Misdelivered items / possible theft - should I keep out, or ...?

2 Posts

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!
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!
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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 goods are not unsolicited as they weren’t addressed to the new owner but to the OP.
Involuntary bailie covers this I think.
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.