I got a call from the Sierra Club tonight, asking me to join their monthly giving program. Rather than give a larger sum once or twice a year, you give a smaller amount (like $10) a month and they don't call you or send you requests for more cash.
The program sounds like a good idea. I support the Sierra club - I've gone on their service trips, I use their checks, I give money when they come to my house. So I had no problem with the idea of their monthly program. But the problem was, they wanted me to give them my credit card number right there over the phone.
Now, hold on there a minute.
I am not a user that is scared of making transactions on the web. I have no problem ordering goods from a catalog and giving my credit card number to them that way. But the difference is that I call them, not the other way around. The Sierra Club is not the first organization to do this. I've gotten calls from the local police union and such asking for card or account numbers before. They say they do this to save money on postage and mailings, which I can sympathize with. But I always ask for them to mail me a paper request anyway. Why?
Because it's stupid for me to give someone I don't know my account info over the phone! Hello! I understand that the woman I talked with was probably being completely honest with me, and I would love to think that we live in a world where we can trust each other so completely. But in the off case that she wasn't?
So, even though she didn't think that you could, I did find the link to the monthly giving on the Sierra Club website. They really should have that in their scripts. I would have liked to been able to give her "credit" for making the "sale," but alas the online form does not allow for that.
