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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to shut the door on chuggers?

111 replies

LittleSausageFingers · 09/12/2016 16:13

Apologies if this has been done to death.

We've had a spate of chuggers knocking on recently and it's doing my head in. They tend to knock at 5ish, almost always when I'm giving DD her tea so I've had to drag her from the high chair to the door to answer. I know that of course I could just not answer, but I've done almost all my Christmas shopping online this year and we're getting a lot of packages. I don't want to miss them and have to go collect them.

I've no problem with walking past chuggers in the street with a 'no, thanks', but it's so much more intrusive at the door, and they don't seem to take the hint that it's a bad time, even with a food splattered baby on my hip. So AIBU to say 'no, thanks' and shut the door in their face?! I generally cut them off quickly and explain that I don't want to waste their time, but I am not going to donate to them/sign up because I don't agree in principle with door-to-door chugging, and it's nothing personal or against the charity. Which is fine, and doesn't take me long to say, but some of them are very persistent.

OP posts:

SaltyBitch · 09/12/2016 16:15

Look flustered, and say 'I'm sorry, now is a really really bad time". Then close the door.

Katy07 · 09/12/2016 16:15

If you cut them off quickly and they don't leave then you're fine to shut the door - though I'd probably say 'sorry, I said I'm not interested' as I did so

Bagina · 09/12/2016 16:16

Personally if I see them in the street I don't answer. If they knock I say no thank you, and just close the door. I haven't got time for it. I don't feel bad about it; I haven't been rude. Dh can't believe I can do that, but secretly admires me for it.

TheDisreputableDog · 09/12/2016 16:18

I take the "sorry, I'm not interested. Thanks" approach and close the door. Polite but firm. My DH gets stuck at the door for ages...

CrohnicallyPregnant · 09/12/2016 16:20

Why don't you put up a 'no cold callers' sign?

Catzpyjamas · 09/12/2016 16:20

Put a sign on your door?

HermioneWeasley · 09/12/2016 16:21

Just say "no thanks" and shut the door. Even if they're still talking.

Elphame · 09/12/2016 16:22

I open the door, , point to the conspicuous sign which they have clearly decided doesn't apply to them and close it again without saying a word.

if it's Hello Fresh ( not a charity I know) the door is shut somewhat forcefully as they are a frequent offender.

Paulat2112 · 09/12/2016 16:23

I just say no thanks and close the door. I thought everyone done that?

Original poster

LittleSausageFingers · 09/12/2016 16:24

I had thought about a sign, but do they really work? We had one on the communal front door of a building we rented a flat in once and they still buzzed up. Also my door is really nice and I don't want to stick anything on it but may have to resort to that!

OP posts:

JiminyCricket · 09/12/2016 16:24

I say 'I don't accept cold calling' and shut the door.

On a side note, I once met someone who was employed to chug outside bars on weekend evenings for a charity - her wage was one third of whatever she collected.

On the other hand, if someone who lived in my area called round rattling a tin on a voluntary basis for the Red Cross or something I would be more than happy to contribute. This never happens. I know they make more money from direct debits, paid fundraisers etc, but it has totally alienated me.

Wonderflonium · 09/12/2016 16:28

Can you also complain to the charities they are collecting on the behalf of? They only do it because they think "we" are okay with it.

Snowflakes1122 · 09/12/2016 16:28

They can be so pushy.

I stopped feeling guilty about ignoring them at the door when I heard some get commission.

Yanbu

Janey50 · 09/12/2016 16:29

I have no truck with these people. It's bad enough when they accost you in the street,usually when I'm in the middle of a conversation with someone. They just butt in regardless and it really pisses me off. If they approach me when I'm on my own with their 'Hello I'm your new best friend' routine,I just smile and say 'Sorry',no,I already support 2 charities' (which is true). I have had 2 chuggers actually knock on my door in the last 6 months or so,one of them was at 8pm! Surely that is outside of permitted hours? I just said 'No thank you,please do not call again'. They didn't.

RaptorInaPorkPieHat · 09/12/2016 16:30

We have a sign, it makes no difference at all.

If I open the door (if I see them coming I don't) I just say "I don't sign up to anything at the door" and I don't want to waste their time. That seems to work most of the time.

Original poster

LittleSausageFingers · 09/12/2016 16:31

I had one recently from a children's charity, when I did my usual spiel about not signing up to cold caller charities he said 'oh, so you don't care about children then?'

OP posts:

Snowflakes1122 · 09/12/2016 16:35

littlesausagefinger

Wonder if it was the same idiot?! I had a guy call around collecting for a local hospice and I was there with a toddler at my feet and pregnant.
I said I couldn't afford it right now. He said
"Are you new around here? That figures" and walked off

creakyknees13 · 09/12/2016 16:38

I had one recently from a children's charity, when I did my usual spiel about not signing up to cold caller charities he said 'oh, so you don't care about children then?

OMG, me too! I opened the door to this guy who started talking so I went to say that I already support three charities (Amnesty, a local hospice who cared for a friend and an animal charity) as well as my university alumni fund. However, I paused and he interrupted with "...you don't care about sick kids?". I should have told him to fuck off but I was too shocked. I said, 'no, I already give a lot to charity actually' and then shut the door. They can be so horrible. i understand that it's a shitty job and that they are desperate, but there must be better ways for charities to raise cash. I find that emotive poster campaigns make me much more likely to do a text donation than some dumb chugger.

aginghippy · 09/12/2016 16:42

YANBU I just say no thank you and close the door. If you say anything at all, it gives them something to talk about.

Of course the answer to 'You don't care about children then?' is 'No!

LunaLoveg00d · 09/12/2016 16:42

I've complained to a charity about this before, they send out teenage chuggers to annoy people on their doorstep at teatime and badger them into signing direct debit forms. I emailed the Chief Exec of the charity concerned (a major cancer one) and I didn't even get the courtesy of a reply.

I am a regular charity volunteer and very on board with the ethos and work many charities do, but completely against chugging.

TheNaze73 · 09/12/2016 16:43

YANBU.

Telling them that you donate through work as a tax dodg, shuts them up

Becca19962014 · 09/12/2016 16:55

I can't put up any signs, though I'm so rural it's rare people try here.

But I was once called a liar about my financial difficulties and told I should give them the money I was clearly spending on sweets and cake as I'm so fat and, no one in modern Britain cannot afford to help. It got much worse after I told them to leave - shouting through my letterbox and saying they'd be back.

I wrote to the chief exec and got a reply telling me it was a cultural/language problem and just a misunderstanding. So I then contacted the charities commission and got an apology and told they would include in their training that it is possible to be overweight for reasons other than overeating (I'd was on steroids which pushed my borderline adrenal problem into being a big problem) and that severe financial problems can and do exist in Britain today.

Not seen anyone since.

Mobility problems mean I'm stopped all the time when out by them as I cannot walk well enough to get past.

Topseyt · 09/12/2016 17:00

I had one recently from a children's charity, when I did my usual spiel about not signing up to cold caller charities he said 'oh, so you don't care about children then

Just for the hell of it, I would probably have said "You're absolutely right. No I don't" and firmly shutting the door. I am not intending that to be taken literally, by the way. It would simply be my way of getting rid of a cheeky git.

I don't like chuggers. I don't do buying, selling or giving at the door. It is just so hard to know who to trust.

Meluzyna · 09/12/2016 17:01

I generally cut them off quickly and explain that I don't want to waste their time, but I am not going to donate to them/sign up because I don't agree in principle with door-to-door chugging, and it's nothing personal or against the charity.

They only do it because they think "we" are okay with it.
This x2
I don't get many chuggers at the door, but loads on the phone despite being registered with the local equivalent of the TPS (non UK poster).
I believe in telling them politely but firmly that as I object to being disturbed by unsolicited phone calls in my own home I make it a policy to never give anything to charities which contact me this way - and if I have given to them in the past I will now cross them off my list and give my money to someone who doesn't assume that if I am at home I have time to waste answering the phone to them- if enough people do take this attitude it won't be worth their while to do it.

Unexpected result yesterday.... I always answer the phone to an unknown number with a very British "Hello?"
Bloke checked I was Mme Lusignan and asked in French if I spoke French. (D'oh)
"un peu" I answer. (Liar - my French is good enough to watch complex dialogue-based films at the cinema, so it's good enough to have a phone conversation)
Sorry, he says in French and hangs up. Result!

AmeliaJack · 09/12/2016 17:06

Say "no thanks" with a cheery smile and a brisk door close. Perfectly polite and doesn't waste anyone's time.

The. Irreverent answer to "don't you care about children" is

"Yes but I don't care about your sales targets"

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