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.

I would have 100% told them that someone had just been and taken it two minutes earlier, just to see the look on their stupid faces.

Agree - I never put things for free any more. We put a kitchen dining table for free on marketplace. I was very clear that whoever took it would need a van to collect. Someone duly arrived to collect. On a bicycle!! Expected me to drive him, the bike and the kitchen dining table back to his house in an imaginary delivery van!

I would report them for fly tipping. It was no longer your property, it was theirs and they just dumped it.

I stopped giving stuff away for free after a couple of those items were then subsequently being sold on Facebook marketplace. I now always put some price on, even if it's $10. That has seemed to stop the time wasters and freeloaders.

And before anyone says, "well you gave it away, they can do what they like with it" on one occasion it was a window we had taken out of our house because the double glazing was leaking. I put it on Facebook because I know gardeners sometimes use old windows in greenhouses. Instantly got about 20 messages about it, and I chose one person because I know him. He said he wanted it for a greenhouse...saw it on Facebook a week later, advertised as "like new" for $120! And as I knew the guy, I also knew he's not short of a bob or two, so it's not like he desperately needed the cash.

Facebook market place in particular seems to attract every variety of first class shit out there sadly - i once put on a sofa ( pretty decent nick) that was rarely used from a conservatory for free but needed to collect and a pair of completely scruffy geezers turned up busy oohing and aahing with each other what they thought they could get for it . Personally I might want something gone but am not that keen on acting as a free supplier to iffy upsellers . I’ve reverted back to eBay or free cycle which seems to attract less of that type of practice or contact one of the legitimate charity’s that collect

The problem is, charity shops can't just bin stuff.... everything has to be recorded priced up and sold or turned into money some other way. They can't just give stuff away that doesn't sell.
So yes, they are becoming increasingly picky in what is worth their time and deemed fit for sale.

Put it outside your door with a note saying “awaiting collection”, some dick will come and Nick it for you x

I agree with you that your Dad’s attitude is the right one, but sadly that’s just not the world we live in any more. The chance of finding someone like that nearby, who wants the thing you want to get rid of, at exactly the time you want to get rid of it, is pretty slim.

Wow!! That is awful.
I think I would have unblocked them and give them what for, if they want brand new they need to pay.

Giving things away seems to attract all kinds of crazy responses.
I prefer to take it to charity where if someone really wants something, they’ll pay for it.

I've just checked out of curiosity and can see that the following info is displayed on a users profile:
Offers xno, Request xno,
Xno of upvotes
x% positive feedback in the last year
Typically replies within X minutes

So yeah, I would suggest that if you'd still like to avoid the tip :)

Wow. I would actually find that really upsetting! No need for him/them to have been so aggressive. I recently put a huge amount of toys outside the house with a sign saying “FREE” - I laid them all on a large old blanket to stop them all rolling into the road. Went out for an hour. When I came back, all was gone INCLUDING the blanket!!

I think @pigletsanders is talking sense tbh albeit in a sweary fashion.

The DH is a moron for not inspecting the kitchen before he accepted it, the wife is a moron for not being there to accept it herself. Both of them are morons for not reading the ad properly and yes they are also both mad and rude for then chucking it back on OP's drive!! Wtf is wrong with people? Why not just think oh well not as good nick at i thought, pain in the ass i now have to dispose of it but next time I won't let DH accept the delivery!

This is why I only use Vinted, they pay upfront and you don't have to meet them and have them either stand you up or change their minds/start bartering at the door.

It’s an absolute nightmare isn’t it, I had an awful situation recently that was similar. I sold an American style fridge/freezer for £150 (still on sale online for £600) as I wanted it picked up and gone before we started renovations. The person buying it came and got it, we told them to check it over themselves before taking it which they did AT LENGTH, put it in their van and drove off. 5 days later the messages saying various parts weren’t working started, he was messaging me up to 15 times a day. I was getting really anxious as I was aware he knew where we lived and at one point he wrote ‘I’m now going to be taking matters further’ despite me repeatedly telling him to bring it back and have a full refund. Eventually I sent him my partner’s number and said don’t message me anymore and didn’t hear anything further… Bullying pricks.

We once had 2 extremely large and heavy plant pots to give away. I put them on marketplace for free and said they were really heavy so it would need two strong people. A chap whose age I couldn’t tell from his picture, asked for them and came one afternoon when it was me at home on my own with my toddler.

Long story short he was over 80 and came on his own. He couldn’t get them into the car, and I wasn’t about to help him and leave my two-year-old toddling around. He kept on and on at me and asked if my husband would be able to help him. My husband didn’t get home till 7 o’clock at night. The old chap didn’t have any children or anyone to help them out. In the end my husband and one of our neighbours got them in the car at 8 o’clock at night and drove them to this old man’s house, but honestly it said about 3 times in the advert very heavy will need to lift yourself.
Every time I’ve offered something for free, it’s taken about two days of my life then Ill never get back.

I'd guess they were illiterate and only looked at photos, but then how do they text?

Totally, but we as humans either raise our standards to my dad's or you decline the offer of a freebie. Chucking it, smashed on someone's drive is the behaviour of scum. I will not lower my standards to match the world I am told we live in today. It is a fucking low bar to attain to. It makes me sad.

Dont give away for free anything a charity shop will take. It just makes people used to getting perfect for free and then they complain about anything that is not. I have managed to give away expensive items that were not working and not economic for us to repair. Ironically the people who took them turned up on time and were grateful, unlike those who couldnt be arsed to turn up for working items!

A new paint job is a big job. If you're giving away stuff in that state you have to be more than crystal clear about the condition and think of it as them doing you a favour and saving you a trip to the tip. Giving away a broken item isn't a good deed nor is it generous.

I'm so sorry OP- you tried to do a. decent thing and got punished for it!

I'm quite wary of even eBay now as I recently tried to sell a long leather coat for a fraction of what it was worth (it was an impulse buy and I'd never worn it).

The amount of pervy messages I got was shocking. One guy asked me to send him photos of me in the coat, another asked me to describe in graphic detail what the leather felt like on my skin, because he loved the feeling of soft leather on his skin -it was gross.

I took the ad down and havent tried since!

I was mulling over the state of our country recently and came to the conclusion that nothing should be free, not even food banks, it brings out the worst in people.
They don't have to pay cash but maybe do something for the community or make a swap.
I was sitting in my village car park one lunchtime waiting for the pharmacy to re-open.
A woman pulled up opposite and got an empty carrier bag to go to the food bank, it was shut. She was standing outside wondering what to do I guessed. I'd meanwhile decided to get lunch from the chip shop.
I was waiting in there for my cheese & onion when in she walked and ordered over £11 of food.
She could have bought food from the Coop which is in the same complex, she'd have got a lot more for her money. She'd tried the free route first though.

Ugh god I know.

I’ve found that if you put things on for some tokenary amount like £5 people are much more respectful. No idea why.

I can't really see the problem with this if you want the thing gone and don't want the hassle of selling it yourself. With those guys it's mission accomplished, as opposed to Carole and Reg who will moan about the quality, moan about needing to collect it, moan that it's second-hand, moan that they don't like the colour, moan that it's too heavy and text you every twenty minutes for the next three days with complaints and idiotic questions!

I offered a free vacuum cleaner still in box. Someone in the next village wanted it, but asked if we could deliver which I thought was pretty cheeky but I was passing that way the next day anyway. There was no answer to the door so I left it on the doorstep. Never got a thank you .

I've got rid of loads of stuff sticking out side some times it's gone in seconds. I find it fascinating.