One-quarter of Australians receive unwanted calls from charities requesting money on a weekly basis, research by consumer group Choice has found.
In an analysis of the Australian experience with unsolicited calls, Choice found more than 90 per cent of people found them annoying, while older Australians were targeted more than any other group.
"Calls asking for money are intrusive and put vulnerable members of society at risk when they are hounded week in and week out," said Choice head of media Tom Godfrey.
Choice's research found people commonly felt pressured into financial transactions due to aggressive sale tactics, with more than half agree that callers would "use guilt to emotionally manipulate" them into making a donation.
A consumer lobby group for older Australians, National Seniors, has joined Choice in the call to end the practice, revealing that it has left some seniors actively avoiding their phone and considering disconnecting their landlines."We are hearing from our members that the calls are making them anxious and they are reluctant to answer the phone," said National Seniors Chief Executive Officer Dagmar Parsons.
Under the Australian Consumer Law consumers are protected against some selling practices, such as unsolicited telemarketing calls and door-to-door sales.
However Choice argues that the protections are not strong enough, and need to be changed to allow people to opt-out of all calls involving financial transactions.
"Unfortunately consumers can't use the Do Not Call Register to opt out of all nuisance calls, with for-profit companies' call centres exploiting the charity exception to hound people," Mr Godfrey said.
"For-profit marketing companies like Mondial, Insight Charity Fundraising Services and 2evolve are making money from this loophole in the Do Not Call Register – it's time to clean up this mess and give consumers an option to opt-out of any call that asks them for money."
But managing director of Insight Charity Fundraising Services Simon Quinn disagreed that it was a "loophole" that allowed charity calls to be made.
"It's not a loophole. It is a specifically designed government policy recognising the special role that charities play."
He said, while "charities don't like asking for money and members of the public don't like being asked for money, the need for the money remains."
According to NewsCorp, some charities are paying call-centre companies up to 50 cents for every dollar raised.
A spokesperson for telemarketer 2evolve, said the claim did not reflect the company's experience.
"We are definitely not making 50 cents in every dollar. Every one of our clients can confirm that," she said.
"We don't collect any of the money, it goes directly to the charity and we are paid from a pre-allocated marketing and fundraising budget, not on commission for dollars raised."
A NSW Fair Trading spokesperson said that under the Charitable Fundraising legislation, 'donation only' appeals conducted by an authorised fundraiser "must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the expenses payable in respect of the appeal do not exceed 50 percent of the gross income obtained."
The legislation requires any charity engaging the services of a telemarketing company to enact a contract, specifying the amount of the return obtained by the authorised fundraiser, details of any commission, wage or fee and details of the type of expense borne by the trader.
