Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To try to buy back a charity shop donation?!

18 replies

GlitteryPenguin · 07/06/2018 07:23

Spent the weekend having a huge clear out - tried to Marie Kondo everything, and gave away something like 15 bags of clothes and bits.

Donated on Monday - but now I can’t stop thinking about a particular thing I gave away. I’m an adult and shouldn’t be feeling so sentimental! But I am desperate to go into the charity shop today and see if I can rescue it Blush

Has anyone else ever had the ‘charity shop
regrets’?!

I’m wondering if they’ll even have sorted through the stuff yet - I don’t know how quickly that process happens?

OP posts:
missnevermind · 07/06/2018 07:26

Just let them know it went in the bag accidentally so they don’t toss it or keep it for anyone. Then offer to pay for it when it’s found if you want to.

Original poster
GlitteryPenguin · 07/06/2018 07:28

Oh yes would definitely pay for it back! It’s not their fault I’m sentimental! Grin

OP posts:
BedtimeTea · 07/06/2018 07:29

Why not? We donated then realized we still needed it. Not sure if it was the exact one we donated, but it is identical.

PolkerrisBeach · 07/06/2018 07:29

You can try. I'm a charity shop volunteer and at least once a fortnight we get someone calling to say they've handed in something by mistake and can they have it back.

Whether you get it back will depend very much on the shop. Our shop is one of the busiest in the entire chain and we're often totally snowed under. We reguarly send bags around the to other shops with less stock. On Monday for example we filled an entire transit, mainly with bags which hadn't even been looked at and sent it off to Yorkshire somewhere. (We're in Scotland).

Things might get sorted in a few hours, other times it could sit for weeks before someone looks in the bag.

So it's not cheeky to ask, but don't be surprised if you can't find your donations and the volunteers can'r either!

ems137 · 07/06/2018 07:36

My DH worked for a company that used to buy 1000s of bags per day off charity shops all over the country. Some busier charity shops get so much donated that they just sell it straight on to these "cash 4 clothes" type companies.

Slartybartfast · 07/06/2018 07:41

It will have gone on to another home op, think of it like that. it was meant to be.

Original poster
GlitteryPenguin · 07/06/2018 20:59

For anyone wondering... I bought it back today! Blush

OP posts:
WhiteCoyote · 07/06/2018 21:05

Glad you got it back op Grin

iamyourequal · 07/06/2018 21:09

That’s good. I hope they gave you a good rate seeing as you already made a significant donation. My mum donated a piece of furniture rashly (she is a pensioner) and changed her mind straight after. They charged her the full price they were selling for to get it back which I though was thoroughly misersable of them.

Knittedfairies · 07/06/2018 21:13

Well done OP - pleased it was still there! I volunteered in a charity shop and there were at least two occasions where I felt someone would be back to claim their donations; an elderly gentleman came in once a fortnight (always at the same time) with a bag of his wife’s clothes. That she didn’t know she had donated; he felt she had too many... The other occasion a couple of suited and booted men came in with numerous coats and umbrellas from the staff cloakroom. They said they had told everyone that the room was being cleared on such-and-such a day and anything left over was going to the charity shop. We were it. No-one ever came in for anything, although we did keep everything for a couple of weeks just in case.

Original poster
GlitteryPenguin · 07/06/2018 22:45

Omg Knitted the man with his wife’s clothes!

They wanted to give it back to me for free but I felt terrible for taking back a donation so asked them to charge me! They put it through half price in the end which seemed like a fair deal Grin

OP posts:
PostcodeJack · 07/06/2018 22:49

This is the reason I get my parents to take my stuff to their local shop. Because I've been known to go in and buy my own stuff...

Doingreat · 07/06/2018 22:54

Lol @postcodejack

Browntile · 07/06/2018 22:55

I had a bag of really nice maternity clothes sitting in my bedroom for 5 years that I couldn’t quite bring myself to take to the charity shop. Finally got bored of DH nagging me and took them. Found out I was v unexpectedly pregnant one week later!! They’d already been sent elsewhere when I ran in to try and buy them back! 😂

UghAgh · 07/06/2018 22:59

That’s good news OP. It was nice of you to pay for it.

KioraAdora · 07/06/2018 23:03

What was it!

lhavepassport · 07/06/2018 23:10

I once gave away some DC toys, after not playing them for months they wanted them that weekend, cue meltdown and buying them back from shop.

littlemisscomper · 07/06/2018 23:53

My mum took some of my sentimental childhood books to the charity shop without asking me. I still feel upset about it, especially as when I rang to try and get them back I was told they were disposed of as their condition wasn't good enough to sell.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page