Second hand Lego with shit in it. Literally. WWYD?

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

We bought a huge box of Lego for DS for Christmas a few months ago on eBay. Had a quick look inside at the time and it seemed fine.

I got it out today to wrap it and noticed that the blocks were a bit grimy, so filled the bath with hot water plus a lot of bleach and spent a good long while stirring it round, then took it out and left it on a clean duvet cover to dry.

While sifting through it I found quite a lot of detritus - fluff, sweet wrappers, chewing gum, a dead battery, a drawing pin ... By this point I was less happy but thought at least I'd sorted out all of the nasty stuff.

Then I found two small 'nuggets' of what was unmistakably shit. I know, unfortunately, because I smelled it. Either human or cat/dog is my guess.

So now I'm just fucking disgusted. It's been dripping all over the carpet upstairs and touched god knows what else. I've been sorting through it with my bare hands all day. DH thinks it will be fine if we give it all a good clean again, but I feel sick at the thought of DS playing with it. I want to at least contact the fucking animal that sold it to us and try to give it back to her, and get our money back.

In this situation, would anyone consider keeping it? I am just not looking forward to giving it to DS now. Feel horrible.

[LyndaNotLinda]

Oh god that's grim. If you bought it a few months' ago, it's probably too late to return it isn't it?

I'd see what the ebay rules are. I'm sure it'll be fine but totally understand how you feel :(

[RNBrie]

Do you have a dishwasher? I'd run it through that so I know it's all properly clean.

But yeah I'd probably keep it and be a bit cross about it. I really doubt you'll get anywhere with eBay after a couple of months have passed.

[GreatFuckability]

Eww that's grim. But given a good cleaning it'll be fine.

[MsJamieFraser]

put it in beach, over night and scrub with a old tooth brush, yes it disgusting. but I personally would keep it after a good old bleach

[GloGirl]

Bin it. You'll always think of it as the lego that someone has shat on and in all conscience if you feel that way about it you couldn't give it to anyone else.

Bit of bleach and a toothbrush and toothpicks I'm sure it'd clean up but not really sure how much it is worth second hand, could you afford to chuck it and get another bag?

Sounds like it will always make you feel a but queasy and angry and I don't like to have things like that in my home, life is too short.

[whois]

It's grim but unless they said it had been washed there isn't much you can do about it. Just chuck it through a dishwasher cycle or in the washing machine (in a net bra bag obviously not loose).

[Elllicam]

Yuck :( I would at least email her to say, how disgusting

[TurnOffTheTv]

Soak it all in bleach in the sink, then put it in a colander with lots of boiling water over it.

[DifferentCats]

Eww.

I suppose technically it could be cleaned, but it can never be so from your memory.

Have you got the time/cash to get new lego?

[FadedRed]

Put it in an old pillowcase, tie the top and put it in the washing machine at 60 degrees with some detergent, preferably bio, with a bit of bleach on the prewash or fabric softener. That will get it clean and kill any germs.
However if you still don't fancy it, and just looking at it might remind you of how disgusted you feel now, it would be reasonable to donate it to the charity shop or resell.

[VegetablEsoup]

after a good rinse I would put it in a pillowcase and wash in the washing mashine.
lego purists might scream but they probably didn't have to deal with a box full that a toddler has puked into...

[FadedRed]

Alternatively put it in the bin.

[ProcrastinatorGeneral]

Thirding the washing machine trick, the number of times our duplo has been through the machine is unreal.

[slicedfinger]

I've also cleaned it very effectively in the washing machine. Very noisy, but very clean afterwards.

[HeteronormativeHaybales]

If you've soaked it in bleach (which tbh I wouldn't have done... the residue won't be healthy) then it is unlikely to still have actual germs, but I certainly wouldn't be giving it to my kid. Chuck it, wash the duvet cover on a hot wash, give the carpet a bit of a scrub, fire off an email to the seller and tell her you expect a refund plus the cost of new Lego (due to the short time left until Christmas) or your rating/review or whatever it's called on there will contain exact details. Take pics for proof.

[AutumnLeavesArePretty]

I'd bin it. I never buy second hand for this very reason, you have no idea what things have touched or what they carry. Everytime I looked at it I'd feel ill after that.

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

Thanks for all the tips.

Personally I would rather get rid of it, but DH is (a) frugal and (b) ultra-rational.

Worst thing (well, all of it's the worst thing really, but still) is that when I found the first bit, I accidentally brushed it against my top lip while smelling it.

I know this wasn't exactly foreseeable, but I just keep thinking: DH and I are going to spend well over a day in total between us washing, drying, disinfecting etc. We could have just done an extra day in work each, and used the money to buy some nice new clean Lego. Bloody hell.

[MyCarHasBrokenDownAgain]

Another one for the pillow case/net bag and shove in washing machine. DS was prem so we had to be very careful about germs at the start, I used to do this with loads of second hand toys, especially megablocks etc. We never had a problem!

[Emmawemmawoowah]

Disgusting but I would bleach it all all again in boiling hot water and then run them through the dish washer jut to make sure.

Did you take pictures of what you found?? It may help if you open a case against them. Definitely contact them and tell them exactly what you found. The drawing pin alone could've been dangerous!

[CheshireChat]

Doesn't it knacker your washing machine though? I know it's not recommendable to wash shoes in it.

[carabos]

Bin it.

[pocketsaviour]

Ewww, gross, but I'd go with washing in the machine, in a bag.

Have you already left feedback on eBay? Is it over 60 days since you bought? Unfortunately if it's over 60 days then Paypal won't be interested, but if you haven't left feedback then a conversation with the seller might get you a partial refund at least.

[SecretBondGirl]

Washing shit covered Lego in one's dishwasher is beyond grim

[EponasWildDaughter]

I'm not sure i'd trust swishing about in water or bleach, no matter how hot, to be effective in getting out bits of shite stuff stuck in lego. And washing machines and dishwashers do just swish the water. It would need manual brushing to get properly clean IMO.

Anyone who's had the joy of Plastercine being stuck up inside their DCs lego bricks will know this.

(therefore i'd be chucking it)

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

Emma no pictures, because I was finding stuff gradually and throwing it away as I went. Most of it was relatively harmless, and while I was a bit shocked by the drawing pin, I just put it down to maybe an older child putting random stuff in there.

DH strongly in favour of keeping it, so I will just have to hope I feel a bit better about this by Christmas day. We are (or rather, DH is) going to wash it again thoroughly in the bath with more sterilising fluid, then run it through the washing machine.

I am seriously going to be a lot more careful in future about buying second hand stuff. I'd rather buy new anyway, especially with things like Lego. Partly because of the hygiene, but also because everything I had growing up was second hand, to the extent that I didn't much look forward to Christmases and birthdays because I knew I'd be getting a random haul of boot sale junk rather than anything bought specifically with me in mind. Now I feel like I've been manoeuvred into doing the same thing to my DS.