Chuggers/fundraisers should take your first "no" for an answer

[Parkingmoan1]

I've just been walking through the town centre on my way to catch a bus and was caught by one of those fundraising groups who accost you in the street.

As soon as she started talking to me I politely said no thank you, I don't have the time to talk and carried on walking. Instead of taking that as my final answer she chose to walk alongside me saying "I'm a fast talker" and continued her speech.

I felt a bit intimidated to be honest, she was quite loud and bolshie whereas I don't like confrontation and hate things like this.

I said I don't have any spare money, she said if I didn't want to make the one off payment to the cause (£25 bloody quid) the magazine they're selling is "only" £5.

I ended up buying the magazine just so that she'd leave me alone.

AIBU to think they should have to take your first "no" as an answer and leave you be?

One said to me “you look like a nice person” a couple of weeks ago. “I’m not” and a hard stare did the trick.
They ought to be banned.

Me and DH were walking through a big outside shopping area today, and DH (aged 60-ish,) was getting a bit tired and was nearly ready to go home. I wanted to look in a clothes shop and try a couple of things on. So my DH sat on a bench and waited for me... I said 'I'll only be 10 minutes.' A particular charity - I won't name and shame them - had set up camp some 70-75 feet (25-ish yards) away from him.

He was looking at his phone and eating some crisps, and a man aged around 35 walked right over to him from where their 'stall' was, and said 'good morning young man!' (fucking patronising that is, calling someone YOUNG MAN or YOUNG LADY when they're clearly over 60.) DH said 'er hi...' The man said 'how would you like to sign up to donate to our charity???' (Not 'giz a fiver mate...' They wanted DH to sign up and give his bank account details, so he could pay by direct debit - £10 a month!)

DH said (truthfully,) 'sorry mate, I don't have anything on me. No wallet, no money no cards.' (I had the debit card and cash. We have a joint bank account and everything comes out of the same one. He has his own card, but when we're together, it's usually me who has the card and money.)

The man said 'you have NOTHING on you? How are you paying for anything today?' DH said 'I don't need anything - I have just come out for a walk... (He never mentioned he was waiting for his wife... ) The man said 'you can still sign up, we just need your bank account details.' DH said 'I don't know them off by heart.' The man said 'well what bank are you with, you can go ask your bank for a print off of your account to get the account number... I can come with you if you like.' DH was like The man continued... 'Or maybe you can bring up your bank details on your phone and we can set it up now.'

DH was getting pissed off by then... He said 'my wife controls the finances. I wouldn't be able to set it up without her say-so...' (Not true, I don't stop him spending anything, but he said this to try and get the man to piss off!) The man continued...... 'and where is your missus? She can give us the bank details yes?' (urgh missus! I hate that too!) DH said 'yeah wait there, I'll go and get her...' Then he walked down the alleyway to the side door of the shop I was in, didn't go back, and managed to lose the man!

The charity's behaviour was SO rude and inappropriate. Trying to bully my DH into parting with ten pounds a month. And trying to get his bank details, and demanding to know how he is paying for anything with no money and no debit card. Then saying he can go to the bank to get the details, or set it up on his phone - right there! Right in the high street! That's so manipulative and horrible. SOME people would have ended up signing up, as they'd be too nervous/shy/embarrassed to say no!

Horrible practice. Horrible people. As pps have said, these vile chuggers need banning.

All that chuggers inspire in me is a steely determination to have nothing to do with the cause they are promoting, and I have told chuggers as much; they seem unfazed but leave me alone after that.
Perhaps if more people had the time or inclination to contact charities, telling them what a poor impression was being made in their name, it might deter them.

Agree @twoshedsjackson ^

The chuggers don't give a shit about the charity they are promoting. They are sales people who likely work for a third party. They could be pushing an energy company one day and a charity the next.

Agreed. I also agree with @MrsSkylerWhite - if they said "you look like a nice person" I'd just say I'm not (and if they tried the "do you want people to die" I might channel my inner scrooge and say "yes, and decrease the surplus population".

I'm pretty good at noticing them and not making eye contact but as I said above, it can be more difficult at railway stations if you have a bit of a wait for your train and they don't tell you your platform until the last minute, you are a sitting duck on the concourse (I am thinking of Waterloo station but I imagine any other terminus station is similar).

What I would do is make it illegal to ask for any bank details in the street, or agree to anything other than a one-off donation, you could argue GDPR etc as a reason.

Someone has a tin or bucket asking for donations is acceptable to me.

@reigatecastle

I agree with @MrsSkylerWhite- if they said "you look like a nice person" I'd just say 'I'm not.' And as for 'do you want people to die,' I might say 'yes, to decrease the world's surplus population!!'

'......do you want people to die???'

WOW, I haven't had anyone say this to me... (do you want people to die?!) That is dreadful. But I can believe someone would have said it. Some guy approached me and DH once (about 4 years ago,) trying to raise money for an animal charity, and he said 'morning people! Do you like animals?' (FFS Who doesn't like animals? )

DH was in a bad mood that morning (not with me but just a bit salty in general,) and he said 'mmm yeah I do. Labrador on toast is particularly delicious!' and gave the man this look >>> The man said 'oh ha ha very funny.' And gave him the look back... Prick.

As a pp said (@historyrepeatz ) these people don't give a shit about what they're promoting, it could be a charity one day and an energy company the next. They're just doing it for the money. A friend of DD's had a short stint working as a chugger some 5 years ago, when she was at uni, as she needed the money. Only lasted 3 weeks as she HATED it, and the horrible manipulative tactics they used.

But also, she said she got paid £75 for every person she signed up!!! £75! They don't want one-off donations like they USED to want/ask for ... The whole idea, is for them to get peoples bank details so they can push more stuff on them to pay up for, and just take it out of their bank account, as per my post way back in the thread... Nasty manipulative behaviour.

Page 9 at 13.20 on 12/10/2022

Page 9 | Chuggers/fundraisers should take your first "no" for an answer | Mumsnet

And whilst me, and DH, and most people on this thread won't tolerate it, and will notice anything extra coming out of their bank account, some people are much more shy and nervous and awkward and are afraid to say no, and some may not notice extra bits and bobs coming out of their bank account...

As has been said, these chuggers are DREADFUL and need banning.

They wouldn't be chuggers though if they were nice and took no for an answer.

The whole word implies unpleasant behaviour associated with charity collection.

I do think aggressive collection tactics undermine charities, as they make more people angry than get positive collection results.

100% agree @GasPanic

We had a spate of these locally plus those people who want to ‘save you money’ on utility bills, haranguing people in an alleyway from the car park to the shopping area where you can’t avoid them. When they wouldn’t take a polite no I said I had to donate any spare money to ‘the cult’.

Quite - which is why the "Don't you care ..." lines irritate me. You'd think they'd come up with some better lines, but really there's not much they could say which would induce me to part with my bank details to some unknown in the street

Nor does it end there - a soft hearted pal once signed up for "just a fiver a month" for the RSPCA and was plagued to death by phone calls wanting an increase

Much easier to just say no in the first place and donate directly to whatever you wish

I always say “I don’t sign up to direct debits for people who knock at my door/approach me in the street.” I’ve found this highly effective as it brings the interaction to a dead halt. Still think it should be banned.

Learn to sign. It really throws them. I had a chugger in the week approach me and start his spiel. I signed, I can't hear you, to him and he was completely phased. He was chugging for a deaf children's charity. I am not deaf incidentally so much enjoyed his confusion

😂

I done a month for one of these companies, it's all MLM, even had the big rave conferences where you have to whoop and cheer these random people who you've never heard of as if they're celebrities, and if you don't you've 'not got the winning mindset'. I made about £200 doing full time for 4 weeks, I can't do pushy!

They don't tell you when you go for the interview or anything that it's commission, it wasn't until after I'd been successful and was in training when that was made clear.

We were knocking doors, not in town centres, that seemed worse and I hated it, we would have to try doors 3 times over the course of the day to try and catch people. A man told me he'd give me X amount for something else and tried to pull me in his house, I was told off for not continuing on that street and going to find someone else from the group to work alongside instead.

Awful job and not something I'd ever do again, the party/upbeat vibe was nice at first until I realised that even the top level members of the team were skint too and everyone's just faking it

We had some with a stall outside Greggs and a few of them were wandering about, with the main man stopping people as they were going in to Greggs or queuing outside. They were from the Cats Trust.
The big chap stopped me and was about to go into his spiel so I put my hand up, said I hated cats so don't bother. He got quite snotty about it and when I came out he was talking to the others and pointed me out. However, none of them stopped me after that so good result!

"On the contrary; in fact, I care so much about X that I will be very careful to make my donation which may well be zero direct to the charity and not through a middle-man like yourself, who will take a large chunk of my donation away from the X that need every penny that people can give."

Unbelievable!

There are plenty of other jobs around, and their need to earn a living doesn't outweigh my right to go about my business without being harassed. It's also not a good look for young men to harass women in any context.

I am starting to say 'no!' to 'don't you care about children/fluffy bunnies/diseases' whatever if they don't take my polite 'no thank you' first time

My dad stopped his donations to RSPCA because they kept asking for more money.

I remember being stopped years ago. I said no because I couldn't afford it and was told it was "only £10 a month". That is a lot when your only income is £50 a week (as it was back then) JSA. Even if I wanted to I couldn't sign up then as I didn't have my bank details (as NatWest don't print your account details on your card) he suggested that he take my number and he'll call me tonight and he'll get them then. I refused.

I've had some who because I walk past them and ignore then wave their hand in front of my face.

I donate to who I want - I've raised money for a small charity who i also collect money for via easyfundraising. (This doesn't cost me anything)

I think we need to start saying 'actually I care about street harassment and high pressure sales tactics. Questions like that are emotional blackmail and I have issues with any charity who employs chuggers who use them'.

This type of behaviour - the example WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps details above is actually illegal I believe as it falls short of trading standards rules on high pressure sales tactics particularly if aimed at vulnerable (esp elderly) people and wouldn't be acceptable to the charity commission.

Remembering that councils also allocate slots for chuggers is also worth remembering.

Please take note of charity, names of individuals and report them. Don't just say 'no you don't care'. You need to be protecting vulnerable individuals from this exploitation.

I haven't read the full thread, but if someone kept pestering you in the street after saying 'no' I wonder if they'd think again if you got your phone out and started recording them? I imagine at least some of them won't like having their behaviour recorded.

I’ll vote for you.