Door-to-door Donation scams, anyone ever donate to them?
Door-to-door Donation scams, anyone ever donate to them?
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Discussion

bagusbagus

Original Poster:

472 posts

118 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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I get bombarded by those guys who ask for donation of ''just'' £2-£5 a week or some other crap nearly every single week,
I have straight up asked them sometimes to tell me how much % actually goes to the cause, yet no1 has actually answered me to that that question so yeah I always fob them off.
Anyone knows generally how much percentage of the donation the cause actually gets and what kind of comission those guys gets for signing someone up?
I have seen sometimes they tell on the clothing collection bags that the cause will get like £20-£50 per tonn of clothes (when they get themselves £500-700 per tonn of clothes when they sell them on) -so more or less everything gets pocketed, wondering if this is similar to that scam?


Your Dad

2,298 posts

213 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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Door to door or street chuggers used to get about £100 per sign-up and then a reducing bonus every year if the person continued to support, but apparently if the 'supporter' (they don't call them donors) continues with the Direct Debit for 5 years then it's the most lucrative way of gifting (they don't call it donating) a charity can get.

Source: somebody senior in a major charity that I was talking to, when one of the companies I worked for was a major player in charity telephone fundraising.

hyphen

26,262 posts

120 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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Always put a "No cold caller/I don't buy at the door" type signs. Saves having to waste a minute on these types.

steveatesh

5,368 posts

194 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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Had one at the door two days ago, or at least I thought she was when I opened said door.

Young lady looking thoroughly pissed off with her life, whose only function was to tell me that when toasters and other small electrical appliances are bust I can put them in the blue recycle bin. Gave me two expensive glossy leaflets with the same message and went on her way.

I thought what a massive waste of tax payers money (council tax as local council part of a "partnership" delivering this message to the region).


ferrariF50lover

1,834 posts

256 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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steveatesh said:
Had one at the door two days ago, or at least I thought she was when I opened said door.

Young lady looking thoroughly pissed off with her life, whose only function was to tell me that when toasters and other small electrical appliances are bust I can put them in the blue recycle bin. Gave me two expensive glossy leaflets with the same message and went on her way.

I thought what a massive waste of tax payers money (council tax as local council part of a "partnership" delivering this message to the region).
As opposed to the millions in fines which are paid by local councils for the dumping of recyclables at landfill. Leaflet printing on this scale is staggeringly cheap and some student on minimum wage trogging about the streets for a week is cheaper than franked postage. All up cost, £20k. Saving over 5 years? £500,000, perhaps.



bagusbagus

Original Poster:

472 posts

118 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
quotequote all
hyphen said:
Always put a "No cold caller/I don't buy at the door" type signs. Saves having to waste a minute on these types.
Actually I think they are quite entertaining, some are really optimistic at what they do so it's always fun to mess with them and to ask stupid questions, I Have got a few to take out my trash for me, pick out some weeds from patio and some other nonsense.
Have never bought/signed up for any of that crap beeing offered on doorstep but it's a good way to see what are their latest inventions.


Robbo 27

4,302 posts

129 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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Only had two people at the door, one was from st John Ambulance who wanted £2 a week to pay for first aid training at a school around 1 mile away, these are under 7s who attend, he siad you never know when you might need their help.

The other was weird. 9.30 at night, A young lady knocked at the door wearing what looked like a very short Ann Summers nurses uniform, including white stockings, holding a collection box. I never managed to focus on what she was collecting for, and asked if I would like to give her something.

She had walked past many houses to get to mine, took my couple of quid and went back again.

Wasnt even my birthday, I can only assume she was sent as a joke by a friend, but nobody said a word about it, which I would expect.

glenrobbo

40,510 posts

180 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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I really appreciate the charity collection bin-liner bags that are regularly posted through my letterbox.

I haven't had to buy any for ages. smile

Edited by glenrobbo on Thursday 2nd February 15:58

glenrobbo

40,510 posts

180 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
quotequote all
Robbo 27 said:
9.30 at night, a young lady knocked at the door wearing what looked like a very short Ann Summers nurses uniform, including white stockings, holding a collection box. I never managed to focus on what she was collecting for, and asked if I would like to give her something

She had walked past many houses to get to mine, took my couple of quid and went back again.

Wasn't even my birthday, I can only assume she was sent as a joke by a friend, but nobody said a word about it, which I would expect.
scratchchin It beggars the question: Was she really just hoping for a couple of quid?


ETA No relation AFAIK. smile

Edited by glenrobbo on Thursday 2nd February 15:56

steveatesh

5,368 posts

194 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
quotequote all
ferrariF50lover said:
As opposed to the millions in fines which are paid by local councils for the dumping of recyclables at landfill. Leaflet printing on this scale is staggeringly cheap and some student on minimum wage trogging about the streets for a week is cheaper than franked postage. All up cost, £20k. Saving over 5 years? £500,000, perhaps.
I agree but they took the expensive route, they could just as easily have put sticky labels on the recycle bin with the same information as they do every time they have something to tell us about bin time changes etc etc.

I'm sorry but when the councils complain continuously about funding cuts and cutting youth services and adult services this was a poor way to spend a lot of money.

soad

34,698 posts

206 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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hyphen said:
Always put a "No cold caller/I don't buy at the door" type signs. Saves having to waste a minute on these types.

samdale

2,860 posts

214 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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Having moved from the countryside to a town I've now been getting a lot more of these. It's taken me a while to get used to fobbing them off but I'm getting pretty good at it now.

hyphen said:
Always put a "No cold caller/I don't buy at the door" type signs. Saves having to waste a minute on these types.
I wish I had some clear glass in/next to my front door. Maybe I need to find a nice smart wall mounted version to go next to my house number if such a thing exists?

poing

8,743 posts

230 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
quotequote all
glenrobbo said:
I really appreciate the charity collection bin-liner bags that are regularly posted through my letterbox.

I haven't had to buy any for ages. smile
Can't believe I've been chucking these out, had one today too! The internet pays for itself so now going to start doing this, cheers. smile

Baz Tench

5,648 posts

220 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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I had one knock the door yesterday. A young lady collecting for blind children.

It was all a bit bizarre.

She did the usual 'get me onside thing', the pally talk, threw in a compliment (I think):


Her: "Do you know all your neighbours well?"

Me: "Erm, only my immediate ones really."

Her, with a cheeky smile: "Is it fair to say that you are a bit of a local legend then?"

Me, as I stood there in my dressing gown (which she also complimented): "Huh?!"



Don

28,378 posts

314 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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Baz Tench said:
I had one knock the door yesterday. A young lady collecting for blind children.

It was all a bit bizarre.

She did the usual 'get me onside thing', the pally talk, threw in a compliment (I think):


Her: "Do you know all your neighbours well?"

Me: "Erm, only my immediate ones really."

Her, with a cheeky smile: "Is it fair to say that you are a bit of a local legend then?"

Me, as I stood there in my dressing gown (which she also complimented): "Huh?!"
Works amusingly the other way.

CreepyUncleDon said:
My don't you look sweet? Oh? Bye.

KAgantua

5,190 posts

161 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
quotequote all
Baz Tench said:
I had one knock the door yesterday. A young lady collecting for blind children.

It was all a bit bizarre.

She did the usual 'get me onside thing', the pally talk, threw in a compliment (I think):


Her: "Do you know all your neighbours well?"

Me: "Erm, only my immediate ones really."

Her, with a cheeky smile: "Is it fair to say that you are a bit of a local legend then?"

Me, as I stood there in my dressing gown (which she also complimented): "Huh?!"
All bks. Like the fit young birds who say 'hey handsome' when they wouldnt stamp your face out if it was on fire.

wack

2,103 posts

236 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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We used to get quite a few but haven't had any in months

There are some proper scammers going round though, we've all had a letter saying if we want the green bin emptying it's £30 a year online or £33 by any other method

Some scumbags have been targeting pensioners , knock on the door with a clipboard and a badge and "save" them £3 by taking the £30 in cash .

Emanresu

311 posts

119 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
quotequote all
I got caught out by this once. I now pay £10 a month to a charity supporting blind and deaf children. From seeing the tv ad since, I feel pretty good about it. At least I know the money is helping someone and I'll never miss a tenner a month.

What annoys me is people from associations like the GAA coming to my house begging for money for a raffle to build a new grandstand. Last time I told them no i won't support sectarian organisations who encourage violence in children. A week later all the front windows in my house were broken. And still they came back trying to sell tickets and got the same answer.

john2443

6,546 posts

241 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
quotequote all
bagusbagus said:
I have straight up asked them sometimes to tell me how much % actually goes to the cause, yet no1 has actually answered me to that that question
Look this up to check, but I think it's a legal requirement that they know the answer to this and tell you.

If you feel inclined to donate to their charity it's probably better to tell them to sod off and make the donation direct.

Starfighter

5,351 posts

208 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
quotequote all
steveatesh said:
Had one at the door two days ago, or at least I thought she was when I opened said door.

Young lady looking thoroughly pissed off with her life, whose only function was to tell me that when toasters and other small electrical appliances are bust I can put them in the blue recycle bin. Gave me two expensive glossy leaflets with the same message and went on her way.

I thought what a massive waste of tax payers money (council tax as local council part of a "partnership" delivering this message to the region).
I agree, a complete waste of money. Everyone knows that toasters go to silicone heaven with all the calculators.