Thursday, March 3, 2011

Freecycle Sucks...

...at times. What? Rob hates freecycle? That wonderful program that allows you to get rid of things you no longer want or need or find great items? No. Rob still loves the free cycle. Just some of the folks who use it make me so angry. I recently put a love seat up on free cycle. I got a response. I even put a link to a pic of the love seat. The guy who responded, I shall call him "Jerk" to protect his anonymity, agreed I would leave it on the front yard and I would cover the cushions with garbage bags. Well I went to work came home, he had written a note that it smelled. Well now really, he wanted a new love seat??? B.S., It may have smelled of pets or even cigarette smoke (remember I quit some time ago) but you take off the cushion covers and wash them.. I am not going to do it for you, Jerk. So off it goes into the truck to the thrift store! They loved it and I asked them to smell it. It was fine according to the attendant at the thrift store. So I am glad I found a way to recycle it. But it galls me that people will agree to take something on the freecycle and then get all uppity. Hey, Shithead- it's a free love seat. Apparently they didn't have anyone tell them not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I don't mean to get on a rant here, but if you use freecycle don't expect new things. Period. And take what you agree to take. I still love freecycle, but will be more careful of what and whom I deal with.

11 comments:

EcoCatLady said...

My personal freecycle pet peeve is the people who jump all over your post like they're gonna die if they don't get whatever you're offering, but then 2 weeks later, still can't be bothered to come pick it up. What's with people anyhow?

The 4 Bushel Farmgal said...

I agree....it's FREE, folks! You can expect to have to clean it, wash it, or dust it off.

My experience is the same as EcoCatLady's. They wanted to come over right away, but then drifted off into oblivion. Eventually, I got some folks who showed up, and were very happy with the free stuff. It can be a lot of work!

Chile said...

I won't use freecycle locally because there are people that sit on it all day long and snatch things up within seconds. I've also heard some of those people are selling what they pick up at yard sales.

However, I've had more bad experiences with free listings on craigslist than good, unfortunately.

Anonymous said...

My issue is that... My Postings come in waves... Sometimes I GIVE away a lot of things... but don't ask for anything.... then there are times that i really need some stuff but because i havn't posted "enough" I can't post for wanted items... I think it'd rediculous!!!

Freakcycle said...

Ahh, bring your Freecycle peeves to us, dear readers. We LOVE Freecycle, especially the kooks who inhabit it. We take the strangest, most bizarre posts on Freecycle and collect them all in one place. We have categories like "Choosy Beggars", "Questionable Treasures", "Freak of the Week", etc.

Taking submissions all the time. Since the world is coming to an end, we are especially searching for people who are giving their worldly possessions away on Freecycle because of said Rapture.

Check us out and send your FC nut jobs our way. We'll receive them with open arms.

www.freakcycle.wordpress.com

Beth Terry @ My Plasticfree Life said...

I just got banned from the San Francisco Freecycle Network. What galls me the most about Freecycle is not the members but the moderators. I hate that it's a bunch of little dictatorships rather than democracies. I hate that one control freak moderator has the power to kick you out if he/she doesn't like the font you use. Okay, that's an exageration, but not by much.

So, I who am constantly promote Freecycle as a way to keep stuff out of the landfill am banned from my local Freecycle. Ironic?

Dee Cee said...

I have freecycle. I was actually put on moderation in the glenburnie freecycle group because the moderator had come to my house to buy something off of craigslits. Once she found out I was on freecycle and I was moving she asked about my couch. Even offered money for it. Then she put my on moderation so she would get dibs on all my items because she had to approve them. Don't bother contacting their "head" office. What a joke! I agree it is the moderators for me that ruin the group.

Anonymous said...

...okay. This is gonna sound dumb but I just gave up on Freecycle in frustration, not even getting so far as the listings. I think I'm generally pretty good with self-explanatory things and the internet in general. I heard great things about Freecycle and it sounded very up my alley, but I just joined and cancelled my membership within the same 1/2 hour because I got stuck in this cycle where I couldn't view the actual content, just perpetual redirect to all this BS about the site and the group and group and the site and the FAQ and cute stick person cartoon "Instructional Video" and everything but the actual goods. So yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and never try it again.

Anonymous said...

I like to collect old computers and electronic equipment. I heard about FC and decided to try it. I posted a wanted ad and it was not approved, because the mod thought I was trying to collect things to sell them, even though I never mentioned anything that would lead to that conclusion. Her reasoning was that since I stated I didn't want CRT monitors (who does anyway?), that I was trying to make a business out of it. A load of self righteous crap if you ask me.

Anonymous said...

Like others, I post stuff, I get all kinds of responses, they just have to have it, but don't show up. Or the really good one is, I get such BS excuses. Sorry my mothers brothers aunts counsins sisters friend had a flat tire so I can't make it today, BUT, if you find somebody else that wants it don't hold it for me. 99% of the people on freecycle are aholes. I have given away a few things, but 99% of the time they never show or give me a BS excuse after they didn't show.

Can't say due to freecycle ogres said...

I'm a moderator on Freecycle yahoo group. I was moderating two groups - rural area, hard to get people to do it.

The national org jumped all over me for moderating two groups. I gave up one. Then my co-moderator on the one I gave up was group owner, and complied with all their new requirements re trademarks and stuff. They still started up a group in that area on their freecycle.org site (instead of Yahoo group), didn't connect it to the yahoo group, won't let her be owner unless she jumps thru a million hoops, etc.

I used to love freecycle, but the nat'l org is impossible to work with, they are tyrants and dictators, and there is no way to escalate issues for resolution at a higher level.

Our group itself is cool. We were pretty mellow moderators. But the nat'l is killing it for us.