Would you be unhappy if a stranger knocked on your door after 10.00pm?

[hocuspontas]

Have a bit of a dilemma. We have bought a sofa and armchair via Ebay and are due to collect it tomorrow. It is 70 miles away and will involve two trips. No problem really.

Tonight, due to a cock-up on trains from the west country to London, dp has had to go and collect dd1 from a town that is only about 15 miles from where the sofa is.

I have emailed the sellers to see whether it would be possible to pick up some of it tonight because it would save a lot of time and petrol but they haven't replied. Dp is now wondering whether to turn up on the off-chance. What would your reaction be if you were the sellers?

It's nothing to do with whether you've paid or not already, you made an arrangement, stick to it, I wouldn't even answer the door is someone knocked at that time of night and I wasn't execting anyone and I certainly wouldn't start shifting furniture around

I'd not answer the door tbh. I rarely answer after dark.

I'd not be happy if someone turned up at 10pm at night tbh. I am not prepared for anyone coming round, especially if there was a plan for it to be at another time. And it's not to do with having young children (mine aren't here tonight) - it's just that I wouldn't feel happy about it.

Did you get the stuff?

Sow hat happened?

I wouldn't answer the door. I did once open the door to some very insistent knocking at 11pm only to be confronted by an angry dad who demanded his daughter come out as she'd missed curfew. Because I often host parties dressed in a t-shirt and jeans with milk spit down the front of it and a simpering 3 month old who was just about to fall asleep. Might it be the house opposite? The one that has about ten underage teenagers outside of it in varying stages of inebriation? Ye funking numpty. He seemed a tad taken aback that someone so small could have such rage. If he came asking for a sofa I might have buried him under the patio.

I would be furious and tell your DH to piss right off. Sorry, but there you are. We had buyers turn up just after 9pm once on the off-chance, and I could barely bring myself to be civil to them. After 10pm I'd be outright and very heartily rude.

Anyone else pop over to the eBay topic expecting a 'why the fuck did this buyer turn up on my doorstep at 10.30pm' thread?

Come on OP, what happened?

The money comment was replying to someone who said she'd rather lose the sale, not about our entitlement.

He's just rung. They were fine. They were decorating apparently and will be carrying on into the small hours. He kept apologising but they weren't bothered and helped him get the stuff in. Just need to do the one trip tomorrow now. I've been really worried after reading all your comments and probably wouldn't consider it again. We were just lucky. Thanks everyone.

Thank goodness! I'm glad it worked out okay OP but please don't ever buy anything off me

Oh good pleased for you and worth the stress

Don't worry! We won't turn up unexpected ever again. Promise!

How many people think the minute he was out the door they had a right little moan about him and how rude it was?!

HaHa! They've probably kept back a few of the important screws as well.

Am glad it was OK .

Thanks

oh good

(I can remember decorating until very late when we were younger - had forgotten that - would get the kids to bed & carry on for as long as possible!)

I would be completely unimpressed, having spent three years in a flat where a)all and sundry would ring the 'trade' bell (that rang in all the flats) if they forgot/didn't know their contact's flat number or didn't get an answer at the one they wanted, b)neighbours whose doorbell didn't work so their friends thoughtfully rang everyone else's - ok-ish during the day but not great after 9pm or so when many of them were pissed or stoned, and c) a local heavy breather who focused his efforts on entryphones along the lines of
Me: Hello?
Him: Open door please.
Me: Who is this?
Him: Open door please (heavy breathing)
Me: I'd rather not, it's late and I don't know who you are
Him: Open door please
Me: Who are you looking for?
Him: Open door please
And so on until I hung up. It wasn't personal - I saw him doing the same thing at the student halls around the corner. But none of the above made me feel inspired to answer the door, especially at night and especially since I lived on the top floor and had to trot down a whole lot of stairs to get to the street door. A lot of the time I ignored the bell unless I was expecting someone - my friends knew to text me if they wanted to come in!