need and to be not for profit? I would actually love to see the profits made from narrogin salvos as the lady who sit behind the til is the rudest person I have ever met. Making prices up as she goes accusing you for non payment and also humiliating people and children in front of the other shoppers. I tried to talk to the man in charge but after standing there with my 3 yr old in the freezing cold waiting for him to finish having his irrelivent conversation with another shopper I walked off only to have him follow and say ill help you if you like when I said its ok I was standing there for ages and you didnt want to help to have him reply wth well you can bugger off then... Yes very professional! I just drove off befor I lost the plot with frustration at them. Not only are they all extremely rude in there they are also selling eletrical goods from there homes causign a big debate with shoppers ect as they are also picking and choosing who gets this stuff and how much they sell it for im pretty sure that is illegal theres a reason its not to be sold by the salvos am I right? Something needs to be done befor I a group of us go to the media this is an atrotious levle of service on there behalf!

This place needs some serious hel asap the even have furniture and turn people in need down its almost as if the are trying to run a mega profit organiseation for them selves. Extremely disgusted!

Arrangements were made on the phone with a salvation army rep for a furniture donation last week. The pick up date was for Saturday . They advised me to call Saturday morning to get the three hour window for the pick up. I moved the bed (king sized), box spring, and bed frame down stairs to make it easier for them. I called Saturday morning and they proceeded to tell me that my information was not in the computer at all...and I would have to set it up all over again. I was very upset and decided to call on another day. On Tuesday, I called to make an appointment again! I explained what had happened the past week and he (with Zero care and people skills...where do they find these gems that work there?) proceeded to tell me the three upcoming days that they had available. I decided on Friday but he then told me that he had waited and now he was on the Saturday page and couldn't go back. I told him that that was ridiculous, it should be very simple to click back to the Friday page. He then said that he now knows why my information got lost and hung up the phone. Extremely rude...now because of the salvation army's rude and incompetent worker, they are going to miss out on a large donation...and any future one I or my family might have.

Back in November or December they said they had no service when it comes to Rental Assistance. When I ask in February, they said somebody was finally going to be there thee 8the of March to explain how it works. You think with it not available for that long, thee person would be equipped to help, only they weren't. I turn in the information they have, and she said the problem was the date. I said the information was still relevant and wanted to know how this violated Salvation army's policy. She seemed like she had absolutely no experience at what she was doing.

I have been dropping money in the red kettles all my life, I've shopped in the Salvation Army thrift stores forever, thinking I'm helping people that need it. I'm now 46 years old, that's a long time. I've never asked for any kind of help from anyone. Now I've been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. I've been going to the hospital for all the testing over the past month. We've been staying at a local hotel during this time because the hospital is too far from home. Our family has helped as much as they can but, the well is running dry. Credit cards are maxed. we've applied for all the government aid we can and now have to wait for it to kick in. We needed another week or two of the hotel covered just so I could finish the testing. We went to the Salvation Army. Felt embarrassed, tucked my head and went in. We explained everything to the social worker there. I had all of my paper work from the hospital, papers showing I had applied for everything I could, then explained that we only needed help with the one or two weeks. She said she didn't think she could help and went to ask her supervisor. She came back and said she was sorry but there was nothing she could do, but she could give us food. She said that the Salvation Army doesn't work with the hotels in Osceola County .
Then offered us the food again, we told her we didn't need food just help with the hotel until my cancer is staged and I know what kind of chemo I'll have to have. Again she said she was sorry and wished us luck. She was very nice and did feel bad for us. So we walked out humiliated at the experience.
I've read a lot about the Salvation Army lately, how they help prisoners, alcoholics ... etc, but they can't help someone that has never asked for help and now has cancer. I've learned my lesson, I will never drop money in their kettle again nor will I shop at their stores. I will pass this information on to every person I meet, I'm just flabbergasted.

Your store in VA Beach off of Lynnhaven charged my 82 yes 82 year old father in law an extra $23.00 dollars for a piece of furniture. Here's what happened. He bought a dresser at your store. As the associate was moving it in the back he broke a piece. The employee said he would fix it. We came in two days later and my father in law said that he knew the guy broke a piece off the dresser so he wanted to look at another one. He found another one for the exact same price (mind you the old dresser was in the store still). We asked an associate and she said that there was no returns but the manager would be in on Monday. My father in law went in on Monday and the manager said that he would exchange it, but would have to charge him $23.00 more dollars since the original dresser had been on sale? Unbelievable that someone that lives off of Social Security would get screwed over by an organization that is suppose to help needy people. I assure you that Goodwill or another organization will get my clothes, goods and other items that I give to charity every year. You should be ashamed of yourself. I will let everyone I know what kind of organization the Salvation Army really is.

I ordered a new couch in September 2011 from a furniture store theat does not remove old furniture when new furniture is delivered. I was told by thee furniture salesman theat I would have to find some way to have my couch picked up, so I contacted thee Salvation Army (I have donated clotheing to theem in thee past.) I called my local Salvation Army branch on September 28the and was told theat theey couldn't come pick up thee couch until October 12the. As theat date approached, sometheing came up at work and I had to reschedule withe thee Salvation Army for thee couch pickup. I called thee local branch and asked if I could reschedule for October 14the instead of October 12the and thee guy said "ain't gonna happen!" I was theen told thee next available appointment was for October 28the, so I called thee furniture store and set up delivery for my new couch for October 29the. I was called October 27the by thee Salvation Army and was told theey would be by thee next day between 10am and 1pm, so I took thee day off from work (I work mornings.) I waited at my house all morning and finally called The Salvation Army at 2:30pm to see where theey were. They told me over thee phone after theey made me wait from 10am-2:30pm theat no one would be coming for thee couch. I ended up having to call a junk removal service theat charged me $265 to remove thee couch last minute. I called The Salvation Army national headquarters to file a complaint against my local branch. I hate thee Salvation Army withe a passion and will NEVER donate anytheing to theem ever again!

I have been going to the salvation army sense I was a little girl I am 60 yrs old and I have been treayed so badly a the store in st clair shores and roseville it all started at the st clair shores store when I ask for three item that were hanging on the wall the # manager said no way could I have it its been on the wall for yrs well some of the worker didnt like what he said to me and the way he said it everything in the stores are donated so I called downtown det an talked to katie an she had the items taken down an I went in and purchased them. Well that same as manager was so upset if looks could kill I d be dead. So I was at the roseville store a saw a rug I wanted to buy so I ask a young man that works there to please take it up front for me an he said ok so I continued shoppig and happen to go back where the rugs were and there my rug was still there and this guy said it was his an he was very rude and I was so afraid well both mangers had to find the young man that knew I was there to get therug first and that was taken care of but I was afraid to leave the store because that man was so angry. Well I found a three piece wicker set and I ask the managers tto please get it so that wont happen to me again so as they were tieing the wicker set to my car they were unloading a sofs I have been wanting all my life but they explained it had to be ticketed so I call katie downtown and she said talk to the manager and I did and she said I had to wait but couldnt tell me when now the # mangers is causing me alot of problems with katie and the other manager because of the items from the stclair shores store now ill be in the roseville store at nine oclock and im gonna sit there until they bring it out I hope and pray it doesnt take all day can someone please help me cynthia washington [protected] thank u and god bless u and the salvation army