I just freecycled for the first and last time

[hotcrumpets]

Offered something on ebay

Got about 10 replies, nearly all of them "when can I collect" no please/thanks at all

and now I have just got a v rude email off the man that picked it up moaning that the "item does not work and I suppose thats why you got rid of it!!!!!, thanks for wasting our time"

i never even said it did work

it will be the skip next time I guess

I've offered 3 times on freecycle. Never had any takers for any of my items, breakfast bar stool (emails asking me if there was a table with it), folding bed, leather sofa in excellent condition (emails stating they only wanted it as part of a 3 piece suite!!)

I am giving up now. The local council are coming to pick up the sofa on Thursday - hopefully one of their workers will want to 'rescue' it from the landfill when they see it.

However, I have to say, I wouldn't offer a broken TV for someone else to have to get rid of.

I freecycled a really good tropical fish tank with the heater, pump, plants etc. Had loads of replies but chose one lady who said she worked in an autistic school and wanted to set it up in the classroom as her pupils loved to watch fish, but the school couldn't afford a tank. She made some enquiries about how heavy it would be, where was the nearest bus stop as she didn't have a car, so me being a mug said I would drive it round to her house - about 30 minute drive away - as I thought it was going to a good cause. Arrived earlier than arranged and clearly saw about 10 tanks through her window - she was a fish breeder. I informed freecycle and they 'struck her off'. Really put me off for a while, I couldn't believe how low someone could go.

That's awful malovitt

just because she kept fish at home doesn't mean she wasn't going to set up a tank at a school... I think its rather strange to jump to the conclusion that it was a scam .. setting up a fish tank is a rather a lot of work and then she'd have to stock it

Message withdrawn

I can't believe it myself. I tried our local furniture recycling group too, and got the same answer, that their clients only want 3 piece suites even if they are getting something for nothing.

I agree with yorkshire pudding too. I don't mind if somebody else can be bothered with the hassle of trying to seel my stuff on. It's a bit cheeky, but it becomes their property when you give it to them.

scot - a few thing's i've put on there haven't gone recently, so was going to offer them to the local womans refuge - it's nothing fancy, nothing flash but am hoping it will do someone a turn - perhaps someone there might make use of those things you mention?

Ow, I didn't think of that, but a bit too late for these things - the sofa is outside now and it's been raining.

I will try that in the future though. I've got loads of toys and things my son is finished with. Do you think they would take stuff like that?

Thanks for the idea.

i'm hoping so as that's what i've mainly got lots of toys and clothes! lol.

i put an old battered shed on there last week, someone replied and said they would dismantle it,

so i went to work left the gate open and they came and collected, got home it was gone, next day got an email saying how pleased they were and they had assembled it and painted it a lovely shade of blue....

how lovely was that.... i was so pleased

and saved me dismantling and getting it to the tip

I am quite suprised reading this. We recently joined freecycle (to get rid of things, not get stuff) and have had nothing but good experiences. We got rid of a pushchair, cots, desk, folding chairs, table, wardrobe etc. And everyone has been really nice - even emailing when they get home to say thanks. I am in westminster so perhaps it is just this area!

I have a sweet wooden desk and chair (for a young child) I have tried to freecycle. Had loads of replies. First person emailed back several times, arranged to collect and no show. As did second person I reoffered it too. Grrr!

I freecycled some Enid Blyton audio CDs my parents had got from the Telegraph. The takers took a while to turn up, but then the whole family came to collect them and gave us a box of Celebrations chocs.

I've had mixed experiences, some baby stuff (moses basket and cot) I couldn't get rid of so ended up taking it to the tip. OTOH I've got some toys and clothes for dd1 that were fab.

It's the no-shows that wind me up and the endless admin rules about posting.

I agree it's polite to be honest about the working condition of electrical goods, we quite often get stuff offered 'for parts' or 'can be repaired'.

Have had good experiences with freecycle mainly - but like others couldn't get rid of a decent single armchair to any takers (council, charities or freecycle) and had to take to tip. Again no one was interested in anything less than a 3 piece suite. So far everyone has turned up when they said and even got some thank you emails.

Oh and another thing I love is the eccentric messages. Have just received a message offering a gold threaded picture of a helicopter, the description reads " picture of a helicopter worked in gold thread and pins on a black background. There's a name for this type of picture but I can't remember what it is" PMSL.

I once asked if anybody had an old racing bike, in reasonable nick pref because we are totally unmechanical, and got just one reply from someone who said he had one but it was too good to give away so would we be interested in buying it?

(Someone had given away a Sony Viao laptop earlier )

I dobbed him in but they didn't sack him .

HedTwig - regarding the fish breeder, I didn't jump to conclusions. I omitted to say that her disgruntled husband came out and told me as much, he didn't want another tank in the house and wondered what "sob story" she had given me. She didn't work in an autistic school either.

I agree that most of the time I'm happy to have got rid of something that is taking up space, but in this instance I had loads of replies and I would have given it to someone else. I also offered a couple of sofas and got a request from a woman to cut off a swatch of fabric from somewhere inconspicuous and post it to her to see if it matched her wallpaper! A lovely Polish couple who were setting up home took them eventually and were delighted with them. The good experiences far outweigh the bad, so I'll carry on freecycling.

When Freecycle works it's great.

When I offer stuff I ignore emails from anyone that doesn't include the words 'please' or 'thanks' and I won't deliver unless it's very local and I'm going that way anyway. Travelling 30 miles to Freecycle something sort of cancels out the environmental benefit I think!

Our Freeycyle group makes me laugh, some people seem to think it's the Argos catalogue: flat screen plasma TV wanted; laptop wanted, must be in full working order and preferably wireless with Windows XP or Vista; washing machine wanted, must be silver to match my other kitchen appliances, etc etc

I tried to sell the paving blocks from our front garden on both ebay and the local free ads and got no response (they're worth hundreds) and eventually freecycled them.
The guy that came and got them was soooo sweet and kept bringing us his organic veg as thank yous - I wanted to adopt him. So keep trying with it and try vetting them before agreeing.

Love freecycle.
We've always had pretty good experiences and stuff has gone to some really good homes.

Wendy when i was shopping in the supermarket yesterday a lady came and asked me where I thought the 2007 diarys would be? So there are people out there that have been asleep for 6 months!

I told her to go to smiths and get an 18 months one - never thought of recycle