Charity collection- rude or fair enough?

[Clydie89]

We recently moved house. The woman we bought from was in her 80s and moving across country to be with family, so she left some furniture behind. Mainly IKEA stuff.

A lot of our furniture from our old house doesn't really suit the new one or isn't right size etc so between our and hers, there was a fair bit to go. I arranged for a local charity to come collect because there was a fair amount and they have a massive furniture shop near us. The list was... 2 seater couch (grey, sofology, 3yrs old), double bed, single bed, 55" TV, small table and chairs, IKEA storage unit and display cabinet to name a few. Explained this to the charity when calling to book collection, they said brilliant and only thing they couldn't take was 2nd hand mattresses,no bother. Asked if there were any other rules, he said as long as it has a fire label/electricals working with right socket then they'd take it. I mentioned a coffee table which got scratched when moving,he said it's fine as someone will want to upcycle it. All good. He booked us in for a house clearance so it would be a big van.

They came today, driver literally huffed when he seen how much of it there was. He then said he'd need to call his manager. Came back 2mins later to say they couldn't take the bed's. I asked why and he said because they don't have room for them at the moment, his manager told him so. He then tried to lift a bedside cabinet by the top and it came away. I explained we'd had to take the top off when moving to fit them in the van,the screw's were cellotaped inside the drawer and easy to fix. I'd forgotten about it as we haven't used them since. Again he literally huffed and said it's falling apart we can't take it, we don't just take anything and everything. I explained again that the drawers and frame were in good condition, just needed to be tightened and offered to do it then and there. He mumbled about speaking to his manager again so I asked if I could speak to her too.

I explained to her about booking for beds and the issue with the bedside cabinet and said if they didn't want the stuff it was annoying but fine, but no need to be rude, which I felt the guy was being. I had even sent a few pics when booking in collection so was up front about what there was and the quality. She apologized,spoke with the employee and then got on moving the rest of the stuff.

He then didn't take the table and chairs because I'd stripped the chairs back to wood but the table legs were still painted white and they didn't match (except they were clearly a set). He didn't want a butcher's block kitchen unit because toddler DD took her opportunity while I was on the phone to scribble on it in felt tip while he was there. I wiped it with a baby wipe and showed it came off fine but nope, he was worried it would show back up when dried. He wasn't sure about taking a bag of kids clothes because I'd put some (unworn, tags still on) shoes in on the top of the bag etc. The list seemed endless.

They basically took about half the stuff booked for. I totally understand if it didn't have the fire labels on or they couldn't resell it then they wouldn't take it, but AIBU to think this was just petty and rude?? I felt so judged and like I wasn't worthy!

I think they should have been clearer when you phoned to arrange the donation. If they'd said 'We'll check what we can sell and leave anything we can't' then it would have prepared you for a scenario where some things weren't suitable.

There's no excuse for the driver being offhand and huffy.

They probably know what will sell and what won't so I wouldn't argue with their selection - they don't want to end up with stuff that, for whatever reason, they can't get rid of.

But better communication in their initial call with you, and a more gracious attitude from the driver would have stopped this being an issue.

Ddad had this. The driver wouldn't take any of it. I don't get why they don't be clearer up front.

They can be very snooty about stuff, when you're only trying to do a nice thing for someone else who might need it. Puts you off bothering to donate at all in the future.

Our local BHF store is the same - when my grandparents died once the family had taken items we wanted to keep we had a whole house full of furniture left over and nobody had time to go through it all piece by piece so we called in to the local BHF home store, showed them pictures of all the furniture and they said they would be happy to take the lot except the mattresses on the beds.

On the day of the collection appointment we had moved everything to the hall and living room to make it easier for them to remove it and when they arrived the driver was huffing and puffing about how much there was and making excuses about various furniture to not take it. I had taken the morning off work to be there, anticipating that all I would have to do is unlock the door, let the movers take the furniture and lock up an empty house afterwards. After nearly 45 minutes of back and forth about whether the guy would take certain items I was at the end of my patience and I made him unload the few items he had put on the van and told him to leave. He tried to argue about that but I threatened to call the police and he finally gave the stuff back and left.

I went into the store a couple of days later and asked to speak with the manager and made a complaint about the driver. I explained that they were given photos and lists of everything we wanted collecting and if that was a problem the time to have highlighted it was when booking collection. I also complained about the drivers attitude - yes they were doing us a favour by taking all the stuff but it was all good quality furniture that they would have made a fortune on, he should not have been so rude and dismissive of me. The manager was hugely apologetic about the drivers attitude but tried to defend the practice that they assess the furniture when being collected. I argued that it should be made clear then as we were basically told "We'll take the lot, no problem"

Instead, we called a couple of local charity warehouses and they drivers collected everything, no questions asked and a few months later we got an email saying they had already sold 70% of the items and raised almost £3k from it.

BHFs £3k loss was the local charities gain.

I would totally understand if they thought it was tat that they'd just need to bin but they'd had pictures and descriptions upfront so could have said. Total mismatch from the guy booking it to the drivers collecting!

The younger lad helping the driver offered the wisdom that it would be easy for me to sell a lot of it on FB then donate the profits instead

Another one who had a fucking awful experience with BHF drivers, despite a lovely experience with in-store staff.

I post stuff on FB as "free to collector". It pretty much all goes really quickly

I had similar with a Red Cross collector. It was a desk, described it to them over the phone, it was a very good piece of furniture, but I was moving to a much smaller house. They said they wanted it, I spent ages getting it out of the house onto the driveway (It was very heavy and had to remove top and turn it on its side etc.) then they turned up and said they didn't want it. So I was stuck with it on my driveway.

Since moving, if I have something I don't want, I put it in my little front garden outside and a notice saying 'help yourself'. I put out several chairs, chest of drawers, desk and table and a woman over the road took it for her daughter who was just setting up in a flat and didn't have any furniture. I'm glad it went to someone who needed it and appreciated it.

It's fine if charities don;t want certain things, but they need to say so before not after you've got it all accessible and ready for them.

Is this BHF by an chance? They are idiots

I think there’s a fair chance the driver might be a volunteer, so I’d cut him some slack. When it comes to a house full of furniture I’d be inclined to use a house clearance company. There is a lot of very shit furniture palmed off on charities and I can see why they might not want to be used as a waste removal company.

I had something similar getting rid of a 2 year old set of sofas from DFS. The first charity hummed and hared, it would be trouble collecting etc. So I told them not to worry I'd call another but local charity and put the phone down. The local charity arranged collection, then called the day before asking if they could come that day which they did. They were very happy to take the sofas.
I think they were just happy for the donation TBH.

I've not been back in the other charities shop since.

I've had this with BHF too.

I've also had an issue with BHF - I found a small local charity, who were very grateful and polite, instead.

A couple of years ago we bought new sofa and two armchairs. Previous ones were in perfect condition but we really wanted to completely change the colours in the living room rather than always working around bits we already had. BHF arranged to collect them all but on arrival would not take one armchair because it no longer had a fire retardant label. It had gradually ripped loose so I had chucked it out. I tried to reason that the chair was part of a set but they still refused. I notice that one label on the new chair is hanging on by a few threads but I will put it somewhere safe. A warning to others.

You should have been told on the phone that they were busy, but really round here so many people are getting stuff out that the charity shops are actually stuffed full. Furniture obviously takes a lot of space, and they simply don't have the space to store it-even if they know it will eventually sell.

They're not allowed to take and sell stuff without the fire retardant notice on it, so there's nothing they can do if you don't have it. They would actually be breaking the law if they did so. Even if it's one out of a set, which seems silly, but is really for your protection.

I contacted a charity local to where I used to live about some furniture and house items I wanted to donate to them. They sold to people in receipt of benefits which is why I chose that one specifically as it was affordable stuff for people who really needed it to be affordable. I basically had an entire house worth, all of it in very good condition. They quoted me a price for coming to collect it! They said it was to cover wear and tear on their vans. It's one thing to donate things to charity but quite another to be expected to pay to donate things to charity. I got in touch with a different charity afterwards who very gratefully took it all and were so lovely about it.

I'm afraid I'd have said it was all or nothing when he started to be huffy about it.

I've pretty much given up with our local charity shops. What I want to get rid off is now put at the end of the drive with a free notice or advertised as free on our local FB groups. It's so much easier.

Had something similar when trying to donate a 2 year old sofa to bhf. Saw we were on top floor flat (with lift that fits sofas) and made some excuses about not being able to take things from flats?!

It just seemed lazy to me. Anything that needed a bit of effort was too much work. Not bothered with bhf again.

I had this problem with a dining table, I had sent pictures and dimensions, all ok. Dismantled and got it ready for them to collect, when they came apparently it was ‘too big’. Ended up selling it for £50 instead 🤷🏻‍♀️

My neighbour had this a few weeks ago. Was donating a beautiful suede recliner couch in perfect condition worth almost 1k. She hauled it outside and when they turned up they told her that they'd never sell it and wouldn't take it. She knew we were doing our house up and asked me if I needed it and I was delighted with it. Its perfect and she had sent them pictures and everything. I think the guy in the van just couldn't be bothered lifting it into the van. Their loss was my gain in the end.

I don’t use BHF anymore as sadly they are very rude and I the last couple of drivers made me feel very uncomfortable.
I can imagine people do try to palm off some right shite but even when I’ve been sending only one (very good quality sofa) they’ve managed to be rude in some way.

If it’s all IKEA stuff it will go very quickly on Facebook marketplace, just stick it all on there.

I think there’s a fair chance the driver might be a volunteer, so I’d cut him some slack.
I worked as a volunteer coordinator and absolutely no way should you “cut him some slack” because he’s volunteering. At the end of the day they’re representing that organisation and need to maintain a progressional and polite customer service presence, which they agree to when they sign up to the service. Having poor volunteers really affects the brand and therefore future fundraising potential.

It does go to show they need a more robust vetting process for the furniture removals, lots of time wasted for all parties and again, it’s left you with a sour taste about the charity so you’re less likely to support them in the future. I would feedback (not complain) through the proper channels so it’s recorded at least.

I had an issue with BHF a few years ago. I called to arrange a collection and they said it was all fine. When it got to collection day they didn't bother showing due to the van breaking down. It then happened two more times with very little communication from them. I had the stuff blocking my hallway for a week.

I called another charity to collect it all as I assumed that BHF were no longer interestes. The BHF manager turned up the day after ! I had to explain that I had waited for too long. I still don't know why the manager didn't show the first time the van broke down.. (I know it depends on insurance etc).

I had the same issue with BHF, There seems to be a theme here!