[Misc] Door Charity Collections

[whitelion]

I've been needing to sort out unwanted clothes etc for quite a while now. I received a plastic bag from a Cancer charity on Monday stating it would collect on Thursday and it was specifically for clothes. Getting into it I managed to not only bag up their bag but a further four large bags.

So I'm now awaiting collection. In your experience do they collect on the day they say and do they take away other stuff not in "their bag"?

 

[Worthing exile]

Is it a genuine Charity or a scam company?

 

[whitelion]

Is it a genuine Charity or a scam company?

I have no idea. The bag looks genuine but I haven't bothered to confirm its authority just accepted it's genuine.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I've been needing to sort out unwanted clothes etc for quite a while now. I received a plastic bag from a Cancer charity on Monday stating it would collect on Thursday and it was specifically for clothes. Getting into it I managed to not only bag up their bag but a further four large bags.

So I'm now awaiting collection. In your experience do they collect on the day they say and do they take away other stuff not in "their bag"?

Absolute waste of time. I had this when I moved to Faversham in 89. Being a good citizen I put stuff in the bag and left it where requested. Nobody came for it. It was there a week then I had to bin it (repeated rain etc) .

We take laundered clothes round to one of the local charity shops in town. Plenty to choose from!

 

[Greavsey]

I've been needing to sort out unwanted clothes etc for quite a while now. I received a plastic bag from a Cancer charity on Monday stating it would collect on Thursday and it was specifically for clothes. Getting into it I managed to not only bag up their bag but a further four large bags.

So I'm now awaiting collection. In your experience do they collect on the day they say and do they take away other stuff not in "their bag"?

Have had this problem before, and done it a couple of times only for the bags never to be collected. Very strange. Not sure if they stop and go through the gear and decide not to bother to pick it up or not...

 

[whitelion]

Absolute waste of time. I had this when I moved to Faversham in 89. Being a good citizen I put stuff in the bag and left it where requested. Nobody came for it. It was there a week then I had to bin it (repeated rain etc) .

I wondered how reliable collections were.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I wondered how reliable collections were.

It seems like I am not the only one to find that these people are not organized.

Hope all's well, with you!

 

[whitelion]

One of the reasons I asked was because the other day I noticed my neighbour opposite had left a bag outside and it's not there now. I don't know if it was specifically for this charity though.

 

[BNthree]

I have no idea. The bag looks genuine but I haven't bothered to confirm its authority just accepted it's genuine.

A lot of them are private companies that promise to give a % to a named charity. Usually the % is tiny and if you want to help charities it is better to drop off the clothes at a charity shop or pop them in one of those big metal collection bins in supermarket car parks.

 

[whitelion]

A lot of them are private companies that promise to give a % to a named charity. Usually the % is tiny and if you want to help charities it is better to drop off the clothes at a charity shop or pop them in one of those big metal collection bins in supermarket car parks.

Thanks for heads up. I'll do that if not collected.

 

[Hampden Park]

round my area, any bags left out for charities are picked up by Romanian 'locals'. witnessed 2 x said people climb into the skip on next doors drive and come out completely dressed in different clothing to what they climbed in with. take it to the charity shop yourself, if you can.

 

[studio150]

Waste of time, we get a bag through the letter box probably at least once a week, but we gave up putting any stuff out for collection as they never seem to come back.

 

[Eeyore]

I wondered how reliable collections were.

I called British Heart Foundation more than once and booked collections with them. I boxed stuff up and they took the lot each time. They are quite pressed, and the drivers volunteers, but they have always been willing.

 

[dazzer6666]

I've been needing to sort out unwanted clothes etc for quite a while now. I received a plastic bag from a Cancer charity on Monday stating it would collect on Thursday and it was specifically for clothes. Getting into it I managed to not only bag up their bag but a further four large bags.

So I'm now awaiting collection. In your experience do they collect on the day they say and do they take away other stuff not in "their bag"?

Yes in my experience. We regularly put stuff out, always collected on the day. We usually just tape their bag to one of the pile.

Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk

 

[Brian Fantana]

I've always arranged home collections with the British Heart Foundation. They collect pretty much everything - clothes, books, DVDs, furniture, other household items etc. They've always sent loads of free bags in advance and turned up on time etc.

 

[The Andy Naylor Fan Club]

I remember seeing a news item where customs had seized thousands of fake charity collection bags that came in from Eastern Europe. Also there was a spate of fake charity clothing bins that randomly appeared in towns and cities across the UK. Big business apparently. Now I only donate clothing direct to shops or established collection bins.

 

[Worthing exile]

I remember seeing a news item where customs had seized thousands of fake charity collection bags that came in from Eastern Europe. Also there was a spate of fake charity clothing bins that randomly appeared in towns and cities across the UK. Big business apparently. Now I only donate clothing direct to shops or established collection bins.

Also if you take stuff in to a charity shop you can gift aid your donation so they can claim tax back as well.

 

[schmunk]

Also if you take stuff in to a charity shop you can gift aid your donation so they can claim tax back as well.

If you're a higher rate / additional rate taxpayer you can claim further relief too - I get occasional letters from the charities I take stuff to, telling me my goods have sold for £X, and with the Gift Aid that makes a donation of £Y. I can put £Y on my tax return and claim 20% as tax relief (40% tax rate, less the 20% the charity has itself claimed from HMRC).


For example, if I donated some stuff to a charity, with Gift Aid, and they sell it for £80, they'll claim a further £20 from HMRC, for a total donation of £100 - I can then claim 20% tax relief on that £100, reducing my own tax bill by £20.





(For any pederasts reading, I'm aware the relief is given as an extension of the basic rate band, but that's not worth getting into...)

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Also if you take stuff in to a charity shop you can gift aid your donation so they can claim tax back as well.

Yes, I get an occasional email telling me how much my donations have sold for, and how much gift aid they've claimed on them.

 

[Easy 10]

I did a days volunteer work a few weeks ago at a hospice which my company sponsors, sifting through tons of bags of donated clothes, deciding what was decent enough to go to a charity shop to be sold, and what was only fit for recycling / incineration.

Some bags had decent clothes that had been laundered, neatly folded and packed. Some of the bags were basically a random bundled up jumble of FILTH. Unwashed clothes with unpleasant suspicious stains, dirty undies, kids clothes with food stuck to them, things with frayed edges and holes in. Bloody grim (gloves were essential). Needed a good shower after all that, some of it was truly minging.

So if you're donating old clothes, for the sake of the poor saps at the other end who have to sift though it, do try to make sure its clean, folded and in good enough condition to be sold on in a shop.

Found a PS3 in one bag though, which was nice.