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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask the charity shop for my things back?

51 replies

Monkeydonkey · 21/09/2019 22:33

My partner today mistakenly dropped off about 6 boxes of items to a charity shop that I had been keeping aside to sell. I didn’t realise until it was too late and the shop had closed. Wondering how unreasonable it is to go in there tomorrow and ask if I can have my things back?! I was really hoping to make a little bit of money from this stuff. Or should I just let it go?

OP posts:
LivingDeadGirlUK · 21/09/2019 22:35

Oh dear that is a tricky one :/ Do you need the money or was it a nice to have situation?

Gillian1980 · 21/09/2019 22:35

If it was precious items you’d want to keep them I’d say definitely ask for it back.

If it was to sell it I don’t think I could bring myself to ask for it back.

Thehop · 21/09/2019 22:36

You could say he mixed up the piles and those were the “keep for sentimental reasons” boxes?

StillCoughingandLaughing · 21/09/2019 22:37

The problem is that your stuff may have already been sorted and marked up for sale; it may not be as simple as saying ‘Can I have those six boxes back please?’

Marzipane · 21/09/2019 22:37

If you tell them your things were dropped off by mistake then of course YANBU! Good luck.

NearlyGranny · 21/09/2019 22:38

Ask. Explain and ask. If they're stroppy, walk, but ask. It's worth a try!

covetingthepreciousthings · 21/09/2019 22:40

*If it was precious items you’d want to keep them I’d say definitely ask for it back.

If it was to sell it I don’t think I could bring myself to ask for it back.*

I agree with this, you may not even get any money for the items when you try sell them. Honestly I think I'd let them go.

Namechange3007 · 21/09/2019 22:43

I recently gave a load of stuff to a charity shop and regret giving away one of the dresses even though I hadnt worn it for about ten years. Wish I'd gone back in and bought it back!

Original poster
Monkeydonkey · 21/09/2019 22:45

I don't desperately need the money to be honest, no. More that it would have been nice, I paid to have something repaired on Friday and thought oh yeah, the stuff I'm selling will cover that. I guess I could ring and run it past them tomorrow morning rather than going in and embarrass myself in person, gauge their reaction first!

OP posts:
Lulualla · 21/09/2019 22:45

When your stuff is taken into the stock room of the shop, they usually quickly separate it (if the volunteers were in that day). Clothes put into the clothes bins, or bagged and put into the clothes bins, books added to book piles, etc. So there's a chance it's already been split up.

OtraCosaMariposa · 21/09/2019 22:46

If you saw how much stuff we have in our sorting room..... We'd allow you to have a quick look but unless it's in a very distinctive bag, you may not be lucky.

Ragwort · 21/09/2019 22:50

I’ve had that happen to me in the charity shop I run, if we still have the items we would give them back and just laugh it off with the doner, one customer insisted on buying something she had donated back, I was more than happy to give it to her but she said it was ‘only fair’ to buy it back.

The only awkward thing would be if the donations had been unsaleable and had already gone for recycling (or binned) Blush].

Original poster
Monkeydonkey · 21/09/2019 22:54

I did think that it might have been sorted away already, but it was almost 5 o'clock when he dropped it off. If not sorted, they are quite distinctive - 6 identical boxes. They're quite heavy so I'm already cringing imagining myself huffing and struggling to get them out of there! I suppose I should be happy to be supporting the charity, maybe should leave it at that.

OP posts:
PersonaNonGarter · 21/09/2019 22:55

I would leave it - good karma for the universe.

morrisseysquif · 21/09/2019 22:58

Say it was stuff you were storing for a friend and look distraught with worry.

ShitFuckBastardBollocks · 21/09/2019 22:59

I did this. A bag full of brand new dog toys, leads, collars went with charity shop stuff.

Was sold straight away :(

Was gutted.

Toffeecakes · 21/09/2019 23:02

I’d probably not ask for it back, not if it was stuff I wasn’t planning on keeping anyway.

CTRL · 21/09/2019 23:04

I would ask for it back.

It was mistakenly handed in by someone else for donation. But you want it back. Sorry

ILearnedItFromABook · 21/09/2019 23:06

I don't think there's anything wrong with asking! I imagine it won't be the first time that someone has come asking after something that was mistakenly dropped off.

OtraCosaMariposa · 21/09/2019 23:08

Best one we had was a woman who mixed up a black bag with her husband's expensive military uniform for dry cleaning and a charity shop bag. We did find it, eventually.

choppolata · 21/09/2019 23:09

I think your partner may be trying to tell you something. Feel free to reciprocate Wink

Supersimkin · 21/09/2019 23:14

Ask them - they may still have it in the pile for sorting. Go in early Sun.

Sparklesocks · 21/09/2019 23:22

You can definitely try, but when I volunteered in a charity shop new donations were sorted and added to the shop floor very quickly - it was a high traffic shop so stuff was sold constantly and we were always adding new bits - so be wary that it may have already been sorted.

mathanxiety · 21/09/2019 23:28

I would ask for it, in person, first thing in the morning if they're open on Sundays.

It's too easy for them to say 'sorry it's all been sorted and priced' over the phone.

Go with some cash to make a donation and to make up for 'the trouble you are putting them to'.

covetingthepreciousthings · 21/09/2019 23:33

It's too easy for them to say 'sorry it's all been sorted and priced' over the phone.

This could actually be the reality though..