Pressure selling

jaylee3

codemonkey wrote: »

My most effective tactic for cold callers happened one day when the doorbell rang while I was in the middle of butchering rabbits for the dog (they were already dead - I wasn't killing them or anything) and I absent-mindedly answered the door wearing a blood stained apron and carrying a bloody knife. Never seen anyone run so fast.

These days I just either say "no thanks" and if that doesn't deter them, I tell them I'm the babysitter.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Brilliant! :T I would LOVE to have been a fly in the wall.

jaylee3

MrSmartprice wrote: »

That's my tactic too, shut the door before they can reply. I have a sign on the door but some callers seem to have literacy issues.

If an RSPCA collector had said to me what they said to the OP, accusing them of not being animal lovers, I would have replied: "Nonsense, I love animals. My wife is in the kitchen cooking one as we speak.";)

I have noticed this. My old neighbour actually had this one bloke who was banging on the door, and COMPLETELY ignoring the sign saying 'no cold callers, no religious callers, no salespersons etc.' So he yelled out of the window 'CAN'T YOU F--KING READ?!' And the bloke (about 21) said 'no I can't actually, so what do you have to say about that?' (Thinking he would make him feel bad,) but he just said 'well f--king learn then, you lazy thick !!!!!!!'

Not nice I know, but if the bloke thought the neighbour was going to try and make him feel bad, he was mistaken.

After this event, my neighbour got the registration number of the van he and his mate were driving, and reported them to the police as they were wandering around 'casing' houses. A few days later the police called him to say they had been picked up stealing a copper tank from a 'void' council house. :T

I absolutely loathe cold callers and chuggers and charity collectors. I loathe them more than anything else I can think of (apart from the obvious like murderers, rapists, etc etc...)

codemonkey

jaylee3 wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Brilliant! :T I would LOVE to have been a fly in the wall.

Definitely a good way to get rid of Jehovah's Witnesses.

jaylee3

codemonkey wrote: »

Definitely a good way to get rid of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Either that, or just show them a crucifix.

Savvy_Sue

MissWhitehouse wrote: »

On the subject of "charity" is it only me that gets irritated by the little green tokens a Waitrose checkouts. I often wonder if those people standing in the foyer deliberating about which slot to pop it in actually believe they have done their charitable duty for the week.......

I can't speak to how people popping their tokens in feel, but I can confirm that donations are passed on to local charities as a result of the green token promotion in Waitrose, because the charities DH and I work for have both benefitted. And it usually takes me a while to decide where to put my token, because I'm quite interested in finding out what's going on in the area, which sometimes I have no idea about.

TopQuark

Hermia wrote: »

Sadly, that didn't work with the Christian Aid lady. Several people in my road said, "I'm an atheist/Sikh/whatever so I prefer to give my money to secular/Sikh/whatever charities", but she just kept coming back again and again and again. She visited three times in one week!

Yep, I cannot abide religious charities - whose real aim is convert the 'heathens' and also seem to be the most persistent too. I had an arguement with a christian aid chugger once who insinuated I'd go to hell if I didn't donate to the cause. I ended up telling him that there is no effing hell or god and to get out of my way. That did the trick.

I disagree with high-pressure tactics full stop, although with most charities it is at least for a good cause so I think people should try to bear this in mind and not throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. Someone mentioned that they told the British Heart Foundation where to go earlier in the thread. The BHF do excellent work and fund a lot of scientific research (I'm a scientist and have friends whose research has been funded by them), in addition to supporting patients (they were great when my Dad had a triple bypass in 2012). Since cardiovascular diseases are the no.1 killer in the western world, there is fairly high chance you'll benefit from their work at some point in your life, so it seems a shame that some people can't see past the sometimes questionable tactics employed when collecting. I used the BHF as an illustrative example, it could apply similarly to many others.

victory

We put the sign up in the door and so far touch wood, no cold callers at all, they are usually around here double glazing, conservatories, in the summer gardening companies asking if you want your fences done but so far nothing:D

System

The worst one was the Jehovah witness at the place I lived last. He would knock regularly but then when I began having problems with BT it turned out he was also a BT engineer. I told him no but he said 'today I am here from BT to fix your phone line'. Had to leave BT.

Primrose

Contact your local Trading Standards Department lof your council, come,ain that you are being o,argued by doorstep sellers who are letting pressure on vulnerable people. If you and your neighbours get together you can ask for your street to be turned into a No Doorstep Selling Zone where notices notices to this effect can be erected on local lamppost s. all tiundomthen is point them to the notices and remind them that breaching it renders them liable to a fine.

SeduLOUs

his_missus wrote: »

Personally, when people ask for me to donate on the doorstep or the chuggers in town, I usually say, "I already donate to you, thank you" whether I do or don't.

Same here. Whether it's the Sky folk, the electricity companies or the charities, I always just say I'm already with them/already donating.

Every time I just get a polite thank you and they promptly leave.