Frequently Asked Questions

We can lift up to 6 items free of charge from residential properties throughout Wigtownshire, subject to the items being reusable and containing safety labels

Reusable = item of high-quality materials and no rips, tears, heavy scratches, or stains.

1. You can either telephone, message us on Facebook, or come in and see us at our centre in Stranraer.
2. We will then ask you a few questions about the items e.g. does the item have current fire regulation labels attached?
3. Once we have all the information we require we will book your request on to our database for collection, this will be in the morning (9.00am to 1.00pm), or afternoon (1.00pm to 5.00pm) between Monday and Friday. We can call you in advance of the day to narrow down the time we arrive.
4. On the day agreed with you, our van will arrive and uplift the item or items from you from within your property.

OR

If you would like to deliver the items to us yourself please contact a member of staff before setting off, to confirm that we are able to re-use them.

If we are unable to reuse the items we can take items away for disposal. This is a chargeable service, so we would encourage customers to confirm the price for this service in advance as there is a scale of charges depending on the weight of the items to be disposed of.

We reserve the right to sell or dispose of any item in our shop.

At the Community Reuse Shop we carry out portable appliance testing and function test electrical appliances on a daily basis as part of our quality standards for the reuse of electrical appliances.

In fact, we have tested 10’s of thousands of items so you can be safe in the knowledge that we have the experience as well as the competent, skilled and qualified personnel to undertake the portable appliance testing of electrical appliances.

You can be rest assured that our staff will be fully trained and qualified where necessary within their area of work along with the appropriate skills and experience to undertake the tasks required.

As part of our commitment to our staff and customers we ensure our staff undertake a full induction into our business. This will be complemented by one or more of the range of accredited and non-accredited training courses we have delivered to our staff throughout the year.

In any piece of work, we do we would ensure a method statement and risk assessment will be provided to ensure our team work to a prescribed programme and in a safe and coordinated fashion to ensure our customers are wholly satisfied with the outcome of our service.

A sample of the training provided to our staff

1. Basic first aid
2. Movement & Handling
3. Distribution & Warehousing SVQ level II
4. Risk assessments
5. Cooker connection/disconnection
6. Portable appliance testing
7. Administration SVQ level II
8. Open learning programmes

Revolve re-use quality standard:

The Revolve re-use quality standard is a sign of quality, reliability and professionalism.To achieve accreditation a shop must commit to continuously meet high standards. Revolve trains and checks to make sure standards are being met.  We are proud to advise both shops are Revolve accredited.

Buying from a Revolve accredited re-use store means:

• A commitment to quality – so you get great items, good value and excellent customer service
• Safety tested products – you can buy with confidence knowing that items have been checked and conform to modern safety standards
• You’ll be doing the right thing – Revolve accredited re-use stores care about environmental issues and their local communities

Find out more about Revolve: https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/revolve

When you donate your items to us they are organised in our warehouse and checked for quality.

As we are a revolve accredited charity, we aren’t able to sell items that are damaged or not in working order. When we have checked items over they are priced and put out on display for sale in our showroom.

All proceeds from the sale of goods in our shop is re-invested in back into the community.

If you are a UK tax-payer and sign up to gift-aid it means the charity which you are donating too can claim money off the government.

For every £1 of your items, we can claim back 25p. All you have to do as a donor is fill out a form so that we know which items you have donated, so we can claim the gift-aid on those specifically. More information on gift-aid and how it works can be found here.

We are always looking for volunteers to join our ever growing and diverse team.

If you are interested in becoming part of our team please contact us on 01776 707375 or complete our contact form on our contact us page