Letter from church - Formal notice of church rate due!

RadoJo

Hold on a second - when you say you Googled the number of the Church, was this not a church you are aware of in the area, and you Googled the number they gave you, or you looked upn the number for your local church?

Sorry - just getting a bit confused, as I assumed you were at least aware of the church in the vicinity, but now I am wondering whether this is not a church you are even familiar with? Either way, I still think that as they have expressly pointed out that you are not obliged to pay, it sounds more odd and disorganised than scamalicious!

MarkyMarkD

slarge wrote: »

The Church must be really desperate for money to issue letters in this way. Not a scam but totally immoral IMHO. My advice is to get the local papers involved - you will soon see red faces at the Church as they strive to justify this piece of greed.

If they need the money for the maintenance of the church, for example, that's why the law says that they can issue a request for payment.

I don't see how you think that asking for a voluntary payment from the residents of a parish is immoral.

And nobody's going to have a red face as nobody's being greedy.

You really do say a lot of silly things in that post, slarge.

superscaper

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

If they need the money for the maintenance of the church, for example, that's why the law says that they can issue a request for payment.

I don't see how you think that asking for a voluntary payment from the residents of a parish is immoral.

It's a begging letter, no different than if a local school sent out letters to everyone locally asking for money for more resources. In that respect it actually is just the same as many "scams" like the clothing collections who are doing it for profit. I was a bit surprised when I found out about these "church rates". They kind of infer that everyone is responsible for financially maintaining it just because they live near it geographically.

slarge

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

If they need the money for the maintenance of the church, for example, that's why the law says that they can issue a request for payment.

I don't see how you think that asking for a voluntary payment from the residents of a parish is immoral.

And nobody's going to have a red face as nobody's being greedy.

You really do say a lot of silly things in that post, slarge.

Your opinion which you're entitled to. I think you're totally wrong but I see no reason to get personal about it as you have done. To send a formal notice of a charge to an elderly or vulnerable person could well confuse them and make them feel they had to pay. This is exactly the tactics that scammers use and they cause untold misery. If the church is happy to use scammer tactics they would have no reason to be ashamed.

Somerset

I used to work for a company that owned commercial property that was within the confines of a 'church area'. They annually received their voluntary church rates demand and paid. It was completely legit. Now I just assumed it could only be levied on companies, not individuals - but this assumption could be completely wrong. But I know in my ex-employers case as well as being legit it had been going on for yonks and was well established. Also I know this 'chancel liability' stuff is now commonplace whereas it was unheard of before, but I don't know if it's one and the same thing.

superscaper

slarge wrote: »

To send a formal notice of a charge to an elderly or vulnerable person could well confuse them and make them feel they had to pay. This is exactly the tactics that scammers use and they cause untold misery.

Very very good point. Just last night we were explaining to my nan that a letter she got claiming she'd won a holiday was basically a scam (all you have to do is attend a timeshare demo etc). I'm sure they worded it perfectly legally and everything, doesn't make it moral and not everyone is in a position to make an informed decision on their actions.

In this case if they weren't trying to take advantage of vulnerable people as well then why use a mailshot, why not just send the letters to the church's parishioners only, or even better just hand them out in the church services, that way you aren't wasting letters and sending unsolicited mail to people who want nothing to do with the church.

marleyboy

I remember seeing a documentary about something similar to this, involving a house that was purchased, the buyers had no idea it was connected to a church, and got a huge bill for a new church roof, which they had to pay.

I cant remember if they did or not, but I seem to remember they sold the house at a loss, as they had to report the conditions of the church on the deeds.

Like the previous post, I'd say I was an atheist. It would be enough to turn me into one.

ben500

slarge wrote: »

Your opinion which you're entitled to. I think you're totally wrong but I see no reason to get personal about it as you have done. To send a formal notice of a charge to an elderly or vulnerable person could well confuse them and make them feel they had to pay. This is exactly the tactics that scammers use and they cause untold misery. If the church is happy to use scammer tactics they would have no reason to be ashamed.

I don't see anything personal about the comments, Mark was merely pointing out that your association between church rates and scamming was not only inaccurate but wholly unfair, I am not a church goer nor have I ever been by the way, what most people fail to realise is that for centuries this was the way churches funded themselves and in many many places still do, it is a request for a voluntary donation and nothing more. As for the church using "scammer tactics" try it the other way around scammer using church tactics and your comments might just go somewhere near fitting the bill. Perhaps Marky might have used the term naive rather than silly but hey ho your still wrong unfortunately.

ben500

superscaper wrote: »

It's a begging letter, no different than if a local school sent out letters to everyone locally asking for money for more resources. In that respect it actually is just the same as many "scams" like the clothing collections who are doing it for profit. I was a bit surprised when I found out about these "church rates". They kind of infer that everyone is responsible for financially maintaining it just because they live near it geographically.

Nonsense. Please demonstrate how church rates are scamming and how you compare such as the above with "church rates" which are legitamate requests.

marleyboy

If its nothing more than a voluntary request, does that mean the OP doesnt have to pay it?