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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to loathe charity-muggers, a.k.a. Chuggers.

47 replies

TheNightingaleComplex · 25/08/2009 21:40

Why, oh why, can I not walk down my high street without being pounced on by a team of Chuggers trying to persuade/make/force me sign up to a direct debit to the latest charity.

To make things worse, when I say I'm not interested I either get a disapproving look or back-chat. Even worse, when it's a children's charity and you're made to feel like utter dirt because as a parent you're not helping all the children of the world.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against charities - and I do donate to charities - but only to the ones I've chosen.

Am I being unreasonable?

OP posts:
MissisBoot · 25/08/2009 21:43

YANBU at all!

Any charity that employs chuggers immediately makes me not want to donate to them.

bumpybecky · 25/08/2009 21:45

yanbu

I will not sign up or donate to charities that use chuggers.

Narketta · 25/08/2009 21:50

YANBU, I also hate having to walk down the high street.
Today as I went to the bank I got pounced upon by a chugger in a red tabbard, I didn't even see what charity they were working for just politely said "Sorry not interested", and then about 5 meters away was another one working for the same charity so quickly dashed around her and made it to the safety of the bank only to then come out 10 minutes later and get pounced on again by the same 2 chuggers. ANNOYING.

whethergirl · 25/08/2009 21:51

The thing is, they stop you and go on about what a good cause it is etc. and pull on all the heart strings, but lets face it, they don't actually work within the charity as an involved member, they are out of work actors/students/saving up to go travelling and are working on a commision basis.

YANBU. But I what I find worse is when they actually knock on your front door. And that goes for any salesperson.

whiteflame · 25/08/2009 21:52

couldn't agree more. we have chuggers set up directly outside our local supermarket. they're right opposite the (only) door so that if you want to actually buy food in our neighbourhood, you cannot avoid them. very annoying when you're in a rush and laden with heavy shopping bags...

fishie · 25/08/2009 21:52

chin up people. these are companies, paid to make money from you. the charity will only employ them if it is a success, so the more you scorn them the shorter their contract.

door to door is the latest scourge. slam it!

AuraofDora · 25/08/2009 21:55

1.walk on by

  1. dont have time
  2. are you 'paid' for this charity work yourself?
  3. go away

i hate the slickly sickly have a nice day london chuggers are all weirdly passive aggressives..

MogTheForgetfulCat · 25/08/2009 22:11

Gah! Hate them with a passion. They always seem to recognise me as a total soft-touch, the buggers. And am incensed by them door-stepping - in the street is one thing, at my own front door is another. YANBU.

terramum · 25/08/2009 22:11

I simply walk past them saying no thanks and then raise my hand up like a 'stop' sign. Works like a charm & never get any pestering....but then I walk at breakneck speed so before they've had a chance to answer back I'm long gone

tethersend · 25/08/2009 22:25

They are paid around £8-10 per hour (well, a friend was before they went insane from all the rejection and got a proper job), so their loyalty to that particular charity is questionable.

I find a simple "No, I hate children" does the trick, especially when I'm pushing the pram.

I just can't take a guilt trip from an over-confident gap year trustafarian in stripy trousers and a branded anorak.

PixiNanny · 26/08/2009 00:33

Walk down the road with your phone to your ear nodding to yourself. Works for me when ClicSargeant come down every few weeks!

I volunteer a lot of my time and love doing that, I can't afford to pay towards charities! I had a CS guy go on about me not being able to pay even £2 a week to them; I will be back on £80 a week next year, even less if I go to a european company, I need every penny I earn to pay for my basic living costs! They just don't seem to understand that! I volunteer time, not money.

Pikelit · 26/08/2009 00:39

Hate, hate, hate, hate chugging! I was always annoyed at being hi-jacked in the High Street but now there seems to be an extra persistence to their pursuit. Last week I snapped (mildly of course because this is England) and having said I didn't "have a couple of minutes", turned back and gave the chugger a complete DIATRIBE. Which concluded with "And now, my dog will bite you". Which of course he didn't.

ravenAK · 26/08/2009 00:45

'I don't give to chuggers. In fact, I don't give to charities whose chuggers approach me. Which doesn't bother you, does it, because this is a crap McJob you're doing because you're a student. For which you have my sympathy because I've been there, but you can still bog off'

Actually, it might be worth a form 'chuggers are counter-productive' email to send to all charities who use them.

I think tbh it's the crappy waste of young people's time which really annoys me. Everyone hates chuggers.

Shelf-stacking, glass-washing, fruit-picking, fine, all productive occupations. Pestering strangers for money in the street just isn't good for anyone's psyche.

MissSunny · 26/08/2009 00:51

Message withdrawn

Deeeja · 26/08/2009 02:16

In my area, all the charity collectors seem to have taken the chugger style on. They have started waving their collection tins at me, and standing infront of me.
Bloody chuggers.

ninedragons · 26/08/2009 08:44

I've started avoiding one particular supermarket because its entrance is always heaving with chuggers.

What really annoys me is that it's all CHILDREN WITH CANCER all over the buckets and the t-shirts, but written in tiny, tiny print on the bottom of the bucket is the fact it's a Hare Krishna charity.

I don't give to any religious charities and I'm sick of being yelled at because I don't care about children with cancer when in fact it's organised religion that I despise.

bamboobutton · 26/08/2009 08:49

i hate chuggers with a passion. they seem to love my mum and always pounce on her.

Gentlemans Walk in Norwich is terrible for them, we call it 'running the gauntlet' whenever we go shopping.

BunnyLebowski · 26/08/2009 09:32

Grrrr I hate the false smarmy gets.

Have just started working in a city centre pub so get assaulted by them on the way in every day.

My stock response is

"I'm sorry I don't support charities who use chuggers." This either shuts them up or elicits smart comments. Either way they ain't getting my money.

It's so counterproductive of them as I have now been put off many charities I used to support because of chuggers.

Ninedragons - that's so disingenuous of the Hare Krishnas. I feel exactly the same about religious charities.

curiositykilled · 26/08/2009 09:53

I quite enjoy letting them talk at me, thinking I'm interested because I'm reading the pamphlet and saying 'hmm'. When I am bored I say 'let me just interrupt you there, no matter what you say to me you will not get my bank details or signature standing in the street like this'. This makes them angry.

NellyNoKnicks · 26/08/2009 10:11

YANBU, I detest how 20 people can walk past yet every time they pick me..... I don't understand it, I sometimes feel like they seek me out especially (which I know is rubbish but they try every time I venture out of the house).

When heavily pregnant and going to pick up my nephew I was stopped by someone collecting for a dogs' charity (I forget which one).

I said I wasn't interested so he carried on walking next to me telling me about these unfortunate dogs. I said I'm sorry, I'm about to go onto maternity pay which only just covers my debts.... why should I give away any of the meagre sum that's left after living expenses just because you nag the most, at which point he left me alone..... I ducked into a shop and then he collared me again on the way out as if we hadn't had the previous conversation GAH!

BunnyLebowski · 26/08/2009 10:50

Haha Nelly that's shocking!

I've just remembered another one. I was in town with dd when she was a few weeks old and she was in her sling. A chugger from a children's charity saw us and came legging over and opened with the line

"You're a mum, you obviously care about kids - I can count on you giving us money can't I?"

Erm no fuck-knuckle but you can count on getting a toe up yer hole if you keep making assumptions and preying on my emotions to try and get me to give you money, money WHICH by the way you couldn't give a crap about raising for the charity but for your own commission so that you can buy hemp knickers or wax for your whiteboy dreads you trustafarian crusty hippy. Now piss off.

madusa · 26/08/2009 10:56

ask them how much they are earning from that charity and ask them how much they donate to that charity.

then lie and say you already support them

CurrantBun · 26/08/2009 10:58

I hate them too with a passion. I work near Baker Street in central London and going out to buy a sandwich at lunchtime entails running the gauntlet of these artificially cheerful, fake do-gooders. I always say "Sorry, can't stop - late back from my lunch break" and they have never pestered me further.

Even if I wanted to donate to that particular charity, I would not fill out a form with my bank information in the middle of the street and entrust it to a member of the Great Unwashed.

jeee · 26/08/2009 10:58

I found out how to avoid them - when out with my sister who used a wheelchair none of them came near us.

curiositykilled · 26/08/2009 10:59

I once had a sky salesman follow me home (10 minute walk) he was very sure I would sign up to sky. He then, obviously forgetting he'd followed me home, he asked for the time when sat outside a cafe and proceeded to try and sell me sky, I reminded him he'd tried this before with no success but we had to 'lose' him in a crowd. We bumped into him in Tesco car park he then, remembering me, chased me into the shop!