Dealing with other people's post

regency_man

Hi,


I bought my house just under 3 years ago and when I moved in I was receiving a lot of other people's mail, as the property had previously been rented out. I thought this would just be a short term thing but 33 months later I'm still receiving mail for several individuals at the rate of 3-5 letters per week.



At first I was returning these on a regular basis, but soon this became too much admin so I would batch them up and return them every month or so. Now I'm frustrated with even that so I've started to open anything that isn't specifically marked "Private and Confidential" and contact the companies directly, and shred anything marked confidential.



This has got me thinking about 2 things.



1) Are you under any legal obligation to do anything with other people's mis-directed post? Am I within my rights to open them and contact these companies directly? Similarly, can I destroy this mis-directed mail?



2) There are several persons/companies who I know I have returned mutiple letters to, and even contacted, but they do not stop sending them to me. Particularly a Ms Rai who's Tesco Clubcard mail is still sent here despite me returning over 10 letters to Tesco and even contacting them directly about it. Is there any law or regulation I can invoke on these companies to stop them delivering this to me? As it's become a real nuisance. Could I even send the relevant companies a bill for handling their mis-directed mail if I can demonstrate I've given them adequate opporunity to recognise and correct their error?!



Cheers.

Lokolo

I did this for 12 months, then got fed up. Now anything thats not addressed to me goes into the recycling bin.

Not my problem if people can't be bothered to be organised.

need_an_answer

I have usually found that the majority of post stops when returned

NOT AT THIS ADDRESS RETURN TO SENDER

I've no idea about any law or penalty you could impose but wonder what the implications of spending the clubcard vouchers would be?

davidmcn

need_an_answer wrote: »

I've no idea about any law or penalty you could impose but wonder what the implications of spending the clubcard vouchers would be?

I don't think you can without the corresponding Clubcard.

You could ask them to send you a duplicate card I suppose but then you're definitely getting into the realms of fraud.

davidmcn

regency_man wrote: »

Are you under any legal obligation to do anything with other people's mis-directed post?

No

Am I within my rights to open them and contact these companies directly?

Yes

Similarly, can I destroy this mis-directed mail?

Yes, though I'd maybe think twice if it was something of intrinsic value.

Could I even send the relevant companies a bill for handling their mis-directed mail

To spend two seconds looking at it and chucking it in the bin? No.

need_an_answer

davidmcn wrote: »

I don't think you can without the corresponding Clubcard.

You could ask them to send you a duplicate card I suppose but then you're definitely getting into the realms of fraud.

yes you can,they just scan through.

I have an old account with T and the card is long gone but I still accumulate points via online shopping.The vouchers are redeemed sometimes with my other card and sometimes not when a clubcard has been entered with the transaction.They just beep through the till and I've never been questioned about it.

regency_man

need_an_answer wrote: »

I have usually found that the majority of post stops when returned

NOT AT THIS ADDRESS RETURN TO SENDER

I've no idea about any law or penalty you could impose but wonder what the implications of spending the clubcard vouchers would be?

That's exactly the phrase I use, I even printed it out onto several pages of mailing labels because I got bored with writing it so often!


Most have stopped but the worst seem to be finance companies chasing debts who just keep passing the same dud data onto further collection agencies. And bizarrely, Tesco. Then there is the smattering of marketing mail that doesn't even have a return address on it.

need_an_answer

davidmcn wrote: »

I don't think you can without the corresponding Clubcard.

You could ask them to send you a duplicate card I suppose but then you're definitely getting into the realms of fraud.

But are you getting into the realms of fraud when the OP can prove many requests to stop sending and them continuing to send correspondence and vouchers to his address.

My point being whos at fault here the OP for using the vouchers or T for sending them after repeatedly being told not to.

regency_man

davidmcn wrote: »

No
Yes
Yes, though I'd maybe think twice if it was something of intrinsic value.
To spend two seconds looking at it and chucking it in the bin? No.

Well, you say that, but on the flip-side insurnace and finance companies will happily charge me £35 to update my details on their system if I call - which is a 30 second job.



If I get many more from Tesco I will do this just for the heck of it and see what happens
I think I could easily justify £5 of my time and materials to process, re-address and post their return mail for them.

victoriavictorious

We're still getting the odd letter/Christmas card addressed to a previous owner who sold the house 20 years ago!
And we were also getting letters addressed to our vendors, 5 years after they'd moved out. They hadn't bothered to pay for RM redirection and the senders ignored our requests to stop sending stuff, so after the first couple of years we'd had enough and just 'filed' them in the recycling.
Happy to stand corrected on this, but I'd say it's not a bad idea to check your credit file, to make sure that a previous occupant's name is not associated with your address.

need_an_answer

We still get a lovely chrismas card each year from a family who clearly knew the occupants of our house before we moved in.

The strange thing is they still send it 27 years after we bought the house,its a shame the previous people didn't let them know a forwarding address.

I'd love to send a card back one year but theres never a return address,it almost feels as if they have been sending us cards far longer than the true recipient.

If one year it stopped i'd probably miss it and wonder whats gone wrong!