How to Stop Your Nuisance Calls: Channel 4 Dispatches

Two of Britain’s leading telephone charity fundraisers are facing questions over their treatment of the elderly and the vulnerable following an undercover investigation by Channel 4 Dispatches.  
 
The programme (Monday 11th August at 8pm on Channel 4) found that some of the country’s best loved charities are paying private call centres millions of pounds to fundraise on their behalf. 
 
Last year there was a 26 per cent jump in complaints about charity calls to the charity regulator, the Fundraising Standards Board – with many concerning the tone and frequency of calls requesting donations. 
 
Channel 4 Dispatches hear from a 82 year old lady who resorted to ‘hiding the telephone’ to avoid frequent calls from charity fundraisers and a daughter who spoke of her concerned that fundraisers took advantage of her elderly and vulnerable father.  
 
Dispatches decided to go undercover at two leading fundraising companies - NTT Fundraising in Bristol and London based Pell & Bales.
 
Between them, they boast of a range of blue chip charity clients on their websites including Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH), Oxfam, Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), Unicef and Barnardos.
 
Along with many other professional fundraisers these companies follow the Insitute of Fundraising industry code of practice  promising not to be a “nuisance” and to be “honest, open and transparent” when asking the public for money.  Yet our undercover investigation reveals:    
 
-   During a fundraising campaign on behalf of GOSH, an NTT Team Leader told staff to put down a woman for a call back even though she told our undercover reporter she was caring for a ‘terminally ill daughter’ and did not want to talk about it.

-   An NTT supervisor advising a member of staff not to take a customer – who says they are suffering  from depression –off the data base, saying being depressed wasn't a "get out of jail free card"

-   A Pell & Bales manager on a campaign for the RNIB telling recruits they should pretend they have children to feed if anyone questioned why they were not unpaid volunteers.

-   Both Pell & Bales and NTT gave staff charity scripts in which potential givers are only told that the call centre companies are being paid after they have made a decision to donate. A former Director of the Institute of Fundraising tells Dispatches government guidance  advises that a declaration should be made before the decision to donate and that this would give potential donors a fair indication of the extent to which the charity would benefit from the transactions.
 
Encouraging staff to lie to customers
After a colleague says that he has told the public lies while working at another unconnected call centre company our reporter checks with his trainer if it’s okay to lie to potential donors at NTT Fundraising.
 
The Trainer said it was ‘Absolutely fine’ to lie about personal reminisces.  
 
The Trainer says:  “If you want to make up something about yourself. "Oh I've got two kids, they’re mental - that's fantastic." What I wouldn't do is make up the fact that they were at Great Ormond Street Hospital or they have got cancer or anything like that. Don't go there because maybe the other person at the other end of the phone will catch you out… Just keep the conversation light and have a bit of banter about kids. Just help the rapport building really.” 
 
But even when the general public  politely or rudely object to receiving calls from fundraisers they are sometimes put down as a call back rather than remove you from the database.
 
The only sure way of stopping some nuisance calls is to tell them explicitly not to call again and to take you off their database.
 
Call back to a woman caring for a ‘terminally ill daughter’

At NTT our undercover reporter found that  if you don’t do this you may be logged as a “soft refusal” and put back in the system ready to be called again.
 
During a fundraising campaign on behalf of GOSH, an NTT Team Leader told our reporter to put down a woman as a “soft refusal” even though she told our undercover reporter she was caring for a ‘terminally ill daughter’ and did not want to talk about it..    
 
Reporter:  “I asked her if she was a parent herself and she said that she is and she understands what it’s like to have a sick child. She has, she has a terminally ill daughter.”
 
Team leader:   “Right.”
Reporter:  “Now, I mean, she, she said she’d rather not talk about it. So if I put her down as Hard Refusal will that be - she won’t get any calls from any other.”
Team leader:   “Soft”
Reporter: “Soft? Really?”
Team leader:   “Yeah, because we don’t know where she could be in six months time…We don’t want to do it as a Hard Refusal cause she hasn’t said she doesn’t want calls. If you get my point?”
“It will be Soft Refusal because you can’t justify getting rid of that record from the data.”
Reporter: “Yeah... You can’t justify it?”
Team Leader:  “No, because she’s... It’s not her, herself because she hasn’t said “don’t call me” she’s just said she doesn’t want to talk about it. Which is absolutely fair enough. I get the same thing on cancer on McMillan, they say I don’t want to talk about it right now because my husband’s going right through it. Soft refusal. As much as it feels bad and unethical, it is a soft refusal”.
 
Depression is not a "get out of jail free card"

Both NTT Fundraising and Pell & Bales have signed an industry promise to “respect” your decision and not to put “undue pressure” on us to donate.
 
However scripts given to staff encouraged them to ask everyone they speak to three times for money.
 
At NTT Fundraising the reporter questions whether this is always appropriate:  
 
Reporter:  “I think I did the right thing with this one.”
Manager: “Go on.”
Reporter: “She said that she had depression, she was suffering from depression at the moment, and wasn’t able to really talk.”
Manager: “Yeah, I mean in those instances, using your kind of like, initiative. I don’t know if I would classify that as a long term illness. Depression is depression, fair enough, but I don’t see how depression can preclude you from having a conversation with someone… Being depressed is not really a get out of jail card, if that makes sense.”
Reporter: “Ok”
Manager: “But I mean, I do appreciate your sensitivity though. It’s very kind of you to be sensitive towards her but I don’t think that, you know we could just say no problem, we will give you a call when you’re feeling a bit more up to it. “
 
Declaring the call is being made by a private company after a decision to  donation has been made

At Pell & Bales our reporter worked on fundraiser campaigns on behalf of RNIB. 
 
During training recruits were told, when speaking to the public, they should stick to carefully written scripts approved by the charities. 
 
Pell & Bales have signed up to a fundraising promise which says: “We are clear about who we are and what we do.”
 
But when our reporter was given a RNIB script that sounded like she was calling from the charity itself, the trainer says:  “I mean again you are, you know, we’re, we are in that way like the voice of the RNIB so it’s their script that they’ve approved, you know. They know what we’re going to be saying and they are happy for you to say, because you know they’re, essentially, by proxy, they’re paying you so you are, we’re part of them in that respect.”
 
The RNIB script does contain a “solicitation statement” as required by both the Institute of Fundraising’s Code of Practice and separate Government guidance on the Charities Act 1992 (Cabinet Office – Charitable Fundraising : Guidance on Part 2 of the Charities Act 1992 ) , declaring the call is being made by Pell & Bales and that the call centre company will receive a payment for their service.  
 
When the manager at Pell & Bales was asked if it was too late to place the “solicitation statement” after the decision to donate had already been made, the manager says:
 
“Yeah, at that point we used to say, we used to have to say I am paid to make these calls and everyone thought ooh gosh all the supporters will be up in arms. We’re being paid to make these calls but most people say oh I should think so too...
 
Never be ashamed that you work on behalf of charities because we raise millions of pounds for the charities that they would not be able to do if we weren’t there to do it for them.
 
...And if somebody ever ask, say I thought you’d be volunteering, well I’ve got to feed my children. And that will stop them straight away.”
 
The Institute of Fundraising’s code of practice - which most charity and call centres follow - says the solicitation statement "must be made during each call".
 
But the former director of the Institute of Fundraising says that separate  government guidance  advises that a declaration should be made before the decision to donate and that this would give potential donors a fair indication of the extent to which the charity would benefit from the transactions.
 
Stephen Lee says:  “There's absolute guidelines about when the declaration has to be made, the Cabinet Office,  I think very clearly indicated that  it must be made before the gift is offered…. If that's not happening…. that's the fault both of the agency and, frankly, of the organisation and the fundraiser within the organisation who is allowing that to be the case. That is wrong in my opinion.”
 
Calls for ‘urgent review’
On seeing the evidence obtained by Dispatches, Professor Stephen Lee, a former director of the Institute of Fundraising calls for an urgent review by the Institute of Fundraising and the Fundraising Standards Board. 
 
“To my mind it’s inconceivable that a Director of Fundraising or the fundraiser responsible within the charity can’t have some understanding of what’s going on in an agency that they have a contract with.    I think that’s actually the most worrying element of what you’ve found here and I think we need an urgent review by the Institute of Fundraising, by the Fundraising Standards Board - not only of the agencies but of also the way in which fundraisers are managing these relationships”, he says. 
 
Right to Replies

In a statement to Dispatches NTT Fundraising says:
“As a company we are so proud of what we do and were mortified to see apparent weaknesses highlighted in this report.
 
We train and monitor our staff rigorously – which may explain why complaints about our calls are extremely rare: the 1.25 million calls we made last year generated fewer than 100 complaints. However it is always our goal to represent the highest standards of our sector and we are constantly striving to improve.
 
We've worked hard to build a reputation for honesty and effectiveness, and of course take seriously any suggestion that we have not lived up to the standards expected by ourselves and our charity partners.
 
We have already started an investigation into the material presented and will ensure that we improve any areas found to be lacking.”
 
In a Statement Pell & Bales told Dispatches:
“...scripts are written ...with our partner charities in line with legal requirements and best practice guidelines.
 
...the Charities Act does not specify where in the call the statement should be made
 
We believe...(IT) is most effectively and clearly delivered towards the end of the ...call where the supporter still has the option not to make the donation. Supporters are sent written confirmation ….and are given a period of time before any money is collected
 
All P&B fundraisers are encouraged to respect every donor and to use their discretion when it is deemed that it may not be in the best interest of the supporter or the charity to continue with the call. In the example your undercover reporter behaved in the correct manner by ending the call  and this course of action was approved by their coach when they queried it.
 
we receive less than 1 complaint for every 10,000 calls we make and any complaint we do receive is evaluated to see how it could have been avoided. “
 
Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity says:
 “We were shocked and deeply distressed to hear of the evidence of unacceptable behaviour and ways of working presented in this report and we would like to apologise to anyone affected.
 
“We expect the highest standards of honesty and integrity from all our fundraisers. We had an extensive on-going training programme and system of checks and balances to ensure NTT Fundraising were behaving properly, treating people with the utmost respect and complying with industry codes of practice at all times.
 
“We are incredibly disappointed and as soon as we became aware of the report we stopped all fundraising calls with NTT. With NTT’s full cooperation we have launched a thorough investigation...
 
and will work “….with the Institute of Fundraising on best practice fundraising training.”
 
 
The RNIB says:
 “Our fundraising activity fully meets the very high standards we set ourselves to ensure openness, clarity and respect. We are in every way observing legal requirements as well as best practice guidelines set out by the Institute of Fundraising” 

 
Case Study concerning other fundraisers:  Daughter concerned that fundraisers took advantage of their elderly and vulnerable father
Channel 4 Dispatches spoke to a Bedfordshire lady with serious questions about how some of these fundraisers (not NTT Fundraising or Pell and Bales) are seeking donations :
 
Emma Frost discovered fundraisers had contacted her father, Joseph, who suffered from Alzhiemers. 
 
“I’ve lost him now sadly… he was extremely confused, you couldn’t hold a conversation with him, either in person or on the phone without knowing something was really really wrong,” she says.   
 
Emma grew concerned about her father, after he told her about his supposed “new job”.
 
EMMA says:  “He’d said to me at the time I am working for Great Ormond Street. I was thinking where is he getting that idea from, then I picked up a letter to his house saying thank you for increasing your direct debit which prompted me to sort of contact the bank…..  they printed off all his direct debits and I sat and looked at them and I was just shocked. I can’t remember all of the charities now but there were so many.”
 
“He wasn’t going out much apart from to church – so they must have called him and he was probably quite lonely at the time and glad of a phone call. “
 
EMMA says:  “I think really his vulnerability which would have been very clear because he was so confused – he couldn’t string a sentence together – must have been exploited because nobody could possibly have missed that.

When Emma challenged Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity they said her father had been called not by NTT Fundraising but by two other charity call centres.
 
Emma says:  “I didn’t know charities used call centres and I said but he was so confused and you couldn’t help but know that, how could that happen and they said well we have to allow confused people to donate because of equal opportunities. Which I was really upset about because as far as I know the equal opportunities legislation is in place to protect people and in this case it was being used against him.”
 
Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity told Dispatches:
 
“We are very sorry for the distress caused to Emma Frost and her family during a very difficult time. As soon as Ms Frost brought this to our attention two years ago we cancelled her father’s direct debit and ensured he was not contacted again by our fundraisers or anyone representing the Charity. Ms Frost has received a full apology from the Charity.
 
We are reviewing ways in which we can be more robust in managing and monitoring telephone fundraising agencies working on our behalf, to ensure they are behaving in a way that meets our high ethical standard”.
 
Case Study concerning other fundraisers:  82 year old lady who resorted to ‘hiding the telephone’ to avoid frequent calls from charity fundraisers

For the past 15 years, 82-year-old Barbara Dunn has donated about a quarter of her state pension to as many as 25 different charities.
 
“Well there’s Mother Theresa Ethiopia, Four Paws animal sanctuary, Christian Aid, the RSPCA”, she says. 
 
But her decision to send an occasional cheque wasn’t enough for some telephone fundraisers.
Barbara says:  “They [the fundraisers] said, “Well, it’s about your donations. We do appreciate them but could you increase them and could we do it by direct debit” and up till now I’ve said, “no” and they’ve said, “Why not?” and I said, “well if I’m going to start paying out by direct debit, the same charities are going to keep getting the money and someone’s going to loose out.”
 
But charities kept on calling and calling – until, at one stage, she was receiving half a dozen calls every day.
 
“I was hiding the telephone so I couldn’t hear it ... that’s how bad it got… In the airing cupboard”, she says.  .
 
“So I could get a couple of hours sleep without being disturbed and asked for money. Plus I, I, I did feel I was being harassed. And plus this feeling of guilt because you turn them down.”



Notes to Editor
How To Stop Your Nuisance Calls – Channel 4 Dispatches, Monday 11th August at 8pm