How long do you wait for someone to collect something?

[Sewbean]

I offered a chest freezer to someone on Facebook. She said last night she would collect it at 11 this morning. Messaged her at 1pm because it's sitting outside so I want to make sure it goes. Haven't heard anything.

She might have had some sort of emergency, fair enough. But I have someone else interested, how long do I wait for her?

This sort of thing really annoys me. It doesn't take long to just send a quick reply.

Contact the other person and offer it to them.
In future, try to confirm the arrangement in the morning, ahead of collection. In my experience, if someone gets in touch late at night (maybe from around 9pm onwards) they invariably change their mind but don't tell you. It's odd, but true.

Ooh, it was 6.45 last night she got in touch...

I usually don't mind waiting but it's a big thing and it's in my way. If it starts to rain I'll have to drag it back inside.

Give her a deadline.

"I need the chest freezer collected by 3pm, otherwise I'm going to offer it to someone else"

Although chances are you'll have someone arrive at 4pm, kicking off because you've promised it to the other person.

I was recently involved in a house clearance, I advertised some white goods (good condition, free of charge, collection only) on Gumtree. I was inundated with requests for home delivery / can I collect in two weeks time

I've now given them to a charity.

I’d send a message saying that as you haven’t heard from them, you have offered it to someone else. Wait half an hour for a response, then re-offer.

I've asked her to let my know by 3pm or I'll pass it on.
I would rather have given it direct to a charity but it's not in the greatest condition. Useable but a bit shabby.

Why do you need to ask? You had a time, they didn't contact you, haven't replied to messages. It's more than 3 hours past.
Just give it to the other person.

I'm asking because maybe it's ok for someone to be late, maybe she's got a good reason. I bet she'll turn up at the same time as the new person and it will be awkward. I hate awkward. I wish I hadn't bothered offering it now.

Surely, by the time they show up, if they do, it will be at least 5 hours later.
What sort of good reason? These days everyone has a mobile phone to keep in touch. Short of a Murphy's law extreme, there's no reasonable excuse for this sort of lateness without warning.

Sewbean,I think what's going on here is that you're a nice person who wouldn't ignore an arrangement, so you expect others to be the same. If things were reversed, you wouldn't turn up 4+ hours late without getting in touch first, would you? I think it's extremely unlikely that the person will show up at all. They've changed their mind. If you contact her, either her sister has been in a car accident, or her aunt has died, and you'll find she lets you down for whenever it's rearranged that she collects the item. Save yourself the stories and just offer it to the other person who was interested.

Did they get back in contact?

I've got dozens of things listed on FB Marketplace. I'd say the percentage of those who DON'T turn up even after me giving them my address and arraging a time compared with those who DO is about 80%.

Generally speaking, if they're not at your house within about half an hour of the arranged time, they are timewasters and have your address for absolutely no reason. It really makes me angry.

Sory OP, just keep offering the appliance until somebody comes and picks it up. Good luck!

She replied at 3.45 to say she had been called into work and she had only just seen my messages. Said she would be round immediately. I said I had already given it to someone else and she replied calling me an inconsiderate fuck.

How rude!
Was there any reason she couldn't contact you before going in to work? No, I thought not.
Ignore and move on.

Wow! Don’t take it to heart - she is incredibly rude. And it’s a lie about the work too, I bet.