Would you steal someone else’s post? Poll Results/Discussion

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  • mjhatcher
    mjhatcher Posts: 16 Forumite
    LimeLight wrote: »
    I've been in my house for nearly a year, and i'm still getting letters for the last tenant.

    I usually open them so i can get the phone number of the latest bailiff looking for her and contacting them.

    I get stuff for the bloke that was here before her too!

    I'm really glad that I moved from my previous flat, because we were constantly getting bailiff demands for parking fines and loan default letters from previous residents.

    It's not particularly nice to get these threatening letters through your door, even if they are not directed at you. After that I had no qualms about opening every piece of mail addressed to previous residents, including bills, so that I could sort it all out.

    My new house seems to be largely free of this problem, although I am getting very sick of forwarding on credit card statements. How people can be so foolish as to not change their address for these important accounts is beyond me!
  • wolfehouse
    wolfehouse Posts: 1,394
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    i had a neighbour (who i don't know personally) who kept a whole years subscription of a magazine which was a present from a relative.

    they were adressed to me and refused to give them back even though he still had all of them.
    i only found out when the renewal notice came. if he had returned to sender maybe the magazine company would have written to the original purchaser. or maybe the mailman who knows us would have twigged...

    it's not quite the same if someone moves away. i had post from the last occupier for 4 years. didn't bother me though, just popped in the mailbox- adressee not at this adress.
  • Once more we have a poll with not enough options - eg. it depends on what it was, would the nosey individuals on here still open it if the envelope was marked private and confidential. If the previous occupant were deceased would they then open it? (how can a dead person provide a forwarding address or set up redirection to the pearly gates (or the local cemetery)? What a prying collection of people we are becoming?
    If it were a magazine, as mentioned at the start, then maybe yes, I would have a look, if it interested me, then throw it.
  • Cameron
    Cameron Posts: 68
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    If you recieved a letter addressed to someone else....what would you do!

    Bearing in mind the post office loose millions upon millions of letters! - that is some pile of post where do they go?
    Advice is cheap! Hence their is a lot of it about!
    Try not to be a victim!
  • I would return it not least as the person may have paid a subscription. When I moved a few years ago despite having my post forwarded some of it went to my old address and I would have been really angry if the new occupant had kept it. Even junk mail should always be returned if the recipient has moved.

    Junk mail should always be returned to sender. Just put "Return to Sender" on it and pop it in the letterbox.

    That way, the sender will have to pay for it twice, thus supporting our wonderful Royal Mail :j
  • laughing_cow
    laughing_cow Posts: 597 Forumite
    neiljmac wrote: »
    Junk mail should always be returned to sender. Just put "Return to Sender" on it and pop it in the letterbox.

    That way, the sender will have to pay for it twice, thus supporting our wonderful Royal Mail :j

    I do this for our block - I'd say about 60% of our post is for people who haven't lived there for at least a couple of years, sometimes 10 years or more. :rolleyes: How many companies take notice though and remove people from their mailing lists? There are companies who I've sent post back to at least 10 times, and still they send their damn brochures!

    Whilst I don't open post as a general rule, there are some circumstances where I do. There was a woman getting M+S online parcels (clothes, all paid for on cc) sent to my address but no-one in my block or neighbours had ever heard of her. I opened it to get the details and phoned M+S to say I would be sending it back. This happened a further 5 times over the next 6 months! (You would think they would make a note or something :rolleyes: ) On the last parcel I phoned M+S and told them that I would not be wasting my time on another trip to the post office. I gave them a date and told them to collect it and that if they didn't, I would give the items to charity, which I did (although admittedly I might have kept them if they were my size!).

    I have also opened letters addressed to my flat which are not for me. I've lived there for 8 years and I know the previous owners name, so I'm suspicious when bank statements or mobile phone bills for someone else suddenly come to my home - in these cases I've opened the post and phoned up the company to tell them someone is either mistakenly or fraudulently using my address. This happened quite a few times when we had builders working on our communal areas who had access to the post in the hallway :rolleyes: .
  • Glowboy
    Glowboy Posts: 175 Forumite
    mjhatcher wrote: »
    My new house seems to be largely free of this problem, although I am getting very sick of forwarding on credit card statements. How people can be so foolish as to not change their address for these important accounts is beyond me!

    The previous owners of our house left a forwarding address with a neighbour but didn't arrange redirection. We had dozens of items of mail - the neighbour patiently readdressed and posted them at first, then rang asking them to set up a redirection. The phone number wasn't valid so she got the hint and after that everything went back in the post marked "no longer at this address".

    A couple of months later, I "accidentally" opened a credit card statement and understood why they didn't want to be found.
    :eek:
  • When I first moved into my home I sent all post back as 'no longer at this address' but after living at the address for 2 years I am now bored and tend to bin the post which is now rare.

    But I do believe the previous owners solicitors who helped them do all the legal part of the move are stupid as I am still receiving post for the previous owners from the solicitors (solicitors have their name branded on the envelope) so I just throw it away.

    I don't tend to open people's post but if what is inside is obvious than yes I would but as I think someone else said if it happened twice I would send the magazine back and contact the company to inform them of the error.
  • MABLE
    MABLE Posts: 4,077
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    The lady who we bought our house from turned up a year later asking if there was any mail for her. During that time we received about 300 letters and just returned them to the sender. However the lady was annoyed we did not keep them. B....DY CHEEK.
  • zzzLazyDaisy
    zzzLazyDaisy Posts: 12,497
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    Opening someone elses mail is a criminal offence and you can be prosecuted. Having said that I am still getting junk mail for a couple who lived in this house 5 years ago. I put it through the shredder
    I'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.
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