How can I get charities to stop calling me? I dont wanna sound like a scrooge but........continued.....?

Question

I gave money to the Police Athletic League and now every charity in the world is calling and asking for money. I would never have given a dime if I knew this would happen. I am on a Do Not Call List but it does not apply to charities. Well, never again!!
Any suggestions on how to get my name/number off their lists? Thanks!

Answer 1

I am willing to bet that when you gave money to the Police Athletic League, you were talking to a call center, not the actual charity, if they were even a real charity. There are sadly a lot of bogus charities out there that will take advantage of people who want to help. If they were legit, but it was a call center, it is possible they sold your contact information, just like the telemarketers.
As the head of a non-profit I find things like this disgusting, it makes the whole industry look bad, when most of us are trying our best to attend to our missions, while respecting peoples privacy.
For now just kindly tell everyone that you wish to be taken of thier list, the number of calls will eventually go down. Try to remember that the people making these calls are either young people just trying to make a living (often students), or with this being charities, it is possible that they are well meaning volunteers. In short the peole calling are not the people responsibel for the call, don;t take it out on them.
Finally in the future if you get a call from a charity askign for money, ask for informaiton in writing, do not give credit card information over the phone, and take a moment to check them out with the BBB, they will let you knwo if the charity is legit.

Answer 2

Easy to say not take it out on them. I am on my sick bed for month tried to rest every single phone calls I have received from charity. I'm talking about 30 charity a day 15-20 mails a day. I was on do not call list that did not work. They have turned my kindness to nightmare. How do you I can afford 30 charity a day without rest. I'm on sick leave. I don't even get paid from my employer. I was start with DAV for wounded soldiers. I have been given them for more than five years. Recently, every charity all over the world came in to our mail. I have had it. Now they started with phone calls after sending 30 letters a day. I am so angry. I don't even give to Red Cross now. If I had know this people sales my address, they don't deserve my help. Obviously, they can take care their own organization.

Answer 3

Two words... Caller ID. I had the same thing happen to me... some charity send me some address labels and cards... so I sent them a small donation and then all the sudden tons of charities send me cards and labels and stickers and stuff. Then the phone calls started. It was crazy. I still don't knwo how they got my unlisted number... but whatever. Thats when I got caller id... and now I don't answer calls I don't know the numbers from. If you don't want caller ID.. I guess whenever they call just tell them not to call any more and hang up. It sucks being rude to charity.. but it doesn get annoying. :( Good luck!

Answer 4

It's become a 2-phone society. Look into a package deal on DSL that would include a phone, computer link and cell phone on one bill. Even before those package deals I had a wall phone for dial-up access. Hooked the modem up also to a voice answering software. Had a ball rigging up -- "Press 1 for English" Press 2 for Swahili... Press 9 for Espanol ... Let me repeat those options ... Thank you. Press 1 for Bible Verse of the Day. Press 2 for Sexy Ladies. Press 3 for Sexy Men...Press 4 if this is an Emergency. Thank you..... The fact is dontcall list is not valid if you are a former customer. Congress left that loophole. The cell phone company cannot give out your cell phone number.

Answer 5

Use the Counterscript:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~egbg/counterscript.html

If they keep phoning, ask for a manager and get all their information including a callback number (and make sure you use it). If they refuse this, they are likely not even a real charity and you should call the police to flag your phone records for fraud investigations. If they are for real, tell them never to call back nor share your information and that you are forwarding all the data you have collected to a lawyer doing a class-action lawsuit. That should scare anyone enough to drop you and quick!!! ;)

Edit: btw as a general rule you should *NEVER* give contributions over the phone. Tell them to send you materials (if they have your info legitimately they will also have the address) or go to their offices. No reputable charity or business does transactions over the phone.

Answer 6

Ah, yes, give to one and they all want a handout.

I have the same problem, except with mail. I donated money to a couple of charities and now they all kill hundreds of trees sending me address labels and pleas for more donations every day.

If you want them to stop, simply ask them to take you off of their list. They will likely protest at first, but they can't force you to accept the calls. I'm sure if they keep harassing you, you could get a lawyer to send a letter threatening to sue for harrassment. The threat ought to be enough to get them to stop.

If the Do Not Call list you are on isn't the national one, you can add yourself to it here: https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

It's good to give to charity, but it's also unreasonable for every charity in the world to expect a donation - we're not all rich, and we can't give any more than we can afford.

Answer 7

this always happens when you donate
okay what you need to do is each time a charity calls ask them nicely not to call again and then leave the name of the charity by the phone if that same charity calls again get angry and tell them that this is harassment and that you asked them not to call you anymore, ask them if they know that harassment is illegal and tell them if they don't know and they call again they will find out, and bam they won't call you anymore but if that dosn't work write
them a letter


oh someting my friend dose is he asks can you hold on a minute and then he has this casett of porn, just the sounds when they call he puts the tape in and leaves the phone by the tape player and walks away they always hang up

Answer 8

Just tell them "sorry, I am not interested; please remove me from your list" and hang up. As time passes, they will call less.
As far as calling you, if the charity enlists a 3rd party to call you and you are on the national do not call list, it is illegal; If the charity does it's own calling, it is not illegal.

I rarely get the calls anymore, I think it is because I don't ever give to any money to the ones that call. I usually donate resale items to our local thrift stores, and give cash to the Salvation Army. I get to feel good for doing the right thing, and no one pesters me since it is done kind of anonymously.

Good luck to you :-)

Answer 9

If you ask the caller to remove your name from their call list, the number of callers will eventually dwindle. I know this sounds frustrating, but the only other way is to subscribe to Call Privacy I think it is - where if it comes up as an unknown number, they have to enter their phone number in the system before their call with come through. This should also stop some of those calls.

Answer 10

tell them you are busy right now but if they give you their home phone number you will call them at their home later!

These people do this as a work or (rarely) as volunteers for the charity, so try and be nice with them, they need to make a living too and don't need people insulting them all day. I'm sure they'd rather do something else.
I usually tell them i am not interested, do not call me again.