Vent: That 'free couch' on Facebook Marketplace cost me $400 in the end

Picked up a free sectional from a lady in Bloomington last Tuesday, said it just needed a good vacuum. Got it home and found a colony of carpet beetles living in the bottom cushion. Had to toss the whole thing, then paid an exterminator $300 to treat my living room and another $100 for a steam cleaner rental. Anyone else get burned by a "free" couch that wasn't really free?

2 comments

2 Comments

harper_murphy18d agoMost Upvoted

Had a buddy who picked up a "free" refrigerator once. Turned out the owner had moved out and left it full of food that had been rotting for weeks. Took him two days to get the smell out.

robinson.holly17d ago

Oh man, the "free food included" fridge story is brutal. That's exactly the kind of thing I've noticed too. It's like when people give away something for free, they often skip the basic decency of cleaning it up first. In my experience, there's a weird pattern where folks treat free stuff like it's disposable garbage, even if it's a perfectly good item that just needs a wipe down. Your mileage may vary, but I've seen it with furniture, mattresses, even old TVs. They'll leave them in a basement with mouse droppings or cigarette burns and act like you should be grateful for the privilege of hauling it away. Take this with a grain of salt, but I always ask for a detailed photo and a "has this been cleaned?" question before I agree to pick anything up for free. It's saved me from a few nasty surprises, at least.