Giving away appliances

yersp

Fri, Nov 30 2007, 12:02 pm

My brother recently moved and he gave me is fridge. It's about 2 years old with one cracked drawer. He originally wanted $400 but I said no. $300 and thats it. He gave back the key today so he was desperate to get rid of it. So he called me yesterday and said Fine, 300 it is. Meanwhile I had to call a person to deliver it to me which cost me another $160. I'm not crying over the money, what I'm upset about is that he had the chutzpah to give me a dirty fridge. The least that could've been done was to wash it down or have a cleaning lady do it. I just spent 2 hours which I dont have on a short friday washing it as if it were pesach. Dirty and smelly. A little mentchlichkyt goes a long way. I think I would've been better off buying a new one. What would you do? If you would be giving away an appliance, would you make sure it's clean?

Garden

Fri, Nov 30 2007, 12:05 pm

Don't mean to rub salt on a wound, but you could have bought a new fridge for nearly that price. And yes, if I was selling a fridge- I would DEFINITELY clean it first. Unless it was so last minute that he didn't have the time cuz he thought he didn't think he had a buyer..

yersp

Fri, Nov 30 2007, 12:06 pm

Either case I think it should've been cleaned. Whether you have a buyer or not or leave it in the apartment for the next tenant it all comes down to mentchlichkyt.

Clarissa

Fri, Nov 30 2007, 12:15 pm

I don't want to make you feel bad, but I think this wasn't very nice of him. Yes, I'd clean it if selling it. When I upgraded to a new fridge last year I had a perfectly nice one that I'd bought myself and had kept in pretty good condition, although it wasn't spotless. I gave it to someone who works in my building. Didn't sell it, I gave it, because I just don't feel right selling to someone I know. I did wipe it down, although I didn't scrub it or anything. And I did wash the various parts, just so it wouldn't be gross. I also gave away my old dryer at the same time, to another man who works here.

When I give away baby clothes or objects, I always wash them first.

Yes, if I was to sell it for $300 I most certainly would do my best to make it look as good as new.

Sorry about the weird situation. It's always awkward when something like that happens with a relative.

louche

Fri, Nov 30 2007, 1:12 pm

The only things that leave my house dirty are going out via the trash bin. Otherwise, whether it's being given to a friend, a gmach, Goodwill, or recycling, it gets cleaned first. As you say, it's only menschlich--besides making it more likely that it will actually be used and not thrown out by someone more fastidious. To give someone something dirty or in bad condition is an insult.

willow

Sat, Dec 01 2007, 1:11 pm

We got a beautiful and big FREE fridge from a couple that lives in the same city as us ( a big Hashgocha story). Anyways, we had been getting a lot of different items free during that time period and while I was always grateful and appreciative, it was tough to spend hours and hours (think 2 days 5 hours each day cleaning down some of the stuff). Yes they wanted to get rid of it but...
So we get this fridge and I am expecting the usual. I could not believe my eyes it was sparkling!!! When I called to thank them (profusely) the wife said my husband spend hours cleaning it.
So why did he clean it? He was doing us the Chessed. He cleaned it because he wanted to do Tzedaka with a full heart. He knew we were poor and while he could have just given it to us (here you should be grateful you are getting this free), he wanted to really give us something, not just shove it into our hands. I could barely speak and thank them enough for the respectful way we received it.

Raisin

Sat, Dec 01 2007, 1:25 pm

2 hours to clean a fridge???????? (what am I doing wrong?)

I guess you did a really good job. I would think your brother could have spent 20 minutes and got it looking basically clean.

If he gave it ito you it's one thing, but to sell you something and then give it to you dirty is a bit of a chutzpa.

Someone gave us a fridge recently and I don't think they cleaned it before, but it wasn't that dirty. I wouldn't have expected them to either, since they were moving abroad the next day and had plenty to do. Also it fit in our car so we didn't have to pay for transport, bh. (And the husband helped my dh shlep it)

Just curious, was it a big "american" fridge or a regular one?

amother

Sat, Dec 01 2007, 8:54 pm

I wouldn't go scrubbing it down. But I would give it a quick wipe down. I don't know what that fridge was like, but when you try to sell something, you want it to look as good as possible to put up the price. So then I'd wash it really well. But if It's really worth much more than $400, and I'm giving it to you for $300 - I'd give it a quick wipe. Not waste my cleaner's precious time on scrubbing down a fridge for s/o else. Of course, you didn't have to wash it on Friday. It could've waited until Motzei Shabbos.
But when I moved, I threw out all the garbage from our fridge/ cabinets.... and gave the fridge a quick wipe - even though I know the super will be doing it.

newmom

Sat, Dec 01 2007, 9:25 pm

He wasn't "giving it away", he was selling it. It should have been cleaned since you were paying for it. On the other hand, if it was for free it would be the mentchlich thing to do, but not mandatory.

yersp

Sun, Dec 02 2007, 12:45 am

The two hours I spent cleaning was the freezer and fridge w/o getting the gunk totally off the shelves. DH & I decided that we're deducting money from $300 he wanted. As if I wouldve had a cleaning lady to do it for me.
If the fridge would've been a bit dirty, yeah I wouldve waited till motzei shabbos, but this was downright disgusting.