To think this is weird?

[Dilligufdarling]

So I'm really hoping I'm over thinking this.
I had a set of door to door charity collectors come to my house yesterday.
I was home on my own with baby DD and DH had just gone on the school run.
They seemed very nice, two girls late teens early twenties and I was considering donating to the charity - kids related, heartstrings duly tugged.
They were looking to sign people up to a monthly direct debit.
Where it got weird is they asked to come inside my house to fill out the forms in order to "lean on a table".
I stupidly allowed my polite English person to the fore and said yes.
I'm now thinking this was a really daft thing to do, anything could have happened and what if they were robbers casing the joint?????

Now for full disclosure we are part way through renovating the house, don't have very ostentatious taste and don't live in a mansion, so there isn't a lot they would have seen. However we did have a large amount of change visible (bagged up) from DH's business.
They did seem to have all of the right ID (but I'm now thinking you could print that off yourself and stick a picture on).
Also I did phone the charity afterwards and they do have people in my area... but I'm still not reassured.
AIBU to think that it's odd for them to invite themselves in? Or is this a technique they use to get more sign ups??

[Iwasjustabouttosaythat]

How much writing was there to do? You could call the charity again and confirm you're signed up.

[Dilligufdarling]

I didn't actually sign up in the end. It turned out there was a minimum monthly amount which is beyond our maternity pay budget.
They were in and out in probably 4 minutes.

[Iwasjustabouttosaythat]

Also, while I wouldn't invite people in in the future, I think you should be more concerned they have your bank account details than that they cased the joint.

[Iwasjustabouttosaythat]

Oh sorry cross posted. Given you know the charity had people in the area I don't think you should worry. Seems normal and reasonable to me.

[Dilligufdarling]

Argh thank you for reassuring!
I'm up feeding DD and have given myself the heebie jeebies from overthinking (hopefully).

[BoomBoomsCousin]

I think it's a bit cheeky to invite themselves in, but I would imagine charity door-to-door fundraisers would need a more than normal amount of cheek to be any good at the job.

I often invite people in if they have ID and actually seem to know what they're talking about etc. because I can't be bothered hanging around standing on my doorstep, I prefer to be sat inside! Nothing has every gone wrong, though we don't have piles of cash lying around (which I suppose could tempt even legitimate fundraisers who were that way inclined). I don't think it was much of a risk just because they were knocking at your door instead of a pre-arranged appointment, though it wouldn't hurt to call the charity before they come in (or you give them your credit card/bank account details).

Feel free in the future to make them stand on the door step though, you really aren't obliged to have them come in if you are worried about that sort of thing. But unless you live in a very Tony neighbourhood, I doubt many burglars will be trying to "case the joint" before hand. They're normally just opportunistic, knocking to see if someone is in and making their excuses if you are. With two of them I'd be more concerned about a distraction burglary. I'd never leave someone I'd invited in, or let one of them go to the toilet while I spoke with the other etc.

[ladyballs]

Complain to the charity. Fundraising in pairs and asking to come in to your home are frowned on.

[Dilligufdarling]

Really lady? That's interesting!

Thank you boom boom I've definitely relaxed a bit now. It was that silly 5am what if stage of the night.
You make total sense and in the cold light of day our house is definitely not one that you'd consider the need to "case" lol

[MonkeyMonkeyUnderpants]

When I did door to door fundraising we were trained to ask if we could come into the house to fill in forms. Apparently people are more likely to sign up that way. Also with regards to the bank details they should only ask for your account number and sort code, these can only be used to set up direct debit or transfer money into your account, so no need to worry. Hope that helps.