pressure selling - your horse live, dogs trust

[Shantara]

Did anyone else get harrassed by the dogs trust stand at your horse live? I was actually thinking about signing up, but they really put me off! I may still do it online, but I wasn't going to do it there. They also lied to us about the sponsor price! They said it was 1p a week, then said 'no, in all seriousness, it's £2 a month'

They keprt saying things like 'we know you wont sign up online, just do it now!'

not a good way to get people to sign up!
Still, the rest of the day was awesome

 

[galaxy]

Had the same at HOYS! Very uncomfortable and not what I would expect from them!

 

[Shantara]

Uncomfortable is certainly the word! They really put my preggers friend on the spot and were stressing her out, it just wasn't fair! She said she donates to charity, but they kept saying 'atleast WE dont put healthy animals down!!' grrr

 

[ladyt25]

I think you should maybe let the dogs trust know this - not sure whether these people are employed or are volunteers but no charity should try this pressure/emotional blackmail type selling tactic so if they are then make the dogs trust aware as they may not know these people are acting like this. I have a great deal of respect for the dogs trust and other animal charity who don't put healthy animals down but that approach you mention does not help anyone!

 

[s4sugar]

"but they kept saying 'atleast WE dont put healthy animals down!!' grrr"


No - they stick them in a compound like a wolf pack!
Sorry but they lost my support when they became political and IMO two faced.

 

[Shantara]

I haven't lost respect for the dogs trust it was just so rude of the employees/volunteers, but thats a very good idea to let them know!! I shall email when I get home.
that was only a small part of what they said, im on my phone so it's hard to type!

 

[Dobiegirl]

They do put healthy dogs down, the Lancashire Heeler Association are not happy about the fact they had one come in to The Dogs Trust and it was put down. It was healthy but getting stressed by kennel life and nipped someone, Heelers nip its a breed trait and dogs need to be channeled to stop it. If they had only contacted the breed rescue it could have gone into an experienced foster home but the DT didnt bother. I know several LH members cancelled their subscription because of this and it has left a lot of bad feeling.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Physically healthy/mentally healthy, two very different things....

 

[ladyt25]

Well, the one near me seems to do a pretty decent job and they do have some dogs there that they've had for years and have been deemed difficult to rehome - sure maybe not 'ideal' for the dogs but they seems to have a pretty good quality of life. I think all these animal charities must struggle but at least the dogs with them do get more than the 7 days sentence given in a pound. Speaking to the behaviourist when i went to get my dog, I think I would struggle to do what they have to do - ie collecting what they feel are the rehomable dogs each week but having to leave others. She said that was the part of the role she hated. What can they do at the end of the day. As long as there are irresponsible breeders and irresponsible owners there's going to be abandoned dogs and I guess charities can only do so much.

 

[Shantara]

Right, now I'm back on my PC I can tell you what they said in more detail.

To be fair, after being told we MUST sign up today, we did make excuses and say we'd do it online. Don't know how serious my friend was but she already donates, I was kinda serious. The man said "We know you're not going to do it, so just do it now" and the woman was saying "Yea love, c'mon" and "We've heard THAT one 100 times today"

The dogs were adorable, but choosing one was impossible and they didn't give us time to look at them properly. They wouldn't tell us where our money was going and he kept saying things like "Well, *I* love dogs anyway"

When we finally got away, there was not "Ok, thanks anyway" it was simply "Fine."

Almost spoiled a wonderful day! Almost, not quite

 

[Tiarella]

They harassed me and my oh for 20 mins! We asked for a leaflet and he said " people that ask for leaflets never sign up, they end up in the bin, so why don't you just say no! If you dont want to sponsor a dog" !!

 

[Shantara]

They harassed me and my oh for 20 mins! We asked for a leaflet and he said " people that ask for leaflets never sign up, they end up in the bin, so why don't you just say no! If you dont want to sponsor a dog" !!

I get it must be frustrating to get people saying "I'll think about it" or "I'll do it online" or "Can I have a leaflet?", but taking it out of potential sponsors is such a bad idea. They really had the wrong selling technique!

 

[Shysmum]

They got me at the door of my local Morrisons. The guy MUST have been on commision, it was awful. I complained to the store manager about the hard sell, but I'm sure they'd be back in a few months.

 

[meandmyself]

Not sure if it's the same for charities, but I've done the same sort of job and you get pushed -very- hard to meet a quota.

 

[Shantara]

Not sure if it's the same for charities, but I've done the same sort of job and you get pushed -very- hard to meet a quota.

When I worked in Poundland, they would tell you off if you didn't push and sell what was on offer. I'm all for selling stuff, but being downright rude isn't cool and put me right off!

 

[Taffyhorse]

I work for a charity and although I don't work in the fundraising dept, I didn't think you were allowed to do the 'hard sell' anymore so they sound well out of line.

I would complain to the Dogs Trust - the people doing the hard sell may have been staff but they could have been volunteers or agency workers which are also commonly used and can be rather 'overzealous' shall we say...

 

[Shantara]

I posted on DT's facebook page and got a very good response!

http://www.facebook.com/DogsTrust/posts/10151244159691880?comment_id=24562236&notif_t=feed_comment Hopefully that link works

 

[Dobiegirl]

Well done for reporting it and you must be very pleased with the response as they do seem to be taking it seriously.

 

[MrVelvet]

That's a shame the RSPCA were similar at my door recently!

 

[Kellys Heroes]

We had the same at HOYS.

I told the guy there that I do my bit for neglected/homeless/abused/mistreated etc etc dogs and got asked why?
So I said I'd taken in many rescue dogs over the years, most with their problems, we've never given up on them and they've had a home for the rest of their lives with us - but that's not our charity, he said - so I said well I haven't got the money or time to donate so the next best thing is a home surely!? Then I got a page shoved in my face of dogs "well how about you sponsor one of these lovely guys?" "I haven't got regular money coming in, sorry" "well you can afford a bit every week!?" "no...I actually can't" "well you're here..with bags..." - I then had to explain to him that I was given the ticket by a friend and all my bags were actually freebies...which I didn't feel I should have had to do!

I understand these people are trying to get help for these dogs which is all well and good, but I give a great deal of support and raising awareness to smaller animal charities which don't feel they have to hound me/guilt trip me...theres no need to get as 'in your face' as they do!
K x