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AIBU?

To get annoyed with being used as a postbox

166 replies

Hothammock · 12/05/2021 05:02

About 2 months ago we started getting post for a name who doesn't live at my property, has never lived at my property. Conscious of the risk of fraud I kept a record of the company it was from and then did 'return to sender not at this address' and shoved it back in the postbox.

About a week later, a woman turned up to say she was a relative of a lady a few doors down and to ask if we were getting Mail for someone else. She got DH at the door who wasn't aware of the letter I had returned so he said no. She told DH that when the mail comes he should give it to their relative x neighbour and explained her own husband had set up a redirect and changed all his banking details etc to the wrong address-our house rather than their relatives house down the street.

I thought this was all a bit odd especially as the woman wasn't claiming to be the person on the letter, and it wasn't my neighbour coming to explain this, for all we knew it was a random stranger.

After this we started getting loads more post and some with redirected stickers on. Basically someone had set up a redirect with Royal mail to our house. It says it lasts to October 2021 on the envelopes!

We now get more mail for this person than for ourselves.

The woman hasn't been seen since and I haven't seen my neighbour either-she works shifts and hasn't made any effort to speak to me etc about this. She is a nice friendly lady and we chat maybe 2 or 3 times a year if we bump into each other on our street. She lives alone and is in the process of selling her house so the story of a relative redirecting post there until October doesn't add up anyway!

Aibu to shove it all back in the postbox as not at this address? I am really irritated about this random woman's husband using my address whether it's an accident or not, she doesn't seem to be doing anything to correct her mistake and surely I shouldn't just be handing over post addressed to x man to a random woman claiming to be connected to a neighbour. They do not even live at the neighbours house either.

OP posts:

Am I being unreasonable?

1577 votes. Final results.

POLL
You are being unreasonable
1%
You are NOT being unreasonable
99%
ThePawtriarchy · 12/05/2021 05:09

YANBU and I’d keep an eye on your credit report too, just in case - maybe even electoral roll for that matter? Could you take it into the Post Office and explain maybe - that the redirect is incorrect? Other than that I’d dump it straight back into the mail box.

Mumdiva99 · 12/05/2021 05:10

Put it all back in the post box. Tell the postman too (if you have a friendly one....ours intercepted mail to the previous occupants for a while when they didn't have a redirect). The onus is on the man that made the mistake to go to the post office and fix it.
I would offer different advice if a new neighbour had moved in and lived next door to you and had made a mistake with the redirect. But not for a random person.

Onesnowynight · 12/05/2021 05:11

Just put it all back in the postbox, something doesn’t sound right.

BoomBoomsCousin · 12/05/2021 05:20

You should be able to stop the Redirection by going to the post office and lodging an objection.

LadyPenelope68 · 12/05/2021 05:36

Go to the Post Office and lodge an objection to the Re-direction. This happened to my sister and it massively impacted her credit rating and she had issues with parking tickets turning up that weren’t hers etc, etc. It was an absolute nightmare.

101spacehoppers · 12/05/2021 05:56

It's really easy for them to change the redirect, there's a particular number on the royal mail website. They need to call and get it changed. They won't get charged again, if they're worried about that.

AnUnoriginalUsername · 12/05/2021 06:05

Very weird, if it were true the first.thing they'd do is change the redirect, not go find the house they accidentally redirected their mail to and ask them to keep their private mail. They don't know you, why would they want you to have control of their mail?

Doghead · 12/05/2021 06:16

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Pinchoftums · 12/05/2021 06:20

Ignore @Doghead it definitely can be an issue. Great way to. Use your address for all sorts of shit.

Heatingsystemwoes · 12/05/2021 06:22

Take a pile of redirected letters to your local delivery office (the place you collect your own parcels from).
Tell them that someone is using your address without permission and you would like it to stop.
If you get any more mail after doing this, bag it up and repeat.
I would not hand anything over to anyone else including the woman at your door, her husband or your neighbour. If they come knocking tell them that the post office is sorting it out and they can get in touch with them.

BlackCatShadow · 12/05/2021 06:22

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Heatingsystemwoes · 12/05/2021 06:24

@Doghead

Non issue.

Stick it back in the box and find something else to whine about

You’d be happy for someone to redirect their bank, credit card statements to your house?
Parking fines? Speeding tickets? Default notices?
sandgrown · 12/05/2021 06:24

I don’t think you would like it @Doghead and as others have said it could be something dodgy. The man could have sorted it himself by contacting the post office.

Itwasjustresting · 12/05/2021 06:47

Ignore Doghead. You have a potential nightmare on your hands. Been there, moved house in the end to get away from it.

Sign up to all the credit reference agencies and make sure no loans are being taken out to your address. Although technically the loan is to the person not the address it can still cause problems. If there is any way to get an alert put on your address get that done so you can see if debts are starting to pile up.

Open any of the letters that look like they are from banks. It’s only a crime if you’re intending to act to the person’s detriment. Again, you are looking for any evidence of loan defaults.

Get ready to write a lot of letters to bailiffs.

Have a standard letter ready and send to all of the official organisations that are writing to you - something like Mr X does not live here and has never lived here, please correct your records and advise me when you have done this.” Don’t just reply on Return to Sender for financial stuff.

The credit reference agencies are the big thing to sort as everything else flows from that.

Itwasjustresting · 12/05/2021 06:54

*rely on

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 12/05/2021 06:55

It absolutely IS a problem and could become quite serious. Although mail re-direction fraud is usually about someone directing your mail away from your home address to the fraudster's address, and them using your information to apply for credit etc. Can destroy your credit rating!

However, I think you do absolutely have to take the bull by the horns here, call Royal Mail and tell them there is fraudulent activity against your address and you need the redirected mail to stop coming, as the person the mail is for does not and has never lived there.

I'm staggered at the barefaced cheek of some people, honestly!

Itwasjustresting · 12/05/2021 06:56

If you peel the redirect sticker off can you see their original address underneath? Might be useful to know.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 12/05/2021 06:57

"Have a standard letter ready and send to all of the official organisations that are writing to you - something like Mr X does not live here and has never lived here, please correct your records and advise me when you have done this.” Don’t just reply on Return to Sender for financial stuff."

This won't work if the mail is on re-direct - the companies still have the old address, it's Royal Mail who are directing it to the OP's address.

AlwaysLatte · 12/05/2021 06:57

Take it to the post office as someone else has said, along with proof that you own/live in the house, and ask them to fix the error.

AlwaysLatte · 12/05/2021 07:00

Non issue.Stick it back in the box and find something else to whine about
Not true and not nice. It could cause a massive issue if they are as bad about paying for things as they are for organising their Mail.

20viona · 12/05/2021 07:09

Shove it in the postbox

Beautiful3 · 12/05/2021 07:10

You shouldn't let anyone use your address, as it could give someone else proof of address in order to take out loans. This has happened to my grandma. Put it all back into the post box and say unknown at this address. If the lady returns just say that you didnt get anything. What can she say, nothing.

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Standrewsschool · 12/05/2021 07:11

Surely person can set up a new re-direct scheme with the correct details on?

Maybe take the post around to neighbour one last time, with a letter saying that from x date, all post will be ‘sent back to sender’ and they will have to get it re-directed again.

BlueLobelia · 12/05/2021 07:16

It's defintiely an issue.

Our vendors refused to redirect their mail to their new address. They were running from bailliffs. They told DH we could give their mail to the neighbour and they would pick it up. Um no. We refused. Everything came to us-including NEXT deliveries; amazon parcels; envelopes from the bank; enevelopes from HMRC. We kept returning to sender.

It;s not nice having bailliffs turn up at your door for up to 3 years after you have bought the house.

DancesWithDaffodils · 12/05/2021 07:24

There is no point returning to sender - they dont have your address.
You need to deal with Royal Mail redirection.

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