To think this phone chugger was well out of order?

[IntoTheGrave]

So I answer the phone and it's a begging charity (quelle surprise!)

I soften a little when I hear he is calling on behalf of GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital).

But I make it very clear from the start of the conversation that I have no spare money whatsoever and could not commit to a direct debit, no matter how small.

Fine, he says, we just want to inform you about the work we do if you have the time. Of course I do.

So for the next 5 minutes he tells me about the wonderful work they do and also how they desperately need to update the building.

Great , I say, and good luck with the fundraising, at which point he tells me that he is a professional salesperson employed by GOSH and he has been paid £4.50 for that call.

AIBU to think he is a TWAT of the highest order to get paid for a call that was going nowhere from the start?

he didnt mean he got paid that,the charity pays that for the call. If you really want to, you can request the annual accounts of the charity to see how they spend on fundraising.....

I know it's illogical, it's just that most people donating like to think that their money is going directly to someone in need. I know that in a round about way they are.

I do wonder how many donations they lose by being annoying/aggressive, but that isn't really measurable.

I sound like a right miserable cow. In my defence, I do donate directly to charity (so am probably unknowingly funding a chugger)

geraldine, I wish that were the case, but he was quite clear in telling me that GOSH had hired a sales company to sell them over the phone and how much they paid them per phone call, (assuming per successful call??) But this information was given at the the end of a really over the top "you must have some spare money for poorly children" call.
And for the record, can I just say that I think GOSH do a fantastic job and I wish them all the best with their fundraising.

Would the charity have had to pay for the call regardless? In that case he may as well fill you in about what they do - maybe you will spread the word and others will donate?
I'm not sure how I feel about chuggers. It's obviously worth it for the charities to pay pushy salespeople or they would only use volunteers.

I am still unsure of whether the charity paid for this call or not, if they did, then this sort of 'chugging' needs to be stopped.

If not, then,we can all breathe a sigh of relief and move on to our next worry.

and I might learn to spell.

yes they pay per call. regardless of the outcome. They do track how successful the calls are, how aggressive the no's are (really), how many calls go on to regular giving, how many make a one off donation. If the campaign begins to lose money or they get a disproportionate number of what they call "hard no's", ie people who tell you to fuck off/slam the phone down they pull the campaign. These charities are very careful about pissing off their supporters.

Stop and think about it for a moment, if it lost money and made their supporters hate them, would they really still do it? A lot of people dont like this approach. Many more accept it, and believe it or not, a lot of people are even pleased to hear from the charity when they call (especially the animal charity supporters/greenpeace/friends of the earth were the loveliest ones!)

They do it because it raises MORE MONEY THAN IT COSTS. Seriously.

Eventide, very few people would do this job voluntarily. I know two of these companies, one of which I worked for. Both companies exclusively only worked for charitable organisations. They werent general commercial sales companies.

If he put the phone down at the first no he would seriously reduce his success rate.

Lots of people would change their mind, if they were in a position to do so.

Exactly, Lynli!

It's the lies that annoy me - I've been stopped before and, on telling them that I already donate directly to a charity monthly so couldn't afford another donation, the guy says no, we don't want money, just to raise awareness - fair enough I thought and listened to their pitch which, of course, ended with them asking me to set up a direct debit to their charity.

They also did a very similar thing to my sister, telling her they were collecting data which, of course, resulted in her getting a phone call asking for money. Surely to God you're not representing a charity well by lying to people about your intentions.

Rant over.

I'm probably an 'aggressive no', in that I don't give to charities who pester me with cold-calls or stop me in the street, & I always politely explain this to chuggers.

It's good to know that this information is actually collated - I've occasionally felt a tad uncomfortable that a worthy cause may have no notion how much it's alienating potential donors.

(& if they do know, & it's me being a curmudgeon v 10 other people signing up for a direct debit, then I suppose I can't really blame them for continuing to use these tactics).

This is why DS (2yo) answers the phone mid to late afternoon.

He was trying to pressurise you, IntoTheGrave.

Take comfort in the fact that if he was better at his job, surely he would have succeeded in getting a direct debit out of you?

It's not you're fault that his charidee talents are below par!

Not a definitive answer then , bur hopefully have at least kept GOSH in the forefront of our minds. And am crossing my fingers that I , nor anyone I know ever has need of their services.

I'm ex-directory, and don't get these calls. Can't remember if I also registered with the Telephone Preference lot, but probably, I'm a miserable bugger when it comes to talking on the phone.

Sorry, that reads twatty, wish to god no-one needed their services,

oh, forgot to say, next time you get one of these calls, just ask them to check the box on the screen which will remove you from phone campaigns in the future

It'd be refreshing if the conversation started with 'I appreciate you might prefer the charity I represent not to make unsolicited calls - would you like to discuss our work? & have we your permission to call you in future?'

Or even if it concluded with 'Is it OK to ring you again?'

It shouldn't be necessary for the recipient of an unwanted call to have to stipulate that they'd prefer not to be bothered again - it's obvious people feel embarrassed & rude saying it.

Sorry geraldine, for being grumpy. But people do get discomfited by chugger calls, & chuggers do get paid rubbish money to take abuse from people who repond 'robustly'.

I really do dislike the whole arrangement - it doesn't reflect well on anyone involved.

I had GOSH ring me the other day and they started with their pitch and I said I am sorry but I couldn't commit to a monthly DD but would give a one off donation. She said it would only be £50 a month and this would give a family a chance to stay with their poorly child. I repeated sorry blah, blah one off donation, blah, blah. But she then went on to say how about £40. I repeated sorry blah, blah one off donation, blah, blah. So she then went on about a cheaper DD and I repeated my bit, she then came up with another figure and I repeated myself and she came back with another figure. At this point I just said to her sorry but you have just lost GOSH some money, goodbye and put the phone down.

Am on the TPS service so I don't get the phone calls. But I used to work in a city centre where being ambushed by at least 3 different chuggers on my lunchbreak was a regular occurrence.

I would always ask which charity they were working for and then tell them that that charity had been added to the list that I would not support due to their tactics of harassing people in the street.

More and more charities are doing this sort of thing so it obviously works for them, but coercing people into setting up direct debits because they're too nice/embarassed/whatever to say no just doesn't fit with my notion of charity.

Lots of charities have stopped using on the street chuggers recently (including the charity I work for) because the attrition rate is too high - someone agrees to give via DD to get the chugger off their back and then cancels it straightaway or the next month.

I can see why charities do it - they wouldn't bother if they weren't raising more money than they spend and that money is needed - but the number of street chuggers in Birmingham is mental! If I nip out for half an hour on my lunch I'll pass at least 12 chuggers and be stopped by at least 4 of those. They're every couple of steps in Bham City Centre! It's too much and it makes every quick trip to the post office a nightmare!

I always tell them that I am overdrawn at the bank. Quite often its true

Geraldine that's kind of what I was getting at. My sister used to work for one of these companies too and she has also had other sales jobs - she is an excellent salesperson (so probably very annoying to a lot of the people she calls). Not many people would do this voluntarily and those who would wouldn't get a fraction of the donations that salespeople can generate. Yes it would be fab if experienced salespeople would/could work full-time for charities for free but it's not going to happen. Even after paying salespeople the charities take more money than if they didn't use them.