Beware - charity phone spam from Supporter Insight

BikerEd

My daughter, who tends to be home at the moment because she is on study leave, is getting up to two calls a day from an Indian call centre asking for my wife. When she says my wife isn't home they rudely hang up. Today my daughter asked them who they were and wrote down the name of the company. It turns out they are Supporter Insght, a telemarketing company specifically setup to support charity fundraising. So not content with High Street chuggers, these charities are now resorting to badgering people (registered with TPS for do-not-call) on the phone at home.

Here is the company's website and some of its clients (all of whom are now on my personal charity blacklist!) - http://www.supporterinsight.co.uk/our-clients.html

I just called them on 020 7187 7187, and to their credit they were very apologetic, took our number and promised to ensure we didn't get called again.

Barneysmom

Thanks Bikered, we get phone calls even though we've signed on to the TPS service. When we've just sat down for dinner too :rolleyes:

GiveItBack

Not sure 'scam' is right, seems like a genuine organisation, raising funds on behalf of UK charities.

just because you don't like the methodology, you can't call it a scam.

if you're on TPS they shouldn't have called you, but once you told them they did apologise..

BikerEd

GiveItBack wrote: »

Not sure 'scam' is right, seems like a genuine organisation, raising funds on behalf of UK charities.

just because you don't like the methodology, you can't call it a scam.

I didn't call it scam, I called it spam i.e. unsolicited just like spam email.

As an aside, in a previous life I used to make a *very* comfortable living selling computer systems many of which went into national charities specifically for donor management, to allow those charities to maximise the revenue stream from known donors - just like any commercial organisation would use a customer relationship management system. Nowadays I'm involved as a volunteer for a small charity which doesn't use any of these methods - not least because it has only volunteers and spends the absolute minimum on admin. I find the idea of charities working like big business very unpalatable and more and more am becoming alienated by their fundraising methods (e.g. commission-based chuggers) especially when, like the RSPCA or Oxfam they have tens of millions of pounds in reserves in the bank.

PlutoinCapricorn

I am in the not-for-profit business myself, and prefer smaller charities that do not use telemarketing and similar techniques. I have never heard of an Indian call centre being used for this purpose. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to ask where they got your number from, and which charity they were representing: perhaps your wife has given to it in the past, in which case TPS does not apply.

GiveItBack

BikerEd wrote: »

I didn't call it scam, I called it spam i.e. unsolicited just like spam email.

Apologies, I read it as scam - very curious, wonder what was going on in my head that day..

soolin

If you could find out what charity they represented I would also be inclined to give that charity a call. Personally I no longer deal with charities that use such tactics but I would phone and let them know so they can maybe review their fundraising options.

LittleVoice

BikerEd wrote: »

. . ., is getting up to two calls a day from an Indian call centre asking for my wife.

How do you know the person was actually in India? Did they say they were in Mumbai (or somewhere else in India)?

BikerEd

LittleVoice wrote: »

How do you know the person was actually in India? Did they say they were in Mumbai (or somewhere else in India)?

My daughter received at least six calls. Each call was from a person who spoke with a heavy Indian accent that my daughter had real problems trying to understand. Plus they had number unavailable rather than number withheld - which usually indicates a foreign call. All the available data points to an Indian call centre although without them stating so one cannot be 100% certain.

I wonder why you ask. Does it matter to you whether the call centre is in India or not? I would be just as offended by phone spam like this whether it came from Chelmsford or Chennai. My own company uses Indian call centres so I am used to dealing with them and, when properly setup and monitored, can be highly effective.

LittleVoice

BikerEd wrote: »

I wonder why you ask. Does it matter to you whether the call centre is in India or not?

I ask for a number of reasons.

One was why you thought it necessary to mention the location. But I expect that was to explain why they could phone you with impunity regarding the TPS.

krdrummer

BikerEd wrote: »

I wonder why you ask. Does it matter to you whether the call centre is in India or not? I would be just as offended by phone spam like this whether it came from Chelmsford or Chennai. My own company uses Indian call centres so I am used to dealing with them and, when properly setup and monitored, can be highly effective.

Sorry for the late reply but I've just been dealing with these people today.

The call centre is one operated by a company called CMG on behalf of Supporter Insights and is based in India, where I have no idea but they are based in India.

Supporter Insights claim that a recent software update means that some TPS people got through the net although I doubt that to be the case as your message was posted 3 months ago.

Supporter Insight's main clients are:
Cancer research: 'oxfordoffice@cancer.org.uk'
WWF: 'supporterrelations@wwf.org.uk'
Guide Dogs: 'guidedogs@guidedogs.org.uk'
UNICEF: 'info@unicef.org.uk'
NSPCC: 'fundraisingcomplaints@nspcc.org.uk'
Christian Aid: 'info@christian-aid.org'
Oxfam: 'enquiries@oxfam.org.uk'
Asthma UK: 'info@asthma.org.uk'

I've told them that I will send one email to each of their clients plus a copy to them each time they call me. Eventually the charities will have to understand that if they put a toe in the corporate world they have to play by corporate rules. No hinding behind their charitable status and that means having to take responsibility for their sub-contractors.

Have a good weekend