4078547180

These scumbags have been calling almost every day for two years. Thankfully, I have a call blocker so all they get is a click and my phone doesn't ring. I do periodically check to see who all the televermin are that are calling and getting blocked, and these morons just keep trying unsuccessfully all the time. Morons! I will make certain that next time I have anything to donate, that ARC will NOT get my donation just for the constant, almost criminal harassment!

Red Cross  Clothing Pick up.  Calls all the time - I do not  donate anything to the RED CROSS.

I am tired of these "robot" calls at all kinds of hours each day ! I DO NOT WANT any more calls from these people

Have been receiving calls from this number for the last two years, three times a week X 3 times per day. This call has been blocked on my phone and call log shows the date and time of these calls.This is not Red Cross. It is a scammer. It's a business that collects clothes and then sell them overseas. FOR-PROFIT SCAMMERS. Two years ago I asked the person to take my number off their calling list but instead they increased the number of times they call. Why have they not been caught yet???

You are absolutely correct. They are not helping anyone but themselves. Some of them ship these clothes overseas to poor countries like the Philippines and then sell them at a premium as they are from 'USA'.

Irate,
I've read many posts from you and others over the years. I check back in to see if they finally stopped calling a million times a month. Looks like they haven't. This is why.

Being retired I had the time and interest and I started researching these people a little over a year ago. It's a web of businesses from Holding companies to real estate to thrift stores owned by 4 or so people and run by what it looks like mostly family members of the owners. Search Merchandise Pickup Services,Inc Corporate wiki and start to see the players and the tip of the iceberg. Reading posts and blogs from former employees who are correct in pointing out that they own the thrift stores they sell the donated items to in Texas. Talking with businesses who at one time had clothing boxes and people they solicit to have clothing boxes placed at their businesses. They offer $1.08 for a bag of clothing that is roughly 28 gallons in size. All the Florida businesses received nothing at all for hosting a clothing box and most complained they never even received tax papers promised to write off the box as it is considered personal property of the business. So the businesses actually paid them to host the box. Incredible! Weighing a normal 28 gallon bag of clothing shows WHEN they do pay for clothing it's roughly 5 cents a pound to .03 cents a pound for clothing boxes. Well it only makes sense to apply that same percentage to the clothing picked up by them when they go to your house. They more than likely pay the Red Cross .05 to .03 cents a pound for donated clothing picked up from houses and the Red Cross boxes. These boxes state CCP is a for profit business. Charity Clothing Pickup(CCP). I could be off on that by a little but I don't think so. See, I started asking thrift stores questions about prices they pay ,and when I finally got a talker which wasn't easy, they said .03-.05 cents was cheap for even "rag" graded clothing. Big Thrift stores buy by the trailer, these trailers weigh between 30-50 thousand pounds. Thrift stores will pay $1.00 and up for a pound for A+ rated clothing. They can make 4x that price and more from a single trailer. They are selling to themselves for .03 to .05 cents a pound and turning that into massive profits - if all the above research is even close, which most was information they provided. That comes out to $10,000 to 13,000 a trailer without shipping to themselves. Check their website out. It is full of useful information including all the states they operate in to a comical piece they have bashing a box company that is for profit only. They have a quote from that box company president on there that states he sells the items to sorters. At least the guy is honest. These people are paying a charity right around $2,000(.03x40,000lbs) for a trailer that probably pieces out at $200,000. I'm pretty sure that box company isn't pretending to greatly help out a charity to get donations, but they do. Running hypothetical numbers: say they pick up 50 trailers a year - the Red Cross would get $100,000 a year - they make that in one trailer. This isn't even close to all of what I found out, but it is 100 times more than any news outlet has reported to date. Most of this was simple deductive rationale once the information was known. I plan to find out why this complete farce isn't reported to the good people of Florida even after they were suppose to crack down on companies like this. On top of it? the tax payers fund this company when it writes off expenses to run their operations after giving a pittance to the actual charity.

Biggest question is why would the Red Cross even agree to this? They lost all my respect I had for them.

Really incredible gall, I'll give them credit in that they dupe even business owners into paying them in essence to have a clothing box on their property. All in the name of charity. Biggest scam in Florida charities or right up there with the biggest. Unbelievable they have escaped being outed like the cancer society scam that gave more to its cause than these people.

If anyone knows different or more please chime in.

Just calls all the time and not leaves a msg

I just posted a comment on the 813-881-1700 call notes page. I guess they use multiple numbers to call people. That page has the same complaints this one does. 407-854-1700 is the one calling me but I clicked on the first link that popped up. Anyway, this company might be legit but they sure hide information that would allow you to make an informed choice. I asked what % they gave to the Red Cross and the guy who said he was the manager hung up after telling me that that information is private.
State law says he has to give me that information.
I and many more are all filing a complaint with the state AG.

What started this for me was the rude drivers that speed through our streets. I mean these guys are going 35-40 in a 15-20 zone. They don't yield to other drivers that are residents and at that speed are seriously dangerous to anyone pulling out of their drives. They throw the donations into that truck and break things we donate. Calling the office number in Orlando does absolutely nothing. 407-854-4425. Call and ask for the % they give the Red Cross and see what happens. The AG office said they have to provide that information to anyone who asks. If enough people do that at least we can make an intelligent choice on if we want to support their cause or not. I always told my wife something wasn't right about this whole set up.

Quit donating to Red Cross after receiving a billing statement from them for not sending therm the money they said I had pledged to donate (at a time when it was not possible to make a donation).

This is a charity, DO NOT CALL list does not apply. You need to block the number on your phone

Harassers Don't stop calling

These people call us every day some times twice, usually between 6:00-9:00 PM. There is nobody ever on the line. The caller ID says merchandise pick up.

EMAIL RECEIVED..........   note phone # and "Red Cross"  "PVofA" in the Email announcing "a pick up in my area."

For more information, or to schedule additional pickups, please call (407)854-7180 or visit our web site www.clothingpickupfla.com

Paralyzed Veterans of America

This email was sent to XXXXXXXXXXXX.   It was added to our system on 11/11/2009. If you do not wish to receive our emails, all services and all charities including Red Cross of Tampa Florida and Paralyzed Veterans of America click here.

Charity Clothing Pickup
135 Manufacturers Dr.
St. Louis, MO 63010 U.S.A

A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.

Department toll-free number: 1.800.435.7352
Website: www.800helpfla.com

These people have become a nuisance.  Block the number since they claim to be a charity.  Unfortunately for them, I will NEVER donate to them again.

I don't pick up the phone, they keep calling.

I have donated to them twice.  They continue to call and I have asked them numerous times to quit calling me to no avail. Evidently they do not know what Do Not call  means.

Called at 8:20 am.  Constant calls from this number mostly in the morning. Comes up Merchandise Pickup on caller ID.  Never leaves message.

Blocked

Caller ID shows merchandise pic. They have called me many times. They will not leave a message on my voice mail. I have a call blocker and almost any number that will not leave a message will get blocked. My friends and family know enough to at least say hi if they call from a number I do not know.