to think that charity fundraisers who knock on my door are intrusive?

[ChickenInABasket]

I just had a very nice Red Cross fund raiser knock on my front door asking me to sign up for their latest fundraising campaign. I'm quite used to being accosted on the high street but this is the first time they've come to my home!

I do appreciate that they need to raise money/ awareness but AIBU to think that this is intrusive and that I should be left in peace in my own home?

YANBU.

I resent any kind of door-to-door selling/appealing. It's just wrong.

I wouldn't mind apart from the fact it's always been at night. I feel vunerable having an unknown man/ pair of men knocking on my door at night when I'm home alone. It's the last thing that makes me want to give!

YANBU - They come round here ALL the time, its a pain in the arse and very very intrusive, and ALWAYS at about 5pm. If I want to give to charity I will - thanks.

Its bad enough in the street, when I am trying to spend money on MYSELF.

I tell them I already have a direct debit with whichever charity it is and they go away

I hate it, if I wanted to give money I would (already have a monthly direct debit to fave charity), not because some asshole called at my door.

And where the hell do they get their patter

'Hi Im Greg, Im not as scary as I look, ha ha, aaahh well maybe I am, ha ha ha' honestly like seeing that Rob from Pinapple dance studios at my door every time.

Can you get signs that say 'cold callers ....fuck off'

The best are the double glazing ones 'oh hi I can see you have upvc windows/doors/guttering/conservatory, would you ever consider a porch ..... slam!

i hate them. red cross are the worst cos they are v. well trained in the friendly patter and then scurry off like woodland creatures with a hurt paw when you say no.

lol @ mosschops that is exactly it!

i had one turn up and i said no. then a few hours later i heard her giving dh the same patter and i came out and said sorry i am stil saying no.

fund raising is difficult and i do feel for them but coming to the door pisses me off

I agree that it is intrusive and firmly believe it should actually be prohibited. I do not want to be invited to donate to a charity - I shall donate at my pleasure and most importantly, at my discretion.

Whilst I am polite to those who knock on my door or stop me in the street - they are only trying to do a job - I recently complained to a charity at the highest level asking them to desist only to receive a very sanctimonious letter in reply. If someone knocks on your door and you politely send them away, only you and they know you have chosen not to donate. If you are accosted by one of these so-called "chuggers" in the street (Brighton always seems to be awash with them), they do not give up easily and the whole street can see that you do not want to donate!

I have absolutely no problem with charitable collections such as "flag days" or "poppy day" that simply take place with hard-working volunteers standing outside the local shopping centre in all weather to help raise funds - it is the intrusion you suffer from a knock on your front door that infuriates me so much.

I am also equally against home-visits from religious groups and organisations and have actually written to my newly-elected MP on the subject - those calls should be banned even more than charitable organisations.

No YANBU. I hate them. I hate that I can't negotiate any British high street without having three of them all rush to stand in my path, all smiley/smarmy commission salesman who flirt cynically with middle aged women to get them to stop walking. I hate that they expect me to write down my bank details for some total stranger in the street. And I resent even more the ones who come knocking on my door.

The last one was a slick suited, handsome bloke of about thirty with a dazzling plastic smile who looked like a cross between a Morman and a shady timeshare salesman. I told him in no uncertain terms that I will never, on principle, give to any charity which employs such cynical tactics. God knows how much they squeeze out of lonely old people and vulnerable adults.

YANBU.
Had the RSPB the other day. Just went through the patter of "so you'll be getting this magazine, free membership and entry, so if I could just have your bank details...." without asking if I'd donate or telling me how much the monthly DD was....

I told him we're on income support and couldn't afford it, he replied "well I wouldn't want to take food off your table but surely you can afford something?"....

Erm... no.
Besides if I could it'd go to my chosen charities.

OMG Mosschops - that was exactly his opening line!!! "Hi I'm XXX, don't worry I'm not as scary as I look... blah blah"!!

YANBU - I hate it - they are really pushy as well - it just creates a bad impression of the charity to be honest!!

YANBU. DH actually had an altercation with a charity collector on Sunday. DH said he didn't have any change (which was true) and the rude man actually tutted and rolled his eyes at him! I followed him out in my slippers in full fishwife mode and gave him a piece of my mind too.

I don't mind if it's a collector for poppy day or an envelope for Christian Aid - it's a one-off and most people can manage a quid for a good cause, if not they are happt to have whatever you can manage to give. It's the slick professionals that want your bank details and aim for £20 per month I hate.

It is illegal for them to knock on your door if you are on the opt-out list for their charity. Just tell them you want to go on the opt-out list. They will look scared and write your address down!

Then if they come again, give them a rocket and threaten to sue.

Do bear in mind that by not giving money to the charities these people are collecting for, you're not really punishing them but the beneficaries of the charities. Just a thought.

beneficiaries even

YANBU I no longer give to charities that harass me outside and inside my home.
Some of them can be very passive aggressive or use the 'humor method' to publicly humiliate, they have been at the sharp end of my tongue and certainly don't get near my purse.

teehee - my BF co-oerced money out of my ex on Monday evening collecting the Christian Aid envelopes on his street.

She knocked, he answered, she asked for the envlope back, he claimed he didn't get one, she told him she KNEW he had as she'd dropped it in.

"oh well you'd better come in then" (he knows her)

Short discussion ensued where he claimed not to know what Christian Aid do and she told him that they help look after poor children like "HIS SONS" (big hint at the fact he has children that he's seem to have forgotten about again) but who had no clean water, food, blah blah blah "so you'd better go and get something"

And he did PMSL.

I know that is slightly off topic but it did make me laugh as she wouldn't have done it to anyone else just to him LOL

God I love my best friend

My DH signed for St John's ambulance and the amount he put down on the form was changed from £10 to £90, needless to say he cancelled it.

Well, what a bunch of lovely folk you are. They're doing a (crap paid) job, usually because they actually care about the charity involved. You can just say 'No thanks', manners don't cost anything.

Dear 8 year old boy living in Uganda, whose parents both died of AIDS leaving you to look after your 5 year old brother and baby sister by begging on the street with them every day,

We know that £5 a month from a rich Westerner via our charity would really help your situation and perhaps pay for shelter, food and medicine for you.But the rich Westerners we've asked don't like our fundraisers and object to having Coronation St interrupted whilst they're at home in their warm houses eating their plentiful supplies of food.So they're not giving you any money. That'll teach you to need aid from a charity who dare to actually employ people to go out and ask rich Westerners for money to help someone like you.

Best wishes,
Unicef/Christian Aid/Oxfam/delete as applicable

actually Jenny Christain Aid ones that'll be all over the place at the moment due to it being Christain Aid week somewhere around now aren't paid at all - they're volunteers.

But the paid ones generally don't give a rats arse about the charity involved, aren't usually employed by the charity and get paid for sign-ups.

Agree it should be about the beneficiaries. But if the caller has been hired on commission, you would aid the beneficiaries more by donating the same amount directly.

And some charities can do far more good than others with the same amount, if you make considered choices yourself, rather than "impulse buys" on the doorstep.

Think one thing that is great about how fundraising has changed is that its quite easy to find out how you can donate wisely/ make a donation go further these days.

toccatanfudge - but who had no clean water, food, blah blah blah

I know, soooo boring isn't it, having to hear about these tedious peope living in utter despair and poverty.

you see you are making an assumption because we don't like people being paid on commision knocking on our doors that we don't donate to charity........

that's a very wild assumption to make, I pick my charities carefully, and donate directly to them - not giving someone who only cares about their commission a few more pennies in their pockets.

Don't lecture me on the issues these charities deal with.