I am NEVER giving anything away again.

[Ohjakestopbeingatwat]

I’ve had it now with giving things away. I think I am just a twat magnet.

I put the children’s old wooden play market/kitchen thing up on Facebook, for free.

I put up photos and was very honest that it needs two new screws/wood glue as they have come loose and can’t be tightened, some of the paintwork is chipped, but if someone wants it, it would make a great up cycle project. If no one wanted it, it would go to the tip. But you know, it’s free and I know lots of people like a project.

Someone immediately said she wanted it and sent her husband to collect it a while later.

Then, all hell broke loose. She messaged me saying it was in a terrible state, the paint was chipped, the screws needed replacing - no shit Sherlock. That was the actual description.

She demanded that I come and pick it up. No. She kept on and on until I had to block her.

Half an hour later, her husband turned up again and threw it on my driveway, smashing it. So now, no one can have it to do up and it will have to go to the tip.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had shit like this. I don’t know how I attract these people. So never again. It’s the charity shop, or the tip.

Same here. Put out a nice 2 seater sofa in great condition, a trendy colour, just not comfortable.
Taped a note to it to say " Free,help yourself "
Went back 30 minutes later and someone had taken the seat cushions, rendering it useless. Had to saw up the frame and take it to the tip.

Ours does. It has a 'sales' shed.

Wrong quote - deleted text!

Ive given up and take pretty much everything to the charity shop (if good enough quality) so fed up of time wasters.

Ours used to, but stopped it a few years ago. When we moved in here, the previous owners left the garage full and so much of it went to the “tip shop”. It’s sad they stopped it.

That's awful of them to do that. I am sorry you had to go through that .

People are idiots.

I've listed an outside table with a picture of it looking nice in our pergola.

One women sent me multiple messages on multiple items of mine asking about the pergola and where it's from. I told her I didn't know, it came with the house. Was I selling it? No, we're selling the house. Are you sure you don't want to sell it? No, it's a fixture and fitting and our buyers are gonna expect it there. 😂

It’d be a nice job for retired blokes who like hanging around tips, to do as volunteers. A bit like the male version of women volunteering in a charity shop.

I know this is sexist but I know retired men in my family who’d happily hang out at a tip all day brewing up and re homing / fixing broken stuff.

I took a toddler bed to the tip and tried to put it in the "too good to go" section - the wooden frame was completely unmarked and at the tip, a worker shouted "NO! WE DON'T WANT THAT". So I chucked it. Our society is ridiculous - someone would have loved it.

I do chuck stuff that could be used. Because it's so bloody hard and unpleasant to do something better.

@EdisinBurgh Is there a Men's Shed locally you could direct them to?

Two kinds of people in the world: some who assume anything with any wear and tear is infectious trash and anyone who offers it to them is scum; and some (me) who assume anything advertised as ‘brand new with tags’ is stolen goods and probably trash because it’s not old. Freecycle etc was set up by the latter group but is now mostly used by the former.

Fb marketplace is dreadful- though there’s the odd good buy/sale - like OLD really, loads of freeloading frogs amongst the lonely Prince.
I had a washer on for free for spares/repairs - described it accurately as making a scraping noise on spin - many asking if it was in very good condition - umm no or it would have a price attached - then one moron kept me in half the day saying they were on their way and updating me regularly about when they set off, where they were etc. - no idea why that was fun!
I know someone though who sells/buys at a much higher value than I do and generally that does work out well.

Our tip does this (Southern England), so there is nothing stopping other recycling centres doing the same thing.

An adjoining area has a charity located next to their tip that takes any salvageable furniture and sells it cheaply to upcyclers. I bought a cupboard from there.

I offered a brand new kitchen item for free and received a reply immediately , on giving directions found out she was coming from the next small town that we were due to pass through on the way to somewhere so I offered to deliver it direct to hers .
She told me the post code and house number and as we were going to an appointment I could give her pretty much a definite time , she agreed it.
Turned up at hers at the time agreed and her husband answered the door saying she's gone out 15 minutes previous for the afternoon and he knew nothing about the item.
I kind of spent the next 7/8 minutes convincing him she had wanted the item for him to take it.
Never heard a thing back from her .

That's terrible. Try Freecycle. It's more community minded and people will share it if someone acts like a tit, and they'll be excluded from the group.

That's ridiculous. I have fb with fake I'd like here, and am on the local groups for the info or laughs....no way I'll be doing such things

I actually gasped reading your op - her husband is a TWAT omg

I completely agree with you. Just because thankful youre not part of their family, it must be rows all of the time over the tiniest of things 😭

Was going to say this too. Only had nice experiences with giving stuff away on Freecycle.

That's shocking! I used to get no end of free toys for DC. Sometimes they needed a bit of TLC to make them ours. And we used to pass them on to the next person... think toy kitchen, box of toddler toys, Wendy house, garden ride ons, ....
That was 15-20 years ago. Looking at this thread things have changed a lot.

This is why I just go to the tip, can’t be arsed dealing with idiots

It’s really sad that this happened when you were trying to do a nice thing. 😘

Some people are dysfunctional arseholes. I’ve had a ton of timewasters on Facebook marketplace. I think buy/sell/swap groups like Freecycle are probably better as idiots can be ejected more easily.

That's awful. Freecycle has died a bit round here but "I need a whisk" groups on FB are still going strong, and would call such things out.

That's what I do, pop my unwanted things outside with a notice taped on saying "free to a good home or even a bad one" and nine times out of ten it goes in minutes. I do live in a poor area though which might help with getting rid of stuff. One time I put my old hoover out and this sweet guy knocked on my door to ask if I was sure I wanted to get rid of it and how pleased he was as his had broken and he was skint.

I've just remembered this one.
About 25 years ago I gave away a car. It was a runner ,had a great engine but it was a bit battered. At the time you had to pay to get your old car scrapped so I asked around the neighbourhood to see if anyone would like it.
A whole family turned up at my house, about 7 of them. They said they'd like the car and marched through my house to the rear driveway where my car was standing.
I told them it would need to be towed as it had been stood for months.
The mother asked for the keys, got in the drivers seat and it started straight away!m.
I said we need to do the V5 now( they were not the brightest sparks).Paperwork drove they drove off,all 7 in the car.
Next day Mommy knocks my door asking for the MOT certificate. I explained that it was advertised as FREE and would need some work .
Several more visits ensued, until I told them to eff off.

Omg that is batshit!!!