Chuggers - when will charities ever learn!!!!

rachhh

marleyboy wrote: »

They have been banned in Manchester City Centre for the past 5 Years.

No, they haven't. They're only allowed on certain days. I know because I always seem to be dodging them on my way home from work down market street. This week was Oxfam.

marleyboy

rachhh wrote: »

No, they haven't. They're only allowed on certain days. I know because I always seem to be dodging them on my way home from work down market street. This week was Oxfam.

I guess its the days I have not been to the City, as the past 5 Years I can safely say I have not come across one on Market Street.

[Deleted User]

I had someone knock on my door asking for a donation, as I have a son with a connected condition, was happy to make a one off donation. When she came through the door she explained she needed a DD donation. I explained that I was on benefits and could not afford to give regularly (and that I was a carer because of a similiar condition) but was happy to make a one off donation.

It was hugely embarrassing, and the young lady, nice though she seemed to be, obviously had no qualms about what she was doing, trying to make me pay out for something I couldn't afford.

It gave me an insight into how charities work, and I hardly ever give anything now. I worked for a British Heart Foundation shop last year, that was definitely an eye opener, and not a pleasant one. Not much of the money you donate/spend actually reaches the people you think it will.

pendragon_arther

Plus these chuggers have no system. You can get several all collecting for the same charity and they're at either end of the street and sometimes in the middle, none of them are co-ordinated so you can get asked several times. Very irritating.

Pollycat

I don't mind being askeed as long as they don't mind when I say 'no'.

Chuggers are bound by certain laws - I've noticed a difference since this was brought in.

]
Charities now face fines of at least £1,000 if their street fundraisers breach rules designed to protect members of the public.

The restrictions mean that fundraisers, typically referred to as "chuggers", cannot follow a person for more than three steps.

The introduction of the scheme follows a year-long trial.



The new regime, to be enforced across the UK by the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA), also means street fundraisers must not:
•stand within 3m of a shop doorway, cash machines, pedestrian crossing or station entrance
•sign up anyone to a direct debit who, due to illness, disability, drugs or drink, is unable to give informed consent
•approach members of the public who are working, such as tour guides or newspaper vendors

Breaches of the rules carry penalty points of up to 100 points for the fundraising organisation.
Each charity has a threshold of 1,000 points before having to pay fines. Once this threshold is breached, charities must pay a monetary fine equal to £1 per point, with all further breaches all carrying a £1 per point fine.
At the end of the financial year, the charity's point balance is reset to zero.
All the money raised through the fines system will be used to improve compliance checks, in what the PFRA says creates a "virtuous circle".
"The more people that break the rules, the more money we have for providing compliance officers to check street fundraisers are complying with the new regime," said Ian MacQuillin, PFRA head of communications.
PFRA will monitor compliance with the new roles via spot checks, as well as so-called mystery shoppers who pretend to be a member of the public and then report back.

Members of the public who believe the rules have been breached should complain directly to the charity in the first instance, says the PFRA.

If they feel the charity's response is unsatisfactory, the PFRA says they should then escalate their complaint by reporting it to the independent regulatory body, the Fundraising Standards Board.

donnac2558

deannatrois wrote: »

I had someone knock on my door asking for a donation, as I have a son with a connected condition, was happy to make a one off donation. When she came through the door she explained she needed a DD donation. I explained that I was on benefits and could not afford to give regularly (and that I was a carer because of a similiar condition) but was happy to make a one off donation.

It was hugely embarrassing, and the young lady, nice though she seemed to be, obviously had no qualms about what she was doing, trying to make me pay out for something I couldn't afford.

It gave me an insight into how charities work, and I hardly ever give anything now. I worked for a British Heart Foundation shop last year, that was definitely an eye opener, and not a pleasant one. Not much of the money you donate/spend actually reaches the people you think it will.

I watched a documentary about the door to door chuggers and the ones that phone. Seems if you tell them you are on benefits and cannot afford. They will ring back in 6 months and try again thinking being on benefits as a carer or in ill health is no barrier.

I once signed a petition against female circumcision, I never ever put my phone number and am TPS registered and ex directory. Yet I got a phone call about donating every month. Told them sorry no thank you, got but can I talk to you about the charity? No, now f*ck off and never phone back!

molerat

When will charities ever learn ? - when joe public wakes up to what they are up to. Like all scams & cons as long as the public keep coughing up they will continue as they are doing.

pmduk

marleyboy wrote: »

They have been banned in Manchester City Centre for the past 5 Years.

Not quite, unfortunately

They are restricted to certain limited areas and are allowed to operate on certain days only. A 2011 news story here

katejo

I ignore them completely and swerve round them. i blacklist all charities which use them. I did once get caught by one because there were 5 in a row on the same section of pavement. I managed to avoid the first 4 but the last jumped into my path. Sorry but he got a certain 4 letter word from me. I am tempted to tell one to not take it personally but that that he/she is wasting her time because I will NEVER EVER give to a chugger but I haven't done it yet.

balletshoes

bod1467 wrote: »

We give (on SWMBO's insistence) to a particular charity by DD. They once phoned up to try for more, fortunately it was me who answered and not SWMBO. I said we're not changing the donation until or unless WE decide to. I gave them an option ... call again and the DD gets cancelled; leave us alone and the DD stays. They've never called again.

i have also found you have to be pretty brutal when the charity you already donate by DD to, call you and lay it on thick to get you to increase your donation. If you engage in conversation with them at all, even if its to say No politely, they will not take that for an answer. I had a very disturbing phone call from the Red Cross a couple of years ago (I donate by DD). The caller was from an agency employed by the Red Cross, and was insistent that he couldn't leave our conversation until I'd said No to his tales of woe at least 3 times :eek: otherwise he'd have failed in his task.

I found the Red Cross head office phone number in the UK, called them and complained, and told them in no uncertain terms to take my name and phone number off any records they held or passed on to their agencies for any future contact, or they would see my direct debit donations cancelled the next day.

I donate to another couple of charities by DD too, so on the (nowadays thankfully) rare occasions that I get a phone call from them or any other charity chancing their arm with a cold call, the first thing I tell them is that I already donate monthly, I'm not increasing my donation, and if I feel put under pressure from them I'll be terminating my donations altogether.

Its a sad state of affairs when you feel pressured in your own home in this way (and I'm no pushover, believe me).