Doorstep hardsell from Oxfam

[arses]

The door went a rat-a-tat about 4pm yesterday and I opened it to find a young man in an Oxfam t-shirt. I was in the middle of making the dinner (somewhere between choppping vegetables and putting the dish in the oven) and I told him before he started talking that I was very sorry but I really wouldn't be donating today as I already make other charitable donations and I am currently unpaid as am on the last part of my mat leave.

Then it began.

Him: Oh, you're Irish? What part of Ireland are you from? I just want to talk about the great work Oxfam do, just hear me out
Me: I'm really sorry but I'm making dinner and I won't be donating today
Him: We're not asking you to donate today, we're not allowed to ask for money on the doorstep, I simply want to tell you about the great work Oxfam do. Do you want me to do an Irish jig for you ((dances!))
Me:(laughs) Great dancing, thanks very much but I'm really quite busy right now
Him: Your neighbours have been very generous with their time and their money
Me: I'm glad to hear it, however I really do want to go inside now
Him: Your little boy is lovely. How old is he?
Me: 9 months
Him: Did you know that Oxfam works to support children and babies in the developing world.....
Me: (interrupting) Yes, actually, I did. Look, I really need to go inside now
Him: All I am asking is for you to listen for a few minutes to me telling you about the great work Oxfam do, I'm not looking for money. Your neighbours found it very interesting.
Me: Well, I don't have any to give you so that's good. However, I really do want to go inside now
Him: (starts new spiel about Oxfam.. can't remember details now)
Me: I'm sorry but it's really time for you to go now
Him: Well thank you for listening so politely to me, you can find out more about Oxfam online if you're interested
Me: Thanks.

This is a paraphrase of course, and I can't quite capture the high speed blurb about what Oxfam do or the earnest look in his eyes but I was a bit flabbergasted.

I really object to unsolicited door-to-door calls like this. AIBU?

The company that employs most of the door to door chuggers are here

I went for an interview with them once and i would rather starve than work for them. Most of the offices are run by people too smarmy to even be estate agents. There is no minimum wage and it all boils down to a glorified pyramid scheme - if you become a manager and manager a team of other people you get a cut of what they make too.

Luckily we don't have this, when we lived in England there was a phase of young unemployed men coming round selling dusters etc. I always got suckered in, DH never did. He had worked for two days selling encyclopaedias until he realised it was immoral to be selling things people didn't need in a place they couldn't afford it. The only training he got was that once someone had said yes to something they find it very difficult to say no.

Manage a team

Also, they dont really care for the charity they are signing you up for.

And iirc you have to sign up to support charities when you work there, which bumps up their figures. The staff turnover is terrible - they have a constant advert in our local paper.

look here

I actually complained to a homeless charity as I kept being hassled after work - i.e I said no, I was followed by 2 bucket holders, bucket obstacles put in my way, this happened on 3 occasions and I got quite frightened.

I hope they took you complaint seriously!

I work in the charity sector but still despise this sort of practice, chuggers are bad enough but door to door is appalling! Unfortunately, however, with competition being very fierce for the limited spare income people have these days, these methods are being employed and for the big charities do bring in much more money than it costs to employ the individual doing the leg work. Of course this means that smaller charities who can't afford to use these agency staff are pushed out even further...

OP you're definitely not being unreasonable...and have the patience of a saint, I'd have shut the door on him pretty quickly!!

Awful to hear others' bad experiences of chuggers. If you are complaining, it's worth doing so by email and cc'ing both the Charity Commission and Third Sector magazine for a bit of extra impact.

www.thirdsector.co.uk/go/contactus/

www.charity-commission.gov.uk/About_us/Complaining/issues_we_want_to_know_about.aspx

Although the CC doesn't consider specific complaints about fundraising practices in general it does ask to know if the actions of a charity are seriously hindering the reputation of the charity sector in general.

Don't open the door.

Look through the peep hole/ask who it is and say "it's not my policy to talk to people without appointments, GOOD-BYE!!!!!"