Scalped on my doorstep – it left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

[Robin GrahamParticipant @robingraham42208]

[Robin GrahamParticipant @robingraham42208]

I answered the door last night to see a chap with a bag over his shoulder and a beaming smile on his face. Right, I thought, I'm going to have to pay £5 for a few J-cloths. I don't mind doing that if it's a way to help people in trouble. But this guy just kept trying to stuff useless junk into my hands – I think he thought that if I'd touched it I'd bought it. It ended up with me agreeing to buy two items for 15 quid (2 quid at the pound shop, but hey-ho I'm being charitable).

I had nothing smaller than a £20 note – he grabbed it from my hand and said that unfortunately he had no change. I didn't entirely believe that ,said that the deal was therefore off and attempted to retrieve my money – these new polymer notes are fairly strong, but I didn't want to tear it and gave in. He then scrabbled in his pocket and found £2 which he offered for change. I said that I was trying to help him, but he wanted to steal from me and I wasn't having it , whereon he produced a fat roll of cash and peeled off a fiver.

It left a bad taste – I'm happy to help genuine charities or individuals in need where I can , but shan't fall for this again. It's not the money, it's just having been a sucker which stings.

Robin.

Edited By Robin Graham on 05/06/2021 23:37:46

Edited By Robin Graham on 05/06/2021 23:39:50

Edited By Robin Graham on 06/06/2021 00:18:10

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

There aren't many genuine charities I'm afraid, take a look at how much even the big names of 'reputable' charities give out of their total received money, it's in the 30% to 50% range, some of the less well known giving 5% to 30% of what they receive, it's all a business these days, a good business model.

Back in the 70s my mother worked for the Zambian Government, some naive pen pushers from some department of British government came out to inspect the schools they had paid to be built.

My mother had to drive them to the plot of land where the schools had been built, they arrived to find a plot of land untouched by mankind, not even an attempt to give the impression some kind of building was being carried out.

They took the money, and deposited it straight into their private bank accounts, this pretty much sums up the past 50 years of this nonsense.

When it come to charity I have zero tolerance attitude,

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Sadly, a lot of these dor to door folk who "are down on their luck", or selling on behalf of a "charity" are con artists.

Now, we never buy from them. They are another branch of the "pressure wash your drive?" , "clear your gutters?", or "Youn have a loose tile" brigands.

The real charities are bad enough, asking for a tenner a month, so that they can pay their CEOs £100+K p.a

Only the Sally Army chief behaves reasonably, based on recent newspaper surveys. He draws only £18K, and a lot of his staff get only £12K. m You wonder how they manage to live!

Very often, the smaller, local charities make better use of donations. Presumably, they don't have the overheads of a big office in some expensive city, and don't pay their staff big city bankers rates.

Cynicism, tends to be a good protection under these circumstances. Sad, but necessary, it seems.

Howard

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Many charities nowadays are just a scam to line the pockets of whoever is running it or collecting for it

Good ones still exist, my local Dog and Cat home is an amazing place with fabulous staff

I prefer to stick cash into the hand of a deserving case

Being a decent human in a world run by scumbags can be quite trying at times

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

I do voluntary work for the REMAP charity (www.remap.org.uk). We design and make things for disabled people, entirely free of charge. Our only income is from donations and fund-raising and we use our own workshops .We don't get paid at all. It's been estimated that overall, for each £1 received, about £30 worth of equipment gets to the final recipient.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Even the big names are bad taste global strategy merchants

The US helps desperate places with millions of tons of aid… as long as they agree to privatise their main water supply kind of thing, or sign up to the genetic seed patent protocols

There is very little genuine charity in this world

As mentioned, the Sally Army still have good standards

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

The younger people who lnock on the door carrying a heavy shoulder bag are young offenders, they are set the task as a kind of re-habitulation. get them around here and as feeling generous paid £15. for 2 packs of coloured cleaning cloths, fine, of he hoes.

I opened them and each pack had 3 cloths 6" x 6", so very expensive cloths.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

I have no problem with supporting our local air ambulance, as I am getting older there is more chance of an occurrence when I may need them, wife says I am getting more dangerous in the workshop as I get older. As regards doorstep callers I don’t deal with any of them. Dave W

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

I have a video doorbell/intercom. If I get an unknown caller, I can see who it is and speak to them without going to the door. Potential scammers can be told I am disabled (true). Unable to come to the door ( not true) and that I don't have any money in the house (big lie). The door is locked so they get the message and try else where.

[Stuart BridgerParticipant @stuartbridger82290]

Nottingham Knockers, usually have fake ID and have nothing to do with probation https://www.oprepeat.co.uk/nottingham-knockers/

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Never a good idea to buy from cold callers for anything.

Tony

[john fletcher 1Participant @johnfletcher1]

Same as Garry Wooding. We used to have REMAP group in my area and I did the electrical work until one had to be a "competent person", part 'P', and a PAT tester, I gave in. I have C&G FTC in Elect Installation Work and same Elect Tec 5. I can not find out from all the authorities how one becomes a competent person after more than 70 years in the trade. Strange old World. John

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

I think foreign aid should cease,I wonder how many new Mercedes cars have been bought with our money,Charity should begin at home,looking out for the homeless and other genuine needy people in this country,if we had a national disaster no one would help the UK.Government and other regional officials are only distributors of our tax money,its not their money so they do not know the value of money,or the over inflated prices for goods that they buy,and they never get the sack,just a sideways move for bad decisions,Look at HS2 ,many times over original estimates as per usual with civil engineering,prime ministers who make the decisions come and go,they will never feel the pain of financial loss,they get more grief for telling porkies in parliament than wasting possibly 200 million £ on a railway line,which may never be used ,I see HS2 like Concorde,only affordable to the rich.and next to useless.

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Posted by john fletcher 1 on 06/06/2021 09:20:45:

Same as Garry Wooding. We used to have REMAP group in my area and I did the electrical work until one had to be a "competent person", part 'P', and a PAT tester, I gave in. I have C&G FTC in Elect Installation Work and same Elect Tec 5. I can not find out from all the authorities how one becomes a competent person after more than 70 years in the trade. Strange old World. John

Competent person is clearly defined on the HSE's website – LINK – it's actually one of the better phrases, because experience is often enough.

[Bob McParticipant @bobmc91481]

I looked at the 'earnings' of CEO's of some famous charities and complained some months ago about the CEO of Save the Children fund who was reputed to be earing ~£230,000 pa..I was told that this was necessary to attract the right kind of person for that position.

Here are some interesting facts taken from a well known newspaper in 2019.

Marie Stopes family planning 2017, CEO earning £434,000

RSPCA highest earner (unknown) £229,999 (2018) with CEO £150,000

(2018)WWF un-named member of staff given £60,000 MORE than the CEO and advertising increase from £700,000 to £13million.

(2019) Macmillan CEO ~ £185,000

I could go on….perhaps it was a mistake to go into engineering.

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Going back to the OP's remarks, I simply ignore callers after dusk, let alone dark.

Always keep porch door locked.

Daylight callers get a response if recognised as friends/fellow club members/relatives/postman/usual Hermes delivery man/DPD/other delivery orgs.

Unrecognised callers MAY get upstairs window opened and "who r u?, what do u want?" Any silly yarn and they get told to ring and make an appointment. They don't know me or my phone no. so they're stuffed!

Once sent cheque to a charity and rewarded by them pestered me constantly for more. Put final stop to it with a snotty letter to the big boss threatening exposure on social media; it worked!

Now I support One charity – me! I'm a "poor old age pensioner" and play the card for all it's worth.

[john fletcher 1Participant @johnfletcher1]

Competent person is clearly defined on the HSE's website – LINK – it's actually one of the better phrases, because experience is often enough.. I wish it was, I've had a look and it looks to be deliberately vague, so that no one is actually responsible, lots of get outs. John

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember12892]

[This posting has been removed]

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Pete. on 05/06/2021 23:53:06:

There aren't many genuine charities I'm afraid, take a look at how much even the big names of 'reputable' charities give out of their total received money, it's in the 30% to 50% range, some of the less well known giving 5% to 30% of what they receive, it's all a business these days, a good business model.

As someone who managed a middle-sized charity for 17 years (and I could have earned more managing a supermarket) I can't agree with that.

Whatever happened in Zambia 50 years ago isn't a good guide to British charities. Your example also shows that even then people were checking up on how money had been spent.

Neil

[jwbParticipant @jwb]

I was Treasurer for the local branch of a famous children's charity for several years. The local volunteers were hard-working and conscientious. In the end I left for family reasons but I was ready to leave anyway because by that time I'd become appalled by the misuse of money willingly given by the public. An army of parasitic professional fund-raisers and overpaid managers lived shamelessly off the receipts; money being given by the public in the expectation that it would help children directly was used to pay charlatans to 're-train' sexual offenders.

Almost every year we hear of some new scandal with these charities and the fund-raising companies, large and small.

Charity really should begin at home.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

John Fletcher 1

I agree with you as regards the definition of Competent Person , I have researched many areas and there is nothing other than the vague statement must be a Competent Person , nowhere is it clearly defined. I think the vagueness is deliberate for the problems of legal repercussions, who is to define whether a persons many years of experience classifies them as Competent? I think that it is the individual who ultimately defines whether they are a Competent Person in the absence of a clear definition. Dave W

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

One I never forgot was some christian brothers type of appeal for Sarajevo during the Yugoslav war

It worked by you sending them money…

…and they prayed for all the people in Sarajevo

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

On competent person, a (slightly) better term for critical tasks is SQEP Suitably Qualified and Experenced Person. This requires both qualification and experience. It's very popular with the mlitary. There have been too many mistakes by eithe people with qualifications only or experience without understanding. I think John is Competent / SQEP for most electrical work. PAT work requires no formal qualification and is itself NOT a legal requirement (unless by contract e.g. your insurance company).

Part P is a different issue and only relevent to certain electrical installation work which I can't see applying to REMAP work. I have however seen, more than once, people applying "Part 17" to electrical equipment construction. which is not at all relevant.

Back on topic the to charity "schemes" that get me are the sweets at work and 3rd party clothing collections.
The sweets are placed by people, typically on some knd of franchise schme who make very little and are responsible for losses like pilferage. The sweets are typically poor quality and over priced. The middleman company is typically not a charity so no public accounts, an pays a percentage of profits (and sometimes a minimum annual amount) to the actual charity. I they pay their CEO (and other senior staff often family members) high enough wages their profit will be small. I looked into one of these a few years ago and the charity was getting less than the franchise fees for a year.
The bag collections are similar either 3rd parties completely or odd charities (e,g Childrens Air Ambulance) who do no active work and only pass on what is left after "operating costs".

Robert G8RPI.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

When we started the Men's Shed I looked for funds on the internet. The most common search result was like "send you staff on our very expensive fundraising course". It used to be said that driving schools didn't make any oney from giveing driving lessons. They made their money from courses for wanabe driving instructors!

The main charity I support is run by people who already have a full time paid job so no need to pay them.
Mostly I now work on a 'tit-for-tat' basis. I support things like the village hall cafe as I am getting tea and cake and they get some profit for the hall. Also at model railway shows (not the big commercial events) I support their cafe 'cos it is going to the club.

It can backfire though. One village hall entertainment only announced after paying that half the takings were going to somone's pet project supporting Yugoslavian hookers.

[Author]

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