Would PPL stop calling and asking me for money!!!

[Mom2-3boys]

OMG so every year I usually donate to different things CMN we do regularly, there's a local program that you donate money to that allows special needs people to take in concerts during our fair week, diabetes association and then the fraternal order of police. Just about every day lately I have been getting phone calls from every charity imaginable asking for money. When I explain I have already donated to the charities of my choice and even if I wanted to donate is not a good time since I am sending 3 kids back to school and we have all the expenses that go with it, so just now this lady with missing and exploited children calls and asks for my donation and I tell her I cannot donate at this time I have too many expenses with sending 3 children back to school. and she says "Well ma'am you have to understand the utmost importance of the need we have to help these children!" I said "I do understand, and I explained to you that I have 3 children and I have to many expenses this month they way it is." She says "well all we are asking for is a minimal donation." I hung up....Jeezus do they not get the point! Do I need to send them a frickin' itemized list of my expenses for the month and copies of check stubs to prove to them that we're getting squeezed by everyone in August! Gawd I am ready to stop donating to everyone and then maybe they will leave me alone!!

[YankeeMary]

I have learned if you are going to donate, then do it anonymously. That way, they do not have your info to contact you. It is aggravating when they can't understand a simple "NO"!

[Shann]

I have learned if you are going to donate, then do it anonymously. That way, they do not have your info to contact you. It is aggravating when they can't understand a simple "NO"!

:yeah we get calls all the time. I swear you donate to one place and they either sell or just give away your info like it's candy. When you tell them no, they try to make you feel all guilty and say "just a $15 donation will really help" and it seems no matter how many times you tell them no and to not call you,they don't listen (firefighters!) and continue to call. Honestly when they do crap like this it makes me NOT want to donate at all knowing that I'll be harassed for years later down the line, I told Luke we should change our number so we stop getting these calls as it's just overwhelming.

[April78945]

Ugh I hear you. I got a call a few months ago that started with "Ms. Parker, this is the police...we have some terrible news" I about fainted thinking something had happened to someone. Come to find out the "terrible" news was that the police were in dire need of new vehicles. After I got off the phone from callling him every name in the book, I called the "real" police to tell them the company they hired to do their donations is scaring the **** out of people and I WAS going to donate until that ******* called with his ****.

[Heidi]

I got one from the gay rights coalition the other day wanting money!

[nightrider127]

I have learned if you are going to donate, then do it anonymously. That way, they do not have your info to contact you. It is aggravating when they can't understand a simple "NO"!

I have learned to do that also. About 3 years ago, I donated online to Feed the Children. I still get emails from them and as far as I can see, there is no way to stop the emails.

A lot of places sell your info too. My Dad, who was a very generous person, was aggravated all the time with what he called "Begging Letters". I stopped at least one of them when I made him keep the dollar they sent him and sent back an empty envelop which they had to pay the postage on.

[baragabrat]

I don't keep them on the phone long enough for them to explain their charity to me. I do not like being solicited for anything..ever and I say no thanks and hang up. But not before telling them to..Take my name and phone number out of your database! *Click*

[kidzpca]

Tell 'em to get a REAL Job and/or to stick it where the sun don't shine.

Just last month I had several calls like this and the last one of the day I just picked up and told them to F*** OFF! Haven't heard from the Red Cross since.

[YankeeMary]

:yeah we get calls all the time. I swear you donate to one place and they either sell or just give away your info like it's candy. When you tell them no, they try to make you feel all guilty and say "just a $15 donation will really help" and it seems no matter how many times you tell them no and to not call you,they don't listen (firefighters!) and continue to call. Honestly when they do crap like this it makes me NOT want to donate at all knowing that I'll be harassed for years later down the line, I told Luke we should change our number so we stop getting these calls as it's just overwhelming.

I know what you mean. The firefighter beggers (not the true firemen) call here, beg for a donation, dh can't say no...lol. So we send them their money once their envelope arrives here and right on it, it says, please make your promised donation. Once you send it in and they receive it, they start their calling again wanting yet another "pledge". Its horrible.

[justme23]

Tell 'em to get a REAL Job and/or to stick it where the sun don't shine.

Just last month I had several calls like this and the last one of the day I just picked up and told them to F*** OFF! Haven't heard from the Red Cross since.

This, for a grown man with two kids to teach by example, is just down right RUDE. Number one... it IS a REAL job. It may not save lives but these ppl work just as hard as anyone else and get to be told to F*** OFF more times in a day than you would like to hear for not much more than minimum wage. I would know, I have done it. I used to go home in tears because of hard ass ppl like you who have no manners what so ever. Just because you don't like to be solicited is no reason to be a Jerk. Just hang up and don't answer when they call... why on earth do you pay for caller ID if you don't use it other than to cuss ppl out?

Ok, so yes, you are the one getting it at this moment... I am sick and I am in a B****y mood. I'm sure you will come back w/ some lame excuse anyways... so I'll just stay out of this thread from now on.

[cpbaby]

This, for a grown man with two kids to teach by example, is just down right RUDE. Number one... it IS a REAL job. It may not save lives but these ppl work just as hard as anyone else and get to be told to F*** OFF more times in a day than you would like to hear for not much more than minimum wage. I would know, I have done it. I used to go home in tears because of hard ass ppl like you who have no manners what so ever. Just because you don't like to be solicited is no reason to be a Jerk. Just hang up and don't answer when they call... why on earth do you pay for caller ID if you don't use it other than to cuss ppl out?





:congrats: I tried to "sell" coupon books once for the local Humane Society. It was HORRIBLE. I didnt get paid unless I managed to talk three people into giving me a firm commitment AND then just because they gave it, I still didnt get paid until these people actually paid up. Needless to say, when 95% of the people I talked to had the same F*** Y** attitude as Kidzpca, I worked 4 hours for NOTHING....yes, it is legal since it is CONTRACT work, and we are paid by the piece, not by the time. I say no 99.9% of the time to people calling for donations, but at least I am polite.


Also, some states require welfare parents to man these telephone lines and your being hateful surely doesnt help them WANT to get a job or make them feel better about themselves. The next time you are tempted to get hateful, just imagine if it were YOUR mom, sister, aunt, girlfriend trying to make ends meet by working a job like this.

[CLARKS4]

I get calls from some company telling me that I have been approved for a credit card. I get 2 calls a day and they dont understand that I dont want it. They are foreign to and its hard to understand them.

[boopster]

It was brought up a few years ago that some agencies collecting money for police departments actually kept 85% of the money with only 15% going to the police organization. When our town had a police department, I received a call to donate money to them....they used the donated money to sue the town supervisor...in other words the taxpayers got to pay the legal fees for these officers to collect more money from us.

I once had someone come knocking on my door asking me to donate to this environmental group. I explained that I didn't have any extra money. Their response was "that's ok......you can charge it!" I calmly slammed the door.

The are many people asking for donations that are not from legitimate organizations and since I can't filter out the real from the others, when answering the phone (I don't always check caller ID) I simply state that I do not deal with anyone on the phone...and have a nice day and then hangup.

[lucimPI]

Many years ago, I made the mistake of getting some "free" return labels from the disabled vets, of which i made a donation. Now I get labels from them at least every other month plus Christmas cards, and other stuff. I only donate to them twice a year. The thing that ticks me off is that I think that they sold? my name to every other company imaginable. I am deluged with them, I kid you not, I have a 12 inch box just filled with return labels. It is unreal. I will not donate to anyone that calls on the phone, I just tell them very nicely that I don't donate by phone. I used to get phone calls from the Sheriff's dept. for donations, I never donated but since I worked there, I went into the Sheriff and asked him what the heck was going on. He knew nothing about it, he did get to the bottom of it and it was nothing but a scam. That caused a big write up in the local paper. Out newspaper always has articles about not donating to phone calls asking for donations.:shot:

[Mom2-3boys]

Caller ID doesn't do much anyway when trying to determine if it is a soliciter or not. I have family members that come up no data so I answer those calls but some of the no data are soliciters. I called my family last night and told them to call my cell phone after ANOTHER soliciter (that came up no data)called and was all snotty so I just hung up on her. I will no longer answer 1-800 or out of state #'s I don't recognize.....if they feel it's important they will leave a message at the BEEEP!

[SLance68]

When phone solicitors start paying my phone bill then I will be nice to them. Until then they can get told to stop calling me - and NO I don't have caller ID and I won't get it. It is call at your own risk to my house and office.

[cabby92]

I am the treasuer for our local chapter of the American Red Cross. While it is irritating to get solicitations for money I don't know of many people that hesitate to call the Red Cross when their house burns down, or Granny can't be roused in another state or they need to contact their son in Iraq to tell him Grandpa had a stroke.

When these things happen paid employees as well as volunteers crawl out of bed in the middle of the night to offer aid in whatever form is needed. We give shelter to fire victims, offer sustenance to the firefighters putting out the blaze, track down Bill Jr. in Iraq and work with the local police department to check on Grandma.

If you can't donate, at least be nice. Save your ire for the credit card companies.

[may1792]

I am the treasuer for our local chapter of the American Red Cross. While it is irritating to get solicitations for money I don't know of many people that hesitate to call the Red Cross when their house burns down, or Granny can't be roused in another state or they need to contact their son in Iraq to tell him Grandpa had a stroke.

When these things happen paid employees as well as volunteers crawl out of bed in the middle of the night to offer aid in whatever form is needed. We give shelter to fire victims, offer sustenance to the firefighters putting out the blaze, track down Bill Jr. in Iraq and work with the local police department to check on Grandma.

If you can't donate, at least be nice. Save your ire for the credit card companies.


Well said. I totally agree.

[SLance68]

I am the treasuer for our local chapter of the American Red Cross. While it is irritating to get solicitations for money I don't know of many people that hesitate to call the Red Cross when their house burns down, or Granny can't be roused in another state or they need to contact their son in Iraq to tell him Grandpa had a stroke.

When these things happen paid employees as well as volunteers crawl out of bed in the middle of the night to offer aid in whatever form is needed. We give shelter to fire victims, offer sustenance to the firefighters putting out the blaze, track down Bill Jr. in Iraq and work with the local police department to check on Grandma.

If you can't donate, at least be nice. Save your ire for the credit card companies.

I have personally never been solicitated by the Red Cross by phone and I have donated to them. I don't have a problem with them it is the one's that call from XYZ charity that you have never heard of and they get nasty when you refuse to give them money and will keep calling you back.

[kidzpca]

This, for a grown man with two kids to teach by example, is just down right RUDE. Number one... it IS a REAL job. It may not save lives but these ppl work just as hard as anyone else and get to be told to F*** OFF more times in a day than you would like to hear for not much more than minimum wage. I would know, I have done it. I used to go home in tears because of hard ass ppl like you who have no manners what so ever. Just because you don't like to be solicited is no reason to be a Jerk. Just hang up and don't answer when they call... why on earth do you pay for caller ID if you don't use it other than to cuss ppl out?

Ok, so yes, you are the one getting it at this moment... I am sick and I am in a B****y mood. I'm sure you will come back w/ some lame excuse anyways... so I'll just stay out of this thread from now on.

Lame excuse...the day this happened we had at least a dozen calls of this sort, plus the teenagers got call after call after call...and at the time I answered...I made the mistake of not looking at the caller ID. I was tired and had it with calls from people every 5-10 minutes. As for soliciting for money calls is a real job, perhaps but low paying and many people make more money slinging burgers at McDonalds. No demeaning meant but really there are better jobs out there than this.

[tngirl]

Hey, what's your phone number? I want to call and invite you to donate to my favorite charity...ME!!:dance

[meltodd69]

I tried something like this for part-time once(telemarketing). It did pay well, and the bonuses were even better. I never called out though. All the calls I got were incoming. When someone gets a new credit card they think they have to call in and activated it. Not true, most of the time you are just verifying. You don't have to verify, just gives them the chance to sell you something. I sold Idenity Theft Protection. I still felt guilty though and had to quit. I knew these people didn't want to hear my speech but I tried to be pleasant always. And we had to try twice to get you to say yes. I did get alot of sales to my surprise. My bonuses would double my pay for the week, and I didn't work hard at all. I got to give you a free paper shredder for taking a free trial for 90 days. You would just have to remember to cancel before 90 days. So alot of people would say yes just for the free stuff. Heck alot of the times people just wanted to talk and I would get yelled at for that lol. It felt like high pressure sales and I don't like that. The product should speak for itself, you either need it or you don't.

[YankeeMary]

I did telemarketing for one day when I was 20 or so. My sister worked there and she was raking in the dough and loved it. I thought what the heck, I can do that, Oh I was so wrong. I hated it. The people were so mean and hateful. I was told off more that one day then I have been in my whole life...lol. I was selling picture packages for Olan Mills. I called and an old woman answered, I gave her my pitch. She said honey I am old and ugly, no one wants a pic of me, I have had both my legs removed due to diabeties and can't get around real good. I told her I would give her the pics for free and would gladly have one of her. She said I don't drive and my children don't do much for me. I get to go to the grocery store once a week that is it. Well by this time I am crying. We bring the call to an end. I am terribly upset and crying. I gather up my things and left and never went back. It just broke my heart. My feelings got hurt so easily back them...haha.

[justme23]

Mary, I worked for Olan Mills for a while. I'll never forget, I dialed the next number on the call sheet (this was before everything was on computer -- and I also worked at Burger King, the money was NOT better) and this very nice man answered. I gave him my speech, trying to be as upbeat as I could. When I was done he said he would love to purchase the package from me but he saw no real point any more because his wife had passed just the week before. That was all it took, I was in tears, I apologized and hung up as quick as I could. I quit that particular job that day and didn't do telemarketing again that I can remember...

[YankeeMary]

Mary, I worked for Olan Mills for a while. I'll never forget, I dialed the next number on the call sheet (this was before everything was on computer -- and I also worked at Burger King, the money was NOT better) and this very nice man answered. I gave him my speech, trying to be as upbeat as I could. When I was done he said he would love to purchase the package from me but he saw no real point any more because his wife had passed just the week before. That was all it took, I was in tears, I apologized and hung up as quick as I could. I quit that particular job that day and didn't do telemarketing again that I can remember...

Awww we are heart twins...hehe. It is just to draining for me. I also never did telemarketing again. Now my sister on the other hand always does well and makes great money calling others.