When I 1st answered the call, I didn't catch the "A" in the caller ID info & had gotten off the telephone with my wife not 15 seconds before; the only other person who might have me listed as their emergency contact is my Mom...
So anyhow, as I declined, my standard statement for phone calls like this is "Sorry, but we don't do any donations over the phone. Please permanently take us off your list." (This is supposed to work for any co. or group that calls as I worked in telephone 'appointment setting' about 20 years ago & we'd have to strike a person off the list; if you just hang up on them, the name is then recirculated to the bottom of the pile until it bubbles back up to be called again.
<click> I hung up; case closed, right?.
I then put the phone into the charger as it was beeping the "low battery" warning & before I could get to the other cordless phone, he called back. I answered & then hung up immediately.
The same guy then called me back AGAIN, lightning fast (like 4 or 5 seconds later) & said "We're not soliciting, a DPS officer died in the line of duty recently while working a routine traffic stop & he has a family, etc."
I let him go for about 30 seconds & then repeated my standard statement as listed above. He then flat out hung up on me (finally).
W.T.F.? Heavy handed tactics, to be sure, & it's because of the potential for a high % of the collected dollars going to support fund raising shite like this that I don't do any donations @ all over the phone.
Requested a donation, said they'd lost 5 officers in the last year and their families need help. I asked what percentage of donations goes to officers and he said '100%' and they don't use outside telemarketers and are a 501(c)3. I told him to send me information and I'd make a decision then, and he hung up on me. I guess he was hoping I'd give him credit card info over the phone.
There is nothing on the http://www.thpa.org website about them running a fund raiser. Also, it looks a bit hinky.
The person who called was rude and pushy. I told him I do not make donations over the phone and that I would check on it online. He started going on and I mentioned that there is no Texas Highway Patrol, it is the Department of Public Safety. He told me I did not know what I was talking about and that I should shut-up,, then he hung up. He was an official [***].
John Taylor called. He's been calling many many times. This time, he cursed at me and threatened me saying that he knows where I lived and was going to find and kill me.
He gave me my exact address, my husband's name and my name.