Phone call from Alzheimer's society re donation

[Linda Mc]

Has the society started ringing people to ask them to sign up to a direct debit?
I am concerned that my (grown up) granddaughter has had a call and agreed to a regular donation and gave her bank details over the phone something I would have told her not to do unless she had made the call to the society herself.

 

[marionq]

Alarm bells for me. I would not give those details to anyone cold calling.

 

[jenniferpa]

Linda, AS does on occasion use a company called Ethicall to fundraise by telephone, but they only contact people who have previously indicated that they would be interested in donating to a dementia charity, and they have pretty strict guidance about it.

I would suggest that your granddaughter call 020 7423 3500 which is the main switchboard and ask to speak to a member of the Customer Care team. They will be able to fairly quickly tell if this was legit.

 

[Raggedrobin]

I'm sorry to hear Alz soc uses phone fundraising, I consider unsolicited phone calls to be one of the most irritating features of modern living and particularly tricky for anyone with dementia. I don't even mean asking for direct debits, just having the phone ringing would send my mother up the wall.

 

[jenniferpa]

I'm sorry to hear Alz soc uses phone fundraising, I consider unsolicited phone calls to be one of the most irritating features of modern living and particularly tricky for anyone with dementia. I don't even mean asking for direct debits, just having the phone ringing would send my mother up the wall.

As you see from my post, these aren't unsolicited as I understand the meaning of the term. If you get an unsolicited call claiming to be from AS, please call the number above. In fact, if you get a call even if you have previous indicated you would be interested in donating, and you think it's inappropriate, then call the number. The society takes these things very seriously.

 

[Noorza]

I'm sorry to hear Alz soc uses phone fundraising, I consider unsolicited phone calls to be one of the most irritating features of modern living and particularly tricky for anyone with dementia. I don't even mean asking for direct debits, just having the phone ringing would send my mother up the wall.

Contact the phone company and ask for cold call barring, it is free and it means that only businesses or charities with prior permission can call you. It is not 100 percent fool proof as call centres abroad aren't bound by UK legislation but it is a big help.

 

[lin1]

Hello Linda .
How worrying.
Personally I think it would be best for her to contact her bank first, asap.
They will probably cancel her card and issue another one in a few days as well as putting an immediate stop on suspect payments .

Hopefully the call was legit. If she later finds out it was then their is no harm done by her having contacted her bank

 

[nitram]

"Contact the phone company and ask for cold call barring, it is free and it means that only businesses or charities with prior permission can call you. It is not 100 percent fool proof as call centres abroad aren't bound by UK legislation but it is a big help."

The free service is called Telephone Preference Service (TPS)

You can register your number >>>HERE<<<

As Noorza said it can be bypassed, it also does not trap genuine research surveys.

Steps are being taken to make it compulsory for the little tick boxes found everywhere nowadays to be 'opt in' and not 'opt out'.

 

[Beate]

TPS is completely toothless. We've been on it for years and got hundreds of calls. The only thing that helped was to put our phone on silence for the majority of the day and programme it so only certain numbers can come through. That has worked an absolute treat. Everyone we know rings on the mobile anyway.

 

[Saffie]

"Contact the phone company and ask for cold call barring, it is free and it means that only businesses or charities with prior permission can call you. It is not 100 percent fool proof as call centres abroad aren't bound by UK legislation but it is a big help."

The free service is called Telephone Preference Service (TPS)

Not necessarily TPS.

Certain phone companies, I'm with Talktalk so don't know about others, can issue you with a number which will block calls from unwanted callers after the first receipt of one.

I received a 'survey' call last week. I asked the woman to stop and said my husband had just died. She said "Oh, I'm sorry, anyway - and proceeded with her patter. Well, a few words until I put the phone down.

 

[Chemmy]

I don't approve of cold-calling, door stepping or hassling people in the high street (chugging) to donate by direct debit as a means of raising funds. In fact, it puts me right off and I would withdraw my support from any charity that spends its money this way.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8946145.stm

 

[lin1]

I agree with you Beate , TPS is toothless, I too have been with th for years and get lots of cold calls though it did work when I first joined. Also their is no way it can prevent scammers phoning up.

Saffie thanks I had forgotten about Talk talk having that service, note to self, contact them today.

 

[steviep]

I agree with you Beate , TPS is toothless, I too have been with th for years and get lots of cold calls though it did work when I first joined. Also their is no way it can prevent scammers phoning up.

Saffie thanks I had forgotten about Talk talk having that service, note to self, contact them today.

You can set it up online via the boosts page. It's cut my calls down by about 90% and the ones that do get through you can block.

 

[Rageddy Anne]

My husband with Alzheimer's always rushes to answer the phone first, and has got into some questionable conversations before I could stop them, including one who said they were his bank and started asking questions. It's a nightmare.

I also had a call from a very persistent lady wanting me to donate by direct debit to, she said, the Alzheimer's society. I told her " My husband has Alzheimer's, and what exactly is the funding for,?"and she said things like the Carers help line..and then asked if I could imagine how helpful that is for Carers. So I said, "I'm a carer, and yes, it would be helpful. Can you tell me what it is?" She couldn't answer that, and ended the call.

 

[Linda Mc]

I am off to see her shortly and will post again with the outcome. Thanks everyone.

 

[nitram]

BT also have 'choose to refuse' which can block up to 10 preset numbers. It's a chargeable service, I believe it is fere on Talk Talk, Sky Talk and VM. It will block repeat incoming 'withheld' numbers but not 'unknown'

 

[Ann Mac]

After seeing just how much Mil was 'donating' every month (nearly £100) I have an absolute hate for telephone calls from any charity, asking for money, and if one does get through the TPS (happens very rarely) the phone gets put down as soon as I cotton on what its about.

My pet hate is the people at supermarket checkouts, who 'pack for charity' - not only do I think that puts people in a situation of finding it hard to refuse if they want to, but several times now, whilst I've been trying to ensure the packing doesn't include potatoes being shoved in the bag on top of bread, one of the buckets has been rattled under Mils nose, and she, instantly confused and caught out, has whipped out her purse and put as much as a £20 in.

Infuriates me, and I have, before now turned round and left the supermarket and gone elsewhere when I've seen the checkout collections in operation!

 

[Brannybob]

Hello,
I had a phone call to, last Monday night, but didn't give any details. I usually say that were ex directory, then they soon put the phone down and don't call again, as they can be fined

Brannybob

 

[Linda Mc]

Well it was genuine apparently she was contacted because she was the lead name of our team when we did the memory walk last year. She feels fine about it but it has made her aware now to be careful and check up or hang up!!

 

[Noorza]

Well it was genuine apparently she was contacted because she was the lead name of our team when we did the memory walk last year. She feels fine about it but it has made her aware now to be careful and check up or hang up!!

That's good news but I would call the AS and ask to be removed from their data base as there is no way no way of knowing who is genuine or not