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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Is it reasonable to return a broken freecycle item to the 'giver'?

40 replies

wonka · 23/07/2009 18:18

I answered a post in our local freecycle for a computer monitor., was delighted when I saw it was flat screen ours had started a small fire in the play room.
But when I got home and hooked it all up... not a flicker.. tis broken.
I wouldn't post anything broken or in poor condition.. Just things that aren't worth the listing/ paypal fees that somebody else should get use of.
I'd really love to drive round and leave it on her door step as I think LCD screens have to be disposed of in a certain way and I think I'll have to pay to get rid of it.. I know its probably a bit rude of me but is it unreasonable?

OP posts:

CurryMaid · 23/07/2009 19:48

Just contact them and ask if they knew it was broken? If they say yes then re-list it?

CurryMaid · 23/07/2009 19:49

Re-list it as broken, obv.

Ponders · 23/07/2009 19:55

To be fair, the person who advertised it may not have known it was broken...I recently put on freecycle 2 PS2s (one big old one, one smaller new one), each with a portable telly, which as far as I knew were both in good working order but when I (subsequently ) checked with a non-resident child it turned out that at least one of them was a bit dodgy....

I've heard nothing back & I don't now have to balls to ask if they are OK but please give the donor the benefit of the doubt!

Ponders · 23/07/2009 19:57

Incidentally we once picked up another portable telly which turned out not to work - we just took it to the tip. I think it's just one of those things with freecycle.

PricklyVelvet · 23/07/2009 20:32

if you leave it by your nearest recycle bins some will take it. then it becomes their responsibility, if you don't want to do that check with your local council as i know mine will pick up things like that to save people dumping them on the street

Barstardio · 23/07/2009 20:34

Did she know it was fucked? I think that colours the whole issue tbh.

sherby · 23/07/2009 20:37

god this is why I hate freecycle

I listed an TV which I stated quite clearly 'I do not know if it works, I haven't tried it'

Somebody picked it up and then sent me a ton of messages complaining that it was broken and I had wasted their petrol money

Maybe they hadn't tried it to see if it was working

HuffwardlyRouge · 23/07/2009 20:42

It is far more hassle to freecycle something than to just get rid of it. If it's broken they probably didn't realise. Email and say you can;t work it - there might be a button you've missed.

I've had complaints from freecycle. One chap collected a weights set and lifting bench, got home and phoned me to complain that there weren't as many weights as he was hoping for. I explained to the stupid twat that they were all screwed to the bar for ease of transport.

Another woman wrote me a blisteringly rude email when dh and I had a misunderstanding about who was collecting 2 baby gates, and she turned up to find they had alreay gone. Did she want compensation for her wasted 5 minute journey? Actually, she did mention her wasted petrol. Maybe she did? We were so appologetic when we explained to her, I'm not sure exactly what she gained by sending her horrid email.

MinkyBorage · 23/07/2009 20:46

imo they have a responsibility to check whether it's broken or not. I've got rid of loads of stuff through freecycle, and it would be far easier dumping it outside the house for a day where someone could collect it, or take it to the skip.
imo not checking that an item isn't working goes against the whole ethos of freecycle!

Qally · 23/07/2009 20:52

I've put really good stuff on Freecycle before. New and boxed IKEA shelves, really rather nice bed, pack of puppy training stuff. I've also received some great things. So of course you aren't unreasonable to be hoping for a functional item, especially as people do often upgrade stuff like a monitor when teh old is perfectly usable, just not a desirable item any more. People using Freecycle as a free way to dump broken and unusable crap are abusing the system, and I think emailing the mods and leaving a BROKEN post to see if anyone else wants it is wholly fair.

Apart from anything else, people may collect using a cab, and to dump your unusable junk on say a student or someone out of work, at their expense and under false pretences, is pretty crappy behaviour IMO.

morocco · 23/07/2009 20:53

that's the trouble with freecycle though - the rude freeloaders it can attract. and the freaky sense of entitlement that sometimes goes with it.
anyhow - to op, am sure the giver would be mortified to be named and shamed without you even telling them it wasn't working. then just re post on freecycle as a broken screen

(as an aside, I post plenty of things in poor condition and quite often someone wants them anyway. it's not about saving paypal fees it's saving stuff from landfill. but agree if she knew it was broken it should have been clearly stated)

Qally · 23/07/2009 20:55

Though there's no excuse for how rude some people have been to posters here, either! Have to say I've been lucky with takers (always incredibly sweet and appreciative) and givers (generous and friendly). It's some of the people wanting stuff who've been rude ime, but never anyone I've actually encountered.

hocuspontas · 23/07/2009 21:05

But the whole point of freecycle is to get rid of stuff that would end up at the dump. So 'broken and unusable crap' are fine. But I agree that goods shouldn't be listed as working when they aren't.

Qally · 23/07/2009 21:12

It's fine if you specify that that's what it is, definitely. But if you don't? No. We put a CRT (?) TV on when we got a flat screen. If it had been a broken one, and we hadn't said as much - just used the taker as a free dump - that IMO would be crappy. Plenty of things on Ebay are ones that don't have much resale value but are usable, after all.

No problem if people say something doesn't work, or they don't know. But I recall seeing a single Mum asking what the best cheap oven was on Products, as she really was struggling and hers had broken. Someone mentioned Freecycle, and she said she'd been burned twice before by items that were supposed to work and just didn't, and the cost to her, in her circ.s, of collecting a washing machine or a fridge was prohibitive. That's just crappy, really. Those things do cost money to dispose of, and offloading that cost and inconvenience under false pretences isn't okay at all.

People get so hung up on the free part they lose sight of the cycle, I think.

Barstardio · 23/07/2009 21:20

I got a ladder from a nice old chap today, went to collect it, it took best part of 2 hours driving in searing heat with children in the back and a fair whack of petrol.

If I'd got there and it had been knackered enough not to be fit for purpose, I'd have been out of pocket and really pissed off - so it's only decent to state the condition of something before you offer it.

The OP's person might not have realised it was broken...it could have just quietly died while in storage, been dropped by a removal person, who knows.

Their intentions may have been honest. Best not to get confrontational when you don't know.

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