Door to door collection

A little update - I had a prompt reply from BHF and they apologised and said they will look into this, it's not something that should happen. They have offered to remove my name from the list for future calls.

Janeainsworth I m not a nasty person and I would and do try to be helpful wherever I can, but you have to be sensible and it’s nighttime, you are on your own and a stranger wants to come in your house it just isn’t sensible or safe to say yes Janie was lucky and she was a genuine young lady but how easy it could have been the other way round
Just to illustrate how you can never tell a criminal
Many years ago when I was much more trusting and probably niave I was at Victoria changing coaches with a fairly long wait , a nice looking, very well dressed young man got talking to me. he told me how worried and upset he was as he’d had a phone call to tell him his father was gravely ill and he was desperate to get to him and he’d had his money stolen, he went backwards and forwards to the phone box trying to get his bank it was a Saturday (in those days banks didn’t open on Saturdays) to no avail he was so upset we talked for a long time he told me all about his job his family his father etc I eventually felt so sorry for him thinking how I d be if it was my Dad in the end I asked him how much his fare would be I think it was £30 I offered to give it him he very cleverly refused it point blank saying he couldn’t possibly do that, he went back to the phone and came back with tears in his eyes I offered again and this time he accepted carefully taking my name and address down and promising me he would post the money to me as soon as he got to his fathers I was so sure he was genuine ....each day I looked for the letter which of course never came
That is what a criminal looks like

Very difficult. What was the poor girl to do if she was no where near a public toilet? Public toilets are not very common and we have no pubs near us. I remember once out walking with my daughter to see the Christmas lights in our area and became desperate to go to the toilet and was having difficulty walking, In the end I hide behind a bush and went and luckily no one was around. Many areas don't have bushes to hide behind,

On the other hand, sadly I would be very wary and reluctant to let someone into my house to use the toilet especially if I was on my own.

I have today emailed British Heart Foundation and asked for their comments. I've never thought of myself as naive, I feel I was just caught off guard and was trying to be helpful, but in hindsight I should have just explained I don't let strangers into my house and left it at that. I think a lot of young people do these jobs, they're just trying to earn a living like everyone else, but the charities they are working for need to ensure they abide by certain guidelines. I was as concerned for her welfare as I was for my own. I don't want to mistrust everyone I come across, although I'm not daft, and I realise that's the sort of world we live in now. I appreciate all your comments, and perhaps my post will help with awareness if others have doorstep callers. 8 pm is not too late for me to have visitors so maybe I need one of these new doorbells so at least I can see who it is!

The British Heart Foundation do engage in door-to-door AKA face-to-face fundraising and they will call on homes up to 9:00pm.

More information here including a number you can call if you have any concerns. Note that fundraisers cannot collect cash or ask for one off donations. All they can do is ask if you would make donations by direct debit.

www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/our-policies/face-to-face

Years ago I was travelling with 3DCs oldest aged 9 from Cumbria down to my Mum’s in Stockport. There was a traffic jam on the M6 and car engine overheated.
I came off the motorway and called at a house on the A6 near Garstang. It was 20 years before mobile phones were available and I needed to phone the AA.
It was dark, after 8 o’clock but the lady whose doorbell I rang had no hesitation in letting me use her phone.
I’ve always been grateful & like janieuk tend to give people the benefit of the doubt & try to ‘pay it forward’.

I agree with what has been said so far. As a woman who has lived alone for some years, I have learnt never to open my front door unless I am absolutely sure who is on the other side of it. I would never let a stranger in. If they claim to be from some service company, they'll have ID and you can call and check even so.
I live in a sheltered flat with door buzzer entry to the building and there have been several occasions when a couple of people have blagged their way in and taken money from residents under one pretext or another. As it turned out they were all known to the police so if I'm in any doubt at all, that's who I call.

It would be perfect for me as I cannot see who is at my door until I open it as I don't have windows at the side etc, my door does have safety glass half way but its frosted so cannot see who it is.

There are now Doorbells that when someone presses the bell it activates your phone (smartphone etc) and it shows you who is at the door, the doorbell has a small camera in the spy hole. Think they run about £100

Not sure how it works if someone just knocks on your door I have only just come across them. ? I presume if you hear them knock you can switch the phone app on.

I have motion activated lights outside my door - if someone rings the bell after dark I look out the window first, if I don't know them I open the window and ask what they want. I certainly would not let a stranger into the house. It is sad we have to be so careful but it is better to cause someone a little bit of upset than to end up a headline in the newspaper!

I would probably not have answered the door. We also have a no unsolicitored callers sign. I would certainly not have a let a stranger in at night under these circumstances. Charities are big business. Nothing more.

It isn't a good idea to have young women collecting at the doorsd after dark for their own safety as well as for people living alone.

annodomini, Macmillian's response to you demonstrated not only a cavalier attitude, but a complete lack of empathy. As you say on dark evenings, particularly for women on their own, opening a door to a stranger is not something, many want to do. It might well be productive from their point of view, but 8 pm is an unsocial time to be intruding anyway. I wouldn't open the door in the dark if I were on my own. I think some charities need to rethink such a method which imo is pretty alienating and possibly counter productive. We have several direct debits going out to our chosen charities, I'm not sure I wouldn't cancel if any of those charities responded in the way you described to a very understandable concern.

I very rarely answer my door anyway..all my friends give me a quick txt "are you in"? I don't accept uninvited callers. if its a parcel it will be left at the post office where I will collect it at my leisure.Same goes for trick or treaters doors locked curtians closed etc....the young ones who I used to know are long gone and grow up so I don't know who is coming to my door.

I did once open it few years ago to be confronted with 6ft youth in a hoodie and mask..so never again! made that mistake. YOU DONT have! to open your door to anyone you are not expecting..

No way would I ever let anyone in my house who I wasn't comfortable with.Its the oldest trick in the trade especially if you have a front and back door.

The big charities mostly out-source fundraising to companies who employ mainly young people to 'doorstep' residents with requests for a signature on a direct debit mandate. I took this up with Macmillan some years ago when I was 'chugged' after 8pm. I told them it was wrong, especially on dark evenings in an area like mine where there were many older people. I got a frosty answer on the grounds that this was an effective method of fund-raising. Now they have me on their mailing list and I continue to receive their emails, but, thanks to the sign on my door, no more 'doorsteppers'.

I think you should contact British Heart Foundation OP and ask whether they allow their representatives to knock on doors at that time of night, in the dark, to try and ascertain if the visit was genuine. If indeed it was, then perhaps you could add, unsolicited nighttime calls, particularly for women on their own, aren't welcome.

We have a sign "no cold callers" on our door.

I think you were to trusting janieuk, you may have been safe this time, but please be more careful in the future.

I should add what does a criminal look like? most criminals are able to pile on the charissima that’s how they get away with things

Blimey you are over trusting I would NEVER. let a stranger in to use the loo it’s the oldest trick in the book and as for her looking lovely that’s niave Jane Very few perpetrators of crime look like criminals

We have had charity door stop calls in the evening and as late as 8.00pm - and I think it was British Heart Foundation, or possibly the Red Cross.

Like anno, my response is always, that we donate to a portfolio of chosen charities and are not currently planning to review or replace any of them them. It sounds a bit pompous - and it is. Deliberately so, because it is so effective.

I agree with POGS nobody would be collecting for charity at that time of night.
Please be aware of your own safety janieuk and don't let anyone you don't know into your house at any time however innocuous they seem.

janieuk

Sorry if I upset you but I would have reservations over this scenario during daylight and most certainly in the evening.

It is a well known tactic for thieves / opportunists and whilst you watch one person another person may go unnoticed into another part of the house.

I would be surprised if the British Heart Foundation did a door to door collection at 8 pm and I would check with them tomorrow.

Sorry to be so pessimistic.

We have a 'no cold callers' sign on the door. It works well.

I don't answer the door without using the chain, especially after 8pm. And I don't think I would allow anyone to use my loo. And I tell doorstep charity collectors (chuggers) that I have my own preferred charities.

I'm glad to hear she was genuine janieuk I felt quite uneasy when I read your post, it is sad that we have to be on our guard more these days.
You shouldn't have been put in that position however, I agree, maybe the BHF should be made aware, especially as the dark nights are here again, it's not appropriate having collectors coming door to door.

Stay safe x