Freegle Reviews 

165
•
TrustScore 3 out of 5

3.1

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful awful awful..... People ask for stuff then don't reply, mess you about with pick up times 4 people who can't decide on a time today and yesterday,(about my peice of furniture) and want to do it... See more

Company replied

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Freegle is a brilliant way of not only de-cluttering but, as importantly, giving items a second chance and helping others. You would be amazed what other people consider useful. I hate throwing th... See more

Company replied

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Shame I can't rate Freegle higher than 5 stars. So far I've only given stuff away but I'm so glad it's all gone to good homes & will be used rather than sitting in my cupboards, wardrobes & garage. S... See more

Company replied

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant service for putting together people who have with people who want. Instead of binning stuff you don't want, or buying stuff you do, try looking here. It's wonderful to know that your castoff... See more

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Written by the company

Give and get stuff for free - don't throw it away, give it away


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3.1

Average

TrustScore 3 out of 5

165 reviews

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3.1

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(165)

7 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Didn't Join but Can't Escape

Went to use to supplement Freecycle listing, but stopped (for security reasons) when I saw the site didn't seem to require a log-in profile BUT Freecycle has, somehow, still onboarded me and bombards me with emails all the time. Unable to unsubscribe due to not having actually subscribed, so have none of the required details to log in to unsubscribe!?

November 9, 2023
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Hi
I am sorry for the delay in replying. We are somewhat confused by your review and not sure if you think we are the same as Freecycle, which is a separate organisation. We think it unlikely that these emails are coming from us as you obviously did not complete joining - we would have asked you for your email address and postcode at that point. However assuming you are receiving some communications from Freegle, can we ask you to forward one to support@ilovefreegle.org please. We would like to be able to sort this for you if we can.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

As good as the people who use it.

Freegle is as good as the people who use it. One person asked me to collect a table at 5pm but she wasn't there, so I had a wasted journey. When I offered something, one person set off without my address, without an Offer or Promise (Freegle's way of saying 'come and collect it') and without an agreed time, so she was disappointed of course. I've made a few other Freegle finds and been very happy with the result. As I said, Freegle connects the giver and the collector but you can't blame Freegle if one of those people is unreliable.

October 21, 2023
Unprompted review
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Reply from Freegle

Thank you for taking the time to write us a review John. We are glad that you are happy with the site. We do try to make it easy for people to contact each other and encourage them to let others know if the item is no longer available or they cannot collect as advised - but sometimes people are people and just forget and let others down.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I have been a Freegler for many years

I have been a Freegler for many years, and it is Fantastic! I'm always amazed at the generosity of others, and the things that are kept out of landfill and in use by this volunteer run organisation. Sometimes an individual member is a let-down, but that would be like criticising Asda or Tesco's fir the way someone pushes a trolley! It's email site address is accurate - I LOVE FREEGLE!!

September 24, 2023
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Hi Elaine, Thank you so much for your review. We always love hearing from long-standing members and are so glad you like our site. You obviously put it to good use!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful site

Awful site, listed items & received lots of replies, which you would think would be good, however site is full of people who either don't reply after their first enquiry & those who do, dont then turn up to collect items at the agreed time. Not one of my items were collected, despite agreeing collection times/dates. Had someone agree to collect at 3pm,they didn't arrive, sent messages after an hr of waiting asking if they were still interested. They didn't reply for 4hrs, they then said they wanted to collect at 9pm, I refused as it was too late. They then turned up at 10pm. I didn't answer door & they shouted through letterbox about me wasting their time! Once someone has your address your screwed!! Do not use this site,it's not safe!

September 2, 2023
Unprompted review
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Reply from Freegle

I am sorry you had such a dreadful experience. Unfortunately, like all reuse sites, we do get a number of people who ask for items and then do not follow through with collection. They tend to be those who reply very quickly and then realise they can't transport the item, they aren't sure they still want it or even have room for it. We recommend waiting a while to assess all those that apply. We have a system where you can rate other members, which shows you how reliable others have found them. In this particular instance I hope you have reported this member to your local group moderators. We do take the safety of our members very seriously.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Most annoying

Most annoying. Your listing will be automatically relisted even after you mark it as gone. I've also unsubscribed completely to stop this but this morning I'm bombarded with emails re my listed item. Not nice having to answer to all these ppl that the item is long gone and freegle refuse to leave me alone. I've unsubscribed once again so let's see. Needs sorting.

June 19, 2023
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

I am sorry to hear you have had this trouble John. It really should not be working like that. Usually marking an item as "Taken" will show it as such on our Offers board and then remove it, plus the system will notify the unsuccessful applicants for you. Can I ask you to contact your local group moderators so that they can forward this to our technical people for investigation please. Not knowing which group or which item you are referring to does not make it possible to give a fuller reply on here. We would like to get this sorted for you.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Most items NOT FREE! I've found that the majority of items…

I've found that the majority of items on the Freegle site are in fact not free!
Freegle must be aware of this!

May 14, 2023
Unprompted review
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Reply from Freegle

It is a Condition of Use of our website that everything must be freely offered, with no conditions attached. We also ask members to report any cases where someone asks them for money to local group moderators so that we can take action.

Thank you for your report Ray but please can you send some examples of where this has happened so we can investigate this.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

terrible im an OAP i went on to get a…

terrible im an OAP i went on to get a house walker , and the moderator threatened me and demanded my postcode or they would stop me get the walker disgusting people , no respect and threats

May 11, 2023
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Hi Victoria,

I am sorry you feel you have had a bad experience with us. It's difficult to answer your specific points without knowing which group you were trying to post your request to and asking them what they said and why.

However we do ask all members for their postcode when they join - this is not made public but it means we can ensure that your offers or requests appear in the right area and on the right group for where you live.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Outrageous!!

Outrageous!!! Received an email from this site asking for minimum of 200 People to pay £10 PCM, because they have lost their free web hosting. That equates to £24,000 P.A. That is just short of £100,000 over four years. ARE YOU HAVING A LAUGH? Website are a fraction of that cost, I suggest you tighten your belts like the rest of us and shop around for something cheaper. Needless to say, I have just deleted my account with you. RE: Your reply, like i said, tighten your belt and dumb your site down a bit. We are all making difficult decisions in this time of hardship and most of us do it without holding out a beggar bowl. The clues in the name matey, Freegal. Yet what you are asking for is nothing short of a subscription, get over yourself, there are plenty of free sites out there that people use quite happily. Hate to break this to you via a message but you are not that special.

February 9, 2023
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

No we are not having a laugh - far from it. We have always been proud of the fact that Freegle is free to use - but it is not free to run. We have tried many other avenues to source some funding and to ask our members for help is very much a last resort.

Freegle is relatively unusual, especially in the charity world. Most websites host static read-only content which changes quite rarely, for a relatively small number of active users. We have an active service where there are changes happening continuously, and we send out hundreds of thousands of emails a day. What you need to do this is very different. For a like-for-like replacement of the hardware we’re losing, we’re looking at a minimum of around ~20 cores, ~130GB RAM, ~2.5TB SSD, 2TB HDD, 10TB bandwidth/month.

Overall our best current estimate for how much it will cost per month for this kind of hardware and services is between £1500 and £2000 to serve the whole of the UK - and save people about £11 million pounds worth of items, which makes it pretty good value.

Bottom line: you can certainly get a cheap and cheerful website that doesn’t do much except display a few pages for a few quid a year, but you can’t run something like Freegle that way.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Mixed experience but better than the dump

I have a mixed experience on Freegle. I have come to the conclusion it is just best suited for getting rid of something you don't want without having to take it to the dump and nothing more. I have decided that to expect people who want things to be polite in their request, to all remember to turn up, or to provide subsequent feedback on how they are getting on with high-value items, parted with on the basis of alleged need, is pointless. Indeed I think I must take statements of need with a pinch of salt - perhaps the frequent 'can I have it?' is actually the most honest type of request.

I have also yet to come to terms with how difficult it is to become a recipient. I have given away far more than I have ever asked for and yet even when I am not too late for something (so often the case if you opt for daily digest) and write politely, I am yet to get anything! It would be good if there was a setting that stops people giving away stuff for 24 hours to allow people who haven't got the opportunity to be glued to their email a chance to respond.

Finally, getting the daily digest is an email about 0.5mB in size. It's an indication of how popular Freegle is. But if like me your email account is always close to being full, you have to keep on top of deleting emails!

September 6, 2022
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Hi Simon,

Thanks for taking the time to write a Review. I am sorry your experience with Freegle has been a bit mixed so far. We do recommend to all our members that it is often best to wait a while before offering an item, to allow everyone a chance to respond. But not everyone does that of course.

The Daily Digest is tending to get larger as more people are finding out about Freegle and also more are appreciating that reusing items is a good way to save money as well as saving our planet. If you don't want to receive individual emails (and by the sound of your Inbox, you don't!) and you really want/need something specific, then the best way is to post a "Wanted" for it. A number of our members prefer to respond to a "Wanted" rather than post an "Offer" themselves.

Hope you have better luck in future.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Recycle Givecycle Make Someone’s Day

I often gift and receive items on Freegle. It’s a superb way of not just recycling but helping people out as well. It’s fun and great to be involved in.

August 3, 2022
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Thank you for the review David. Glad you are enjoying being a member of our reuse community. :-)

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Freegle is the ultimate win-win situation!

I joined Edinburgh Freegle a couple of months ago as we're having a big clear out now that our kids are grown up. I've rehomed nearly 100 items already, and it's a delight to meet the wonderful people who are able to use them either in traditional or inventive ways.
Yesterday I had my first experience of collecting an item for myself - an offcut of carpet that may have appeared useless at first, but is the ideal size for putting under the ironing board to protect the wooden floor - genius!

February 2, 2022
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Thank you for taking the time to write a review Gillian - and welcome to our reuse community! It's always amazing to find how much stuff that we all thought useless can find a new home with someone else. :-)

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

I can’t give this a 5 star rating I…

I can’t give this a 5 star rating I really enjoy seeing what people have to offer but what really Riles me is when you ask if something is available a lot of people go on the last message I received not the first about this item, just wish there was only way in which it was a first come first served basis because on some items you get six Replies and they only look at the last reply and what annoys me also some people don’t put promised on something and then come back to its already taken what a waste of time

January 27, 2022
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Hi Hayley
Thanks for taking the time to send us a review. I am sorry you have been disappointed in not managing to get things you want - but we do not operate a "first asks gets" policy on Freegle. We advise members to wait a little time to allow everyone a chance to have a look and ask for the items they can reuse. It is then up to the person offering to choose who to give it to - often this will be someone who lives fairly close or can collect quickly. Also we do encourage members to put a "promised" on items while awaiting collection but some who access our site through another organisation are unable to do this.

I hope you continue to use our site though and better luck next time!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Freegle is great.

I've been using Freegle for a long time and think it's great. I've re-homed lots of stuff, been pleased to receive a few useful things and met some nice people in doing so.
It's so much better for the environment than constantly buying new and chucking old stuff away.

January 6, 2022
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Thank you for your review Holly. Pleased you are part of our reuse community.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I love freegle…💖

Freegle is a great place to give and receive unwanted stuff , practically anything goes on there so don't buy new have a view!!!!😚😚😊

January 5, 2022
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Thank you for the review Dawn! Happy to have you as one of our reuse community.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Freegle is BRILLIANT!

If you don't have transport to take your items to the tip then someone may want them enough to collect them. Broken tiles etc could make hardcore for a driveway or soakaway for example. It's amazing what some people can make use of. Also if you want something obscure or from a byegone age then ask on Freegle. As well as having stuff to get rid of, some Freeglers collect stuff and have all manner of odds and ends that they can sometimes spare for the likes of you and me. It sometimes takes time to arrange a time and place to collect or deliver and sometimes people let you down but that is part of the rich tapestry of life I'm afraid. (!) Not really afraid but can't think of a better turn of phrase. Freegle though? ....I love it.

December 18, 2021
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Thank you for your review Alan. Glad you have joined the reuse community. We are also constantly amazed at how resouceful members can be in keeping things out of landfill.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Freegle Lane, fast and fun

I love freegle and all of the freeglers. I know it's mainly collect but a lot of freeglers have helped me out with me being so ill by dropping items off for me. Without freeglers, friends and neighbours I would still have nothing after starting out on a new life. Thanks freegle

December 7, 2021
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Hi Lin, Thank you for taking the time to write a Review. Really glad to hear that Freegle and our band of freeglers have managed to help you out. Take care.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Easy to communicate

Easy to communicate, clear and awesome that someone’s trash, really can be treasure 😄

December 5, 2021
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. Glad you are part of our reuse community. :-)

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Freegle is such a great idea!

Freegle is such a great idea! I have passed on several things that I couldn't have sold to people who were really chuffed to have them. Far better than sending it to landfill. Most people collect as agreed, and are very polite and pleasant to deal with too.

December 4, 2021
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Thank you for your review Donna. Glad you agree with us that to have stuff reused is better than just going to landfill.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Neurotic admins

Neurotic admins

Horrible site

Also very sarcastic

December 3, 2021
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Sorry you don't like us!! Not sure what you mean by "neurotic admins" though so I can't give you any reply to that comment as I don't understand it. :-)

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent idea, easy to use

Excellent platform to re-home unneeded items without waste, or to request needed items from the community. Extremely easy to use, and run by local volunteers.

December 3, 2021
Unprompted review
Freegle logo

Reply from Freegle

Thank you for taking the time to write a review HJ. Glad you are making good use of our site and are part of the reuse community.

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