National Deaf Children's Society Reviews 38

It is not fundraising. I feel like it is like a scam. They are very pushy and didn’t even ask whether I’m interested in or not. How can we report them?

Inappropriate cold calling at 8pm in the pitch black. Had a knock at the door and proceeded to peer through windows and snoop around the cars. HIGHLY uncomfortable. It’s solidified never supporting this charity. I’m outraged and everyone else on my street is.

This charity deploys chuggers to Bedford streets. In 2019 I reported them to the Fundraising regulator and they were found in serious breech of guidelines and they disappeared. Now they're back up to their old manipulative tricks.

This company need stopping from door to door canvassing. Every 6 months or so my estate are bombarded with canvassers, if they don’t get a reply they continue to come back until they do get a reply. At 8:50 on a cold dark evening this is totally unacceptable. I’d love to know how many folk are daft enough to contribute at their own door or even give their bank details for regular donations. If I want to donate to charity I’ll do it and not be harassed at my own front door! No other charity tries to collect funds in this way.

Unfortunately I had some people from the charity repeatedly ring my doorbell and then walk away soon after. Every time I went to the door they had disappeared. I'm not taking any longer than I would for a delivery man or postman, but for some reason they're just not there. I checked the CCTV and they had backpacks, a clipboard/file, and were wearing a dark top with the charity's logo.

Absolutely Disgusting how these people treat other people.
My wife was stopped at Asda Peterborough with the typical speal of we just want to chat and will only take a few seconds, obviously this moved into asking for a donation and even after she mentioned to them that she is not currently working and we do not have the means for these donations at the moment, they kept pushing. When she agreed to give her details so they can contact her in order for her to think about it they then start pushing for bank details and by the time she realised they had set up a monthly direct debit.
If people tell you NO and that they are not working and just getting by STOP insisting... And more importantly, stop taking advantage of people who struggle to say no to get your commissions. I find it incredibly ridiculous that this is allowed in the name of "Charity"... Instead of paying shady agencies to use forceful tactics to get peoples money, use that money for the children!!!!

I was abused by one of your street fundraisers on Thursday 12th February in Pontefract outside Home Bargains. He had an afro. He used aggressive and persistent tactics. He would not leave me alone despite me ignoring him whilst walking past. He further aggravated me when I was clearly distressed. I want to make it very clear, I was ignoring him and walking past, he would not leave me alone and kept going and going. Not just one attempt, not two, he persisted and kept on at me. I was not allowed to ignore him.

This has not been the first time I have been abused by your nasty fundraising staff in Pontefract. I have been laughed at by them whilst they heckled me going into the hairdressers. This is becoming a constant part of life in my town and that is not fair. Your staff are aggressive, bullying, and passive aggressive throughout. They are ALL deeply unpleasant, bizarre and overly pushy. I never want to donate to your charity in my life after seeing how they behave.

I should be able to walk around my own town without being treated like this. If someone ignores your fundraisers, they should leave us alone. And not repeatedly say things and follow us. It's gross and evil behaviour that makes your charity look like a scam, frankly.

I am begging you to leave Pontefract and actually train your staff properly. The tactics are unacceptable and abusive to vulnerable people in my town.

I agree with other reviewers that the fundraising strategies of this organisation need serious attention. Cold caller hammered on my door at 8pm while repeatedly ringing doorbell. Woke my young child and was very rude to my husband. This same chugger had hammered on the door earlier in the day but didn’t wait for me to answer. Saw him on my doorbell camera with National Deaf Childrens Society branding clearly visible.

I was aggressively targeted outside a London Underground station yesterday by a fundraiser for this charity.
He was extremely persistent and despite me saying I needed to be somewhere was very insistent that I sign up.
I was made to feel very vulnerable and uncomfortable and ended up signing up up to get away from him.
I felt it was disgraceful behaviour from a fundraiser, and now I have to find a way to cancel this continuous subscription.
And when I looked at my bank account this evening the payment seems to have gone to a completely different charity.
I do intend to take this further and I would say avoid these fundraisers at all costs, such a shame because I’m sure the charity is genuine, but their pressurising tactics are just unacceptable, especially on a dark night on the street in central London.

I signed up to make regular donations but have since changed my mind. NDCS have been helpful and said they have cancelled the recurring payments from my card, but I am not happy that money has been taken from my account using a continuous payment authority arrangement which meant that I could not simply cancel a direct debit as there isn't one in place. This should be made clear when they are fundraising so that anyone donating to them is aware. I had to contact NDCS directly to cancel the set up, and because they said that this needed to be done 5 working days before the next payment was due so as to give my bank sufficient notice to stop the agreement (which seems excessive to say the least in this technologically advanced day and age), another payment has been deducted from my account. So I am afraid that I would not recommend NDCS unless one off donations can be made, which do not need a recurring payment process to be set up.

I am hearing, my wife is not, our young son is ND, I am ND, my wife is ND - processing information is not easy between us.

fundraisres at door, friendly but false compliments and seriously dubious attempts to make personal connections, I dont need the spiel. As disabled family, we strugle already, not exactly well off.. honestly, I dont remember being asked do you want to donate, and I just kind of went ahead with it. you dont even use Direct debits, 'continuous payment authority' - some new to pay, payments are so much harder to cancel and you feel like you have no time to read what it is, or even to find out about the charity in your own time. very hard to cancel!
I would have gladly gave a one off donation given this is close to our hearts - but not like this, not on our doorstep at 4pm! I thought she said £2.50 per month - then you have some confirmation call, and I have to embaresingly just say yes yes yes knowing full well you didnt want this but you feel for the cause.

I try to cancel marketing emails, it sends me a 404 error, this is breach of GDPR by the way, you could be fined for not maintaining marketing.

Then after all that, I send an email, I get an automated email back, advising me about cancling the Direct Debit ... you cant, its not a Direct Debit!

I must get a sign. and you must get new IT infrastructure and more ethical fundraisers. this 1 star thing is getting to be a trend.

No I dont want to follow up, I just want you to know.

Appalling fundraising tactics from NCDS. Earlier about 4pm we had a door to door fundraiser from the National deaf society, my partner answered and said look we’re cooking dinner and then we go to bed early because we’ve got two young girls. 7.30 we were all in bed, lights off downstairs, baby asleep, and 4 year old almost settled and they ring the doorbell. I went down and answered the door and said look we’re all in bed I’ve two young girls and we did say that earlier to you. I said I appreciate you are trying to fundraise but this isn’t an appropriate time to which the guy said well we can do this until 8.30. My 4 yo then comes downstairs and the guy says to me “does your little one know any sign language?” and was looking at her. I just said no that is not ok you need to leave now, no apology they just turned their backs and walked off. Baby woke up, partner still battling to get my 4 yo to sleep. As a charity supporting this you should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves. Trying to use children to guilt people into donating is disgusting.

Extremely good service
Jan is very nice and very helpful and efficient.
100/100 to Jan for her customer service

I had a cold caller knock on my door tonight at around 8pm, despite having a clearly visible “No Cold Callers” sign. They knocked very loudly, which startled my household. I understand this might be part of a volunteer process, but approaching houses with these signs is not acceptable, especially at this time of night. It’s disruptive for families with young children and for elderly residents. Policies clearly need updating to respect people’s homes and the signage they display.

Had a door knock from a lovely young NDCS lady today asking whether I thought it would be a good idea for all British children to learn sign language in order to communicate with them?

There are over 50,000 Deaf children across the UK. Based on a quick Google search, in 2019 estimates were that there are a total 12.7 million children under 16 in the country. I asked her how much it would cost the country’s education system to institute sign language lessons for 12.7 million children to benefit this statistically small section of the population and whether she thought that would be a good use of our cash-strapped education system’s resources. I’m afraid she couldn’t answer that question. She couldn’t tell me either whether NDCS had any facilities in my locality - Northamptonshire - but I guess that’s unsurprising as she said she had been bussed in from Leicestershire for today’s canvassing. Oh dear. I’m afraid I won’t be signing up to contribute to their fundraising.

Aggressive and rude cold callers. They don't take no for an answer and came back a second time late at night. Very unattractive for an important charity. Totally off-putting.

I agree with the other reviews. I got roped into the "not asking for money just raising awareness" spiel at my door and then the guy didn't even ask if I wanted to donate, he just said "do you know your bank details off by heart or will I just wait here while you go get your card" I felt extremely pressured and as a vulnerable person, I think its disgusting using these tactics.

Luckily I stood my ground because I will never donate to a charity that has these kind of people representing them, and no I don't want to phone or email for you to investigate further.

I appreciate other reviews have mentioned door to door approach to fundraising. I had someone come to my door today. They were very polite. They were extremely positive. I didnt feel pressured and I was happy to sign up.

Absolutely disgusted, by your door callers. I listened to a conversation with one of your callers with my teenage daughter on our ring door bell. The guy should be sacked trying to bully a student into paying a monthly fee. Even after she told him she was a student, he continued "sure you can afford a couple of pounds a month' Shane on all of you!! I am actually partially deaf and I am absolutely disgusted. I will be reporting this along with the video to the Police.

I agree with all the other reviews here that there's something really wrong with the marketing and fundraising practices in this charity. It's very intrusive coming back to people's houses multiple times a day to try to guilt people into signing up on the door! I strongly would suggest you review your business strategy because you are damaging your reputation and I highly doubt your door to door visits are actually generating substantial funds. There are so many other more successful ways to gain exposure and fundraise. Please stop bothering people on the door. It feels very targeted and borders on harassment in many people's experiences.