to be peed off being hounded by RSPCA for money... just because i ALREADY pay them money?

[juicychops]

i was targeted a year ago and read out some story about a poor abused dog which after MUCH pleading by the man i agreed to a monthly donation of £3.

Over the last 3 months i have had a number keep calling me literally about 20 odd times. i haven't answered because i didn't recognise the number. anyway the last time they called i rang the number back to see who it was and as it was the RSPCA, when they called AGAIN today i answered, thinking it was to just say thanks for my continued support.

but no

i had another story about another poor dog and then was told that others who already sponsor rspca have agreed to up their donation to £10 per month and would i like to?

i said no.

another story about another dog, then asked if £5 would be ok?

i said no again.

then, some MORE stories about how terrible dogs have been treated and figures from the last year. then asked if £3 would be ok?

by this time i was getting a bit narked and said politely i already give to the dogs trust which combined with rspca totals £10 per month i cant afford any more. she finally got the message and said goodbye.

i know animals get badly treated every day and my money is needed, but it is also needed by my ds too and these calls i find really uncomfortable because of the sob stories they read out to emotionally blackmail you. i just find it really annoying that i was targeted before and persuaded to pay because i wasn't already, but now targeted again BECAUSE i already pay them, and obviously not enough by their standards.

i am too polite to be firm at the start of the call so i cant help but let them go on and on

AIBU to be annoyed?

I'd never give a penny to the RSPCA. One of the reasons is the ruthless way they fight legal battles to obtain money from people's wills to add to their huge bank balance.
Here's one example, here's another and there have been others.

As an aside, has anyone else had these calls from organisations such as "Ethicall" based in Bristol who act for several well known charities such as the RSPB? They always ring and ask for a random name, before proceeding to try and sign you up for a Direct Debit, despite you not being the (fictitious) person they asked for (of course!)..I wonder why they adopt that approach?

Apocalypse makes a very good point. There are other ways to donate to animal welfare - rescue will be very grateful for your old sheets/towels/duvets/blankets, for newspaper and shredded paper, for help walking dogs/cleaning kennels, fostering, assistance with car boot sales, unwanted pet food/collars/leads etc and of course with fostering and transporting dogs from the pound into the safety of rescue.

I just say to people at the door and on phone 'oh yes i can donate but do i need a bank account as i havent got one'

Call abruptly ends.

Another one who stopped donating to a charity because of the way in which they contacted me telling me that I should pay more.

Not really doing themselves any favours are they?!

Hmmm...! I was sopped in the street by an RSPCA guy who WOULD NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!

I was soooooo reluctant to hand over my bank details in the street but he nagged and nagged. He asked why I couldn't afford to give 'the price of a jar of coffee' each month and I felt too guilty to say no. I said I'd give £3 per month and he let me go. When I got the direct debit confirmation thingy from the bank I'd been put down for £5. The whole thing was cancelled there and then. I'd rather just chuck a fiver in a shakey tin now and then than go through that again.

I dislike the RSPCA anyway, but that took the piss!

I citicise the RSPCA. I own one ex-poundie, found stray, no history, a tendancy towards aggression. The RSPCA would have had him killed for that. I hired a behavioralist instead. He met three dogs on his walk today and showed no aggression to any of them. No matter what happens in my life I can guarentee that dog will be part of it until the day he dies.

I have a young Whippet who was threatened with drowning that night if she did not find a home.

I am looking after a greyhound who was forced to spend the first year of her life living in a small, dark shed in her own shit because she was not fast enough on the racetrack. The RSPCA did not help her. A small, independant rescue did. She will not be put to sleep, no matter how long she is in rescue. She has a home with me for as long as it takes to find her the ideal home.

Does that answer your question Buggerlugs?

As usual, common sense and kindness from Dooin.

Buggerlugs, that motto is actually pinched from Bernie in Ireland, who's in charge of the Alliance For Animal Rights.

My own is one which Bernie would like too but which is completely at odds with all the RSPCA's policies:

"No kill, no excuses, no limits, no fear."

DogsBestFriend... I hadn't seen that before but it's terrible. I will never, ever support the RSPCA, they sicken me, lying like politicians... they need to be disbanded and the money salted away given to Dogs' Trust and other independent MONITORED animal shelters.

YANBU. I was listening to Radio 2 on a long journey (Torquay to Blackpool zzzzz) for work one day and this subject came up.

I was horrified by a story from one caller who said that he'd set up a Direct Debit for the NSPCC for a small monthly amount. After setting it up he kept getting letters (not phone calls) asking them to increase his contribution. Accompanying them were the typical pictures that you see on the TV adverts, which are absolutely harrowing and I have no doubt are milder than the truth in a lot of the cases that they deal with.

However, one day the caller received a letter with pictures of a child saying that if they had increased their contribution, the child could have been saved !!! I just couldn't believe it and I've never forgotten it.

For that reason I don't contribute to the NSPCC.

I have monthly amounts set up for RSPCA, Great Ormond Street and Cancer Research Uk.

I set them up and then moved house. I then accidentally forgot to update my address. So they are still receiving the money every month, but can't contact me...

I much prefer to give to small independent shelters, just because that way you can know and trust the people running them, you know where your money is going and the particular dogs that are being helped. And they don't tend to behave like this (the story in the OP). And you know you're not giving your money to people who kill healthy dogs.

Dogs Trust are good as far as I know, we currently have a rescue dog from them. I think they do have a lot of money though, judging by the posh facilities, glossy magazines etc.

YADNBU - I got a call recently from the Samaritans asking me to reinstate my direct debit at a rate of £20 p/m about a month ago.

I hadn't cancelled the Direct debit of £7.50 pm myself, so told the person on the call I wanted to look into it and would resubscribe through the website. He was extremely aggressive and it felt like he would not let me off the phone till I agreed to reinstate it there and then.

At the end of the call he then said 'Thanks. I have to say we an agency acting on behalf of the Samaritans and charging them £9000 to do so' - or words to that effect. I was absolutely disgusted - he just wanted his f**king cut.

I'm cancelling the dd.

I have been sponsoring a child with World Vision for quite a few years. When ds was less than a week old I got a girl phoning every nigt at 9pm to talk to me. I put her off twice then when I talked to her she wanted me to up my sponsorship from £20 to £70. When I said I couldn't afford it and I needed to get back to my screaming newborn, she said yeah well what about all those babies living in poverty in the third world. At which point I put the phone down and bawled my eyes out.
As soon as the child I'm sponsoring is old enough I am not having anything more to do with them. I sponsor a child through Action Aid and they have been great and I get far more info.

IME all the big charities are like this and it really puts me off. The money you donate by and large goes on their running costs. If you want to donate to a charity you can check their annual accounts on their webpage (they have to make them publicly available - although some are still difficult to find) and you can see what % actually goes to that cause you're trying to help. I'm not saying that charities don't have admin / marketing costs (it's just how efficient are they with it that bothers me)

I kinda make a point of not giving to big charities now. I reckon they have enough money. It's the small / medium sized charities that really really need it at the moment.

I won't give to the RSPCA on principle. Not only are they not very good at what they are supposed to do (try phoning them when you have a sick wild animal), but they also bully and intimidate. Their uniforms are as close, legally, as possible to a police uniform so that people think they have some rights to enter homes when they have none whatsoever. They also set up private prosecutions and try and make it look as if they are acting in a Government capacity when they do so.

I too used to donate to the RSPCA, but never will again, although my eyes have been opened further by this thread.

I donate to Dogs Trust ATM as that is all I can afford. I hope to be able to donate to more independent shelters once I am back in paid employment.

Thanks to this thread I will be going home and cancelling the RSPCA direct debit I've had running for more than eight years now. I'll transfer it to the dogs trust.

Has anyone seen the recent ads on television for the RSPCA? I have to turn them off or I'd put a shoe through the TV!

I wonder how much it costs them to advertise like that?

I agree with worldgonecrazy too. I know of several cases where the RSPCA have intimidated - not talking of wrong-doers here, I'd have no issue with that - but those where known and respected independent rescues have been intimidated as well as individuals on the end of malicious accusations. The RSPCA "inspectors" have been known to lie about the extent of their powers and make up laws which don't even exist.

Despite their uniforms and titles of "inspector" and "superintendent" they have no more power in law than any of us. They don't like to let on about that though.

Frozen... Good... but whatever you do, don't let the RSPCA get wind of your plans, you don't want to meet with an accident on the way home...

I got home safely, and have just cancelled the DD now. About to have a nose around the Dogs Trust website.

"try phoning [the RSPCA] when you have a sick wild animal"

• but aren't they just to prevent cruelty, ie bad human behaviour towards animals? Are they supposed to be responsible for sick wildlife?

Am not sticking up for them exactly, but they have a remit, which is the prevention of cruelty to animals, by their owners or so-called "sportsmen," not the nursing of sick wild animals.

sorry said the same thing twice

No, Balloon, the R$PCA, as they're known in rescue, are effectively the nation's flagship animal welfare agency and claim to be there for injured/ill wildlife AS WELL as preventing cruelty.

Preventing cruelty was their mission statement when they started out but now they don't even do that... they are often the cause of it.

That's good, Frozen. I sponsor the Dogs' Trust every month. I told them never to contact me, ring me, send me pictures or anything like that - and they've completely honoured my wishes.

Their magazines are really informative (I opted to have them), you get about six a year and they have lots of information about where their money goes, all about the rehoming, tips for nervous dogs, dog diets, etc. It's a world of difference from the hyper glossy stuff I've had from other charities.

I stopped my DD to the WWF because they kept calling me and saying '£2 per month is not very much is it, we can't do a lot with that, would you consider putting it up to £5 per month?' (actual verbatim script) and then telling me very long sad stories and asking me again.

They phoned me every week for ages, and in the end I stopped my DD. I was in the telephone preference service as well.

Now I support Greyhound Gap by fundraising. I give to independent charities rather than multinationals.

Don't forget though, that national funding does NOT go to local branches. You may find your local RSPCA is excellent. They have to raise their own funds. I used to work for a local Mind and people would often say 'Oh I popped a pound in the charity box for you today' when in reality they had donated to National Mind and we wouldn't see a penny.

Most people don't realise, so please bear it in mind.