Misdelivered items / possible theft - should I keep out, or ...? 24 December 2022 at 12:07PM in Consumer rights 19 replies 1.3K views

RensterGB

Hi all, I hope this is the right forum for this question!

I'll keep this as concise as possible. We moved house about 18 months ago. When we moved we set up at 12 month redirection, during which we updated addresses etc as best we could. Recently I realised an order I placed online had been despatched to our old address. I tried to update the address, but the courier said "contact seller", and the seller said "contact the courier"! So instead I contacted the new owner, with whom I'd always tried to be friendly, apologising profusely and asking to arrange collection.

She advised me I'd have to take it up with the courier / seller. She also then claimed I'd done nothing about updating our address, refused to accept that I had etc, and claimed to have been binning 3-4 pieces of mail a week from day 1. Long story short she really didn't want to help us help her, and just wanted to bin anything! Anyway, she finally agreed to put such mail out every few days for us to collect, for one month. 

Meanwhile, I contacted the seller of the misdelivered package, who could see the evidence from the courier of the package being delivered through the "old" letterbox. They were very good, and arranged replacements to be delivered to our (updated!) address. They also advised they'd open an investigation into the missing original package, explaining that the new occupant was obliged to either get the package to me as the addressee, or return it to them.

We've now had the first collection of misdirected post, but no package was included. I've contacted the seller of the package again, who advised there was no sign on their systems of it being returned - so far.

It looks to me like she's either binned it, or is keeping it. I've no proof, and despite my early attempts to keep things friendly and civilised, communications now are at all but zero. 

If the seller is saying they are investigating, should I just keep out of it now since I have had replacements / refunds, or...??

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts!

MorningcoffeeIV

The last thing the seller needs is an amateur sleuth interfering. Leave them to investigate in peace.

WhiskersTheWonderCat

RensterGB said:

Meanwhile, I contacted the seller of the misdelivered package, who could see the evidence from the courier of the package being delivered through the "old" letterbox. They were very good, and arranged replacements to be delivered to our (updated!) address. They also advised they'd open an investigation into the missing original package, explaining that the new occupant was obliged to either get the package to me as the addressee, or return it to them.

Pretty sure that the current occupant has absolutely no obligation to get the package to you. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Leave them to it. You're sorted out, it's now up to the seller to decide how far they want to take it. I very much doubt there's anything they can do, and I can't see what any intervention from you is going to contribute, anyway.

unforeseen

We've now had the first collection of misdirected post, but no package was included. I've contacted the seller of the package again, who advised there was no sign on their systems of it being returned - so far. 

As you're arrangement was set up after the item was allegedly delivered then they may well have binned it already. 

Leave it to the seller, but in reality there is absolutely nothing they can do (even legally) to recover the package. They can investigate until the cows come home but without solid evidence that the householder physically took possession (picture of the door means nothing) then they are powerless. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

WhiskersTheWonderCat said:

RensterGB said:

Meanwhile, I contacted the seller of the misdelivered package, who could see the evidence from the courier of the package being delivered through the "old" letterbox. They were very good, and arranged replacements to be delivered to our (updated!) address. They also advised they'd open an investigation into the missing original package, explaining that the new occupant was obliged to either get the package to me as the addressee, or return it to them.

Pretty sure that the current occupant has absolutely no obligation to get the package to you. 

Why not?

The goods are not unsolicited as they weren’t addressed to the new owner but to the OP.

Involuntary bailie covers this I think. 

Just to add if the company have replaced really the problem is between the seller and the new owner, great if OP helps out but it’s not their cause to pursue.

TELLIT01

The new property occupier certainly has no obligation to forward mail or packages, but should mark any mail as 'Not at this address' or similar and stick it back in the post.  How to handle courier delivered items is not so straightforward.  I've had a courier delivery today and there is a vendor name and a courier name on the outside but nothing else.  No contact details for either.  How much effort should the recipient make to try to return the item?

I've seen people on this board tearing their hair out trying to contact courier companies with problems over deliveries of items they are expecting, so I can't see the recipient of something which is not for them making that much effort.

RhondaD

I had this with the previous occupier if my property who seemed to think I was their personal secretary. Everyone else manages to update addresses after 18 months. In the end he even had CBR checks sent direct to my address and pretended he forgot to tell them where he lived. I also had fines from the dentist addressed directly to my property. Eventually i got so sick of all the text messages asking me for his mail 2 years after they moved out that I just blocked them in the end and the whole lot went back return to sender. I wouldn't even be leaving mail outside for you after all this time I'm afraid. It would be straight back in the post not known at this address. Doing you a favour for a short period is one thing, when it stretches into years it starts to over step boundaries and take the mickey a bit. It doesn't sound like this is the only account you haven't updated if she's still getting post every week and having to be asked to leave it outside every few days. Not forgetting of course that you're also leaving yourself wide open to identity theft by not updating addresses. Fraudsters only need a few personal details about you to set up accounts in your name.

WhiskersTheWonderCat

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

WhiskersTheWonderCat said:

RensterGB said:

Meanwhile, I contacted the seller of the misdelivered package, who could see the evidence from the courier of the package being delivered through the "old" letterbox. They were very good, and arranged replacements to be delivered to our (updated!) address. They also advised they'd open an investigation into the missing original package, explaining that the new occupant was obliged to either get the package to me as the addressee, or return it to them.

Pretty sure that the current occupant has absolutely no obligation to get the package to you. 

Why not?

The goods are not unsolicited as they weren’t addressed to the new owner but to the OP.

Involuntary bailie covers this I think. 

Just to add if the company have replaced really the problem is between the seller and the new owner, great if OP helps out but it’s not their cause to pursue.

What is reasonable to expect of a person? Why should somebody have to put in time, money and effort to rectify somebody else's carelessness. If I receive a parcel to "John Doe" at my address, how would I even go about forwarding that on? It would be impossible, and absolutely not my responsibility to do so. And what are the legal implications if it gets lost/damaged after you have forwarded it on? 

In this circumstance, I think the new homeowner has been very reasonable. It's been 18 months and the OP has been repeatedly contacting her regarding forwarding on mail. She claims to have been binning mail at a rate of 1-4 pieces a week, so clearly the OP hasn't done much to update his information. The new homeowner has reluctantly offered to leave his mail out every few days for an extended period of one more month. How much mail is still going to her address?! Maybe instead of harassing her to make even more efforts for him, he should instead be making sure no more mail is delivered incorrectly. 

born_again

TBH. If the new people living at the house, do not know the previous owner. Best bet is to send back to retailer. Could be anyone turning up at door saying they have ordered something to wrong address.

eskbanker

RensterGB said:

We moved house about 18 months ago. When we moved we set up at 12 month redirection, during which we updated addresses etc as best we could.

[...]

She also then claimed I'd done nothing about updating our address, refused to accept that I had etc, and claimed to have been binning 3-4 pieces of mail a week from day 1.

[...]

We've now had the first collection of misdirected post, but no package was included

Your tone suggested disbelief that mail was still being delivered to your old address but it clearly still is, so your 'best' efforts to update everyone were obviously inadequate, even using the old address yourself 18 months on. When you refer to 'misdirected' post, do you mean that the sender has got it wrong or just that you failed to tell them you'd moved?