ICYMI: We launched a new campaign asking for Australians to be able to opt-out of all unwanted calls where people are asking for money.
Join the campaign at choice.com.au/controlthecalls, and please share it with your friends and social networks.
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I leave these blank on paper donations. Just because someone asks for information you donât have to supply it. Bit harder when itâs online and they mail you a receipt however I always give a made up phone number (my apologies if you have the phone number 123456789 
)
My nephew used to work collecting monthly deductions for the Surf Lifesaving Association. He received 30% of the yearly value of the donations he collected. His boss received another cut and the organization also received a commission. About 15% actually went to the charity.
The whole process disgusts me and I no longer support Surf Lifesavers.
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I agree as well! Have donated to a couple of charities Iâd never donated to before last year - and got lots of letters from other charities Iâd never heard of asking for money and sending stickers with my name and address, plastic biros, â I wish theyâd saved this money and used it for their cause!
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Wow I love it, I tried ringing them back on the caller I.D number as either the 02 and even on an 07 prefix number and get a message saying it is a private number, so not able to abuse them in return. The idea of jamming their phone lines if everyone could do it would certainly fix the problem, but what other annoying method would they come up with. From J.C
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The other popular unsolicited âgiftâ to entice a donation is the set of personalised address labels - I must have received dozens of sheets of these over the years.
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That sounds great. Look forward to it. The number of unwanted calls we get from charities is really frustrating.
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I agree! The very frustrating thing is donating to one charity, then others obviously get your phone number from the original one and start bombarding. That is when I get rather short with them and sometimes stop donating.
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Your last para, Steve, is the answer: letâs all send unsolicited begging mail to our pollies so the Do Not Call Register actually doesnât let anyone call,including charities and political parties. (I have resorted to telling the caller that as I already donate to that particular charity, and also receive mail and email from them, one more phone call or mail contact and that will be it - so far, itâs worked.)
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On the Do not call Register is there a renewal requirement every 2 years ? I thought I read somewhere that there was .
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To my understanding, once you have registered there should be no need to renew.
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Brendan I think you will find it is only for a period of 2 years .An elderly neighbour of mine was having trouble with nuisance calls from marketers . She had registered with the "Do not call register " . I managed to get in touch by phone with the DNR and the girl that I spoke to there advised me to re register every 2 years . That would make me think it has a set period of protecting you . Might be wrong though but that is what they told me .
@vax2000, I might be wrong so please correct me if thatâs the case. Iâm going off the latest Do Not Call Register Act 2006.
In particular:
17 Duration of registration
(1) The registration of an Australian number on the Do Not Call Register:
(a) takes effect when it is entered on the Do Not Call Register; and
(b) unless sooner removed from the Do Not Call Register in accordance with a determination under subsection 18(1), remains in force indefinitely.
However, this previous versions of the act stipulated a finite âduration of registrationâ.
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@BrendanMays I think you may be correct and I am wrong here . Time goes so quickly . I just checked the date when I lived near that neighbour . I left there in 2004 . It looks like they have amended the duration of cover . I should have checked my facts before posting . Sorry about that . .
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No worries! There was nothing in the FAQ on the government site, which makes it hard considering there have been a few changes
That list doesnât work for me. They still call up - hate it. I asked one - why are you calling me, I AM NOT supposed to be contacted like this. They just hung up without a word. Then there are the trolls who are from âMicrosoftâ and they have had complaints that our computer is having problems. What planet are they from.
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Just as annoying as the phone calls are the people in the larger city centres that harass pedestrians on a daily basis. Most of them are young, not related to the charity and on pretty poor wages expected to get a number of leads per day.
If anyone from Childfund is reading this, your collectors in Brisbane are turning hundreds of people a day of ever supporting what is probably a reasonable charity.
The crowd behind many of the calls seeking donations on behalf of charities is the Apple Marketing Group.
As they state on their website:
âApple Marketing is the voice, face and strategy behind some of Australiaâs most successful fundraising campaigns.
We are committed to exploring new approaches to campaign success using a mix of traditional and digital fundraising techniques to deliver winning results.
If you havenât heard of us before, youâve probably seen us online or heard from one of our 300 fundraising specialists over the phone or in person.â
They describe themselves as Australian owned Australian operated. Their contact number is 1800 811 866.
I have contacted them and asked for my number to be placed on their Do Not Call register.
In responseto my initial enquiry I received the following information:
"Thank you for contacting the Do Not Call Register.
In response to your enquiry:
"Does the DNCR âblockâ numbers to prevent them from calling you?
No, the Register does not have any technological impact on your telephone or fax line and it does not block or physically stop other parties from contacting you.
The Do Not Call Register requires telemarketers to submit a list of phone numbers that they wish to call to the Register Operator. The Register identifies any numbers on that list that are not permitted to be called because they are registered, and they are removed from calling lists.
Further information can be found at https://www.donotcall.gov.au/consumers/faqs-for-consumers/. If required, please call 1300 792 958 to talk directly to a member of the team.
Do Not Call Register team
Contact us
1300 792 958
www.donotcall.gov.au
Do Not Call Register
PO Box 12169
AâBeckett Street Vic 8006
Privacy
Our privacy policy contains information including how you can access and correct personal information, what we do with your information and how you can make a complaint about our compliance with the Privacy Act."
â˘â˘â˘
So folks, itâs up to you.
:)P
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Chuggers (charity muggers) should be required by law to disclose precisely how much of your âdonationâ goes to the charity and how much to the chugger corporation.
They wonât be, of course, but it should be the first thing you say to them.
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Be careful of door to door charity collectors when they ask you if you want a receipt (maybe because of an amount under $2 - $2 and over usually tax deductible.). If you say ânoâ, the temptation is to put it into their pockets as receipts and money handed in must reconcile but if there is no receipt its anyoneâs guess where it ends up.
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