An unsatisfied customer
Hare Krsna Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Below is a letter a lady sent to Krsna.com after an uncomfortable experience with a book distributor. She complains about what I have for many years been trying to get sankirtan devotees to avoid doing. A devotee handed her four books and gave her the impression they were free. But when she didn't give enough money, he took three of them back.
Please, Prabhus, when we hand people books please make sure they don't get the impression they're free. There are many simple ways to do this. You could say, "Check these out" and show them the books, or "We're showing these to everyone today." Or you can say something like what Nidra Devi Dasi in Denver says: "We're having a book festival all around the world to distribute books in eighty languages. We're showing everyone the Bhagavad-gita, which is about yoga, karma, reincarnation, the science of the soul, and simple living and high thinking." Nice.
If one person has taken the trouble to write a letter to our Society to correct our ways, you can just imagine how many other people are upset with this tricky tactic but don't say anything.
Our motto on sankirtan should be "Everyone walks away with a good impression, whether they take a book or not." We're representing Krsna and Srila Prabhupada when we're distributing books; let's be good representatives. It's actually a blessing that Catherine has sent us this letter: she's reminding us we have to be straightforward and honest when distributing books.
Your Servant,
Vijaya das
To whom it may concern,
I am sorry to have to make a complaint about the charitable work you do, but after encountering one of your street collectors on the Petty Cury in Cambridge around 3 PM on Thursday 19th January, I was left feeling angry and upset as a result of the tactics this "sales person" employed.
I do not know if this was someone who worked for your charity directly, although I was shown a badge – but the way I was treated left me feeling appalled, despite giving what I had to a good cause.
The man stopped me in the street, which is not something I do lightly, being very suspicious about street collectors and often being in a rush to get to lectures as a Cambridge student. Within five seconds, four books had been put in my hands whilst being told that they were for meditation and to cope with a stressful life. And then I was asked for a donation towards your good works – I gave all the change I had on me, which was only one or two pounds. At which point the man asked for more money for the books, which I was only notionally interested in, and he had put four of them in my hands. It left me feeling very guilty, particularly when three of the books were taken away as I could give no more – not particularly because I wanted the books, but because of the guilt I was made to feel.
These are typical sales-person tactics, which left me feeling immediately disgusted. I almost wanted to go back and ask for my small amount of change back, and to return the book. It was sneaky, sly and left me with a very bad taste in my mouth – I doubt I'll ever stop for anyone in the street again. If these are tactics you regularly employ to raise funds, I am severely disappointed. No-one should be made to feel guilty about giving money, particularly when they never asked to "buy" the books in the first place.
I hope you will review the means by which you raise money, particularly by street collections, and I look forward to hearing your response.
Yours faithfully,
Catherine
