Receiving mail for someone that has never lived at your address.

[OrangeAndPistachio]

On Saturday a courier attempted delivery of a large electrical item to my address. The name was one that I didn't recognise , I refused delivery and explained. Today it has happened again , a parcel from a different company and courier. I refused delivery again.

I've lived here for 15 years and know the name of the previous resident so I'm very confused and concerned by this.

Has anyone had this happen to them? Did you find out why you were getting odd deliveries?

I've asked for thread title to be fixed! Please excuse the error.

Is there a similarly named street in the same postcode or which numbers on the same street are next to yours in address search functions? Explanations are errors in choosing the address when ordering, a scam whereby someone calls round to collect having not used their own address when ordering or someone harassing you by ordering things to be delivered to you.

Check your banking and credit card accounts for payments you haven't made or authorised.

We get this at leat once a month. Same name our address. We just post back and write on the envelope Never lived here Return to sender.

We get it with letters sometimes and return to sender. Parcels is trickier. Could you refuse it but ask to see who the sender is and contact them?

Yes - usually a confusion of streets in 2 adjoining parishes where one street is called by the name of the parish, but also the dropdown menus that online couriers force use of, can lead to this without a way of altering what is selected online. Have had both a parking fine and divorce papers delivered to us special delivery in this way (and a huge cake!).
For large items, refuse delivery (be firm on this).
For official papers, I'm afraid the least worst option is to open them and report, by phone to the sender, that you got them on X date and that for at least 15 (plus) years, the intended recipient has not lived at your address.
If persistent, add a small notice to your door to say that no mail for (Name) to be delivered as the person is not a resident.
It could be a scam but is more likely a failure of the stupid menu address lookup system.

We were getting this a few years ago, we live in a new build. No one has lived at this address apart from us and this was countryside before the estate was built.

All letters came from HMRC for a person with an unusual name - first and surname - and no social media presence. Definitely not a neighbour. I had to fill out a report for HMRC to investigate and after a few months they stopped arriving.

I've refused both deliveries. And royal mail now know that this person doesn't live here.

There is a building with a similar address nearby. But no one has knocked and asked for their things which is odd.

The name is like John Smith which is obviously hard to track down.

My bank accounts look fine. No odd payments.

I live in a street that has a very common name and in fact there are streets with the same name in both our nearby towns.

i regularly get post for the people in both towns (and I presume they get some of mine)

I think it's odd that the first item was a large electrical item that you'd definitely miss if it wasn't delivered to you.

There are five streets near me with the same first part but different second bit,like,
Highfield Street
High field Road
Highfield Ave
HIghfield Drive
Highfield Way.

Over the years we've all received each other's mail at some point so just swop it so we all know each other's names.

Over the ,say two years, i guess maybe three me and two others have been receiving mail addressed to the same person from a charity. I opened it up once, assuming mail would be mine and its a cancer magazine about breakthroughs, news and information and a few feel good stories.
No one recognises the name and we don't know why its going to three separate address.
Its a quarter magazine and Ive asked for it to stop coming to us but it still does.