Furniture Bank of Central Ohio

I thought I was doing the right thing by trying to donate some old furniture that I didn’t need while moving out of my apartment. Because of them though, I ended up paying close to $ 200 instead. They were very friendly and helpful the first time I called in, said the pickup would only be $ 50 which I thought was reasonable for the resources they would need to use. The woman told me they would call the day before to give me a time window on the day that I requested, they never called. The apartment was completely empty except for the furniture they were supposed to take, I hadn’t been there in months. The day they were supposed to come I got to my apartment about 11 thinking they may be there in the afternoon sometime, instead I was left with a note from 930am that morning that they had been there. I have since tried to call them 3 times to at least get a refund of the $ 50 I paid, I am either unable to get through at all or they tell me that the woman who handles their credit cards is busy and she will call me back. She has never called back. I ended up having to call another company who charged me $ 168 to haul the furniture away to be trashed. My credit card company has tried to contact them as well to recover my funds and has been unsuccessful as well.

This review is based on a volunteer experience here.
I came with a group of colleagues on a Saturday morning to spend 2 – 3 hours building furniture for this organization. First, we were introduced to what the organization does and who they service, which was informative since I didn’t organize this activity and didn’t really know much going into this organization. We were all split up to do different tasks: painting, power sanding, building kitchen tables, building dressers. The warehouse is a bit on the cool side, which we were prepared for, and we all wore clothes we were willing to get dirty. Used aprons are provided if you wanted to protect your clothes some more, particularly if you are painting. There was also filtered water available, and two bathrooms. I was part of a team of 3 building donated DIY dressers with 2 short drawers and 3 long ones. Building the first one took a little time since we were going through the steps one by one. Also, one of the panels to a drawer was cut incorrectly and could not be used at all to build the drawer. I guess the Furniture Bank was donated items from the reject pile? Anyway, we were told that another volunteer might end up making a panel from scratch. We also built two more (complete) dressers before time was up, and we were picking up speed with each one. Another team of 3 building the same dressers built a total of 4 dressers. I enjoyed my experience, and I thought it was a great, fun volunteer activity for groups.

Donated washer/​dryer to Furniture Bank of Central Ohio today.
They made it easy to schedule, with great follow-​up to calls and voicemails from Ashley, as well as 1 day and 30 min call-​ahead service on pickups, something not all non profits have been able to do for us in similar scenarios — super helpful for working folks.
Furniture goes to folks rehabilitating from domestic violence, drugs, or jail time.
They had my donation receipt all ready. They also take kitchen goods, so I threw in an old knife and silverware set. Hope it helps someone get back on their feet.
Great organization, give them a like:

I recently wrote a review on our experience with the furniture bank. While we had a lot of trouble getting the dining room table delivered and it ended up being broken, the situation was eventually resolved. The company made a special effort to come back and look at the situation and get the matter resolved quickly. They were also willing to come by on my schedule. We are pleased with our outcome and the table is now fixed.

First: My experience is based on attempting to donate furniture only.
I became aware of the Furniture Bank when I saw them at the Unilocal Helps! event. I had some extra furniture in my home from an ex-​roommate, and felt it would be a good opportunity to donate to them.
When I called to schedule a donation, I was asked if I had pets in the home. I explained that I had two cats. I asked if this would be a problem, and I was told no.
A pickup was scheduled, and I was told their truck would arrive around 11:00 and 2pm. When I asked if they were likely to be early or late, I was told «Almost certainly early.»
The truck did not arrive until after 3pm, and I had to call THEM to get info on when the truck was going to show up.
When the Furniture Bank truck arrived, I was told that one piece couldn’t be taken because it wasn’t in good enough condition. Fine, fair enough.
Then I showed them the rest of the items I had planned to donate, and the furniture bank team told me they could not be taken because I had cats. «They get too much cat smell on them!»
I wish the furniture bank team had been up front about not taking donations from homes with cats, and I wish they’d been more responsive about when their team was actually going to be able to attempt a pickup, so I didn’t sit around my house for four hours instead of going out to get things done that day. Selfish? Probably, but the experience was very, very frustrating.