Charity collectors in supermarkets

I would never sign up for monthly payments to any charity, but I do donate to those charities I support. There are a number of charities I will no longer donate to though, one being OXFAM.

We have them just outside a big shopping mall and it's actually hard to walk past them .
They block your way .
They are persistent and often very cheeky .
A couple of days ago , I heard one of them being rude about me to her colleague as I'd refused a chat with her an hour before .

I have collected for charity on many occasions. We just stand and wait ! No tin shaking, no asking! There was a cancer charity outside M& S in my city last week, the young man was approaching everyone who came out of the store - including me. He was very persistent , I told him in no uncertain terms that I would not be putting anything in his collection tin. I felt guilty but was so annoyed at his behaviour! Many people including me donate to charity regularly.
.

I have noticed in recent years that instead of bothering people in our decimated city centre, the chuggers are placing themselves in suburban estates

Some time ago I was waiting for a tradesperson (who didnt turn up). I had asked my nephew to be present as I sometimes do when an unknown tradesperson is expected. This guy walked up the path and I thought he was the plumber. When he started on his spiel I let all my anger loose on him and gave him down the banks for knocking at my door and ignoring my "no chuggers" notice. He more or less ran away down the path.

Yeah, like Im going to give out my bank details to some scammer at the doorstep or in the street.

I take no prisoners when people ignore my no chuggers/political/sales or religious notice.

Dickens, the British Legion poppy sellers locally had card readers last year. Probably a necessity - so many people don’t carry cash any more.

Last Christmas I actually nipped in to M&S and used their cash machine, since a Sally Army band was playing carols outside the shop and I had nothing to give them.

Outside our local M and S foodstore there is always a Big Issue seller .... right by the doorway so cannot be sidestepped.i give to several charities monthly but find this woman intrusive. I do not like the Big Issue much for a start, so do not want one. It is just something to recycle. And getting change out while walking is hard ... walking stick, shopping bag all to be juggled. I do buy one now and again but if you give more they ask if you want the change, implying that you should tell them to keep it.

It puts me off going to the shop. I am happy with the charities I support and feel uncomfortable about being pressured.

Treebee

It’s worth speaking to the supermarket manager about this. I was accosted three times on one visit so I complained. Fortunately they had gone on my next visit. There’s an article in the Times today about this sort of behaviour.

The comments on the article have been switched off. They must have been vitriolic.

I have noticed in recent years that instead of bothering people in our decimated city centre, the chuggers are placing themselves in suburban estates

eg where I live there has been a Big Issue seller at the local shops, hovering about near the chemists or near the co-op where there is a cash point. I don’t like it one bit.

I’ve been asked on the way into the shops and on the way out.
The same woman is often at the nearest Aldi too.

Personally I think those charities dictating that it is Direct Debit or nothing must be out of their tiny minds to refuse one off donations. Such arrogance!

I do donate to 3 charities by DD. I won’t take on any more as I feel then I will be on another organisations database,
I was once rung up by one of the charities, coincidentally GD for the Blind, and invited to join their lottery. I refused and said if they contacted me again directly I would cancel my DD.
They never have.

We get them quite regularly at my local Tesco, and honestly it feels like a blinking ambush…

Yeah, they’re all annoying in supermarkets, but at least the shops themselves have stopped doing that ‘ shall I round the bill up to the nearest pound’ thing for charity.So many shops and supermarkets were doing this a few years ago, and I always said no, give me my change please.
Anyone approaching me in shops gets short shrift.I only respond or not to charities letters that arrive in the post.

Theexwife

I was approached today by a charity collector at a supermarket , they said ' you look like a kind person", I just said " no I'm not", nothing much they could say to that.

LOL!

There was an article in The Guardian written by a woman who'd been nabbed on her own doorstep by a chugger who apparently more or less invited himself in - when she told him that she already had a long list of charities to which she subscribed monthly - he told her that "Dave" over the road also had many subscriptions but was generous enough to subscribe to the one he was representing.

If that had been me, I'd have had no hesitation in telling him that he was over-stepping the mark and bundled him over the threshold. In fact, I would have reported him to the charity.

These tactics are completely unacceptable - there are those who would be too intimidated to refuse and might end up signing to a monthly subscription they could ill afford.

About time this kind of harassment was outlawed.

I thought it was illegal to actually approach people. I know it’s not legal to rattle tins at people.

I give monthly to various charities and have done for years. I put a lot of items in the boxes provided for food banks in every shop I go in on a weekly basis. Last week at a large Tesco in the village a mile away there was a group of people standing by the food bank boxes volunteers I assumed.

They were pouncing on people as soon as you got to the basket areas. I was approached straight away and asked if I was going to contribute. I said yes I always do before I leave the shop.

I collected for a cancer charity and never pounced on people it isn’t right. A friend who works in the store said they are always over run with donations as people are so very generous. H

Theexwife

I was approached today by a charity collector at a supermarket , they said ' you look like a kind person", I just said " no I'm not", nothing much they could say to that.

🤣🤣🤣

I was approached today by a charity collector at a supermarket , they said ' you look like a kind person", I just said " no I'm not", nothing much they could say to that.

Ellie Anne

So today again I was accosted by collectors in a supermarket.
They wanted me to sponsor a guide dog puppy. I felt the way he spoke to me a bit cheeky asking if I was over 21 . I asked if I could give a one off donation but they wouldn’t take it. A gentleman behind me also offered a donation and was refused.
I explained that we already have monthly donations to charities and walked away. On my way out he approached me again. I’m not mean but can’t sign up to any more charities, if they had had a collection d have been happy to donate.

Perhaps charities, or the agents they appoint to collect, should consider having card-readers so that people can make one-off donations.

At this current time, I suspect there's many who would donate once, but do NOT want to commit to regular payments.

And frankly, I'm fed up with being 'guilt-tripped', A door-chugger for a charity was very persistent. I asked him if it was possible for me to think about it - and to give me the web address of the charity. Didn't want to - because, obviously, he was getting paid for the number of people he signed-up.

This is not the way to run charity donations. Disturbing people in their own homes and then mentally 'putting their foot in the door' is not on. It's intrusive, harassing and emotional blackmail.

These collectors must have a street collectors licence from the local authority and should only stand in the foyer or outside.

A few years ago a horrible scruffy man was collecting inside our small CoOp. It was supposed to be for a charity providing holidays for disabled kids up North somewhere. At the time I was a volunteer for a very similar local charity so was interested. He was unable to answer my basic questions and alarm bells rang. I asked him for a leaflet and he said he didn’t have any. All he had was a scruffy slip of paper with a phone number and a name. He was very rude when I told him I suspected this was a scam. He followed me outside and said “I will be watching you.”

I went home and rang the Charities Commission and they confirmed it had been struck off for financial irregularities. I also googled it and discovered it had been reported in several newspapers for collecting money and not providing holidays at all.

I never feel guilty about giving to collectors because I gave 15 years voluntary work to charity as well as still donating to Breast Cancer UK and Alzheimers Research which are my chosen charities.

Ellie Anne

Our supermarket also has local charities collecting and I usually give to them . It’s the signing up for monthly donations I object to.

I never see anyone (except the Sally Army) asking for one off cash donations - they nearly all want you to sign up for £X a month.
We already do several, from Water Aid and SightSavers to Prostate Cancer, so I just tell them I’m not doing any more.

I was approached by a charity worker whilst walking through our city centre after a long working shift. I ignored him.
He called after me “You’re obviously not a person who cares about other people”.
As it was a hot day I was wearing my barely disguised full nursing uniform at the time.

We often have them in our shopping mall and they can be quite persistent. I try to ignore them, but if they stand in front of me, I explain that I already make donations to charities of MY choice.

I had one in Morrisons few weeks ago, it was for Derian house children's charity, I said if your looking fir DD then no.

Not seen any in ours for a long time

It’s worth speaking to the supermarket manager about this. I was accosted three times on one visit so I complained. Fortunately they had gone on my next visit. There’s an article in the Times today about this sort of behaviour.

Our supermarket also has local charities collecting and I usually give to them . It’s the signing up for monthly donations I object to.