Dissed by a donation organization!

[AlmightyFluffy]

The phone rings, no one else is home right now so I answer it myself.
A man on the other end working for Shriners organization to help children or something asks if I'd like to make a donation by buying a few tickets for an event they are hosting or something. I just woke up, I was too tired to really understand all he was saying.
So I say "I'm sorry, but no thank you." Then of course it turns awkward, unlike other people who've called for donations and stuff before, he doesn't take no for an answer.
He asks why I said no.
So I tell him "Well, I'm seventeen and my parents aren't in right now so I can't really just-"
Then he reminds me that this would help save the lives of children and asks if I could just offer a donation of 48 dollars or more or something.
"I'm really sorry, but no thanks, we're really financially tight right now."
Then he asks if I'd like to just donate maybe 30 dollars instead.
"No."
Then he promptly calls me greedy in a frustrated tone and hangs up on me.
I then go return to the bathroom to finish brushing my teeth.

Anyone else have particularly awkward conversations with telemarketers and such, or one that just wouldn't really give up but you were too polite to just hang up on them?

[NickT]

I haven't, but I have a script ready.

(To the point where he seems like he's about to call me greedy) : For all you know I could be sitting on a mattress talking on the only phone left in my barren, about to be foreclosed house. And you're asking me for money? Really? And how much have you given in your life? You think with your meager low-paying job you can't give a dime to help these poor children? No? Well then you're just greedy *hangs up*"

Harumph!

[Gaetan]

"I'm sorry, but we only donate via telegram."

[Zach1992]

I hate telemarketers who push that you donate. Almost as much as I hate the Salvation Army. You'll take my money, but tell me not to act on my homosexuality? I think not.

[Swamp56]

Telemarketers are annoying. One from SEARs called us once asking if we wanted a new kitchen, so my dad told them we don't have one. When she asked us if we wanted new windows, he said we don't have any. She asked us how we breathe, and he told her that we live in our car xD .

[haelmarie]

Haha. If people are good at anything, it's being self-righteous.

[KittyBoy]

I was 16, when something like that happened to me. Shame I can not mention the organisation. But I told them I was a minor and couldn't legally give them money, so they called me selfish and money-hungry person.

Stupidly they were using a PUBLIC number so I had mother call back their office, and told the supervisor that she would be suing them for emotional trauma and slandering the character of a minor.

She also threatened that my Tier 1 lawyer uncles, will be handling the legal details, and that she would report them to the fair-trades ombudsman, for attempting to coerce a minor into business practices handled by adults, handling it herself.

When they found out who my mother and uncles were they sent me a written apology, because they lost a fair-work case against my mother and a legal representation against my uncles already, and we haven't head from them since!

If anything like that happens again, just say that you will report them to the fair-trade ombudsman for attempting to coerce a minor into business transactions, which is against internation business laws, and say that you will be suing them for slandering the character of a minor and emotion trauma.

[Zach1992]

Damn Kitty. You mother doesn't play around.

This people are representing a charity & they start throwing out insults?

[GhostDog]

Man, that's awful of them! >=[ It's a frickin' recession, dudes. Be happy for the money you do get, and don't belittle people for not giving! You might get them to give to you ONCE, but what are the chances they'd be a repeat donor? I'd be way more likely to donate to someone who was nice to me later, when I have the money, than someone who called me greedy 'cause I couldn't donate.

Not that anybody's done that to me before, though. Unrelated! Kinda! But I feel like sharing. I have a friend who's had the police called on her a couple of times for purposely messing with telemarketers. Someone was trying to sell her some cable something or other, she listened to the entire spiel, and just asked, "What's the point of all those channels when I'm just going to kill myself anyway?" and started crying and hung up. The police showed up at her house like a half an hour later and she had to explain, haha. I thought it was amusing. =P

[Johnnieguy]

My mom's been harassed by Make A Wish...Same thing.. They said to her, "you don't want to help dying children?? *gasp*"

One time, I answered the phone and a woman on the other end asked for my dad. She gave me a name and everything. My dad didn't know anyone by that name so wanted to know what it was regarding. She said "it's private". Then I said "look, lady, I'm not going to give the phone to him until you tell me why you want to speak with him". She said he won some "prize" and would just call later. Never heard from her again.

[AlmightyFluffy]

Oh wow, I wish I was more awake when this happened to me so I could've done something awesome like this stuff. {:3

[Revan]

I hope they thought it was a good joke too...

[Dan82]

Those fundraising calls almost never come from the organizations themselves they almost always come from for profit business that make a commission on the donations they get, that’s why they can be pushy. It’s a good idea to donate directly rather than though those calls.

[Emberstone]

+ YouTube Video

now you know what to do in this situation.

[RaeofLite]

That's pretty harsh. Even though I understand that he's probably getting paid or volunteering and is frustrated by people tightening their wallets so to speak...


---

But my younger sister did this once with a telemarketer.

"Hello, you've just won a trip on an Alaskan cruise!"
My sister: "Really? Ok just one sec..." *runs to the stairs to shout upstairs to mom*
"MOM! WE'VE WON A BOAT TRIP!!!"
Mom: "We don't have a credit card!"
Sister: "Oh, yea mom said we don't have a credit card. Can I take the trip anyway?"

---------

I prefer to just pick them up, tell them I'm listening and either put the phone down next to the TV or put the phone down and walk away.

((Then again the telemarketers that call generally want us to buy more phones, do travel trips etc not donate to organizations so I don't feel bad.)

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by SexualTeen

I hate telemarketers who push that you donate. Almost as much as I hate the Salvation Army. You'll take my money, but tell me not to act on my homosexuality? I think not.

My mother refuses to donate to the Salvation Army, not just because of their strict anti gay policy but because of the number of people who sit in front of stores under the guise of charity and then go and use the money to buy booze (she's caught some people doing this personally).

As for telemarketers, my mother just usually starts screaming at them like she does when either me or my sister do something wrong and that gets them to hang up instantly.

[Chip]

If you don't want to talk to telemarketers, in the US at least, there is one phrase that will nearlly always stop them dead in their tracks.

"Please add my name to your do-not-call list and do not call me again."

By law, if they continue giving you their pitch, they've just cost themselves and their company a rather large fine. ($500 i think) So even the densest telemarketers generally know this and will shut up. But any similar phrase ("I'm not interested"... "Please don't call me"... ) won't work, and they'll just keep going.

Now as to your particular caller, any time you get a call like that, you SHOULD call back and ask for a supervisor. Ideally you should get the name of the caller at the beginning of the call, because s/he definitely won't tell you once they've screwed up. But the telemarketing firm generally will terminate people like that, because if news gets back to their client (the Shriners or whomever) they may be in jeopardy of losing the contract entirely.

[mischa91]

Originally Posted by Chip

If you don't want to talk to telemarketers, in the US at least, there is one phrase that will nearlly always stop them dead in their tracks.

"Please add my name to your do-not-call list and do not call me again."

By law, if they continue giving you their pitch, they've just cost themselves and their company a rather large fine. ($500 i think) .

I didn't know that. I'll tell my dad, he gets so angry with those people.

We get them all the time at work. If my dad answers, which he usually does, he tells them to hold for a second and puts the phone down and walks away.

we have a particularly persistent one at the minute, he asks for my dad by name and we figured out the other day that he's changed his phone number and is being sneaky.

[Zume]

Now I'm not a telemarketer but I do work as a phone operator..so I know how frustrated these people can get as the day goes on so if they call I don't really wanna be rude to them..now if I was having a bad day also when they call I just say something like "Can we make this quick? I have to go sacrifice a goat." I save that line for when people come to my door spouting off religion too. usually works

[Ben]

A telemarketer hung up on me because I asked him what type of soup is his favourite. I figured it would be nicer than all the abuse they must get… but they actually stay on the line to argue with those people.