freecycle rant

Gothicfairy

I have given up with my local group.

I listed 2 big boxes of horror/ crime books. The listing said I was not going to supply the titles and details as all I had done was gone through my room and cleared out all the ones I had read, not listed or check them other then to make sure nothing was between the pages.
There was over 200 books in all and for free I thought a good deal. Boy was I wrong, first email
" list titles "........no please, thank you or by my leave
Second " condition of books" ..........again no kiss my ****

Third was " can you drop them off to me ? and supplied a post code 25 miles from me and was shocked when I said no

That went on for about a week till I gave up and asked them to remove my profile/ name from the site.

me4bargains

laurel7172 wrote: »

Some of the wanted ads are a bit breathtaking. I don't reply to wanted ads any more because I've been ignored or told what I'm offering isn't good enough once too often.

I do give stuff away, though, and people have always been great. But I do search their user names, and I give prority to people with a history of giving themselves.

How do you do a search?
I have given away a lot on freecycle and 80% of people have not said thank you.
I have strong suspicions about one man who responded to my ad offering three black bags full of children and womens wear.
When he came to collect them I was returning from the shops, I left them on my lawn, and I noticed he had a boot full of portable tv sets.
I approached him and introduced myself and he looked at me blankly, nodded and drove off.
No thank you.
I think he's selling on stuff so how do I search his user name and report him?
I love the posts that are asking for high end goods with certain specifications.
Saw one today that read 'i need a tv must be 28inchs or more'!!

dizziblonde

I've given away a lot of stuff, but am hesitant about doing so again (got a big TV I want shot of - not one of the flat type so it weighs a tonne) because of the people who barraged me about 20 times with emails over the space of an hour - it's nigh-on impossible to list something as a newer member if you're on pre-moderated status because you can't post a taken up to say that the item's gone.

Not to mention the lying, dubious poverty stories etc etc, and the ridiculous wanteds (I got sick of the woman who posted her allotted 2 wanteds per week - all for high value electrical goods).

I can see the aforementioned telly ending up at the local tip rather than me deal with the stress of getting rid of it on there.

Tygermoth

I also agree regarding Freecycle and the influx of undesirables.

However I urge people who have withdrawn from the site to reconsider.

This is a fantastic opportunity to share items that have no value to you but could mean a big difference to the recipient. Most of us are good people who WILL say thank you and are truly grateful.

I have a long history of giving via freegle and stick to a number of principles.

I find if you state that you are using a fair time policy and as such you will pick the recipient by such and such date it weeds out the impulse mailers. This also allows you to wait past the first rush of mails and pick the person who has taken the time to formulate a full response. I am quite picky about who I am happy to give my stuff to.

I will not give to anyone with ‘ill have it’ or ‘give me your address and i will be there asap’ type email

I will not give to ‘sob stories’ (in my experience, most are just not true)

I will not give to very badly spelt, broken English, rude or demanding mail. (I’m not the best speller in the world as I have a certificated learning disability.. but I would always spell check before sending out a email) I also feel that if they make the effort to check the little details shows they really want the item....

I also state on my ad, politely, that any emails sent in text speak will not be considered.

Any email that looks neutral and could be a ‘bulk’ mailer is also disregarded.

Weeding out the responses using the above I now very very rarely get a failure to collect and find genuine, helpful & happy fellow freeglers who use the system fairly and how it was intended.

Tygermoth

Wolfsbayne

Yeah, im getting a bit fed up with it although I have given things to some very genuine people and had two lovely people deliver bookcases to me as I didnt have transport.

Its the 'regular's I cant stand, meaning this for example:

List some items I know arent going to be popular and wait. Around 10 days later get email from someone saying they would love to have them. Arrange a day for collection, stay in and no one arrives. Send an email to see what has happened. A few days later they reply saying theyve had a family emergency and no internet connection - fair enough. Arrange another collection day - come and goes. A few days later without arrangement they turn up wanting the stuff.

They then repeat the whole thing another two times (once with me and once with my dad), same excuses, everything. Either they are extremely unlucky and have a lot of family emergencies and really dodgy internet or they are pretty greedy going after everything that no-one else wants but messing people around with collection.

dizziblonde

And after this thread I check my spammy email account that I use for freecycle - to an entire inbox PAGE full of wanteds from one person! Then we go back through the two cars being requested etc etc... it's got ridiculous and almost unuseable through the human nature/greed/EBay scavengers and the inertia of the mods who hammer new members but then once you've offered the likes of "fork, slightly bent" three times you can post screen after screen of "gimme a 50 inch plasma telly now please - must be Sony, it's for some premature single mother baby with one leg and a fluffy puppy who is freeing persecution in a facist state"

ben500

I had a tv to freecycle so rather than put an offer add looked to see if there as already a wanted ad to respond to saw this and was so tempted to contact her and send her on a wild goose chase somewhere

"Wanted 32" tv must be flat screen not more than three years old will consider 28inch"

jazabelle

I hate the people that email saying they want it, then when you respond offering it to them and asking when they'd like to come, never respond! I was offering a TV for pickup that evening, it was about 4pm at that point. Someone offered to get it soon, so I said great, what time?

No response. I email again at 7ish saying please let me know when, nothing. So I offer it to the next person, who picked it up, and then the first person got back to me at 11:30pm saying oh yeah, I forgot all about this, can I come tomorrow? No, you cannot.

I mean if you're offering to pick something up pretty soon, shouldn't you stay by your computer for a few minutes, instead of bug*ering off?

banwa

When I wanted to get rid of the piano, I listed it on ebay for 1p (BIN). It was bought within one hour. The lady was so delighted, I asked her not to give me anything but she sent some vouchers through the post.

The idea behind freecycle is a good one, but it just seems to be out of control. At least with ebay you get people looking at specific categories, not just asking for everything that comes up. And they are usually people who are willing to give something so are grateful when it is free.

Taadaa

Generally our freecycle and freegle are pretty good. I tend not to get inundated with e mails, I guess I don't give the right stuff away! Apart from when we gave some old paving slabs away, and it benefitted quite a few people, some allotmenteers etc. There might be some people that are undeserving and rude, but I still think it is a worthwhile thing to do rather than re-usable items being thrown in the bin. I tend to leave stuff outside as well so if they don't take it, it's their look out. Sometimes I leave stuff at the front of the garden with a note on saying free, and it usually gets taken by someone.