How to deal with chuggers?

[Antst]

I live where it's impossible to walk an entire block without encountering someone asking for money. There are homeless people. They generally hold out their hands or ask directly, but don't approach. There are Jehovah's Witnesses. They stand where they get in way of pedestrian traffic and cause delays, but aren't confrontational. Then there are the representatives of charities like UNICEF. I do donate as much as I can, but never to random representatives on the street and always through PayPal or at a reputable business. I get so sick of being begged at whenever I'm outside and it's often impossible to tell if representatives are genuine.

Every day since the weather warmed up, there have been UNICEF people stationed in different places along one of the main streets where I live. They seem to position themselves to get in everyone's way and cause maximum chaos.

One of them stands on the other side of a busy road and jumps in front of people as they reached the other side. The people behind then can't get out of the road and things can get quite dangerous, especially at rush hour. He shouts at people who don't give him money. The other one stands where the footpath narrows because a bus shelter has been built on part of the path. It's already chaotic and people end up having to go into a busy major road when they can't get through and other people approaching from behind start piling up.

Various people at work have called the council about the problem (presumably they issue permits to these people) and are told that the council has no power over them.

Today the guy who blocks people trying to cross the road got in my face after he created a block that left me and several other people in the road after the lights changed and traffic started approaching. I tried to step around him and he blocked me. I stepped around him again and then he started yelling nasty things. I said quite calmly, but firmly, " off. You have put me off donating to UNICEF."

When I reached the other representative, I said that they were creating a hazard and being far too confrontational. She started chanting "we care about the children!" over and over again. So I called the police on their non-emergency number and asked for someone to take a look at the situation. The UNICEF people are the worst, but there must be four or five other groups on nearby that cause delays.

Anyway, I feel awful for reporting a charity group. Am I a complete ? What should I have done?

Councils do have powers they can use. Pretty sure BIrmingham banned chuggers from certain areas.
Report to the charity even if you don't have the badge number they will know from the street name the group you describe.

I just say ‘Sorry, I’m a student’. It’s what I’ve used since I was at university in London. I’m probably a little too old for it to be believable now, but it still seems to work!

They give me a lot of anxiety. I done a similar job as a teen when travelling. I hated every second of it and know how desperate they are to make a sale. I simply can afford to donate to every person who approaches me.

It annoys me when they're in shops. The sainsburys by my work usually has one set up in the doorway. I don't go there anymore.

I either don’t say anything and carry on walking, or elicit an overly cheery hello and carry on walking. Does the trick.

As already mentioned the chuggers don't work directly for UNICEF but UNICEF does seriously care about it's image, so you can report the bad behaviour to them by social media if possible. Make a fuss, give examples and names if you can get them via twitter, FB, insta, follow all their channels and make them notice. Of course this shouldn't happen but if all else fails then go public as possible and I bet you see a change. Btw the UN at the start of their name isn't coincidence! If you think that representatives of the United Nations should be behaving better it might feel easier to complain.

Anyone else who grew up in Edinburgh will agree with this. Just. Don’t. Stop.
Every summer every drama/dance/music student in the world comes and take a turn at handing out flyers. I had no idea that people have qualms about ploughing forward ignoring because I’ve done that forever. Even better if there’s a flow of people. Just. Don’t. Stop. Then it’s their choice to move or get knocked into.
“Hey i love your hat” silence and carry on. “Do you care about children” silence and carry on. “This child will die unless you stop” silence and carry on.
When I realise DH has stopped 20 steps behind (simple country bumpkin that he is) I go back and declare “you are not giving them money, move”.
I’m generally a live and let live type, don’t feel the need to jostle for the bus, let people with only a basket jump in front of me but fuck off blocking the path and stopping people who have places to be.

I say no thank you politely once. If they persist, I tell them to fuck off and leave me alone. No qualms about being rude if they didn’t take my polite request seriously.

I reported one once to the charity. He constantly made me feel uncomfortable, following me around, putting his arm around me, asking where I lived and of he could come for dinner. The charity (Not unicef) took it pretty seriously. I felt bad because he was a young guy who was obviously just trying to turn on the charm to make a sale, but the way I see it they need to know if they are actively putting you off donating.

bound up to them with a loud "hello my sort code is 235678, my account number is 124875789" how the hell are they to know if you are making up those numbers or what

I came here as I thought it was a head lice thread...

i loudly tell them to f off!

sorry but they`re a plague in my town centre !

@makingmammaries

Unicef might receive some funding from governments, but not all. They also have massive scope as the largest children’s charity in the world, and they couldn’t do that without fundraising from the public or private donors.

OP if the fundraisers weren’t behaving correctly and were jumping out, yelling at people, etc, please contact Unicef so they can investigate. In my experience charities take this very seriously and will investigate if you can provide information like name of fundraiser, location, time, etc. Complaints are taken seriously so do raise it directly with them.

Also, not all fundraisers are employed by agencies; some are direct staff. Either way, fundraisers do a really important job for all charities and I’ve met many, many fundraisers who are passionate about the causes they fundraise for on both sides.

Advert for Unicef in the margin right now - cyber-chuggers?? smile

Frankly, UNICEF is an international organization, not a charity

THE UNITED KINGDOM COMMITTEE FOR UNICEF. Registered charity number 1072612.

Charities use chuggers (those chatty young things that ask you to sign up as a regular donor) because it works. As long as more people sign up to donate than it costs them to fundraise this way they'll continue to do it.

You can complain to the charity about their fundraiser's conduct or go to the fundraisers regulator direct. Don't bother the Charity Commission, they only regulate the charity, not the fundraiser.

Hate chuggers. We have loads of them in our town. I push on past if they get in my path. I give generously to charity with money and time and I give where I choose.
Do complain to unicef. Charities hate their reputation being tarnished.

I tell them I'm 16 because then you can't donate - thank his for baby face.if they were being rude I'd tell them to fuck off.

I recommend you start a petition and share it around your areas FB pages. Then send to the council.

I stopped shopping at Morrison's because of being pestered for money all the time, there were scouts wanting to pack my bags, studios wanting to take portraits, chuggers with a bucket then if I managed to dodge them there would be a bloody RAC man outside ready to pounce.

Ugh. I used to feel like I was doing some sort of chugger obstacle course on my commute where I had to power walk between 2 major city centre train stations.

Big over-ear headphones
Polarised sunglasses so they had no hope of catching my eye
Hands in pockets and no fear of shouldering them out of my way if they leapt in front

These things helped but I'm still bloody glad I no longer do that commute.

I hope you get it sorted, chuggers drive me potty!

When they come up to me, I always turn around and say "I already give to you on a monthly basis" and they leave me alone.

I had a similar experience to the OP today. Too many homeless people/beggars, JWs, big issue sellers, and finally a large team of Unicef chuggers behaving rather unprofessionally. I zigzagged across the road more than once to avoid them. I am fed up with having to evade interactions I do not want to have. I wonder if OP is in the same NW town as me. Combined with the ongoing poor customer service in many of the shops it is putting me off going shopping in town at all.

Contact unicef to complain as well.

I smile and say very clearly "sorry not stopping"
Works pretty well

If they don't take not interested for an answer and if I have time, then I explain that I don't give money to charity but give support in practical and material ways. I start talking enthusiastically and in great detail about the things I make and time I give and for which charities. When I get on my hobby horse, I'm unstoppable - they can't get a word in edgeways!

Just say “I already have a direct debit with you” and walk off