FREECYCLE - people who really take the ****...

[croakey]

It's not just freecycle it's everywhere...

Mum and dad a while back bought a new table & chairs (all solid handmade oak) - mum realised on delivery she'd ordered the wrong chairs and they couldn't be returned.. So as they do, they bought 6 more chairs.

Old ones were in the loft for a year until dad decided to list them in the paper for £120 - his idea was helping out someone who needs it.

Bloke came and picked them up, paid his money.... Came back 4 days later saying he'd been ripped off because they creaked ever so slightly- explained ours did too for about a month until presumably they bed in.

That was it, dad gave him his money back... Bloke unloaded them onto the drive... At this point my old man lost his good manners, got an axe and chopped them up in front of the guy lol

People expect the moon on the stick - or £600 worth of chairs for free

[Xaero]

Jonny_ said:

Freecycle, another great idea spoiled only by human nature.

This sums it up quite nicely.

I had a perfectly good oven available on there, clean, functional and relatively modern. Moved house with built in oven hence the need to get rid of it.

Bloke turned up with one of those caged scrap metal vans and said it was for his mother, lying bd.

[Simpo Two]

Xaero said:

This sums it up quite nicely.

I had a perfectly good oven available on there, clean, functional and relatively modern. Moved house with built in oven hence the need to get rid of it.

Bloke turned up with one of those caged scrap metal vans and said it was for his mother, lying bd.

Lowlifes lie very well; they get plenty of practice; it's a survival technique.

After two years in my rented house the tenant, when eviction time came and I asked her what had caused all the stains on the carpets, said with total innocence 'I don't know'. Turned out to be dog piss. And of course she is 'penniless' so 'can't afford to clean it'.

[KrazyIvan]

One and only time I used put me off for life.

I was getting rid of an old dish washer that worked fine so seemed a waste to bin it.

other then the normal,

can you deliver it?
can I collect it at 2am?
can I confirm that you can fit a motorbike engine in it (the mind boggles)?


However the final straw was the person who asked if I had any of the tablets left over. When I explained that I was using them in my new one, she demanded that I give her those as well and buy some more for myself, then when I had the audacity to tell her to buy her own, she sent me a stty message about how its was out of order for me to advertise something that was completely useless to any one else unless they spent money on it.

I gave up and skipped it.

[carreauchompeur]

KrazyIvan said:

However the final straw was the person who asked if I had any of the tablets left over. When I explained that I was using them in my new one, she demanded that I give her those as well and buy some more for myself, then when I had the audacity to tell her to buy her own, she sent me a stty message about how its was out of order for me to advertise something that was completely useless to any one else unless they spent money on it.

I gave up and skipped it.

Un-fricking-believable. Genuinely. That is utter gold.

[netherfield]

You can also get some comedy moments.

I put a bath on offer, a woman replied and wanted to come at 10 o'clock that evening because she hadn't had a bath for a week, I said no way it's too dark to see what going on, eventually she agreed to come at 7 the following evening.

This woman appears with her mother in a Fiat Punto,after a lot of cursing I finally managed to get it into her car with the front touching the windscreen and the back hanging out a few inches.

I'm thinking to myself how on earth is the mother going to get in the passenger seat, she just limboed under the bath ,the woman gets in the drivers side with her neck rubbing on the edge of the bath.

I had visions of them setting off uphill somewhere and decapitating the mother and slicing the womans jugular in the process.

[UnderTheRadar]

It's definately being used as a waste disposal system by some. I remember hitching up our trailer and driving over to pick up some boarding. It was particleboard and had been outside for so long it was warped beyond any kind of usefulness. On the other side we've offered bags of top brand children's clothing and they've been "taken" but not collected. I've had some good results but they are rare and not worth the effort. Everything I want to get rid of goes to the Red Cross if it's good or the tip if it's not. Gumtree and eBay have the same malaise.

[Smanks]

KrazyIvan said:

One and only time I used put me off for life.

I was getting rid of an old dish washer that worked fine so seemed a waste to bin it.

other then the normal,

can you deliver it?
can I collect it at 2am?
can I confirm that you can fit a motorbike engine in it (the mind boggles)?


However the final straw was the person who asked if I had any of the tablets left over. When I explained that I was using them in my new one, she demanded that I give her those as well and buy some more for myself, then when I had the audacity to tell her to buy her own, she sent me a stty message about how its was out of order for me to advertise something that was completely useless to any one else unless they spent money on it.

I gave up and skipped it.

Were you not tempted to agreee with her, then when she came round to pick it up (assuming she didn't demand it was delivered) say you've changed your mind and smash it up with a sledgehammer in front of her? I think I would have been!

[Smanks]

I'm quite curious about the whole Freecycle thing - I had a look through the listings local to me to see what stuff is put on there - the ratio of wanted/offer adverts is about 9:1, which I think is genuinley sad. Most of it seems to be furniture, but there was one wanted listing which stood out - rotten horse manure

[shtu]

KrazyIvan said:

can I confirm that you can fit a motorbike engine in it (the mind boggles)?

They wanted to use it as a parts washer.

[Bill Carr]

croakey said:

It's not just freecycle it's everywhere...

To an extent, I agree. Sometimes people's expectations are just baffling.

For example, I advertised my in-law's old sofa at my office. It was only a couple of years old, mint condition and they didn't want any money for it. A lady came round to view it and was quite happy to take it but I will need you to deliver .

WTF?! Fortunately the FiL is no shrinking violet

To balance that though I've sold a couple of cars to people at my work (not direct colleagues) and they have been completely hassle-free transactions.

Maybe it's just the "free" stuff that attracts aholes?

[fido]

Just to balance it up .. i've had many good experiences as an Offerer.

Even the 'chavvy' clients were really grateful and polite - one kept texting me to say how much my CRT TV had improved their life! But mostly the sorts out of The Good Life - some high-end estate car turns up and a shy couple whisk away some old furniture. Britain at its best.

I've just sold a Desktop Computer on EBay for less than a tenner (AMD Athlon XP if you must know). Winner still hasn't replied to say when he is coming round. So i'll stick that on Freecycle if he doesn't turn up by the middle of this week.

Edited by fido on Monday 13th August 17:14

[Dogwatch]

wolves_wanderer said:

To balance the thread I gave a 28" CRT TV away a couple of years ago and the lady who picked it up was so grateful I got a bit embarrassed.

Got rid of ours as well on Freecycle (daughter's recommendation, not used it before or since). Made it clear it was a two-man lift and included the stand so very heavy and needed a lot of room. Three young blokes turned up - in a Clio!!

Somehow they and the telly all fitted in and off they went.

[UnderTheRadar]

fido said:

Just to balance it up .. i've had many good experiences as an Offerer.

Even the 'chavvy' clients were really grateful and polite - one kept texting me to say how much my CRT TV had improved their life! But mostly the sorts out of The Good Life - some high-end estate car turns up and a shy couple whisk away some old furniture. Britain at its best.

I've just sold a Desktop Computer on EBay for less than a tenner (AMD Athlon XP if you must know). Winner still hasn't replied to say when he is coming round. So i'll stick that on Freecycle if he doesn't turn up by the middle of this week.

There are charities like Computers For African Schools (CFAS) who will take them.

[UnderTheRadar]

The place is infested with car-booters. That in itself doesn't bother me as long as the stuff gets reused. However you see an "offered" of something desirable and then a rash of "wanted" for the same thing straight afterwards. It is a nice concept, as said, ruined by culture.

[grumbledoak]

Declaring things 'free' almost never ends well. If it isn't worth the agro of selling I just sling it out.

[WeirdNeville]

Yeah, I gave up on Freecycle after trying to get rid of a 14" crt TV.

ad ran: "14" sony crt tv with remote, full working order"

1) Is it HD? No
2) Can you give me a freeview box to go with it? Errrrr no!
3) can you deliver it to 10 miles away? Howbout NO!

[hidetheelephants]

shtu said:

KrazyIvan said:

can I confirm that you can fit a motorbike engine in it (the mind boggles)?

They wanted to use it as a parts washer.

True; I've cleaned a gearbox casing in ours, it works really well, a lot of workshops use them. But it is a massively stupid question to ask.

I've had a load of nice mahogany, oak and walnut, and a bath and showerscreen off it, and got rid of an electric leaf blower, a scanner and an arc welder; you do get aholes but thus far it's been worth the effort of filtering them out.

Edited by hidetheelephants on Monday 13th August 19:23

[fido]

UnderTheRadar said:

There are charities like Computers For African Schools (CFAS) who will take them.

If weirdo buyer doesn't reply to my e-mail by close of tomorrow, i'll give it a go - they better pick it up.

EBay has far more weirdos than Freecycle .. okay, you get some fussy people but i just sift through the mails (effectively an interview) and it goes to the person who IMO is the most deserving. I tend to favour ladies as well, because they are less likely to f8ck with me, so as to speak.

[gpo746]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I too am stunned at the people on their.
I have some 17" ex office monitors. I really, really didn't want to put them on e bay and foolishly thought I'd be doing a good deed by putting them on freecycle.
So I did
The muppet enquries were bad enough but what floored me was this idiot woman who came up with a sob story but couldn't collect till xmas eve - yeah right I'm really gonna save one for 5 days for you and wait in on a day when I can be out enjoying myself.
So I replied I couldn't wait till then and they would likely go. Then I got loads of replies off her all with 2 days later on. She then sent me a reply from a different e mail - its only a bargain shop.
Fook her