Latest Charity Tactic...grrrrrrrrr!
Discussion
Right, let me get one thing straight...I am more than happy to give to charity. I'll give to charities when a friend or colleague is doing something worthwhile for a charity that is dear to them, I'll give to charities that are dear to me, or from a purely selfish point of view I'll give to charities where I think I might one day be on the receiving end of their support. I'll get invovled in events, I'll give up my time and I'll give to charities that are naff all to do with me or my friends...a natural disaster or something similar.
But what really irked me today was checking out of a hotel on business, and finding a £1 charity donation on my bill. Not voluntary, not "tick this box", just there on the bloody bill alongside breakfast and internet.
I hope I'm not being, erm, uncharitable here, but that is taking the p1ss. I had to ask which charity it was for, I have no idea what the terms were and if the hotel chain was taking a cut, but no doubt some marketing genius has stood up in a meeting at the charity and said "I know, we'll just add onto the hotel bill, because lets face it, people are going to be sooooooo embarrassed asking for £1 to be removed at reception at the front of a large queue, they'll just leave it. Besides, lots of business travellers will just expense it anyway so they won't care...haha!"
Is it me or is this pretty out of order? It's not the amount, it's the principle. If they'd given me my bill, and said "our chosen charity is the xxxxx, we are encouraging all our guests to make a voluntary £1 donation, would you like to take part?" I'd happily have done that, it was just that the thing was already there and the system was designed to make you look like an arse in front of a queue if you didn't want to play ball What next, chuggers taking your wallet and you have to negotiate it back from them?
But what really irked me today was checking out of a hotel on business, and finding a £1 charity donation on my bill. Not voluntary, not "tick this box", just there on the bloody bill alongside breakfast and internet.
I hope I'm not being, erm, uncharitable here, but that is taking the p1ss. I had to ask which charity it was for, I have no idea what the terms were and if the hotel chain was taking a cut, but no doubt some marketing genius has stood up in a meeting at the charity and said "I know, we'll just add onto the hotel bill, because lets face it, people are going to be sooooooo embarrassed asking for £1 to be removed at reception at the front of a large queue, they'll just leave it. Besides, lots of business travellers will just expense it anyway so they won't care...haha!"
Is it me or is this pretty out of order? It's not the amount, it's the principle. If they'd given me my bill, and said "our chosen charity is the xxxxx, we are encouraging all our guests to make a voluntary £1 donation, would you like to take part?" I'd happily have done that, it was just that the thing was already there and the system was designed to make you look like an arse in front of a queue if you didn't want to play ball What next, chuggers taking your wallet and you have to negotiate it back from them?
That would really annoy me, charity should be a choice and not forced on people. I'd take a dim view on both the hotel and charity after that, to the point of trying not to use that hotel chain and actively not giving to that charity. I'm sure that makes me a heartless b
d but I would like to be able to pick my charity donations.
d but I would like to be able to pick my charity donations.DrDoofenshmirtz said:
It's a bit like restaurants adding a 10% service charge to the bill...cheeky buggers.
I actually don't mind that so long as it's written on the menu in a font big enough to see, as I can factor it into the cost of the meal. It's when it's unexpected that it's unwelcome.Maybe the same goes for the hotel £1 charity? If the prices quoted when booking made it clear that there was going to be a quid added then you could factor that into the price and decide whether to book or not?
I'd ask for it off as well - hate forced charity stuff. That it sounds like the marketing genius has either been to a restaurant, downloaded some free software (complete with various already checked boxes) or seen Lock, Stock & 2 and applied a principle, simply makes it worse.
I wonder what would happen if you asked for 2 quid off your bill, the other being the donation from the hotel to your charitable giving scheme
I wonder what would happen if you asked for 2 quid off your bill, the other being the donation from the hotel to your charitable giving scheme
Gees £1, that's nothing.
I went to buy a pink Kitchenaid mixer the other week (a present for someone) and the colour they wanted was £50 dearer than all other colours because Kitchenaid then donate £50 to some breast cancer charity.
They are donating fk all, they are trying to force me to.
Needless to say, they didn't ......
I went to buy a pink Kitchenaid mixer the other week (a present for someone) and the colour they wanted was £50 dearer than all other colours because Kitchenaid then donate £50 to some breast cancer charity.
They are donating f
k all, they are trying to force me to.Needless to say, they didn't ......
This quote is very apt :-
“A charity that relies in the main part on taxes is no more a charity than a prostitute is your girlfriend”.
Over 27,000 UK registered charities now receive more income from government 'grants' than publicly donated income.
(Mostly Labour socialist fronted charities).
sources :-
http://www.iea.org.uk/blog/how-the-government-uses...
http://order-order.com/2012/06/27/taxpayer-funded-...
Edited by driver67 on Friday 17th October 20:15
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