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AIBU?

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Original poster

Use the ****ing bell

79 replies

LurkingHusband · 16/12/2015 11:24

Just had 4th delivery of the day.

Every single delivery had the "special instruction" RING THE BELL printed on the label.

Every single driver tapped the door.

"Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity".

In the Lurking household, if I am not in, and MrsLH is in the back of the house, a knock won't be heard (but the secondary doorbell ringer will).

In the few days over Xmas, I may knock up a detection rig that rings the bell if anyone stands by the door for more than 5 seconds (one project for my Raspberry Pi).

What's the point ?

OP posts:
DoorToTheRiver · 16/12/2015 12:36

One day I was at home, due a parcel any day which I was looking forward to getting.

Saw courier company outside and thought 'yippee my parcel is here.' No doorbell was rung, courier van drove off. I thought parcel was my neighbour who gets lots of shit parcels delivered.

Went out later and card had been left to say I wasn't in. I fucking was in but you need to ring the doorbell you thick twat!!!

I do sympathise OP.

iklboo · 16/12/2015 12:40

Delivery bloke hammered on our door last week. He says the bell wasn't working. I pressed it to check and, sure enough, it worked fine.

It turned out he'd been pressing the picture of a bell on the sign asking people to ring it. The sign that's next to the bloody great doorbell shaped doorbell.

howtorebuild · 16/12/2015 12:41

Went out later and card had been left to say I wasn't in. I fucking was in but you need to ring the doorbell you thick twat!!!

Do you remember the low IQ wind up merchants from school? They grow up and need to earn a crust. My guess is they are no longer winding up Teachers and peers, they now get their kicks from pissing off customers.

crispytruffle · 16/12/2015 12:52

I don't even get a knock they just leave it on my doorstep, even when I am in! I also have a sign saying "no junk mail" but still get it and mostly it comes from Royal Mail! My door also doesn't have a letterbox at the moment as I removed a porch door, so now I just get all the junk mail thrown by the door or stuck somewhere!

BreconBeBuggered · 16/12/2015 12:52

I should probably put an 'ignore the fucking bell' note on my door, as the bloody thing only works when it feels like it. The dog usually lets me know there's someone at the door, and I can signal that I'm in by yelling at the dog. They must love delivering to my house.

RebeccaCloud9 · 16/12/2015 13:01

I wish we had your delivery drivers, ours ALWAYS ring 2 or 3 times, seemingly ALWAYS at baby's nap time! A little tap would be perfect in our (small) house!

RebeccaCloud9 · 16/12/2015 13:04

icklboo Grin

SoWhite · 16/12/2015 13:10

I'd batter your door down on purpose, if I was a delivery driver faced with a passive aggressive sign.

MammaTJ · 16/12/2015 13:13

Sorry for my failing! That is not my door, so cannot report on the effectiveness or otherwise of the note!

I just saw it and it tickled me, so I took the pic, meaning to start a thread but did not get around to it!

SunnyL · 16/12/2015 13:13

My bell apparently only works sometimes. Every time I test it though it works for me. I think people believe it should be like an app on an iPhone and only need a little fairy tap.

Thankfully I have a stupid arsing dog who goes flipping mental if people stand on the doorstep.

mmmuffins · 16/12/2015 13:29

I think a lot of the time they don't knock or ring. They just want to dump your package and go.

I've caught them doing this several times.

NickyEds · 16/12/2015 13:42

Three sodding times this week. Three times I've had a "you weren't in" note put through my door when I fucking was. Use the door bell. I just caught a bloody delivery driver in the act of posting a note instead ringing the bell so I got my parcel and asked why he didn't ring the bell, the answer;

"I didn't want to disturb you"

I shit you not.

Deucebumps · 16/12/2015 13:44

I work as a delivery driver. If I'm going to a residential address, and there are no specific instructions my method is to ring the bell. Wait 30 secs-1 min for signs of movement. If none, knock on door in case the bell's broken. Wait a minute. Ring bell and knock one more time just in case, whilst eyeing up which neighbors might be home/a safe secure place to leave the parcel not in the rubbish bin what idiot thinks that's a smart idea?! Try a neighbour, if none home leave in a safe spot, no safe spot then return to depot! Pisses me off that some drivers just can't be bothered and give the rest of us a bad rep.

Topseyt · 16/12/2015 13:52

Oh MammaTJ, I was just about to check you don't have copyright on that notice as I may well pinch the idea. Grin

Even worse is when you were in (I often work from home) and you find the parcel delivered into the wheelie bin with not even a card left.

Original poster
LurkingHusband · 16/12/2015 13:54

I love the brain-dead "logic" of not even trying a doorbell "because they often don't work". As I suggested upthread, I would expect these people to also always take the stairs, as lifts "don't always work". Maybe it's brains that "don't always work" ?

I set up several doorbell sounders in our house - one behind the front door. When I used to demonstrate there was a bell to drivers I have given up now, lifes too short you could see them wince at how loud it was.

This is a battle of wills, and I am not going to let some numpty drivers defeat me. I will devise a presence alert mechanism, so I know when someone is standing by the front door. I have a couple of CCTV cameras leftover from playing for work - I may incorporate a mug-shot tool too - capture visitors for posterity !

There is a serious point behind this. When I'm working from home, I can see the front of our house (which means I've been able to catch the delivery drivers who try to post a card saying "you were out" - I open the door and take it off them !). However we have a large bungalow, and you will never hear a tap if you're out back, or in one of the bedrooms - which is why they all have ringers in them !

OP posts:
Original poster
LurkingHusband · 16/12/2015 13:57

regarding leaving parcels in bin ...

Another of my bright ideas was to fit a carrier to the lid of our wheelie bin, so you can slide a parcel into it, and it's be held above the rotting rubbish.

So many things to do, so little time.

OP posts:
Topseyt · 16/12/2015 14:02

We only found the wheelie bin parcel by sheer luck.

DH had gone to put stuff in the bin and happened to glance down first. Otherwise it would have gone in the collection in the next day or two.

foxessocks · 16/12/2015 14:09

I had an amazon parcel delivered a few days ago and I actually wasn't in, I had put on the delivery info "leave behind gate" . It is a very big obvious gate but where did they leave it? At a strange angle on my doorstep against the door in plain sight of anyone who might have fancied nicking it. And it said "this way up" all over it but it was left a nice jaunty angle.

I missed a parcel this morning when I was in too, don't know how but another trip to the post office! My 2 year old is so familiar with the place she gets quite excited about going there and seeing the nice man who works there!

NoSquirrels · 16/12/2015 14:12

I once found a "missing" parcel in the back of a hedge I was cutting in the late summer. It was from the Christmas before. The cardboard was all rotting through, and nibbled by slugs, but the contents were untouched.

Deuce you are a lovely delivery person. The aggressive knockers are not so lovely. The people who ignore doorbells "just in case" they don't work are stupid. Why was a sodding doorbell invented in the first place? Because you can't always hear a knock on the door...

goodbyeyellowbrickroad · 16/12/2015 14:19

The Parcelforce delivery guy today gave me all of 10 seconds to get to the door after knocking before he left. Fortunately I waddled as quickly as I could (7 months pregnant) and shouted out to him before he'd gone out through the front gate.

TotalConfucius · 16/12/2015 14:19

My Hermes delivery person has taken to walking through the side gate, past 2 kitchen Windows (one of which is to the dining area where we sit), across the patio, 10m down the path to leave any parcels in the greenhouse. When we are in - I waved to her yesterday from the dining table! Words were had, and a new padlock purchased - she has never been told to leave parcels anywhere even when we are not in!

RhiWrites · 16/12/2015 14:20

I have a bell and a door knocker but some idiots still bash the antique stained glass part of my front door!

ifonly4 · 16/12/2015 14:35

Here we get the doorbell and then knocking on the door. We've got the loudest doorbell going (DH insists on setting it high), which can be heard outside the front door and in the back garden, but still they knock. Knocking drives me mad. I then get wound up even more when they ask me my name for their signing machine and they can't spell either.

captaincake · 16/12/2015 14:38

one of our regular delivery men rings the bell and IMMEDIATELY knocks several times aggressively on the door at the same time.

This. At nap time. Very loudly.

CombineBananaFister · 16/12/2015 15:12

I have the opposite problem am afraid - ground floor apartment, electronic key entry only and a buzzer that sounds like that game where you have to try to get the metal loop to the end of the metal wire without touching it. Sounds like that x10 and makes me bloody jump EVERY FECKING TIME.

I am all for being neighbourly but I have become an unofficial concierge for delivery persons who cannot be arsed to climb the stairs. I have seen them buzz me when I know upstairs are in.

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