freecycle rant

chomsky_2

Morning! We use freecycle a lot in our house both giving away and asking for things. I agree that people can be really very rude and I too have had the demanding emails and the "I come now" emails when you haven't even offered it to them, also people have collected items without any thanks. I appreciate that they are doing you a favour by taking your unwanted items but It wouldn't kill people to say thank you and to be fair I only give decent quality things away, never any tat.

I did have one horrible experience where I got what I thought was a very rude email, very bad spelling and grammar, seemingly demanding my item, so I gave back a curt reply stating I only give things to polite people (I know I sound like an !!!! right?) and a couple of hours later I had an apologetic email back from this person's mum who said they had read their daughter's email and she was very sorry if it came across as rude but unfortunately her daughter was dyslexic and hadn't meant to cause offence. How awful did I feel?

Needless to say I don't send any more "I only give things to polite people" type emails.

Pincers

pulliptears wrote: »

Ive done that before, and replied via group when someone asked for a raleigh chopper pointing them towards ones on ebay and adding how collectible they were

I noticed someone asking for 'alternative/fetish wear, steel-boned corsets and the like'. Sure, I'll give you my steel-boned corset, for free. If you give me £200 for free.

Welshwoofs

MarzipanFish wrote: »

Got a question i thought i'd post here.

I've put a TV on freecycle and got about 6 people asking for it.
I emailed back someone on Tuesday night asking them if they could collect on Weds/ when they could collect. It's been a couple of days and ive not got a reply. Just sent a reminder but what's a decent amount of time to wait before giving it to someone else?
They emailed saying they wanted it within about an hour of me posting so i don't know why they've not replied yet.

I wait 24 hours for a response and then move on to offer it to the next person because in my view, if they know they've sent an offer then they should check their damn email to see if they got it. I tend to think that there are some people, carbooters perhaps, who probably just send a request to every single advert which comes up in a spread-betting technique.

Welshwoofs

SallyForth wrote: »

There's only one reason really to use Freecycle, and that is because you have something to get rid of which is in your way, which will probably not sell, or be too much hastle to sell, or too much hastle/difficult to dump at the tip, would be a waste to throw away.

Not necessarily true. I've given away things on Freecycle which were worth hundreds and which I could have sold on ebay but I didn't have any particular need of the money and thought it would be a nice gesture to give it away to someone who really needed it.

There's nothing wrong with a spot of good manners of course, but if you think you are being generous, doing people a favour or expecting extensive gratitute then maybe you are rather missing the point and Freecycle isn't for you.

Hey, if I'm giving away an item that would fetch me £400 on ebay then I am being generous and I certainly expect the common courtesy of a 'please' and 'thank you'.

I also wonder why people are so interested in why people want their stuff - who cares as long as it goes? Choosing based upon the "story" given when there are multiple requests might seem fair, but you have no guaruntee that these stories are any more accurate or worthy than the unimaginative guy who just says "I'll take it".

Depends on what I'm giving away. Not too long ago I gave away a big trunk of crafting materials and tools probably worth around the £200 mark and ultimately I selected someone who was on the lookout for crafting materials for a day centre for disabled children. I would much prefer they had it than an individual who was just looking to make a few quid at a carboot for themselves.

chomsky_2

I know what you mean Welshwoofs, the other day I gave away a stack of lovely hand knitted blankets that I no longer needed to a couple who were getting married on the beach and needed picnic blankets. They were so nice when they came to collect and so chuffed with the blankets them that I was glad they went to them, not someone who was looking to sell them on.

Anthillmob

we have had some great things from freecycle like a 180ltr fish tank, small garden shed, boris's bed, trampoline, trampoline guard [we no longer have either, passed them on again as the kids too young for it], baby gate, worktops for our big shed....and we are always greatful. as are the people who have had stuff off of us, mr mob is the one who lists and reads the lists of offered goods and makes offers. all takers have been thankful. we have had one time waster though who never turned up but its their loss.

one time some bloke had been kicked out of his girlfriends and taken on a tenancy in a flat but had nothing and we had a set top box we gave him. he ended up going off with a few other bits and bobs we had as well.

edit to add - 2 dustbins [saviours as we dont have wheelie bins and it had put a stop to the foxes, a small fish tank, a filter for the fish tank]

shame i cant freecycle or ebay my dog as he has just stood up and farted in my face.

Anthillmob

Gothicfairy wrote: »

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.

where are you coz ill have them if local?

Anthillmob

oh and if we cant make a collection [car issues] we have contacted the giver to apologise. its manners.

Claire_Bear

How about the 'I need another PSP because my daughter has one and my son gets jealous' or 'I need a pink Nintendo DS because my daughter doesn't like her blue one' posts? Or the 'I am a single mother on the dole who is disabled, therefore I need a Wii for my kids' posts?

Just seen one on my local group - WANTED: diesel car. Needed as my car is being repaired and it will take a few weeks. :eek:

It drives me mad, although I admit I like Freecycle/Freegle and I've only had good experiences in person. When we moved house I was actually overwhelmed at how many people offered furniture and things, I felt cheeky asking for such big items but everyone was so lovely and so happy that their old stuff was going to a good home I really appreciated it, I can't understand how people can come to collect items and be rude and not even say thank-you :mad: Plus when I've offered items everyone has been really grateful and collected it on time and been polite.

cally6008

Claire_Bear wrote: »

'I need a pink Nintendo DS because my daughter doesn't like her blue one' posts?

OMG, seriously ... we've had this exact same message on our local group as well