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On Friday after I arrived home I receive a phone call from NRA solicting contributions to help fight proposed legislation in Washington. I had just picked up my daughter at the airport who was home from college and really did not feel like listening to some phone solisitation. I repeatedly told this individual I did not have time and that I would go to the NRA website at a later time and make a contribution. This individual continued to banter me with requests for may credit card number. I finally told the solicitor that she was beginning to annoy me with her rudeness and hung up the phone. Long story short, the rude tactics used by this solicitor is counter productive. My dislike for liberals in Washington shifted to this solicitor. This is no way to support a worthy cause as it will turn away support such as myself as I will not make any contributions to individuals or organizations that do not represent my request to be left along for a short time. I find it quite ironic that the NRA is fighting for the individuals rights and less intrusion from the federal government yet their behavior is not in accordance with their message.

Has anyone experienced this sort of solicitation from the NRA?

Im thinking that you may have been hit with a fraudulent solicitation.

Don't waste your time talking to solicitors, just hang up.

I tell rude solicitors to hang on a minute while I get the other phone. I'll check back in a half hour or so to see if they are still holding.

I know it's mean, but I didn't ask them to waste my time either.

kthxtn wrote:On Friday after I arrived home I receive a phone call from NRA solicting contributions to help fight proposed legislation in Washington. I had just picked up my daughter at the airport who was home from college and really did not feel like listening to some phone solisitation. I repeatedly told this individual I did not have time and that I would go to the NRA website at a later time and make a contribution. This individual continued to banter me with requests for may credit card number. I finally told the solicitor that she was beginning to annoy me with her rudeness and hung up the phone. Long story short, the rude tactics used by this solicitor is counter productive. My dislike for liberals in Washington shifted to this solicitor. This is no way to support a worthy cause as it will turn away support such as myself as I will not make any contributions to individuals or organizations that do not represent my request to be left along for a short time. I find it quite ironic that the NRA is fighting for the individuals rights and less intrusion from the federal government yet their behavior is not in accordance with their message.

Has anyone experienced this sort of solicitation from the NRA?

Me thinks it was a fraud...

You do realize that when you get these calls, you are able to simply hang up the phone. I do it all the time and my phone hasn't broken or become inoperable

:-)

kthxtn wrote:This individual continued to banter me with requests for may credit card number.

If it ever gets to this point, or even remotely close, I simply tell the solicitor, "Sorry, but I have a rule that I never give my credit card number over the phone." Click.

Lately, not giving your personal financial information over the phone is one of the first rules of keeping your identity safe. Used to be not a big deal, but now days, you just don't know who is on the other end of the phone.

The OP is not talking about just any solicitation call. I am pretty sure he knows how to handle those. He is concerned because it is the NRA doing this.

I got the same call. Same high pressure, "you MUST give us your credit card info right now" tactics. I didn't appreciate it at all. If it had been anyone else, I would have just hung up. As it was, I asked them to send me a solicitation in the mail, as I don't give my credit card info over the phone.

Crossfire wrote:The OP is not talking about just any solicitation call. I am pretty sure he knows how to handle those. He is concerned because it is the NRA doing this.

I got the same call. Same high pressure, "you MUST give us your credit card info right now" tactics. I didn't appreciate it at all. If it had been anyone else, I would have just hung up. As it was, I asked them to send me a solicitation in the mail, as I don't give my credit card info over the phone.

I don't agree to the high pressure tactics either, (if I wanted that, I'd go to the car dealer...), but I feel that they may be on a quota and commission, so the more they sell the more they make.

If these are truely NRA anctioned calls, then the NRA needs to reign them in a little.

Years ago I called the NRA and told them to take me off their solicitation list. They honored my request and now I send them more than I used to.

Used to be, every time I sent a contribution, it opened the floodgates and I received a deluge of mail from them, demanding more money. It seemed that they spent my entire contribution of junk mail to try to get more. Fed up, I called and got put on a no-call / no-mail list. It has netted the NRA quite a bit over the years - since I am not irritated I send them more money, more often.

Try calling them and telling them to cut it out. Might work.

I've never been called by the NRA for contributions or membership extentions or the like...I also do not receive a lot of mailers either...

I wonder how someone would know you were in the NRA to begin with, other than stickers on your vehicle(s), outerwear, be seen at a local gunshow, etc etc...

I'm beginning to lean towards the fraud side of this discussion...But at least you didn't divulge anything...

I would post the number (here) that called you if you have caller ID...Why the heck not...They called you, you didn't call them...

That way if we see a trend starting we'll have a depository of discussion and numbers to reference...

Crossfire wrote:The OP is not talking about just any solicitation call. I am pretty sure he knows how to handle those. He is concerned because it is the NRA doing this.

I got the same call. Same high pressure, "you MUST give us your credit card info right now" tactics. I didn't appreciate it at all. If it had been anyone else, I would have just hung up. As it was, I asked them to send me a solicitation in the mail, as I don't give my credit card info over the phone.

I got one like it a few weeks ago. My mother in law was in the next room dying. Right then. I'm too nice of a guy. I tried to explain to the person why I had to hang up - that she was dying - and he still pressured me for a "sale" before I could get off the phone, even after I suggested that he call back in a few days and I could then speak to him.

I DO support the NRA and I am a life time member, but that kind of abuse I don't need. That said, I will continue to support them because the cause is a bigger issue than the sales pressure. However, and I hope that NRA officials responsible for fund-raising read this, you catch more flies with honey. Please teach your call center employees to show a little more humanity toward the people they are soliciting. It would go a long way toward generating good will.

My first reaction to the original post was that it was a fraudulent call and I'm still not sure it wasn't. However, with the number of people responding that they have gotten similar calls certainly raises doubts. If it is an NRA solicitor acting this way, then I'm appalled because we tell all of the companies doing our solicitation not to use such tactics. I know this because I'm on the Finance Committee and we discuss this specific issue when we are briefed on fund-raising activities and contracting companies. Calling our members is not like calling the general public. As a group, they are much more committed to our cause than any other group and we make sure our contracting companies know this.

This is not the time to do it, but please call the NRA HQ starting about Wednesday or Thursday of next week and let them know about what's going on. I would do it myself, but my father-in-law is gravely ill and I'm going to have to miss Annual Meeting week. I hate it, but family comes first.

Seriously folks, please make the calls. HQ needs to know this is going on.

Chas.

Thanks for the response, Charles. I was sure that NRA takes such things into account. They haven't lasted for umpty-ump years by being stupid. I'll follow up with a call to them later, per your suggestion.

My father-in-law received an NRA solicitation call on Sunday. "We're calling gun owners like yourself blah blah blah..."

I figured they were just calling Texans, and assumed everyone owned a gun. My father-in-law doesn't own any guns. He said they were pretty persistent, and I think he finally just hung up on them.

Anytime someone asks me for a financial contribution over the phone, I always ask for a website. If they don't have one, or won't let me sign up online, I tell them "Thanks, not interested."