Doorstep Clothing Collections

VitaK

We spend the better time of a week going through our old clothes and desided to donate it to charity. We got one of those Third World Collection Bags posted though our letterbox, so insted of taking the bus to town and hand it in straight to the charity shop, we used the collection bags.
All good. It was collected and another collection bag was posted to us. To my horror i read the fine prints on the bag and realise my donation was not to charity.

Fine prints: "HELPMATES LIMITED is a commercial collecting company who provides people in the third world countries with clothes for there families they can afford. It provides jobs in the third world countries, sorting the clothes for distribution. It provides buisness for the UK export, for transport companies. It provides employment in the UK factories grading the clothes, It provies employments for people collecting the clothes. THANK YOU FOR HELPING US TO HELP OTHERS."

I feel sick to my stomach. I just cant belive how stupid I have been giving something to a limited company thinking it was a charity.

bcl999

There's a lot of them at it.

sillygoose

My no.1 bugbear!

90% of ones I get either are not real charities or only give a pittance share to a charity whilst making more profits for themselves.

Sadly even a proper charity number on it is NO SAFEGUARD!!!

I had one that when I checked was a registered charity but even though it had not filed accounts for 2 years was still registered. The previous accounts showed a token sum spent on a good cause whilst the majority went on salary to the 2 directors (a husband and wife team). I then realised the charity commission is totally useless.

Please just use all these bags for lining your bins don't leave ANY out, if we all do this we can kill this monstrous fraud.

Please take all your donations directly to a charity shop or look out for the 'very few' bags collections that are directly run by the charities themselves.

OP don't feel bad - these con's depend on peoples good will, sadly nobody wants to work these days in this country its easier to scam and hustle.

Pollycat

There's not a lot you can do now, it may be some consolation that you're not the only one to be taken in by companies like this.

TBH, I wish all charities would stop posting bags through my letter box!
I use them as gardening sacks.

I always take my unwanted clothes & bric-a-brac to our local hospice shop.
I've varied over the years between British Heart & Cancer Research plus a few others but I've decided that the hospice is best.

I buy quite a few things from them too, they are very competitively priced - which is one of my bug-bears about charity shops.
Selling Per Una linen dresses for £15.99 (obviously worn) when they were £30 or £40 new (and you could have bought new in the sale for £15.99) is taking the mick, imho.
The hospice shop is currently selling books at 6 for £1.00 (which I think is too cheap) but I'll buy a couple and still pay £1.00.

At least next time you'll know to check before you donate.

cattie

Pollycat wrote: »

I use them as gardening sacks.

Sadly we can't even do that now as everything has to go in special bags for garden waste or recycling. So bags that come through my door end up being thrown in my black topped bin as rubbish as they are too thin and flimsy to be much good for anything else.

marleyboy

We get a new bag a day from an array of collector companies. Regardless of the odd designated charities who go around collecting them, we also get random white vans going around collecting the bags, regardless of who they are meant for.

Its the main reason we never fill these bags, choosing instead to take the clothing directly to the charity shop of our choosing, some charity shops will collect if you ring them.

I would never donate such items by any other way.

ladylouise62

There is even one cheeky one who just put a flyer through the door and expect you to add the bag.

McKneff

ladylouise62 wrote: »

There is even one cheeky one who just put a flyer through the door and expect you to add the bag.

Ive had 4 bags and one of these flyers through the door this week, I use them as bn liners now.

I think I'm going to do a laminated sign up next to the door saying 'NO CHARITY BAGS'

marywooyeah

yes I get a lot of these too, I always scan for the small print as some just say "registered company number" which I think some would mistake for a charity number. best thing to do is only give to charities you know are legit eg nspcc or ring round local charity shops to see if they can collect, the British Heart Foundation have collected from my house twice but don't know if this can be done nationwide or if it varies from shop to shop.

davenport151

I agree. The BHF collect our way at least twice a year and are very reliable. Also NSPCC and Salvation army. Possibly a few more. The others are not legit mostly commercial companies.

Elvisia

We're fortunate to have a great shop that sells stuff that goes directly to the homeless, they have actually built and run shelters right near the shop. It's great because they take everything, and sell really cheap, have two floors and a big turnover. I took some friends in there and the mother got a new pair of Autograph heels for £4!!! If you are homeless you can even come in and take some things for yourself directly. But I agree getting things to these places can be a pain in the posterior, I have a mass of carrier bags that they are desperate for but daren't struggle on the bus with them! I'll literally look like a bag lady.

And yes I hate these charity bags! Might put the cat's litter (used complete with poos) in it next time we get one.