Before I start this rant, I would like to make it very clear that I am in no way anti-charity and I have raised money for Comic Relief, Children In Need, Cancer Research (indeed I have run for this charity twice!) and so on. I often put odd change in collection boxes for various appeals like Poppy Day and a local children hospice charity, The Red Cross and so on. So I feel I do my ‘bit’, maybe not as much as I could or should BUT I do make donations from time to time.
These charitable fund raisers and donations that I choose to participate in are at my own free will and in my own time and when I want to make the effort. MY choice.
However, what really, really makes me mad is when you get these charity ‘chuggers’ ( a name I never even knew existed until I started a ranty tweet conversation on twitter last night) approach you in the street, on the phone or worse still, at your own front door in the evenings.
Here are my moans about each of these chugger types:
High Street Chuggers
As soon as I see their brightly coloured rain macs, clipboards and OTT smiley faces a few paces ahead of me I put my head down and play dodge the chugger by zig zagging my way from one side of the high street to the other to avoid any eye contact. If this doesn’t work and I get approached I always use the old ‘my parking ticket is about to run out’ or ‘I need to feed/change/find a toilet’ (if I am with my children) lines, which usually work. The only problem is when I have to re-trace my steps and that chugger is still roaming the street and I have to hope they don’t see me again!
I do find this tactic annoying and again when I am out shopping I don’t want to be asked to give to charity in this way. They just pounce on you and I don’t like it. I don’t like having to make my way down the high street aware that I might get subjected to a big cheesy faced chugger. I don’t mind putting money in a collection box when I am out and about which I find a more subtle approach personally.
Chug- grrrrr-o-meter
6/10
at least you can avoid them if you try hard enough!
Phone Call Chuggers
Not having a land line I probably get off fairly lightly with this way of charities contacting me. However, recently I voted for an act on that Save The Children ITV1 programme where celebrities were taught a skill by a young person – was it called Night With The Stars??? Anyway, I voted a couple of times as its for a fab cause and its one which a lot of the mummy bloggers I tweet with have had a big involvement with so I as happy to donate in this way. As a result of me doing this, a few months later I received a phone call from Save The Children apparently following up from the success of the TV show and the money it raised and to thank me for my donation.Then the woman started to tell me abut all the good work STC do and how they still need to raise more money etc… and she asked me if I would be willing to pledge a monthly donation to the charity. I explained to her that I wasn’t working so I wouldn’t be able to do this and again she asked me if maybe I could just pledge a very small amount, so again I told her that the only regular money that went into my bank account was my child allowance, so I wouldn’t be able to commit. I then told her that I would be willing to make a small one off payment off £20 but because this wasn’t a monthly commitment she said she would have to post me a form to fill out so I could make a donation at the bank. I did receive a letter but I didn’t make the payment.
This experience has really put me off voting-donating via TV shows if this is what happens afterwards. I donated money and it was an amount i could afford. I don’t then expect to be spoken to for about 15 minutes trying to get me to set up a monthly direct debit to donate more.
Chug- grrrrr-o-meter
9/10
you can hang up on them and you can lie to end the phone call!
Doorstep Chuggers
To me this is the worse kind of chugger and it really pi**es me off BIG time! I would say that on average we get these chuggers pay us a visit once every couple of months and the majority of their visits are after 7pm and the most recent was 8.45pm! If I have the blinds open and I can see them scouring my road I don’t even answer my door to them but the one that occurred tonight at 8.45pm I only answered because it was dark so I couldn’t see out of my window, and being so late, and my OH was up the road at the pub, I thought it was either him messing about or a neighbour. So I opened my front door only to be greeted by a lad dressed in an Oxfam printed red jacket with the biggest cheery smile imaginable! I allowed him to introduce himself and say where he was from and then the following conversation took place:
me (politely): I already give money to charity so I am not interested. Sorry
him (still smiling): but you still want to hear what I have to say?
me (still polite): no thank you
him (still smiling like a goon): yeah, but you still want to hear what I have to say!
me (still politely, but a little annoyed): no, really I don’t.
him (still smiling): oh but you do want to hear what I have to say?
and now with his arms wide open in a kind of tah-dah/ jazz hands kind of way
me (polite but firm): look I already donate to charities and I don’t want to hear what you have to say!
closes door as he still smiles at me!
Honestly, talk about being cocky and a little tiresome! What I really wanted to say was this:
(*not the charities – although these tactics I find off putting and may not sway me to donate!)
I am linking this up to
Thank you xx
Go Jenny! Go Jenny!
I HATE these people.
They never take no as an answer and always make me feel really uncomfortable.
They seem to think its funny that they’ve interupted lunch/dinner or woken up a sleeping baby.
Its always the same people here too, just with a different tabard on.
I once told them that I give to a cancer charity.
They asked which one, so I told them and then they asked why, when I said rather abruptly that my mother in law had survived cancer his attitude totally changed and he went on his way.
If they are polite and apologise for interupting or waking a baby or come at a decent time I don’t mind so much, everyone has to work but its the rude ones that I want to tell to sod off!
I am totally with you on this one. It’s a shame that they make you feel bad because they are so intrusive that all you want to do is avoid them. And it is annoying that they feel like they can totally ignore what you are saying. As I said on Twitter, I had someone from the Dog Trust round while Amy was sitting in the highchair screaming from the top of her lungs and I said to them “Look, my baby is sitting in a highchair, unsupervised and quite obviously upset. I really don’t have time now”. Their answer “Well, she can’t go anywhere, if she’s in a highchair, can she?” I found that so rude and cheeky that I just cut him off and shut the door. I really couldn’t believe it.
I totally agree with you. I respect charities and all their great works and I know they need to raise awreness in order to raise money however there is a line. When they are pushy, expectant and rude about it then why would anyone want to donate? It really annoys me too! x
luckily we don’t tend to have many people come knocking on our door… but i do seem to get rather a large amount of letters and pens through the post :o/ and what annoys me more is the charities i already do donate to each month asking for more… 🙁 makes me think what am i actually paying for.. them to send pens to people or does my money get to the people I want it too?
I’ve never heard of a chugger before, at first I thought it was a chuggington post!! (shows how bright I am)
I really hate the ones with the clipboards in the street. And they flash a badge At you like you’ll know in an instant whether they are genuine or not. I’m sure they’re not con artists but you are so right, it’s annoying!! And if people want to give they’ll give.
Reminds me of Chuggington too!! I hadnt heard of the name til last night myself!! Ruddy chuggers so annoying x
exactly all those admin costs add up don’t they? i think charities should appreciate the donations they get and realise if people had more to give they probably would!
thank you for commenting x
glad its just not me then! i think the people they employ are just too in your face and they should back off a bit x
they don’t care. i don’t know if they are on commission but they shouldn’t be so pushy because it just puts people off donating x
Oh my god, I am so with you on the chuggers front – there always seem to be a ton of them in Richmond and once, one from WWF actually followed me half-way home from the town centre, running alongside me as I power-pushed my buggy, trying to persuade me to give money to the WWF because the planet was in great danger and if I wanted my child to live in a world that had any future, I needed to give a £10 monthly donation or something. I’d been politely declining all the time and then when we were almost at my house and I gave him short-shrift for basically stalking me, he stopped and then started calling “in denial”, “in denial” after me at the top of his voice. Absolutely shocking!
I’m with you as well – it does really put you off the charity when they are so insistent. Luckily, there are not so many here in Sweden (maybe the regulations are different?). There are some in the street but few bug charities and more ones like animal welfare or Salvation Army. We don’t get any on the doorstep but that’s probably as most apartment buildings have door codes or door telephones. I think them coming to the door is overstepping the mark, really – especially as they don’t take no for answer.
I think they are on commission. That’s why they are that pushy, I guess.
This is something that really annoys me too. When I was working I had direct debits set up for three different charities for about 3 years. They weren’t huge amounts but I felt I was contributing and was happy. However, each Charity regularly rang asking me to donate more,. It was very annoying. In the end I had to give up my job to move abroad and cancelled all of them.
I hate people calling me at home and the pushy ones in the street who want you bank details…eeerrrmmm no, I dont think so! xx
Yep, I am definitely with you on this one. Thankfully they have never darkened my doorstep nor called my landline, which is a good thing because I find that so intrusive I don’t think I could be polite. I have discovered a few techniques for avoiding the high street ones though. One is to pretend to speak on my mobile phone. The other came about after having a row with my husband and the two of us walked through town not uttering a word to each other with faces like thunder. When a chugger approached us with his cheery grin and “hi guy!” he swiftly caught a glimpse of our faces and backed right off!!!!! It’s a little far fetched to do everytime, but it worked!
One of my friends was accosted by one who told her that “you do realise an African child will DIE because you won’t donate money to this charity”… Needless to say she hit the roof and demanded his ID before lodging a full complaint with the charity. Disgraceful.
I also have Christian friends who say things like “Yes you can talk to me, as long as you allow me to tell you about Jesus”… tends to shut them up pretty sharpish 😉
it is amazing how many of us have been annoyed or pestered by these people! i think its terrible that we feel we have to make up stories, phone calls or even arguments with loved one (lol!) to prevent them approaching us. i think these employees need to learn some people skills!
thanks you for commenting x
my grandad had that happen to him with his animal charities he denotes to. he is a pensioner for goodness sake! ruddy out of order i think!
thanks for commenting x
i am disgusted that this chugger stalked you and followed you on your way home! its disgraceful behaviour it really is. i hope some charities read this to see how annoyed a lot of the public seem to be – its not making us want to help them with donations is it?
thank you for commenting x
Saw your tweets about this and quite agree. I hate being pestered at home and make it a rule not to buy or give at the door. I wouldn’t reward my child if he behaved badly and I’m not going to reward an individual or organisation who behaves badly (coming round to my house or ringing me up is behaving badly in my book).
Oh you are so right! This really is annoying. We don’t have that many come door to door. But randomly had one the other day. Who said he lived around the corner and was doing a fun run, would we sponsor him. We’ve lived here for years, never seen him before in my life…also wouldnt look me in the eye!!! Double Grrrr!
I am with you all the way and share your concern and frustration. If I decide to donate (which I do) that is great but hate having it pushed at me. Similarly I refuse to let the kids take charity sponsorship forms door to door round the village. It isn’t right!
It is so frustrating and I understand how you feel. I always feel so guilty as well but you can’t possibly give to everybody. I feel for the fundraisers too though as they are only doing their bit. It is a vicious cycle! x
Oh these people annoy me so much as well, I never knew there was a proper name for them though! The ones that come to your door are the worst, I feel so guilty saying no and always say that if I want to donate to the charity then I will do so directly but they don’t like taking no for an answer and often tell me it’s not possible to sign up for direct debit etc through the website or whatever. This really annoys me, why should I give out my bank details to a stranger on the doorstep? Grr! x
They are paid quiet a bit to do it too as my friend applied when she graduated — am sure it was £10 an hr!!!!
I hate the way they lie – you know like saying you are the only person in the area not doing it, or the “it’s just the cost of one coffee a week”
A little bit of good news: I get stopped a lot by these chuggers (their actual name is ‘street fundraisers’ – I sadly used to be one and I’m not proud of it), and have decided to help others by keeping the chugger talking for a long time with no intention of signing up – allowing other people to walk past and saving them from being pressured to part with their money. I managed to distract 2 chuggers in one day the other day! After reading a message on here, I’m going to try to talk to them about Jesus, then Buddha, then Satan until they realise I’m taking the mick 😀
It drives me bananas! I will normally spend a minute or two with market researchers, because my mum had to do it at one time to earn some money. But chuggers annoy me. I actually think that phonecalls are the worst, because then they are *in* your house.
Thanks for linking up to ShowOff ShowCase and apologies for the delay in commenting.
You should look at yourselves, the positives from charity fundraisers is that people who could not find a job anywhere can get a job doing this, i have seen people who are homeless with no where to go and no support out there getting a job helping charity’s raise money for good causes. You moan about how it takes two minutes too listen to a good cause and come up with many reasons of why not to support a charity when really it is helping people get out of unemployment and support there families as well as do the great things for the charity, like helping people through cancer or being able to drink clean water which should be rights that all people deserve. Instead u dehumanize people at your street or door to make yourself feel better, but that helps no one!
PS: have you seen some of the conditions these people work through, rain, snow and people being rude to them on a daily basis, its amazing how they don’t go mad, plus i believe they deserve the right to be able to support there family to instead of being a bum on the doll, just cause you have a nice warm office and don’t like your perfect little lives interrupted by the problems of the world.