Mail forwarding etiquette.

Van_Girl

YoungBlueEyes said:

Some of the bits -  clubcard, holiday brochures - I've started binning this year. It's the 'proper' stuff I'm on about really. Binning that seems wrong, but sending it back isn't working (you've more patience than me @vangirl!) 

To be fair, I purchased a stamp, so I'm not writing RTS on each one! Most is now junk, but initially it was bills, NHS, pensions, DVLA - everything!

Brie

YoungBlueEyes said:

@brie what did you do?!

Well there I was, home alone, not sleeping as it was just much too hot.  So laying on the bed with not a stitch on hoping that by leaving both the front and back doors open to my ground floor flat that there might be a bit of a breeze at some point.  Please note that this is far away where there are always double doors, one that's quite solid and then another with a screen to keep insects out.  So the solid ones were open but the screen doors were closed.  

So at silly o'clock I heard someone try to the back door, which was locked.  Could have pushed through the screen but the chap didn't.  My brain started whirling and I thought "did I lock the front door? no don't think I did. wonder if they'll try that.  how long will it take for them to walk around the house? do I have time to run and lock it?"  at which point I heard the front door open and someone walk into the lounge.

I got so angry in a "how dare they!!?!" kinda way so I jumped up off the bed and shouted "who's there?!" No answer of course.  I shouted again but still no answer.  So I grabbed the quilt off the bed, slung it around me and charged into the lounge where I spotted someone crouching behind the sofa by the stereo.  I leaned over the sofa and shouted "what the fff do you think you're doing?!" Poor lad stood up and stuttered "I'm waiting for a friend." 

I continued to harangue him "waiting for a friend? in my lounge? in the dark? in the middle of the night?"  No answer.  So I turned around to go back to the bedroom shouting over my shoulder "I'm calling the cops!!"  Chap followed me and was actually tugging slightly on my quilt saying "please don't!"  Got to the bedroom, called the cops and was actually talking to them before he ran off.  At which point I just about collapsed in a fit of jitters wondering what on earth possessed me.

Just to complete the tale.....cops were there about 2 minutes later and one of them actually asked me if I had had a fight with my boyfriend and was just trying to get him into trouble.  The other cop rolled his eyes and sent the idiot one to the police car to get any updates.  Next day I was rung up to be advised they had someone in custody and that i should come in to ID him.  No lineup unfortunately just a number of photos to look at which I got down to 2 and picked the wrong one.  So chap had burgled a few houses that night and mine was the only one he didn't get charged with as he hadn't taken anything so there was no proof he was actually there.  

YoungBlueEyes

Bladdy hell! The nerve! Who else is double checking they’ve locked the doors tonight 😳

[Deleted User]

Slinky said:

Brie said:

I hate the fact that we still get Christmas cards for the previous owners 5 years after we moved in.  I think it's really sad because at some point the sender will think the previous occupant has died or something as they likely may have stopped receiving card from the PO as well.  Annoyingly these never have return addresses - completely daft in my opinion.  

A friend of mine had homemade jam left on their doorstep for a couple of years in the Autumn. By year 3 they left a message for 'the person who leaves jam here' telling them the previous owners no longer lived there and it stopped. One jar exploded in their cupboard before anybody asks......... I don't think they kept the second one.

So what's you're saying is it wasn't a kind gift, but rather an assassination attempt.

[Deleted User]

Silvertabby said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

Gawd if someone owed me money and I'd bailiffs on the case, I'd want them to be a little more ....rigorous.... But thanks for putting my mind at rest

Some are ...a little more rigorous... but perhaps act beyond the law?

Some years ago, a friend lived at 1 St X's Close, at the same time that a family with, to put it mildly, major debt problems, lived round the corner at 1 St X's Grove.  Mail and 'visitors' were re-directed to the correct address but...

One sunny afternoon she popped out to her next door neighbour's barbecue, leaving her back door unlocked.  Only next door... safe area etc....

Another barbecue guest commented on the large van parked on my friend's drive and activity in the house, so several of the male barbecuers (all big Army guys) rushed round to find 2 men in black gathering up my friend's TV and other valuables.

After an Army type discussion on the importance of ensuring that they had the right address before taking stuff, the bailiffs re-connected the TV and hi-fi, put everything back neatly, and even hoovered up the mess they had made.

Sounds like they got off lucky there. Could easily have been prosecuted for criminal trespass and more.

[Deleted User]

YoungBlueEyes said:

Gawd if someone owed me money and I'd bailiffs on the case, I'd want them to be a little more ....rigorous.... But thanks for putting my mind at rest

Legally they can't do any more than that. Some might try it out of desperation, lots of pressure on them to recover something, which is why you should immediately call the police.

Letsgetmoving

We bought a repossession and it was years before the letters stopped. I put ‘no longer at this address’ and they eventually tapered off. The worst was a full year after we moved in opening a Christmas card by accident with others of ours and it was addressed ‘from granny’ who obviously didn’t know they’d moved. The previous owner had two young kids.

Once a policeman turned up on a bicycle, something about traffic offences. I often wonder if he’d arrested her would he have had to take her to the station on the handle bars…
like the few others who turned up I just said I wasn’t her and they didn’t even ask for ID!

a year is plenty of time. 

EssexHebridean

Brie said:

I hate the fact that we still get Christmas cards for the previous owners 5 years after we moved in.  I think it's really sad because at some point the sender will think the previous occupant has died or something as they likely may have stopped receiving card from the PO as well.  Annoyingly these never have return addresses - completely daft in my opinion.  

Also got some marketing trash for my MiL this week.  She died 6 months back and if I had more time I would have written "deceased" on the envelop and popped it into the post box.  

My parents moved to the house my Mum still lives in 25 years ago. Every Christmas since, they have had a card arrive addressed to the previous owners from “Auntie Joyce” - it’s become a standing joke in the family now! Never so much as a postcode and door number written in the back of the envelope, sadly, so no point in doing a “return to sender” even in the early days. Mum now just pops the card up with all of their own, so at least Auntie Joyce’s time and trouble in writing it, and use of a stamp gets appreciated by someone! 

EssexHebridean

deano2099 said:

[Deleted User] said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

Some of the bits -  clubcard, holiday brochures - I've started binning this year. It's the 'proper' stuff I'm on about really. Binning that seems wrong, but sending it back isn't working (you've more patience than me @vangirl!) 

So if a bailiff/whoever turns up, what do I do? Surely standing there saying "no that's not me, goodbye" isn't gonna satisfy them?

They are going to have to take your word for it. They have no legal right to demand ID or proof you aren't that person. If they won't leave, call the police to get rid of them.

On the other hand, if you show them ID, they might then actually update their books. 
I've had it twice in the past, once the guy asked for ID and never heard from them again. The other time the guy took my word for it, though I suspect that's because the name implied a specific racial appearance that I didn't match at all.

 The more unscrupulous would view it as having a different name to link to the alleged debt, however… (and yes, that does happen and it is also why we generally say not to put your signature on things like the ProveIt letter). 

The issue is conflating “Bailiffs” (meaning court approved, reputable, will generally know the law and what they can/can’t do) with “Debt Collectors” - not regulated, and usually essentially just hired muscle designed to frighten and intimidate.