Chuggers - when will charities ever learn!!!!

bloss0m

I am same. I never do business either with cold callers. Only time I donate is when I feel I like too dont mind people stood up with a tin as long as its bona fide charity, I also donate to charity shops but never give to those plastic bags they put through door as they often run by companies that give very little to a charity

msallen wrote: »

I've had a rule for years now that I never give anything to any charity that asks me (directly I mean - I don't include general advertising). That applies to chuggers, spam, junk mail, telesales etc.

szam_

Dreamnine wrote: »

I simply walk past them, don't recognise their existence as humans.

Surely blanking them is easier than venting on here?

Depends on their tactics. Where I live, it's like a game to dodge them all or have them not focus their attention on you when they see you. I always have headphones in, avoid looking at them, some will just stand in front of you until they get your attention - not everyone will just walk through (I'm a big guy physically, so I could, but i'm not that harsh, plus they'd probably call assault or something) or round them.

My paticular gripe is, if I was to sign up for every single charity in the street of the town I live in (I am not signed up to any, I give to charities I want to give to, when I can), over a course of a single year I'd be giving between 25% and 50% of my net pay to charities that patrol the streets in that year. Because the ones who I spoke to who are paticularly hard sell want £2/3/4/5 a week, not a month. In fact, i've spoken to four or five over say the course of the past year and they're all the same, they want between £8 and £20 a month. And they all think they're selling for the most important charity and won't take no for an answer.

I point the above out, tell them I'll research the charity in my own time (because at this point they've taken up 10 minutes of my lunch break I won't get back) and if I want to donate, I will do it when I can afford to do it. They usually get the picture by this point that no matter how hard they try to sell it, I'm not buying.

Pollycat

Malthusian wrote: »

You missed the point of why the chugger was standing there. You thought the point was to raise money for the charity and therefore it was odd that they wouldn't accept a one-off donation. It's not, the point is to get people's bank details and phone number so they can milk them for every penny they can spare (and every penny they can't), for which they get commission.

I didn't miss the point of why the chugger was standing there.
I think if you reread my post you will discover that I didn't think anything was odd at all.
I merely stated that I wasn't willing to complete a DD and asked if he had a collecting tin.

Malthusian wrote: »

For the same reason it's a mistake to say "don't they realise that this annoys people and causes them to cancel their donations". They couldn't care less if people like you or I cancel their £2 a month or stop donating a few quid every so often when they can bully some old or vulnerable person into increasing their DD to £10 or £20 a month or more. That's where the big bucks are. People chucking change in a bucket is small-time stuff.

Why is it a mistake to say "don't they realise that this annoys people and causes them to cancel their donations"?
Mistake? Really?
Do you think it would be better to say nothing in those circumstances i.e. they are contacting you asking for more money? :rotfl:

Pollycat wrote: »

but I wrote to them & said if I ever got another call asking me for more money, they could kiss Goodbye to my monthly donation.
That was some time ago & so far, it's OK.

Worked for me.

sam3103

Just came across this thread while browsing the forum.
Ignoring them isn't always easy.

I was once walking through my local shopping centre when I spotted someone collecting for charity, I walked across to the other side of the centre to avoid them, when, across the centre in front of loads of people the lady starting singing/shouting at me "lady in red" (I was wearing a red coat).
I have never been so embarrassed in my entire life.

lewishardwick

I volunteer for a large first aid organisation that uses an agency to obtain donations visa door to door fundraising.

They take over 75% commission in the first year alone...

But apparently it's still receiving more than more traditional revenue streams!

Bobcrowther

Hermione_Granger wrote: »

It means that Bobcrowther thinks that the comments on the chugger's jackets ("try avoiding the main causes of heart disease") was a dig at members of the public who try to avoid the chuggers themselves.
I agree with his interpretation.

Indeed. I'm certain that this was the intention, basically goading those who simply don't want to interact with these amoral mercenaries.

I no longer give to any "large" charity. I'm not funding a "company" jag for a CEO, or to see millions given to corrupt African governments.
Overseas aid? Deal with it yourself.
Help the homeless? Stay off the drink and drugs, much easier to be "homed" that way.
Everything else at home could easily be dealt with by government if all parties weren't so hell bent on keeping taxes low.

Pollycat

sam3103 wrote: »

Just came across this thread while browsing the forum.
Ignoring them isn't always easy.

I was once walking through my local shopping centre when I spotted someone collecting for charity, I walked across to the other side of the centre to avoid them, when, across the centre in front of loads of people the lady starting singing/shouting at me "lady in red" (I was wearing a red coat).
I have never been so embarrassed in my entire life.

Personally, that would be way down on my list of embarrassing experiences.

At least now they can't follow you down the road.

Alter_ego

Sorry to have to point this out, but chugging works. If it didn't charities wouldn't do it.

Bobcrowther

Alter_ego wrote: »

Sorry to have to point this out, but chugging works. If it didn't charities wouldn't do it.

If proof were ever needed that people are idiots, this is it.

Alter_ego

Bobcrowther wrote: »

If proof were ever needed that people are idiots, this is it.

Sorry Bob, I work for a large UK charity. Chugging works - I'm not making it up! Not an idiot either.