Disillusioned with Freecycle.

thriftwizard

Angelic, at least one of my local friends is uneasy about Freecycle for the same reasons as you. So I offer stuff on her behalf. At first I actually took the stuff from her, but now I "filter" the replies to cut out the dealers & time wasters & pass them on to her for her to choose recipients & make arrangements herself. Is there someone who could do that for you?

I've made some really good friends through Freecycle & been to stitching & quilting exhibitions with one of them, rescued battery chickens with two others and there's a Round Robin of Kombucha/Kefir cultures going on amongst us - i.e. whenever one of us inadvertantly kills a culture off, one of the others will send or bring a "fresh" one round. So whilst it's just plain common sense to be a bit wary, it can bring some very good people & things into your life too.

rigsby1967

I use freecycle alot and have had a few problems with the people on it.

I was offering a 37"tv, someone collected it and i had another reply for it saying her daughter was just moving out of the family home so could she please have it as her daughter has a small son who would miss a tv till they saved for one, i'd explained the 37" one had gone but i did have another for free cycle and was a 24" one, cheeky so and so came back with it's ok that one is to small!

Another person was wanting a bird cage for a bugie so i'd offered her my one as it was no longer needed....she wanted a photo of it to see if it was any good for her bird, i didn't get back to her.

Taadaa

I haven't had anyone asking for something to be delivered, but I have been messed about a lot. I tend to ignore the sob stories now. I offered some bedding to a single mum with four kiddies as she put it, she never came back to me. I offered a nearly full box of new tiles to someone, who really dragged her heels about collecting, then when I offered a desk she replied to that one as well, clearly forgetting she was already messing me about. Needless to say, they went elsewhere.

Some peole will tell you what difference does it make where it goes if you don't want it and it's going to a good home, but I would rather give to someone in need. It may not mean they are on the breadline as such, just that they could do with something but the money needs to be spent elsewhere so it's a little way down the list. What makes me laugh are messages from people claiming to be hard up, sent from their iphone. I saw one once asking for baby clothes as she couldn't afford them. I'm sorry, but either someone who can afford a £35 a month contract can't afford baby clothes is lying, or they have got their priorities all wrong and being helped out by Freecycle isn't going to actually help them at all long term. If they had just said 'would appreciate some clothes' fair enough, but not a !!!!!!!' begging post. Makes my blood boil.

There are people who point the finger at Martin Lewis for the behaviour seen though, as some people have got some cracking free stuff, myself included - nothing of massive value, but really helpful, useful things that have saved me money here and there.

SailorSam

The last things i gave away were plants and cuttings, i probably had a couple of hundred. Lots of people never turned up the ones that did just helped themselves taking 10 maybe 20. One woman brought a small box of chocs as a thank you. Never had that before .

Contessa

I've also become disillusioned with Freecycle. I've been de-cluttering for the last two years and have given away loads on Freecycle and Freegle. I prefer to use Freegle as in my group the mods are stricter than those on Freecycle, and people seem more polite and less likely to be timewasters. I want to give things to people who need them, not to those who want to sell them on. I am wary of strangers coming round to my house and usually arrange for my son to be there-I do think it is risky for someone on their own. I prefer to take most unwanted things to a charity shop but these two sites are certainly good for getting rid of heavy or bulky stuff. The only item that didn't go was an old carpet (just last week), although someone did enquire about what condition it was in.

shelley_crow

Angelic, if I'm going to be home alone then I let the collectors know that the item will be outside, on the doorstep or by the gate. It normally gees them up a bit to collect earlier too, we have scrap collectors circling very frequently!