Door to door charity fundraising...

inca_2

I don't know if it's just in my area but has anyone else seen an increase in this? It riles me beyond belief. We have frequently had this recently from one charity or another since last year. I've actually found them more hard sell than door to door salesmen! I don't expect to be guilt-tripped into giving money in my own home. Why is it when I say, no, I already give money to charity through different channels, do they hear, oh please do continue to tell me why I'm so awful for not wanting to give money for your specific charity?? It's bad enough not being able to walk 10 steps through the city centre without someone badgering you and trying to walk with you for the next 30 seconds. I don't think I should have to put up with it at home.

I give to charity through work and other ways but nobody can give to every charity so I donate to the ones that feel relevant to me. I'm also not about to give my bank and personal details to some person that has knocked on my door. Not answering the door isn't an option as it could be the in laws or other family/deliveries. Last night one actually started looking through my front window when I didn't come straight to the door. Really gets my back up, *rant over* .

BLT_2

inca wrote: »

I don't know if it's just in my area but has anyone else seen an increase in this? It riles me beyond belief. We have frequently had this recently from one charity or another since last year. I've actually found them more hard sell than door to door salesmen! I don't expect to be guilt-tripped into giving money in my own home. Why is it when I say, no, I already give money to charity through different channels, do they hear, oh please do continue to tell me why I'm so awful for not wanting to give money for your specific charity?? It's bad enough not being able to walk 10 steps through the city centre without someone badgering you and trying to walk with you for the next 30 seconds. I don't think I should have to put up with it at home.

I give to charity through work and other ways but nobody can give to every charity so I donate to the ones that feel relevant to me. I'm also not about to give my bank and personal details to some person that has knocked on my door. Not answering the door isn't an option as it could be the in laws or other family/deliveries. Last night one actually started looking through my front window when I didn't come straight to the door. Really gets my back up, *rant over* .

Im sick of getting crappy bags through the door asking me to fill them with clothes and household goods.

The last one was the best, on the letter attached it stated, 'we are not a charity; we sell on second hand clothes to support those who cannot afford to buy new ones'

In essence a bunch of boot fair scammers

retro_bluebell

I agree it annoys me too as there are tons of those bags that come through our door (normally get 8-10 a week!)..I do donate to charity not through cash but I give clothes, books, toys etc to the well known charities (and I also buy at charity shops), those other ones looking for a profit get used as bin bags when I run out

We have had a few charity collectors come round in the past few weeks but we have tons of salesmen too so I have perfected the polite "thank you Im not interested"- shut the door routine..my advice is dont give them the chance to speak just say "no thank you" and shut the door before they say anything

paulofessex

Just have a look at the Job Centre Plus Job website and you will see why the influx of door to door charity collecters/salesman....advertising salaries of £300-£400 per week which of course comes from our donations.

Also have to agree regarding the amount of 'clothing bags' recently one a day without fail, however l can honestly say that l have not seen a sign written van/lorry around the streets collecting

BargainGalore

Good evening, how are you today?

/householder thinks to themselves 'what the heck do you want?'
Then hard sell. The answer is 'no', but it wont cost you much money you will hardly notice it via DD'

Go away

Abbafan1972

If I give stuff to charity, I always take it direct to the shop, rather than leave it out for the collections. You never know which ones are genuine.

Pollycat

All this irritates me too:

• people knocking on my door asking me to give to charities
• people in town centres or outside supermarkets rattling tins under my nose and asking me to donate
• the ever-increasing number of 'charity' bags pushed through my door (some are genuine, some are dubious)
• people wearing tabards in town centres who bound up to you with enthusiasm to try to sign you up to a monthly direct debit to whichever charity they're 'working' for that particular week.
• unsolicited mail from charities I've never donated to

This morning I've had a packet from British Red Cross.
This contained a metal lapel badge, 4 small notecards, a book mark, pen and loads of little sticky labels with my name & adress on.
I've never contributed to the Red Cross.

I give on a monthly basis to a small number of charities of my choice - there is a personal reason I donate to each of these.

In fact, I'm even getting hacked off with THOSE charities because they regularly write asking if I could increase my subscription or give a one-off sum.

If I have a clear out, I put stuff in manageable carrier bags and take it directly to a local charity shop.
Actually, I always used to take stuff to our local British Heart Foundation shop until I took in a couple of carrier bags (filled with decent and clean clothes - Next, Wallis, M&S etc) and the assistant huffed and puffed with annoyance and said 'I'm busy, just leave them there, I'll have to see to them later'.
I said, Actually, if it's so much trouble for you to say 'Thank you', I'll just take them to the Save the Children' shop.
And did.

heretolearn_2

I don't mind being asked politely, but some of them go too far.

The other week we had a chugger actually come into our offices, ask at reception if they could see the business owner, were told 'no, they're busy' and then she said she just wanted permission to talk to the staff. Our receptionist said she couldn't give this permission. the chugger ignored her, burst into my office and stood at my desk doing her spiel. I was gobsmacked. I said 'we don't have time for this, sorry, you'll have to leave'. She continued. I said 'I don't want to discuss this, you have to leave now'. she continued. I stood up, walked towards her to force her to back up to the doorway and said 'I'm telling you to leave our premises'. She gawped at me, said 'you want me to leave!' in a stroppy voice. I just continued walking towards her without saying anything. She turned and stomped off down the stairs and slammed our entry door.

I'd heard enough to get the charity name, googled them, and fired off an email complaining about it and telling them how damaging this behaviour was for their image. I was really pleased to get an email the very next day from the charities Chief Executive apologising and saying it was being passed to their marketing manager. The day after that the marketing manager got in touch, apologised, and told me that the fundraising company had been reprimanded, and that the chugger had also personally been reprimanded.

ithinkyourcrazy

inca wrote: »

I don't know if it's just in my area but has anyone else seen an increase in this? It riles me beyond belief. We have frequently had this recently from one charity or another since last year. I've actually found them more hard sell than door to door salesmen! I don't expect to be guilt-tripped into giving money in my own home. Why is it when I say, no, I already give money to charity through different channels, do they hear, oh please do continue to tell me why I'm so awful for not wanting to give money for your specific charity?? It's bad enough not being able to walk 10 steps through the city centre without someone badgering you and trying to walk with you for the next 30 seconds. I don't think I should have to put up with it at home.

I give to charity through work and other ways but nobody can give to every charity so I donate to the ones that feel relevant to me. I'm also not about to give my bank and personal details to some person that has knocked on my door. Not answering the door isn't an option as it could be the in laws or other family/deliveries. Last night one actually started looking through my front window when I didn't come straight to the door. Really gets my back up, *rant over* .

The charity collectors that are in town centres are not allowed to follow you! My friend was one for a while and when she was moving house I read her list of do’s and don’ts when collecting on the street and it said you are not allowed to follow people or approach people sitting down.
Last week I was walking through my local town, in a rush and one man approached me, I said no thanks, he followed me for ages, in the end I said please go away you aren’t allowed to follow people, he asked how I knew, I said because I do! He soon went away.

We get bags through the door every day, sometimes if I am leaving the house and they are putting them through the letter box I say no thank you and they get annoyed with me.

I pay money to cancer research myself I don’t want to be forced into it, I feel ever so sorry for these people you do see in the street signing up to the chuggers, there are many better ways to do this without having to pay a huge company and its workers before the charities see it!
Rant over

dizziblonde

It's the effing RSPCA around here - I've had one knock at the door, be politely told to leave, and then proceed to try to shame me by shouting "OH SO YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ANIMALS" (now I've got some issues with the RSPCA anyway and wouldn't donate to them over the likes of Cats' Protection)... at this point my three-legged rescue cat hobbled into shot with perfect comedic timing and she just looked at the moggy doing her finest Oscar-winning "I am crippled kitty can I have cuddles please" routine and wilted.

Get a couple around here that don't even bother staying at the door - they ring, start walking to the next door and try to chug you over the garden wall if you come to the door... generally because of how our street's laid out you see them going down the opposite side first (love this street because you always see everything that's going on) and just don't answer your door.

Charity bags - we get tonnes of them - stupid when we've got at least 6 proper charity shops less than 15 mins walk away... I know that's a lot of people on here's idea of heaven!

Abbafan1972

If you ever have the misfortune to shop in Birmingham city centre and walk along New Street, going towards the Bull Ring, there are loads of vultures hanging around. I have had a couple of them follow me up the street, I didn't realise they weren't allowed to do this. I will remind them of it next time it happens.