Charity collection bags

[mumsydoodle]

Am i being unreasonable to be truly cheesed off when I sort out clothing for a charity collection, ( you know the sort of thing, where a plastic bag in a plastic envelope comes through your door ) then I put it out on the given date at the right time and then they don't bloody well collect it! I am particularly ticked off because last week I sorted out stuff for a well known children's charity i.e. the NSPCC, they didn't collect it, so another collection bag arrived, so I tipped the stuff into that one and they were meant to come yesterday, and they didn't and NOW it's all soaked because it is tipping it down and rain has got in the top and into those little holes they put in that type of bag. Sadly, this second collection company were asking for books too, and whilst the clothing is retrievable, the books are done for.

I know you can call a number if they don't collect but I didn't get round to it.

Grrrrrrrrrrr!

We had a bag for every frelling day last week and NOT ONE OF THEM TURNED UP!!!!

Sorry about the caps.

YANBU

VeryAnnoyedWithTheBagsAndTheNonCollectionTiggaxx

They never collect ours, even if I ring them, so I just bin them without trying these days.

You never know which ones are scams too

I have given up on them.

They never pick them up.

I just take all my crap unwanted items straight to the charity shop nowadays.

Glad it's not just me. I do take some stuff straight to a charity shop - we have one that is dedicated to children's clothing, equipment and toys etc and the stuff they sell is excellent quality, more of a second hand shop than a traditional charity shop, but I thought I'd do my bit blah blah. Now I need to get my soggy stuff, might wait until it stops raining though

They actually do collect around here, But we only put out the bags from genuine charites. Dh usually looks a charitythe internet if we are unsure about it.

yes love the ones that ask for your clothes to "help por people in ? country" then in small print it says they sell them to these people at a reduced price!! I never give to them.
Good stuff goes to charity shop and not so good goes to clothes bin down the road.Really good stuff goes to sister or ebay

A few months ago my brother saw one of the vans in a layby with the driver rifling through the bags in th back. I told him he should of reported it

There are probably 3 to 4 bags popped in letter box each week.

Only see one of the vans that's meant to collect (cul-de-sac, so has to go past me twice) and that's one which is a limited company and possibly has some directors on 100K a year!

I'd have thought that with fuel and so on, it would be better for them to do this less often, unless they're worried they will have empty hangers and shelves, since they are apparently getting less given to them (people selling things on Ebay and at car boot sales much more, quite understandably).

I would never dream of binning these bags. They are the perfect size for my kitchen bin.

We get a couple a month ( how much stuff do they think we need to get rid of?) but actually they do collect.

But yesterday I got a phone call from Oxfam 'wondering if they could tell me a bit about their work' . The guy talked for about 90secs and then pounced, wondering if I could become a supporter for £10 a month. I explained that I already supported 2 charities every month (not to mention the sponsored events that I cough up for every month) and my DH was about to be made bankrupt. Well, instead of saying 'I'm sorry to hear that, I'll leave you alone now' he asks me to give £3 a month. So I said, in a terse voice, my DH is about to go bankrupt, I can't afford to start more direct debits. He then went to make me feel like some sort of slacker for not signing up.

I know they have a script to follow and probably targets to meet but I was really annoyed to be treated like that in my own home.

Not surprised you were angry at his attitude.

Clearly the marketing team are brainwashed to lose any emotion (or have an IQ you can exceed with your toes and fingers) if he didn't take in the meaning of bankruptcy (been there, got the T-shirt, Inland Revenue caused mine, followed soon after by house repossession, so left the house with my cat and what I could carry on foot).

I use the bags pushed through the door as bin liners and I tell any chuggers or phone chuggers that, as a prostitute I have a variable income that means I can't commit to a specific amount each month - no matter how small - because in my down months that could be the difference between me and my children eating or not...

I prefer to donate to charities that are personal to me (cancer research, save the children and british heart foundation) rather than those with the most aggressive collection agents. And if I give them a (false) story to tell their mates as I dismiss them then that's so much better. My non-existent children will dine on steak that night.

The bottles for recycling go in mine. I left 1 or 2 out to be collected both empty and full, but no-one ever picked them up on the days they said.

It does piss me off too as this always happens. I was in the UK for 3 months over the (poor excuse of a) summer and sorted out about 4 bags of stuff when I got those envelopes and they kept failing to pick up until the last week when finally someone did.

DS1 actually did a search on one of the slightly dubious charities that claimed it was for overseas and found the charity number didn't exist so very suspicious about that one. I'm now going to just drop off at the charity shops myself or use one of those metal bins that they now have outside a lot of small shopping parades or petrol stations. At least you know then that they are going to the right place

Squishabelle - why didn't I think of that? We have a wheelybin so rubbish doesn't have to be in a black bag - and yet that penny didn't drop until you mentioned this just now.

has anyone had ones that say that the collection is a particular day - (ie Tuesday) rather than a date. it almost sounds like they're going to drive round weekly - which I'm deeply sceptical of. I assume I'm meant to have noted teh date they put it through the door and can therefore work out which Tuesday they're coming back. except I don't. At first I thought it was a brilliant idea - saves a trip to the charity shop - but not so sure now.

[on another note - lisad123 re the clothing thing - there's a big debate about the best way of using donated clothing - and while selling it, on the face of it, sounds bad, some argue that giving it away distorts the local market and has a negative effect on local manufaturers and business - which in the long term is worse. (whereas selling it promotes business). I'm not familiar enough with the whole debate - I just know it's a very complex issue. iirc Oxfam has some good explanatory info on their website if you're interested in it]

I use the bags but take them to a charity shop of my choice myself.

Certain shops will also do pick ups if you have lots of stuff or furniture.

The day I saw a drunken woman rooting through someone's bags, dropping anything she didn't want along pavement was the day I realsided it's a BAD idea to leave them out!

Realised, not real sided. Duh.

Different problem here - twice I've left bags out to be collected by freecyclers (clearly labelled) and they've been picked up by the charity collectors! Luckily have elderly neighbour who watches everything that goes on in the street to tell me this!

No good for your kitchen bin cos of the holes, you end up with a load of crap in the bottom of your bin.

There are apparently scammers who find out when the real charities bags are due out then swoop before the charity vans and steal the clothes to sell them!

Was on watchdog a while ago.