Card machine charity begging
Discussion
Is just me but has anyone else noticed this sudden influx?
Instead of being able to just pay for your purchase by card (contactless or insert and pin) that nearly every shop is trying to get you to donate to random charities.
I am now at an age where I need reading glasses but I often dont carry them when I nip to get shopping, some shoes, maybe some car parts etc and I do feel this is a very sly way to try and get these donations as on some machines you have to touch an area, on others you need to press the red button etc, all in a very small font on the screen, much smaller than when the cost of your goods are displayed (good job i'm not colour blind, partially sighted or dyslexic) and then only sometimes the cashier will even alert you to this.
Yes I do donate to charity, but it's the ones chosen by myself and when I feel I can afford to.
Instead of being able to just pay for your purchase by card (contactless or insert and pin) that nearly every shop is trying to get you to donate to random charities.
I am now at an age where I need reading glasses but I often dont carry them when I nip to get shopping, some shoes, maybe some car parts etc and I do feel this is a very sly way to try and get these donations as on some machines you have to touch an area, on others you need to press the red button etc, all in a very small font on the screen, much smaller than when the cost of your goods are displayed (good job i'm not colour blind, partially sighted or dyslexic) and then only sometimes the cashier will even alert you to this.
Yes I do donate to charity, but it's the ones chosen by myself and when I feel I can afford to.
McDonalds record with charity is very good and verifiable, and the Ronald McDonald House initiative is a good one.
Others I don't bother with. My normal (curmudgeonly) rule with charities is that if it's not 100% clear where the donation goes, or if the CEO of the charity is on £600k a year salary they can FRO.
Others I don't bother with. My normal (curmudgeonly) rule with charities is that if it's not 100% clear where the donation goes, or if the CEO of the charity is on £600k a year salary they can FRO.
Is there any benefit to the shop to have the donation option show up on the card machine?
Thing is it doesn't make the shop look any better, as any money raised isn't coming from their pocket.
It appears most people don't like it and if people want to give to charity then they will have their own preferences.
Thing is it doesn't make the shop look any better, as any money raised isn't coming from their pocket.
It appears most people don't like it and if people want to give to charity then they will have their own preferences.
It annoys me that a company making billions a year in profits are expecting me to donate to charity. This goes double in super markets where I know they are throwing away thousands of tons of food a year rather than donating it to charity as they don't want the hassle/risk of being sued.
Same as celebrities such as U2 and Bob Geldof who no doubt have millions in offshore tax avoidance schemes telling me to donate money. If you are so worried about it give away all your wealth.
Same as celebrities such as U2 and Bob Geldof who no doubt have millions in offshore tax avoidance schemes telling me to donate money. If you are so worried about it give away all your wealth.
Countdown said:
Noticed a £4 charge on the TUI website when booking our holiday. I thought I had removed it but somehow they sneaked it back on.
A cynic would wonder if the removal feature actually works; a reasonable percentage of people will untick the box, but how many will chase the £4 'mistake'? Or would try it again under controlled conditions to check it isn't broken?There's plenty of nice types out there who'd see that sort of cheat as perfectly ethical in pursuit of the greater good.
As someone said earlier I prefer to make my own choices about what I donate to and having people try their little coercive games & nudges turns me right off.
thetapeworm said:
I had an "optional" extra on a restaurant bill the other day for a "Gift Tree", this was on top of the "optional" 12.35% service charge (which I didn't begrudge as the service was good).
Ambling firmly off topic here but it should, IMHO, be against the law to automatically add anything described as optional to a bill, it s deeply underhand and borderline dishonest. It s a surefire way to end a dining experience on a sour note by having to ask to remove it for whatever reason. We went to a chain restaurant a while back and had to refuse the dessert, which had clearly been wrongly defrosted/prepped or whatever, and the bill still came out with an optional service charged whacked on it. The problem with the meal obviously wasn t the fault of the waiting staff, who did a perfectly decent job, but equally I m not f*cking tipping the place when they can t even defrost and serve a couple of standard dishes from their mainstream menu. Having to ask to have it removed was a particularly unpleasant way to end the meal.Back to charidee stuff, Motor Fuels Group (MFG) forecourts I find always have the charitable giving thing pop up on their chip and pin machines, but the staff almost always cancel it before taking payment.
Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 31st May 01:01
thetapeworm said:
I had an "optional" extra on a restaurant bill the other day for a "Gift Tree", this was on top of the "optional" 12.35% service charge (which I didn't begrudge as the service was good).
If I was certain that this was actually happening (and it being something bigger than a stick) then I’d be quite happy to donate if asked. Less keen on it being sneaked in. A partial solution to this nonsense, for restaurants at least, is to leave reviews with a score that will bring their average down and clearly state why.
I’ve often been fobbed off in hotels and restaurants for various (justified) complaints but as soon as you leave a review on Google or Tripadvisor they’re quickly in touch offering free nights or meals.
Sadly there are probably lots of people out there who leave a bad review as a matter of course in order to get these ‘freebies’ - extortion basically. I’m sure I read somewhere it’s a classic Instagrammer trick.
I’ve often been fobbed off in hotels and restaurants for various (justified) complaints but as soon as you leave a review on Google or Tripadvisor they’re quickly in touch offering free nights or meals.
Sadly there are probably lots of people out there who leave a bad review as a matter of course in order to get these ‘freebies’ - extortion basically. I’m sure I read somewhere it’s a classic Instagrammer trick.
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