British Heart Foundation Furniture & Electrical

I had arranged for BHF to collect a sofa of mine that is a few years old. Had an informative call before the collection with the store, and the lady was very pleasant and helped me work out whether or not my sofa was suitable for donation. After explaining there were a few worn patches (leather does wear) she said it was absolutely fine, as long as it was comfortable and not broken in anyway, that it would be fine. The delivery drivers turned up - poorly dressed, scruffy and rude. They called a few minutes before their arrival and it was a curt conversation with no pleasantries at all. On arrival at my home they physically laughed at my sofa, said it was in a state and they wouldn't take it or they would get fired. I've never felt so appalled - I look after my furniture and belongings, and this particular sofa had been regularly conditioned. I could have sold the sofa for between £100-£300 second hand, but decided it would be better to give to charity so a family could have a sofa at Christmas. Couldn't wait for these awful men to leave my house. I understand it's at the drivers discretion but it was a good quality sofa, with many years of wear left. I called another charity shop and delivered it to them, and they were delighted at the sofa. Clearly there was nothing wrong with my sofa. I know which charity I will be donating to in future.

I had arranged for BHF to collect a sofa of mine that is a few years old. Had an informative call before the collection with the store, and the lady was very pleasant and helped me work out whether or not my sofa was suitable for donation. After explaining there were a few worn patches (leather does wear) she said it was absolutely fine, as long as it was comfortable and not broken in anyway, that it would be fine. The delivery drivers turned up - poorly dressed, scruffy and rude. They called a few minutes before their arrival and it was a curt conversation with no pleasantries at all. On arrival at my home they physically laughed at my sofa, said it was in a state and they wouldn't take it or they would get fired. I've never felt so appalled - I look after my furniture and belongings, and this particular sofa had been regularly conditioned. I could have sold the sofa for between £100-£300 second hand, but decided it would be better to give to charity so a family could have a sofa at Christmas. Couldn't wait for these awful men to leave my house. I understand it's at the drivers discretion but it was a good quality sofa, with many years of wear left. I know which charity I will not be donating to in future.

Despite telling the lady who phoned me that I only had a double mattress to donate, having waited for two hours for the pick up, when they arrived, they told me that they would not take mattresses without a bed and promptly left. Would advise you to check with the person on the phone that the collectors will actually take what you are donating. Ended up paying the council to take a perfectly good mattress to the tip.

With all good intentions to benefit the British Heart Foundation I decided to gift my 2 seat leather sofa to the charity. Working full time it meant I had to take time off of work to await the delivery men to collect said sofa as collections can only take place Monday - Friday between 9 and 5pm. Whilst not ideal I decided to take the time away from work to enable the collection to take place. Further it wasn't possible to narrow the collection time to a 2 hour slot or even a morning or afternoon collection. Despite this I was lucky and was on the beginning of the route for the day. The men who came to collect seemed very nice and polite I have no qualms with them. They checked immediately for the fire safety certificate (which I had already checked myself before phoning the charity); all good so far. However as they were taking the sofa there was a critical inspection to the extent that cobwebs on the arms and cushions of the sofa (I have had to store the sofa in my shed pending collection) were commented on. Knowing that the sofa was in good condition I didn't worry until one of the cushions was presented to me with a small stain on the underside (i.e one that wouldn't be seen in daily use of the sofa). I explained that I thought it was a paint stain from decorating but one that I had previously cleaned to such an extent that the stain was very very faded/pale. I again went to clean it which helped to reduce the mark even further, however this was not sufficient. I was advised that unless the sofa was in immaculate condition the charity wouldn't accept it. This I find unbelievable. How can a second hand sofa which has been used be immaculate? The stain/mark wad barely visible anyway and would not have been visible once the sofa would have been assembled and yet this still was not good enough. The drivers left with a wasted journey and me with a wasted day off of work owing to the unrealistic expectations of the charity; the experience has deterred me from embarking on a similar charitable endeavour in the future.

Van drivers said the furniture wasn't good enough, this is fine, but perhaps it might save time if photographs were requested first to determine acceptability. There were also two bags of very good quality clothes (some had never been worn and still had the tags on) and again they briefly looked through and said they weren't good enough. I took them to a local charity shop who were very happy to have them. Unfortunately I don't think I would use this collection service again, though a supporter of the BHF