Mail being stolen

Ammie

I'm so :mad: at the moment.

My mail is being opened or stolen and was hoping someone could advise me of the correct way to go about making a complaint.

The thing is I don't know if it's my neighbours or the post man that's doing it.

I've just gone to collect my mail and found the envelope from Lovefilm DVD rental opened but the 3 discs inside are gone.

This isn't the first time my rental discs have gone missing but it's the first time the thief has left the envelope.

I've also had DVD's from play.com go missing and sometimes my letters are opened.

I live in a house converted into 5 flats so unfortunately share my mailbox with 4 other flats. One particular family are a nightmare, always leaving the front door open, alcoholic father urinated in the communal hallway, smashing windows, loud arguments the list goes on.

It has to be that family or the post man as this problem was going on a few years ago, I got so mad I posted a letter for all tenants informing them that the police have been contacted. I didn't actually get around to doing so as it stopped after I'd posted the letter.

I'm sure it's not the other neighbours as one of them has had mail go missing also and they're fairly new so couldn't of been involved with the thieving a few years back.

I'm not sure how to handle this with Lovefilm. Do I contact Royal mail, and then inform Lovefilm of what has happened? I've had to report quite a few discs going missing with them but never that the envelope arrived without the discs. I'm not worried about my account being cancelled as I think I'm going to do that anyway in light of what's going on, but I'm concerned that they may turn around and charge me for the discs.

Any advice?

borders_dude

Have you thought about calling your local police?

If someone is opening your post, which is your property, and removing items which belong to you, and this is without your consent, then im sure that is theft!

juliescot

You can arrange to have your mail kept at the local sorting office for you to collect. Not ideal but may be a solution.

I suppose it is difficult to know if the mail is being tampered with before it arrives or after it is posted through your communal letter box, but there is no harm in contacting Royal Mail with your concerns. Someone, outwith our property was stealing our mail at one time. All I got was lame excuses from Royal Mail and a promise to investigate, however when our postman was changed we stopped having the problem which was a happy con-incidence.

borders_dude

Royal Mail have a team that deal with internal investigations, they can 'spy' on your postie, follow him etc to see if its him.

Call Royal Mail and the Police.

SmallEnglish

I would inform Royal Mail just in case it is happening from there, but sounds to me like it's your neighbours. I've had things arrive in an open or ripped envelope before, and Royal Mail always put it in a little plastic bag saying "sorry it got damaged" or something along those lines, so methinks they would have done the same with your open Lovefilm envelope?

I live in a block of flats too, we have individual locked mailboxes but if something is too big it gets left on top of the mailboxes. Lots of my post has gone missing, I think they've been left on top of the mailboxes and then tealeafed by a neighbour, so now I have any parcels delivered to my boyfriend's house. Is there a friend or family member who wouldnt mind you having stuff delivered there temporarily until you get the problem solved?

Do you rent your flat? If so, I would make a complaint through your landlord as well..

Ammie

borders_dude wrote: »

Have you thought about calling your local police?

If someone is opening your post, which is your property, and removing items which belong to you, and this is without your consent, then im sure that is theft!

I thought about that but I wasn't sure if they'd consider this a problem. I would of thought Royal Mail would contact them if they needed to look into this matter more.

It's actually 4 discs that were posted on the 23rd Sept that haven't showed up. The other disc was in a separate envelope. I was having delays with my post because of the strike but I'm pretty sure Lovefilm will charge me £100 once I report these discs missing as it's £25 per disc.

I'm so angry.

I rent my flat from a Housing association. I called them before I posted this and they fobbed me off and told me to go to Royal Mail or the police even though the problem could involve one of their tenants.

juliescot

Ammie wrote: »

I thought about that but I wasn't sure if they'd consider this a problem. I would of thought Royal Mail would contact them if they needed to look into this matter more.

It's actually 4 discs that were posted on the 23rd Sept that haven't showed up. The other disc was in a separate envelope. I was having delays with my post because of the strike but I'm pretty sure Lovefilm will charge me £100 once I report these discs missing as it's £25 per disc.

I'm so angry.

If you are going to get a bill for the discs then definitely report it to RM & the cops.
You should not be out of pocket.

Ivory_Tinkler

I'd be inclined to think that this is a neighbour/unwelcome visitor rather than the postie. I can't see that the postie would leave the empty envelopes....surely they just wouldn't deliver them at all and dispose of the evidence? Of course I may be wrong.

Definitely contact Royal Mail and get a reference number that you can pass onto Lovefilms to prove that the matter has been reported and get the police involved too (if they bother that is) and good luck with sorting this out.

custardy

where exactly do you 'collect' from?

Ammie

I've contacted Royal Mail and they've told me to fill out form P58 which seems to be more for compensation rather than mail theft.

I also went down the normal route of reporting a lost disc with Lovefilm. I have a feeling I'm going to get an email from them stating this has happened too much and they're charging me for the discs.

If I'm lucky they'll state they're dispatching other DVD's. Crazy thing is I'll have to wait for those replacements to arrive if I'm lucky then I can send them back and cancel my account. If I cancel my account now they'll demand the discs back which I can't provide, I'm just going around in a circle. :sad:

Thanks for all your advice. I truly don't understand the mindset of some people. Anything for an easy life and to hell with everyone else who works hard.

Ammie

custardy wrote: »

where exactly do you 'collect' from?

I just meant I went downstairs to the communal hallway.