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Parcel left in 'safe' place by hdnl - yeah right!

Just a note to warn anyone ordering from Amazon in the upcoming festive period (and at all other times!).

I ordered two books from Amazon on Sunday and while delivery is super quick (I always opt for the free 2-4 business days option) it's not safe! The courier hdnl decided that it was a safe place to leave the parcel underneath my external doormat. The parcel was large (two thick hardback books - one a cookbook and another a '1001...' type book). I live in a ground floor flat (non-secure entry) and a number of people cut through the block to get other places and I have 5 other neighbours who pass by my door to get to theirs. How is this secure? Anyone could have lifted the parcel!

This also happened in April of this year when I ordered a book for my brother's birthday. The delivery was delayed when usually it is prompt but I just figured it was slower than usual. However, two days after his birthday (after profuse apologies to him that I was, as ever, super organised but the delivery was slow) I received the parcel under my doormat. I also received a note saying this was the second attempt (9 days after the first - why so long between attempts?!) and it had been left in a safe place. I queried with Amazon why it had not been left in this 'safe' place the first time and their response was that it was not safe to put the note through my door as it was ground floor! Yet, attempt two it is safe to put the actual parcel under the doormat?....and a note through the door anyway. Absolutely bizarre but just a warning to beware of parcels placed in supposedly safe places! I'll be contacting Amazon again but last time their responses were substandard and infuriating.:mad:
This time last year - 3 credit cards and 2 overdrafts maxed out. This year - no overdrafts and one card with reasonable balance! It's strangely satisfying getting them cleared!
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Comments

  • jblack_2
    jblack_2 Posts: 1,435 Forumite
    We had a parcel left in the wheelie bin. That wouldn't have been a problem normally but it was on the pavement for a reason. It was collection day.
  • Got home today and found a note in our post box from Home Delivery Network

    Parcel left in safe place: Under Brush near postboxes.

    It had been left in a bush next to the house. As it was dark when we got home, my husband had to rummage through the bush until he found it. Absolutely ridiculous.
  • ~daisy~_2
    ~daisy~_2 Posts: 2,566 Forumite
    we had a parcel thrown in through an open window once - we disputed delivery on principle....
    :j MFi3 wannabee :j
    mortgage owing 04.07 £36,000
    mortgage owing 07.10 £0 !!!!
  • ~daisy~ wrote: »
    we had a parcel thrown in through an open window once - we disputed delivery on principle....

    Sorry but that totally made me laugh out loud!

    I'm a visual thinker and an image of you sitting there peacefully with a cup of tea watching tv then becoming totally shocked by an object suddenly being thrown in your window came to mind..... :rotfl:

    To be fair if it happened to me I probably would burst out laughing as it's such a ridiculous thing for someone to do!
    "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" (Douglas Adams)
  • DD265
    DD265 Posts: 2,203 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Homepage Hero Name Dropper
    I work for a mail order company and the couriers drive me mad sometimes!

    For one customer we might have put a note on the parcel saying leave in shed. The couriers put a card through "we couldn't deliver." Why didn't they leave it in the shed? "We need a signature from the customer to authorise it."

    The next customer might be saying they never received their parcel, but the tracking shows that it was delivered. What's happened? Well apparently the driver can leave it wherever they like without prior authorisation.

    I'm not sure what bothers me most - the double standards or them trying to claim that they can just dump a parcel wherever!
  • Vaila
    Vaila Posts: 6,301 Forumite
    after reading this thread , i really think i should have complained when they left an amazon order outside my front door (they didnt ring the bell either) i was bloomin lucky that no one nicked the parcel
  • A few years ago I ordered a set of new curtains from a mail order company which I didn't receive but they insisted had been delivered. I was just as insistent that they had not been delivered and eventually they sent another set. Fast forward 2 or 3 years and my husband decided to sort out and empty the out-house which was full old furniture and junk. The very last item to be taken out was a tall book case, standing against the back wall and there on the floor, in the corner was a dusty, old package containing a set of new curtains.:rotfl:
  • kitschkitty
    kitschkitty Posts: 3,177 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I got a delivery from the book people last year.

    They left it on my window sill.

    I live in a terraced house, it was raining and late at night!

    If I hadn't had to go and put the rubbish out there's no way I'd have had my book in the morning - not with the amount of school kids and other people walking down our street.
    A waist is a terrible thing to mind.
  • Becles
    Becles Posts: 13,171 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I ordered a crockery set, which had "FRAGILE" written all over the box. It was a rainy day, so the driver decided to throw the box over a six foot fence into our back garden. Came home to a lovely mess of broken crockery and soggy cardboard on the patio :(
    Here I go again on my own....
  • bazzaboo
    bazzaboo Posts: 244 Forumite
    We had an agreement with our postie to leave any parcels in the recycling bin in our back garden when we weren't in. One morning I let the dog out, left dh in bed and went to work. I got home, both dh and dog upstairs still sleeping. Went in the conservatory and there was a parcel on the sofa. I never shut the back door before I left so postie must have seen it and put the parcel on the sofa.
    I didn't mind it but what boogles me is how dh or the dog never heard the doorbell in the first place and how the postie was able to get in the garden without alerting the dog,who is a big german sheperd and usually alerts us to any movement outside the front door or garden.
    Guess the 2 were so tired/lazy nothing would've got them out of bed. :D
    :hello:
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