Neighbours and taking in parcels

[bluebox12]

I'm not sure whether I'm being petty or not.

Last Thur 13 February 7.30pm I received a text from husband ( been working away 3 months won't be home until April. Wouldn't usually spend £36 on flowers). He had a text confirming flowers delivered to me for Valentine's Day. The text said they have put them in a safe place and left a card.

Told him not received anything. No card. Went outside to look.

Fri 14 February again checked the front and back garden. To see if anything had been left.

Emailed the flower company and chatted online with the courier.

Courier Company CC - Would need to speak with the driver and reply via email.

Later on CC told me the flowers had been delivered to a neighbours home in error. Gave me the address told me to go and collect them.

"We can confirm that the parcel was delivered at neighbour's house in error which is just situated at around the corner so please request you to check once with them"

I have autism and anxiety not their issue I know but I absolutely hate situations like this.

I went round. I went back again No answer and by then it was 24 hours since delivery so they were probably dead.

Flowery company replied and said they would send more out.
I explained what had happened and they said they will refund my husband and claim with courier.

I told CC I would like to complain. Their reply " I can confirm that due to this item being flowers, I request that you please make contact with your sender as they will be able to give you further advice and support so that this can be resolved for you. I know that this comes as little to no compensation to yourself, however, this is the procedure and the contract that we have entered into with the seller. The seller should be able to have a replacement item sent out to you" I'd already told them we were being refunded but I still feel I am in the right to complain to the courier.

I know my husband will get his money back from the florist.

So my AIBU

1. To not understand how someone who delivers items for a living can get an address wrong. Different road name different postcode but same house number.

1. These random neighbours have had some rises delivered on Valentine's Day for free. The label must have had my name and address right??

IABU I'm being refunded (technically I'm not as he's keeping the money. I think him being away is making it more of a bigger deal as I've been home with the kids)

Thank you xx

If £40 of flowers turned up at mine I'd be trying to find out who's they were as I'd expect someone to come for them.

Valentine’s Day is possibly the only day when people wouldn’t look into who they came from though. If Moonpig send flowers with your name and address on then I think the likelihood is that they know full well they are for you although perhaps they didn’t even check and just assumed they were flowers for them.

I probably wouldn’t bother delivering to a neighbour who lives more than a couple of doors away and would wait for them to collect from me.

If £40 of flowers turned up at mine I'd be trying to find out who's they were as I'd expect someone to come for them.

Depends what the message sent.
"To my darling, from you know who" you'd probably assume that it was for you.
"To Witchend love Witchend's dh" I'd expect you to notice it wasn't from you.

And people don't always look at the address. I've accepted a parcel before now, and then looked at it and found it's the wrong address (and gone round to deliver it) and I've had someone at the door with a parcel for me that was left two miles away.

You knocked for them once , the neighbours had been inconvenienced you should have gone back and tried again

I would be annoyed at the company asking me to go and check with the neighbours - I would hate doing that if I didn’t know them and I don’t have anxiety like you do.

@bluebox12 Have to agree with the posters saying what do you expect them to do now? What do you want? Are you trying to get compo? An interview with the papers so you can do your best 'Daily Mail sad face.'

You got a refund, it was a genuine mistake, the neighbours were not responsible for anything.

@Blurby - I think you're probably more annoyed at the people for accepting it.

Hopefully not, because they weren't even in and just had them dumped in an unknown place outside their house. Let's not forget it's Yodel, who once hid a parcel so well in our bush that we didn't find it for a week, and have put parcels in our recycling bin ON BIN DAY. For all anybody knows, the neighbours have never seen the flowers.

I would be annoyed at the company asking me to go and check with the neighbours

Why? The company is not unreasonable to ask that you at least make one attempt to recover the parcel before they get involved. In 9 out of 10 cases where a parcel is delivered to the wrong house it can be resolved in less than a minute with a short conversation to the neighbour for minimal effort/cost.

So before they start arranging for another courier to come out/a delivery to be rearranged etc it is not unreasonable for them to enquire if you could make an attempt to get the parcel back. If after that initial attempt, either the neighbour isn't available, refuse to hand over the parcel or claim they dont have it, then the company would be unreasonable to ask you to try and sort it yourself.

@MRex this is true... I often wonder if there's a huge box of cheese festering in someone's back garden somewhere.

It happened to us once, but a reverse. I got someone's flowers by accident. I thought my partner ordered them for me, so accepted and only realised layer when I thanked him and he said he had not 😵. Looked up the address, ( different postcode and street) and the address was quite remote (20 minute walk) so I was not bothered to return them or bring them to the person, no time nor will. How the courier got that wrong I have no clue. We got on touch with the company to let them know about the misdelivery and they handled it themselves.

Also, it's standard for courier companies to leave complaints with retailer, no one really deals with complaints themselves. Annoying, but that's the process. You will get flowers and a refund so all is well.

I can imagine the courier making mistakes because they're massively rushed and probably have quite a few deliveries in the same area. I can't imagine accepting delivery for flowers and not bothering to take them round to the correct neighbour.

My DH ordered flowers to be delivered to me on Valentines Day. They never arrived. He complained, got a refund and a £10 goodwill token. He (and I) were satisfied with that. I've no idea if someone else got 'my' flowers as we didn't think it worth pursuing. The delivery driver had had a full on day, I know that my DH tried to send me flowers, these things happen.

The one situation that always puzzles me though is the occasion I ordered some personalised socks as a gift. They had a pic of my sis on, ordered for my BIL as a laugh. They got lost in the post. I sometimes wonder if someone else, a complete stranger, is wandering around wearing socks with my sister's face on them!

@PermanentlyFrizzyHairBall why? I wouldn't drag out three kids to return something I never asked for and means nothing to me.

@ddraigygoch

Surely it's just a nice thing to do? Clearly they were going out anyway if they weren't in when OP knocked and they accepted the flowers which weren't for them.

From the very first post: "The text said they have put them in a safe place and left a card."
So they were left at the neighbour, not accepted by the neighbour.

I'm assuming the person brought them into their home since OP couldn't find them (I guess they could have been left hidden somewhere but delivery drivers usually leave it somewhere obvious). I would personally either take them to the correct person because it's a nice thing to do and means the flowers aren't wasted or if I didn't have time or it was difficult for whatever reason just leave them outside for the recipient to collect.

I had flowers delivered to me in error. I phoned the company which took forever as it was Valentines Day. They said they’d re deliver. The correct recipients’s address and phone number was on the box so I texted to tell them what had happened.

He texted back in quite a snotty fashion, implying that I’d kept the flowers wrongly and should have taken them over. I did keep the flowers but they didn’t bring me much pleasure.

I would just toss them in the trash and move along with my day of O couldn’t catch the delivery driver to refuse delivery. But all other packages that are delivered to me is sent right back to the sender. I get sick of neighbors expecting me to be their post office

@PermanentlyFrizzyHairBall definitely a nice thing to do. Not something I would do beyond right next door or immediately opposite me.
If I get someone's package by mistake it's not my problem.

The flowers come in a box, you wouldn't necessarily know that they were flowers

@Leaannb neighbors expecting me to be their post office
It will be the delivery drivers choosing to call at your house, not the neighbours demanding that all packages go to #8. What a truly shitty attitude to say you'd throw someone's things away instead of returning them.

You are overthinking this.

You don't know the neighbours received them if it's a safe space. Hermes safe space was my dn neighbour's, emptied that day, bin. My parents were in the driver was just lazy . It happens a lot.

It's sometimes not easy to identify an address. I work for the NHS and do home visits, you'd be surprised at how many people dont have names or numbers on their properties.
I feel sorry for delivery drivers.
Leannb, you would hate my street, we all accept parcels for each other all the time and are always polite and civil to each other.

@Serin I actually have the number and road name on on a plaque next to my door. I can see the house through a back window so it literally a 20 minute walk.

What is it you want to happen?

Compensation?
For the neighbours to admit they got the flowers and hand you back the dead ones from the bin?
For the courier to be reprimanded?
For your hubby to give you the money he is being refunded?
For the flower people to refund you AND send out replacement flowers?