[DeeperUnderstanding]

I feel like crap right now, because I was just taken advantage of by who I think was a scam artist. This girl who looked like a college student knocked on my front door, and she was telling me about how she's part of an organization dedicated in preventing mountain tops from being blown up for coal. I'm very environmentally conscious, so I offered to sign the petition she handed me. I put down my name, phone number, and address.

Then she started asking me for money. I asked her if I could mail it to her, and she said that she couldn't do that, but she could accept a check. I was getting frustrated, because my anxiety was kicking in, and I didn't know how to say no. I had already put my name, number, and address down, and it wasn't like I could back out now.

In the end, I gave her a dollar's worth in change and was like, 'that's all I can donate right now.' She handed me something else to sign, and I said I wasn't interested after all, so she left.

The issue now is that my phone number, name, and address are now in the hands of god knows who. I put down my cell #, so I'll probably get flooded with calls now. And I feel violated, because I'm not sure if I donated to a real organization, or if they're just going to take my dollar and get a soda or something.

From now on, I'm not going to sign up for anything other than for girl scout cookies. :no

 

[DeeperUnderstanding]

Okay, I've done some research, and it looks legitimate.

 

[Little Willow]

Next time, instead of signing the petition right away ask for a website you can check out first. You can always contact them at a later date to sign the petition, and you can make sure it's legit first. Unfortunately, con people are pros at spotting people like us and taking advantage. We need to be really careful and do our research first. I'm glad you didn't get sucked into anything this time!

 

[david90]

Try to sell them back some newspaper subscription. Just say you work for some newspaper company and that ur a salesman/woman.

 

[AussiePea]

sounds like one I signed up to about 4 years ago, "the wilderness society", I get flooded with emails etc asking for money and all that to save the environment. i mean I'm all for preserving the environment etc but these people go past the call of duty and are honestly a little nuts, but my god they are persistent.

 

[LALoner]

I feel like crap right now, because I was just taken advantage of by who I think was a scam artist. This girl who looked like a college student knocked on my front door, and she was telling me about how she's part of an organization dedicated in preventing mountain tops from being blown up for coal. I'm very environmentally conscious, so I offered to sign the petition she handed me. I put down my name, phone number, and address.

Then she started asking me for money. I asked her if I could mail it to her, and she said that she couldn't do that, but she could accept a check. I was getting frustrated, because my anxiety was kicking in, and I didn't know how to say no. I had already put my name, number, and address down, and it wasn't like I could back out now.

In the end, I gave her a dollar's worth in change and was like, 'that's all I can donate right now.' She handed me something else to sign, and I said I wasn't interested after all, so she left.

The issue now is that my phone number, name, and address are now in the hands of god knows who. I put down my cell #, so I'll probably get flooded with calls now. And I feel violated, because I'm not sure if I donated to a real organization, or if they're just going to take my dollar and get a soda or something.

From now on, I'm not going to sign up for anything other than for girl scout cookies. :no

You only gave her a dollar and change and your mad?

 

[Delicate]

On my way into work I always get accosted by various charity's it's not like I'm against charity but I think it's rude to pressure people into it and don't feel stupid for feeling pressured because that's how they work that's what's supposed to happen. Just walking through town and there's five of them in a row and ...every... single... one stops me with some cheesy line "HI! you look cool" lol he said that to everyone. If I'm gonna give to charity I'll do it in my own time. There's one guy I see alot who does campaigning against animal cruelty and has leaflets and just a few petitions to sign and you can donate or just sign it so I do that sometimes.

 

[DeeperUnderstanding]

You only gave her a dollar and change and your mad?

It's not the dollar in change that upsets me.

It's that she or some organization now has my private phone number, my address, and my name. I fear I probably will be harassed - in fact, I probably will be harassed - and being that I have a social phobia, the last thing in the world I need is some strange people to have ahold of my cell phone number. I don't even know why I was so stupid to write that down.

 

[danstelter]

You only gave her a dollar and your contact info...not a big deal. Phone calls might be annoying, but not the end of the world and ditto for spam via snail or e-mail. View it as an opportunity in the future for saying, "No" and experiment with different ways of saying "no" because people who are scam artists will try to find you and screw you; it happens to everyone several times in life. If you want to be nice just say, "I'm not interested." If you like to have fun, try to sell them something, or make up crazy stories such as you already donated money to stop the "swine flu" (be creative!) or whatever kind of asinine crap you can make up! Sales people like to make you feel as though you have to buy, but you don't have to and it is wrong of them to pressure you. A nice "**** off" or "piss off" can be appropriate to pressure sales types. Whatever you do, just enjoy it!