national Trust deceptive gift aid tactic and hard sell.

qetu1357

ThumbRemote wrote: »

And one way you find the price of admission is by asking the staff there. Who then deceived the OP - hence the thread.

I think deceive is a bit harsh.

If it was true that the NT were deceiving - about the two different admissons prices - they would be in breach of HMRC guidelines.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gift_aid/rules/admissions.htm

"In this case the whole amount received from the visitor qualifies for Gift Aid, not just the additional 10 per cent. It is important that all visitors are clearly made aware that the option to donate the 10 per cent extra is entirely voluntary"

I think the HMRC would be more than satisfied that the big signs on entrance make people clearly aware.

hubb

qetu1357 wrote: »

I think deceive is a bit harsh.

If it was true that the NT were deceiving - about the two different admissons prices - they would be in breach of HMRC guidelines.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gift_aid/rules/admissions.htm

"In this case the whole amount received from the visitor qualifies for Gift Aid, not just the additional 10 per cent. It is important that all visitors are clearly made aware that the option to donate the 10 per cent extra is entirely voluntary"

I think the HMRC would be more than satisfied that the big signs on entrance make people clearly aware.

Do you work for the NT ? You seem very defensive of their unethical practice.

ellay864

It's not just NT, I can think of several places where the signs are not that big, and if you're in a busy queue it makes it harder to pause to peruse all written infomation. I've been to several places where it's assumed you're willing to pay the GA price.
I used to have family membership of NT which allowed myself and DH, plus our 4 teenage kids entry. On one day out with just myself and my mother I asked if she could be admitted with me and we were refused. They then tried to charge my mum the GA entry price for an adult and I pointed out she would pay for the standard OAP price instead. They then tried to persuade her to pay for the GA OAP price but she stuck to saying the standard was what she would pay. They still tried to get her to pay the higher price saying that the extra £1.50 was worth so much more; I pointed out she was not a taxpayer and therefore couldn't sign the form anyway but they still kept on. We turned and left, as did a couple in the queue behind us who said they could go to better value places and not be bullied by agressive sales people.

qetu1357

hubb wrote: »

Do you work for the NT ? You seem very defensive of their unethical practice.

No I don't - you can defend someone or something without having a relationship or vested interest.

I think they - and particularly their 70,000 volunteers - do a fantastic job in maintaining and acquiring propertites.

I think it is churlish to begrudge them a £1 (which through gift aid they can make to £2.50) and I, TBH, find it sickening that some on this site will rip them off by taking out membership of foreign NTs to avoid paying the NT entrance fees.

I have to say unethical is as absurd as accusing them, as some have on here, of deception.

qetu1357

ellay864 wrote: »

It's not just NT, I can think of several places where the signs are not that big, and if you're in a busy queue it makes it harder to pause to peruse all written infomation. I've been to several places where it's assumed you're willing to pay the GA price.
I used to have family membership of NT which allowed myself and DH, plus our 4 teenage kids entry. On one day out with just myself and my mother I asked if she could be admitted with me and we were refused. They then tried to charge my mum the GA entry price for an adult and I pointed out she would pay for the standard OAP price instead. They then tried to persuade her to pay for the GA OAP price but she stuck to saying the standard was what she would pay. They still tried to get her to pay the higher price saying that the extra £1.50 was worth so much more; I pointed out she was not a taxpayer and therefore couldn't sign the form anyway but they still kept on. We turned and left, as did a couple in the queue behind us who said they could go to better value places and not be bullied by agressive sales people.

Last financial year the NT spent £14m more than they received in income.

They therefore need then to maximise any income stream they can.

BTW, the overwhelming majority of OAPs do pay income tax even though they don't work.

hubb

qetu1357 wrote: »

Last financial year the NT spent £14m more than they received in income.

They therefore need then to maximise any income stream they can.

Oh I see now. That explains the deception and bullying tactics. What was I thinking of :money:

Pollycat

qetu1357 wrote: »

My experience of the NT is they do adequately inform and I don't see what else they could reasonably do to inform more.

But that's your experience and the OP has described his own experience.

As the OP hasn't told us which property, you don't know if you've visited that particular property yourself and therefore don't know if they sell admission in the same way as the properties you've visited and you don't know for sure that there are 'big notices' explaining gift aid at that particular property.

qetu1357 wrote: »

The OP obviously thinks she/he hasn't been correctly or adequately informed.

And so would I if I asked this question:

hubb wrote: »

after asking to just pay the entrance fee we were told it was £11.00 each.
I asked again is this the entrance price and he said yes.

and later found out this:

hubb wrote: »

Later I discovered that the actual "standard price" was in fact £9.90.

hubb

The house I visited have emailed me saying they are sending a cheque for the gift aid amount. It's more the principal of how I was deceived than the amount.

Pollycat

Hubb
Thanks for letting us know.
That's a reasonable response and I hope they've rethought the way they verbally explain (across all their properties) Gift Aid as part of their admission fee.

If it were me, I'd donate the cheque to a favourite charity.

hubb

I would if it wasn't made out to me. The RSPCA would be my first choice being as the government give it no help at all.