Issues with Green Day Across the World

[Fuzz]

Update December 2, 2011: In light of new facts, here's a new thread open for discussion about everything related to this.

I have closed the other thread (and will be removing it in a couple days) and am starting this one so we can actually give information out to anyone still waiting for their items. I want to re-iterate from the start, that my involvement with GDATW has been very limited, and the reason I'm making this thread in the first place is because I want to make sure that anyone looking for answers can get them.

Since issues with GDATW came up last week, I've looked into them as much as I could to make sure we look after Green Day fans who got involved with this. GDA's only real involvement was posting about the charity a few times over the last year, but we weren't actively working with Dawn in anyway to organize or plan out things related to GDATW.

There's a few issues to address and hopefully we can help anyone who has concerns. I have confirmed that Dawn has been in the hospital for most of November due to illness, and because of that, she's been unable to take care of everything surrounding GDATW. Still, we feel that lack of communication over the last year about GDATW has only led to people to feel skeptical about the whole situation. After talking with the GDA team, Dawn, and Kat (more about her in a bit), this is what we decided is the best route for those you having problems

What's the current status of GDATW?

Dawn will be handing over everything related to GDATW (prizes, auction items, etc.), to Kat (peanutgallery on GDC). We've worked with Kat in the past, she was one who helped organize all the cards and donations for Kyle Rodas and his family earlier this year.

I've suggested at this point that they should just try to address any outstanding orders or issues with GDATW, solve them, and then we just move on and plan something entirely new and separate next year for GDC and Green Day fans.

I'm still waiting for items

If you ordered items and you still haven't got them, you should go to Amazon or PayPal (if you ordered from eBay) and file a claim to get a refund. This will simply ensure that if you sent money and didn't get any items, that you can get your money back.

You can also send a message to Kat (send her a PM here, or get in touch with her on Facebook) and let her know what items you're waiting for. Dawn is sending her everything and she'll do whatever she can to make sure you get items you ordered. If you don't want to wait, you should just file a claim for a refund.

What about those fake items?

While looking through the auction, some of us came to the conclusion that certain items looked photoshopped. Dawn explained that she bought a lot of items herself from eBay to re-sell on the GDATW auction pages. She never knowingly bought or posted anything fake. Anything she bought, she used the photo uploaded by the other seller.

Many of us saw first hand Billie Joe signing stuff for Dawn during the times she got to meet him after the American Idiot musical. So we do know that many items were authentic, but it's impossible for us to vouch for every single item.

If you received an item that you feel was fake, you should reach out to Kat and see if she can help you, or to eBay/Amazon.

What happened to all the money raised?

We know of two charity donations made. One was to the Red Cross shortly after the major earthquake that hit in Japan earlier this year, and another was to Pipeline For A Cure, the charity that money was raised for from Green Day's surprise Costa Mesa show. Dawn will be sending me the receipts for those donations so I can personally verify them, and once I do, I'll update this post.

The idea for GDATW was to raise money for the NRDC, a charity supported by Green Day. While there's no way for us to know the exact amount of money raised or spent on everything related to GDATW, it's my understanding that there wasn't enough money to donate to the NRDC after the other donations.

Where does that leave us?

If you ordered something and haven't received it, I think it would be best for you to just file a claim. I'm unsure if GDATW will continue in it's current form, but I've explained to Kat and Dawn that I feel it would be best for us to just close this chapter and move on to something different. At least that's what I plan on doing for GDA/GDC. The problems with GDATW came mainly from a single individual trying to run this on their own. It was run separately from our sites, yet used GDC as the central hub for planning and promoting. This is why I felt a responsibility to address as much as I could. If we do anything in the future, then I'd like to make sure we do so in a way that is much more transparent to everyone involved (including our staff) with much clearer objectives.

If you guys have any concerns, again you can reach out to Kat on facebook or here (username peanutgallery) . If you have any questions or concerns about my post, please feel free to send me a PM.