Should I report this?

[secretsanta23]

At 7:40am we had someone ring our doorbell no less than 10 times and bang on the door. We assumed it was something serious so shot up, put clothes on and went downstairs.

In that timeframe, we heard them try our door handle, bang the door and ring the doorbell several times again.

It was a fucking delivery driver dropping off a parcel.

I checked the security cameras and he did indeed try to see if our door was open.

In what world is this acceptable? Why would you try to see if our door is unlocked? All lights were off and blinds closed because we were asleep!

I'm half tempted to report this. Would you?

It was Royal Mail. It wasn't Evri, or Yodel. I wasn't going to reveal the delivery company because I shouldn't have to justify my feelings.

You can stop yapping on about poor low wage delivery people.

Nope, I live in an area that has had several reports of dodgy behaviour in the last week, to the point that a neighborhood watch scheme is being expanded. But because I live in an area where sometime trying the door might be dodgy - I keep it locked. I certainly wouldn't freak out if I was expecting a delivery and someone tried the door because, well, I was expecting a delivery.

TBF I don't have family that would freeze for five hours. So adding that on I guess makes it unlikely you'll get someone that qualifies.

I'm genuinely shocked so many are ok with a delivery person opening their door without consent to put a parcel inside or even attempting to open the door.

Crazy world we live in

But surely your door would be locked and they wouldn't be able to open it? I can't believe that anyone would leave a door open overnight.

@Growlybear83 that's not the point. The point is a stranger tried my front door.

I don't care if it was the Pope!

You do not attempt to open someone's door.

I'm sorry but I think it's a massive over reaction to consider reporting the driver for trying a door that was locked. Woukd it have been apparent that the door led directly into your house rather than a porch? . But you're clearly out to get him, so why bother asking people's views?

and you can stop yapping about wanting to complain about something that didn't happen (break in, delivery into your house etc)

Or not because i'm not rude like you. People are discussing it here, and it's interesting to see quite how many people are ok with leaving their door open and for deliveries to be put in their house. I find that quite eye-opening on a site where people don't seem to ever want to open their door for anyone.

But yeah, you do you, OP. And the rest of us will continue our grown up conversation about how we handle deliveries. which are so often made by people who earn very little and get no thanks from ungrateful people.

Whether door is locked or not, delivery drivers shouldnt be trying to open the door. If nothing else, they open themselves up to all sorts of bother.

And how lovely for you that you don't have a family member who would be affected mentally by someone rattling a door handle when they shouldn't.

Luckily we've literally never had this, because despite me living in Crummyville, people have no trouble understanding the very basic principle that you don't just try to open someone's door (or they appreciate that they'll either get savaged by Tiny or a pipe wrapped round their face, I'd like to think though that it's just common decency that stops them more than those things 😬)

this is a completely batshit response to someone trying your locked door.

Are you bored? is school finished already? what's actually going on here?

I agree that the driver probably shouldn't have tried the door if he was certain that it didn't open into a porch, but to report him and get him into trouble when he was trying to deliver a parcel safely is over the top and malicious.

Isn't it just. Do hope you let the company know op. As someone else has pointed out, if its absolutely fine, he won't be in any trouble will he 👍

I mean, i do think it is slightly odd that he tried the door. But odd enough for it to be reported? meh.

They absolutely do. They ring the bell first to see if anyone is home and then try the handle to see if a door has been left unlocked. That is exactly how they managed to nick my car last month.

He didn't open your door though, did he?

He attempted to. It was locked, presumably because you don't want people opening your door.

There's nothing crazy about being ok with a delivery person delivering a parcel in the safest way they can. Some people will deliberately leave the door open when they have a delivery due. My neighbour works from home - he does this in case he's in a meeting when they deliver.

Yes this.

Your door was locked so no harm done.

Not worth getting in any kind of a tizz about, much less reporting the chap.

So anyone who happens to have a different viewpoint to you is a ..... ??? That's nice

Why bother coming on a discussion forum to get opinions then? Since you're so sure of your righteousness.

Yup.

Yes, couriers in December are just dawdling along aren't they?

OP may have over-egged her attempts at getting us all going here, well spotted.

we live very rurally. our postman regularly pops our post inside the front door - which yes he opens and which yes we leave unlocked - because he cant fit it into the box beside the door. I have no issue with this. delivery drivers sometimes do the same because thats what we all do round here. we leave our doors unlocked during the day. i would rather the delivery driver do this than leave a parcel on the step to get soaking wet and possibly damaged.

this is my lived experience so on that basis I think its a massive over reaction from you

It appears I'm going against the grain here but I think I would have reacted similarly to you OP. At that time of the morning, I would have been home with just my young son. If it happened as you describe, this would have terrified me, thinking someone was trying to get in my house.
I've never had this happen before, normally they deliver to a neighbour, or will hide it behind something. Not try and enter the house with it.
Yes I understand what some posters are saying eg- they're under pressure, on a tight schedule to get deliveries made. But since when is it okay to try and enter someone's house? Different if there is a porchway of course.

I would feel bad about reporting it but what he did was completely unacceptable!

Who rings the bell 10 times!!

I would be very annoyed that someone tried the door handle.
Imagine a home having a dog and it barging out.

I think I’d be more annoyed about ringing the bell 10x though, I think that’s absolutely ridiculous.

There is no way these posters would be happy with this man’s behaviour if it happened to them.

When I've delivered stuff to friends, strangers or for work, if they don't answer the door after 1 ring and a knock, I don't try to open their front door. That isnt "usual" behaviour, unless previously agreed with or specified by the recipient. And it would unnerve me and my family.

And yes, criminals absolutely do use the "pulling up in a van, getting out with a parcel and knocking loudly, to gauge if a house is empty". Same as hiding in plain sight with a ladder or a clipboard, so they go unchallenged. One such "workman" knocked repeatedly at my Mum's door and when she didn't answer, he proceeded to crowbar the fucking door open in broad daylight in a busy, residential street! When challenged by my shook up Mum and her doberman, he was "only looking for John" apparently?! To the outside world though, he was just some guy, doing some work on a house.

I wouldn't bother to report it though, as I doubt the delivery company would give a shit.

Given the OP's responses, I'm now highly doubting it was 10 times, or ferocious banging or basically anything else in her OP designed to manipulate our feelings about this Royal Mail driver.

OP..i would report him. I am sick of delivery me/women knocking like maniacs. The amount of times i cant count the amount of times i nearly had a cardiac thinking something happened. There's just no need for that type of knocking, why cant they knock like everyone else.

I try to put myself in someone else’s shoes:

Plenty of people have doorbells that don’t work.

Plenty of people won’t hear the doorbell and/or quieter knock because they have the TV on/loads of kids making noise/dogs barking etc.

Couriers and postmen have strict schedules. They don’t have time to wait for a while for someone to answer the door.

Many people get annoyed, and tell them so, if their parcel doesn’t get delivered and they have to rearrange delivery or go and fetch it from the local office.

People have very different ideas on what is safe regarding where it should be left.

In short, people are fickle and have their own idiosyncrasies. Delivery drivers can’t read minds or pre-empt how someone will respond.

If you definitely don’t want someone opening your door to leave a parcel, and/or you have dogs you don’t want to escape, you won’t leave your door unlocked. So it’s reasonable to assume that if your door is unlocked and anybody can open it from the outside, that it’s okay for the delivery man to try it in order to leave your parcel inside.

Do I like that they try it? No. Would it give me a few seconds of annoyance? Yes.

But I wouldn’t be a) posting about it on a forum or b) deciding it was in any way a good idea to send the company feedback about it because I would realise that MY desires about delivery preference do not automatically apply to everyone else and therefore my singular complaint is specific to me and has everything to do with my preferences and is, in fact, no reflection on the competency of the driver.

There is enough crap in this world without adding to it. Breathe, try and walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, and then go and do a good deed instead. You’ll feel much better.