Donated and then got unsolicited phone calls.

dj1

Sorry I don't know where to put this or even if this is the right site but I really feel I need to put this out there.

I saw an advert on TV last week for the plight of women in foreign countries who are denied schooling and forced into marriages.

To help, it said to text a donation of £3. I've done this many times before and find it an easy, hassle free way to sporadically give money to various charities.

I was angry and shocked to receive a text back saying they would be calling me soon to discuss my donation more. There was no STOP or opt out option.

I had 2 missed calls last week until I finally answered one today when they asked me for more money.

I told them that I would now never donate again to a text number and that they have spoilt it for other charities in the future. She wasn't listening to me and was extremely pushy. I ended up having to put the phone down on her.

I then found the company involve (plan-uk) and spoke to one of their supervisors. She agreed with everything I said and said it was a marketing company acting on their behalf. She apologised and said she would remove my number. I explained that that doesn't solve the problem. I enjoyed giving to charities in this way but because of this selfish, greedy and short sighted behaviour I will never do so again as I no longer trust the system. She understood and agreed with me. I got the impression she was a nice person who wasn't in a position to help me.

I put my gripe as a message on Facebook and a few of my friends said they have been through the same thing.

Let's say I give £50 a year this way and 1000 people like me are put off by this. That's £250,000. But I think this is the tip of the iceberg. I think this could be costing charities millions.

I don't feel I can just leave it there but I don't know what else I can do. Any suggestions?

Kite2010

The sales 'staff' will be on commission to get you to sign up for a regular direct debit, sometimes of £100 per successful sign-up

So just think how long a typical doner donating £4 a month has to pay before the charity sees any money from them?

redmike123

What charrities want is to ensnare you with their £3 a month pleadings, get your details and then plague you to try and get more, using any sob story they can think up. If that doesn't work, they then sell your name to other charities who will try the same tricks. I hate the charity adverts on TV, carefully designed to make people feel uncomfortable in their own homes. Charity is now a big business, it employs a lot of good honest people, but it also employs big names on shedloads of money to promote it and marketing companies with hard nosed, greedy and unpleasant staff to "sell" to decent honest people who are only want to give what they can afford and no more.

Abbafan1972

This is why I have never donated in this way and would never do so!

pmduk

dj1 wrote: »

Let's say I give £50 a year this way and 1000 people like me are put off by this. That's £250,000. But I think this is the tip of the iceberg. I think this could be costing charities millions.

If 1000 people were to stop giving £50 each, that's £50,000. I know charities monitor their marketing spend closely to ensure they get good value, so they must feel they receive more than it costs. Personally I never use texts in this manner as it gives organisations your number.

paddyrg

redmike123 wrote: »

Charity is now a big business, it employs a lot of good honest people, but it also employs big names on shedloads of money to promote it and marketing companies with hard nosed, greedy and unpleasant staff to "sell" to decent honest people who are only want to give what they can afford and no more.

Hmmm, convicted perjurer Jeffrey Archer started his charitable activities as a hard-up student by convincing The Beatles to support Oxfam, then getting US President Johnson to sign some of those records to raise even more cash (around half a million quid, in old money). Shortly after this, he bought houses in Oxford and Weston which he claimed were bought with 'commission from Oxfam', a claim vigorously denied by Oxfam who have never paid commission. It is almost certainly a pure coincidence that 2000 collecting tins went missing at the same time.

ankspon

One charity phoned up a friend and said the £10 a month they had donated for several years was not really a lot and they could give more,they now give nothing.

iammumtoone

The only way I will denote to a charity is by putting the money in a tin, which I do. I will never give my details to them as I have heard of this type of thing happening before.

I do feel for the charities that it has got to the stage that they have to do this to compete with the other charities, they need to be able to raise money somehow and it is a shame they have to resort to these tactics.

artbaron

I don't trust any of these companies. Half your donation will likely go on admin and the other half towards servicing some dictator's Bentley. These guys are a better bet - http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

paddyrg

MSF/DWB is certainly a very good and worthy charity, although if it is something that concerns you, it is worth noting that the US wing (the one you linked to) pays $4.5M a year in non-operational salaries, including $2.8M to fundraisers salaries (according to their own annual reports).

It's never straight black and white, it seems

ashley

I've had similar problems with charities where I've set up a direct debit payment. Not a week goes by without another begging letter or phone call. If I could afford more I'd pay. I find it very rude that they waste the money I currently donate in this way. If I gave you a gift you wouldn't ask me for another next week would you?