To detest charity muggers...

[pecanpie]

You know, the ones who accost you on the street for £2/month where over half goes into administration costs. I feel like I am running the gauntlet every time I walk from the tube station to work. There was even an attempt to accost me between the Royal Free Hospital and the tube station - it's not even in Central London! Even worse, I now get similar house calls. I can't escape these 'chuggers' and above all, think it's so intrusive that they come after me at home - literally like being mugged on your doorstep! Whatever happened to good old junk mail?

Should be illegal in my opinion...Anyone willing to help me mount a campaign?!

had amnesty international in the high street yesterday.

i looked well past my 43 years but joyfully said

I havent got a fiver per month to spare but was writing protest letters BEFORE YOU WERE BORN

TBH was more than a little horrified that they had taken up chugging.

I'd strongly suggest that, if people encounter badly behaved chuggers, they complain to the charities concerned.

Complaints are taken very seriously. If you don't want to speak with the charity, contact www.frsb.org.uk who deal with complaints about all methods of fundraising. Charities and fundraisers have to comply with strict codes of conducts around all fundraising methods

My charity has received 1 complaint for every 5000 people who our fundraisers spoke to on the streets, or 1 for every person who has signed up to a direct debit. That's far fewer complaints than we would expect for direct mail, for example. We have had feedback directly from some of these people saying how much they enjoyed speaking with our fundraiser.

Chugging is cost-effective for some charities as part of a long-term fundraising strategy, and isn't going away just yet. About 600,000 people sign up with them every year, so not everyone hates them.

Lying, people who want to donate don't miraculously visit charity websites in their '000s to donate, which is why charities are proactive about getting funds. Companies use marketing to get people to spend money on their products every day, and we are in competition with them.