AIBU to feel harassed by charity chuggers targeting women in public?

I don’t think they specifically target women.
I wear headphones and just point to them and mouth ‘I’m on the phone’ - always works.

YANBU OP.

Chuggers are parasites and the firm takes a cut of the money donated. There was a poster recently who was accosted trying to get through barriers at a station and the chugger refused to move out of her way. He kept waving the card machine at her and refused to move until she tapped her card. Scrounging bastards took £25 off her!

I can't stand it when they knock on your door and tell you most of your neighbours have signed up. Oh really? Well shall I knock on a few doors then? Someone is bound to confirm your bs!

I really hate that annoying two step you have to do down the High st to try and wind your way around them without getting caught...and the fake cheesy compliments? urgh, nope.
I usually just say 'sorry, Im busy' as zooming past.

I did have one once follow up with 'dont you care about the planet!?' He must of been having a bad day, it probably got worse after I proceeded to tell him exactly how much I didnt care about the planet!😆

If they’re snarky or aggressive towards me I very conspicuously stop, take their photograph or film them and then report them to the charity.

It’s really not that effective for the charity. When my friend worked for a national charity, the chugger agency would take a really hefty commission for the first year of the direct debit.
I’m not sure if it was a set amount or a percentage but eg on a £5 per month sign up, the chugger agency would get £5 per month for the first year. So if the dd was cancelled after a year then the charity wouldn’t have benefited at all! Once I found out I vowed never to donate that way.

Statistically women are more likely to respond to charity appeals and typically women are also better at longer-term committed giving. So you’re not wrong in observing chuggers are more likely to approach women. However if you’re not interested, you just politely say ‘no thank you’ and move on.

And if they’re rude or shout abuse, you report them. They work for a separate company (not the actual charity) but if you report to the charity, they will raise it with the company who provides the service.

I agree.
I do make charitable donations but the in person hassling really intimidates me and puts me off.
I particularly hate the ones that block the exit in shops. i experienced this in Boots the other day. They had a table by the door and a group of them with clip boards and pictures of sick children.i felt like i had to run the guantlet to get past them. Its intimidating begging using emmotional blackmail. "You look like a lovely compassionate lady who wouldn't walk past without helping sick and dying children"
I felt awful.
I was recently bereaved, ill and collecting a prescription .i found it difficult to articulate that i wasn't able to donate .
The pressure is awful. i cried when i reached my car.

My biggest concern is that the bulk of people who do sign up do so because they feel pressured into it, rather than because they want to.

I think it should be illegal for them to knock on front doors. We’ve had a couple who were really pushy and manipulative, which doesn’t work with me, because it gets my back up, but I think it’s really unfair on vulnerable people. Nobody should be put in the position of dealing with that. I actually wrote to my MP about it years ago but got a BS ‘it’s an important form of revenue for charities’ response. I don’t think it’s a moral way of making that revenue.

I either spout off at them in German - because it sounds terrifying, just asking for a cuppa in German! Especially with a cross face.
Or if they’re the “complimentary kind” you know; hi young lady, nice hat/scarf/shoes, I always say “oh yes, you can buy it from really obscure website it’s nice isn’t it?” As I continue to walk away from them.
My favourite thing to do is to keep taking my glasses off “polishing them”, blinking and saying “sorry who said that?” And just walk past like they’re invisible.
The door knockers are the worst IMO, we had one for GOSH, a couple months ago. I answered the door with soapy wet hands and proceeded to tell him the children were in the bath (at 10am on a Wednesday morning). Or the dude raising money for the deaf, when I answered the door using (very rudimentary) sign language he looks super confused and didn’t know what to do. So I told him he wasn’t a very good advocate was he? And closed the door

I hate them too- the best thing to say to them is "I already have a direct debit set up to your charity". They have literally nothing to say to that - they cant prove you're lying and there is no point them signing you up if you tell them you already donate PLUS you can say it loudly and look like lady charitable to every passer by who hears it. Also, they are kind of obliged to say thank you because otherwise they're being rude to their own customers.

Works every time. They go completely silent and give me a little half smile and a thank you and I carry on my merry way knowing I am secretly thinking fuck you.

I take it you’re not a willowy young damsel?

I’m not rude to them, but in my experience ‘no thank you’ is often NOT effective with these people.

It should be outlawed it just annoys people. I also wonder how effective it actually is for the charity? If they were just collecting a donation I'd be much more likely to actually engage. I don't want a ten minute presentation than a £20 donation extracted monthly for life.

I have done so in the past - got a hugely apologetic reply from the charity but they still employ the buggers.

I've just started very firmly saying, "No. Go. Away" - that loss of British "politeness" jars enough they stand there stunned until you've made an exit.

“Not today Satan!!” I find usually does the trick

If it’s someone trying to get me to swap my energy or broadband supplier I just tell them, whilst walking past them as fast as possible that I don’t pay the bills. They are literally not interested then!

It’s the knobheads who have the audacity to knock on your door and start harassing you about broadband that really do my head in! I work from home so I open the door and they witter on and insist on giving me a card and ask when is a more convenient time. Never!!!!

😂. Love it

@myheadsjustmush

"And there are a lot more CEO's on a lot more money than that."

True, but I would say that those salaries are reasonable because of the huge responsibility of the role. High salaries are often needed in order to get people with the required skills.

Another good line to use with chuggers:

Tell them that you charge for your time, you're on the clock, and they already owe you £10.

And there are a lot more CEO's on a lot more money than that.

I am not being an a* hole to them as you suggest - and I am NEVER rude to any of them. They give out their speech as to why I should part with my hard earned money every month - and I give them the reasons why I don't want to part with my hard earned money. 🤷‍♀️

And if me keeping them talking for a bit longer saves a couple of elderly people being drawn into it all, then that is even better IMHO!

I used to donate to the Dogs Trust and a chugger for them pissed me off so much, I cancelled my direct debit, complained to them and requested i was taken off their marketing lists.

I don't engage generally. At all, other than a firm "No" with a hand up.

I most definitely avoid eye contact but still get accosted on the daily at a major London station.

Oh I had that one the other week, caught them out of the corner of my eye, in a rush to get to work, he tried the 'you look friendly' I continued walking straight past so he huffed ' MY MISTAKE ' .... Who is stopping to talk to these people, we all know they want you to sign up to direct debits, hand your card details to this total randomer in public. They'll be getting a commission so basically your payments for the first year or 2 will just pay this man who harasses people in public. No thanks

I had one who literally was walking backwards in front of me, refusing to leave me alone, I was on the phone, rushing to get a bus, I was about 17 years old, I told him to go away, leave me alone I'm on the phone. I basically had to shout 'fuck off' ' in the middle of the shopping centre and he was still yelling after me when I got away from him

I feel like this practice needs banning. I can only think that the people who sign up to charity donations this way are vulnerable or have felt so intimidated that they signed up.

I haven't noticed them specifically targeting women tbh. But there was thread on here before where lots of people said they found them misogynistic.

I got flamed for saying I felt kind of sorry for them if that's the only job they can get. Commission only probably so lower than min wage. But they aren't being forced to do it. I daresay most only last a week then quit as it's so depressing.

If you feel strongly you should contact the charities themselves and explain you don't think this approach is a good look.

I completely understand. I have had them be rude to me and I had never previously replied. Walking past them began to make me nervous so now I just say 'I don't deal with chuggers, thanks'.