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Original poster

Neighbours stole my takeaway

108 replies

NameAlreadyTaken16 · 26/09/2021 11:39

2 days ago ordered from my local takeaway through deliveroo. Phone ping up saying it had been delivered looked out the window to see the driver getting in his car by the time i got outside he had driven away. Called the takeaway who confirmed it must have been delivered but must have went to the wrong house. There's only really 6 houses it could have went to, 4 of which I know would not have accepted. Went outside to put some stuff in the bin and see my neighbours toddler outside in there garden eating from a pizza box where I ordered from. Takeaway arranged for refund back to me. But honestly can't believe the cheek of my neighbours. Sure it was them as get along with everyone else who are pretty decent and we always give and get parcels for each other. The ones I'm sure took my delivery have only been here about 6 months. My husband convinced me not to go there door about it yesterday as it would have kicked off, as there very loud and I had a polite word with them before about there dog constantly barking and got a mouthful of abuse. Has anyone else had this happen ? How would you deal with it ? Just let it go or say something?

OP posts:
Original poster
NameAlreadyTaken16 · 26/09/2021 13:59

@PigletJohn

down my road we've all been fitting new plaques since takeaway and grocery deliveries burgeoned during lockdown. Inexpensive on fleabay.

Good idea to have the street name as well as the number

I added a solar powered lamp to mine.

Some of them have a clear acrylic window in front, but I think that will get dirty with cobwebs, and will get scratched and dull over time.

Just ordered one about 20mins ago with a solar light on it with the arcylic coating off a website that just does house signs. Slightly dearer than amazon ones as reviews for them said chrome rusted ect and numbers faded. Cost £25 but hopefully should last
OP posts:
MrsCremuel · 26/09/2021 14:01

That’s pretty crappy if they had the correct address but ‘misdelivered’ it.

However, we fully intend to accept and consume the next take away our neighbours mistakenly send our way. I am convinced they have our house number saved in Deliveroo/uber eats as we are frequently answering the door to food orders which aren’t ours, including a pizza at 4am. They have been told by me and the delivery drivers but it continues.

Next time I’m keeping the pizza for breakfast.

murasaki · 26/09/2021 14:05

Change your visible WiFi name to 'my neighbours are takeaway thieves'

frazzledasarock · 26/09/2021 14:09

We had a pizza misdelivered to our house at 1am a few weeks ago.

By the time we’d woken up gone downstairs and opened the door the delivery drivers had driven off leaving the boxes on our doorstep.

DH left them there thinking whoever ordered would come get them if they did a quick look around.

Boxes were still there in the morning.

GoodWeatherforDucks · 26/09/2021 14:20

5329871e
They’re = they are
Their = belonging to them
There = referring to a place

I’m sorry, I don’t usually do this, but you used it wrong SO MANY times. I thought you should know.

Sorry 5329871e, but it’s rather a case of the pot calling the kettle black, because you should have written ‘wrongLY’ instead of just ‘wrong’, because here it’s being used as an adverb, not as an adjective.

I also cringe when I see “there, they’re and their” getting mixed up, though!

MatildaIThink · 26/09/2021 14:25

Unfortunately some people are scum, there is not a lot you can do about them.

Pbbananabagel · 26/09/2021 14:44

@liveforsummer Deliveroo are a separate company who every takeaway pay for and they take 35% of EVERY order plus the delivery fee you pay. it is the takeaway who would have lost out as the refund would come from them but they have no way of penalising the driver.

OpalOwl · 26/09/2021 14:44

To give them a chance, I've been on the other side of this.
Dh was outside taking something to the bin, it was just dark. A car pulled up and said "55" and handed him a brown paper bag, which he accepted and brought inside thats when he realised it was food (At the time we were making lots of online orders and deliveries were regular, lockdown)There was no name or address on it. We asked the immediate neighbours but it wasnt theirs. We kept it for a while then ate some as it would go to waste.
2 hours later a man from number 85 came screaming and shouting. We offered some cash which he accepted but also said he had got a replacement.

OpalOwl · 26/09/2021 14:47

I think the code idea is a good one

starray · 26/09/2021 14:50

@Balonzette

What should they have done? Knocked on everyone's door asking if it was theirs? My DH often orders us a takeaway as a treat/surprise on his way back from work, which often arrives before he does! I accept takeaways I'm not expecting all the time, for this reason. It could have been an honest mistake. If the child was eating outside, it sounds like it was. I definitely would not accuse someone of stealing and risk a neighbour problem for the sake of some pizzas that were refunded anyway.
Errmm... surely you would say to the delivery driver. No, that's not mine. And then not accept it???
daisychain01 · 26/09/2021 14:52

Phone ping up saying it had been delivered looked out the window to see the driver getting in his car by the time i got outside he had driven away

Forget the issue with the neighbours, the root cause of this problem, is that according to your OP your only interaction with the delivery driver was a one-way "ping" from the driver.

So why didn't the delivery driver attempt to knock on your door as you must have been in to order the takeaway in the first place.

This whole problem wouldn't have existed if the driver had done his/her job and handed you your food and not taken the minimalist approach.

This is what you should have taken issue with, so that Deliveroo train their drivers to knock on doors and hand food to the order-giving customer, not leaving it somewhere random and driving away. You may as well have gone to the pizza place yourself. They aren't cheap!

ifIwerenotanandroid · 26/09/2021 14:52

@OpalOwl

To give them a chance, I've been on the other side of this. Dh was outside taking something to the bin, it was just dark. A car pulled up and said "55" and handed him a brown paper bag, which he accepted and brought inside thats when he realised it was food (At the time we were making lots of online orders and deliveries were regular, lockdown)There was no name or address on it. We asked the immediate neighbours but it wasnt theirs. We kept it for a while then ate some as it would go to waste. 2 hours later a man from number 85 came screaming and shouting. We offered some cash which he accepted but also said he had got a replacement.
If he got a replacement, why did he want cash from you?

After having a food delivery left on a neighbour's doorstep at the start of lockdown, I've done everything I can to get stuff to our door. I write detailed instructions on each order. There are house numbers next to the road & at 3 points on the property, including next to the doorbell. There's a parcel box on the doorstep which is also numbered. Last week a delivery guy got to the front door, rang the bell & still asked, "Is this number - ?".

daisychain01 · 26/09/2021 14:56

The fact that driver had your mobile number (they pinged you) - whyever didn't he actually ring the bloody number and say I can't find your house number, can you come out so I know where you are.

Beggars belief!

WiddlinDiddlin · 26/09/2021 15:10

I dunno why folk can't grasp that what happens with a takeaway where they live may not be what happens elsewhere.

When Ubereats first arrived where I live, we had a delivery practically flung at us, at a time when we were both pretty frazzled, and he answered the door thinking I'd ordered... and by the time he ascertained from me that I had not, the driver was long gone.

Where my friend lives, takeaways are almost NEVER brought to her door, drivers text or ring, saying they are there but are really halfway up the road, saying they can't do her gate.. loads of excuses.

That's never happened to us.

She's never had someone elses food, we have several times.

Some firms seem totally incapable of working out where pedestrian access only addresses are here.

toocold54 · 26/09/2021 15:12

The mirror has picked it up already Angry I hope your neighbours read it though!

Neighbours stole my takeaway
OnTheBenchOfDoom · 26/09/2021 15:13

We kept getting deliveries coming to our house at around 9pm, we knew exactly which house it was, same number, next road up.

We ended up putting a sign up with our house number and address on it. We have a Ring door camera so we have seen delivery drivers come up almost to the door, read the sign and walk away.

Thing is when you don't get your food delivered you don't want a refund you want the food.

user1481840227 · 26/09/2021 15:16

@Balonzette

What should they have done? Knocked on everyone's door asking if it was theirs? My DH often orders us a takeaway as a treat/surprise on his way back from work, which often arrives before he does! I accept takeaways I'm not expecting all the time, for this reason. It could have been an honest mistake. If the child was eating outside, it sounds like it was. I definitely would not accuse someone of stealing and risk a neighbour problem for the sake of some pizzas that were refunded anyway.
They should have told the delivery driver it wasn't for them...and if it happened to be on their doorstep then they absolutely should have asked the neighbours was it theirs, there are only 5 other houses. They could even have text, more than likely they would have had at least had the number for one of the other families so they could have sent a message and got them to check with the others.

You can't just keep something that you know doesn't belong to you, that's stealing. You have to make a reasonable attempt to return the property.

It was unlikely to be an honest mistake as it was such a large order. I'd assume 3 pizzas and a chicken tikka etc. was for a get together!

Onlinedilema · 26/09/2021 15:20

Wow what cf!
Whenever someone tries to deliver to my address and it’s not for me I would not dream of taking it.

Perhaps put a note on all your future deliveries Do not deliver to number 12, the house with the red door! Make sure you leave it somewhere else ( thinking of non perishables).

toocold54 · 26/09/2021 15:23

I would have eaten it as well if no one came knocking

But surely you don’t accept it if you haven’t ordered it.

A delivery driver knocked on my door the other day with food and I said it’s the wrong house. Not only would I want someone loosing money I also don’t want the underpaid delivery driver getting in trouble if the neighbour complained.

Pumpkinstace · 26/09/2021 15:35

Deliveroo drivers are self employed. They aren't trained.

The code thing is coming in because of the large amount of people claiming the food hasn't arrived when it has.

The code is so the driver can prove it was delivered due to lying scumbags.

It will help with misdeliveries and those drivers that drop and run but is essentially there because people lie.

liddlelambsydivey · 26/09/2021 15:45

I'd be furious, but at this point, I'd leave it. You know they're not nice, normal people, from their reaction to your complaint about the barking. I'd rather avoid engaging with that type of person, if possible.

I'd work to be sure my house was clearly marked. You can leave delivery instructions with some places; maybe there's something you can include that makes it clear which door is yours.

Original poster
NameAlreadyTaken16 · 26/09/2021 16:04

Yeah I'm just going to leave it as it is not worth the argo considering I've been refunded. Just been hanging my washing out and had an interesting conversation with my other neighbour. Turns out their amazon parcel went missing about 2 weeks ago and they had a card put through their door to say the bad neighbour had it. When they went to ask for it, they said they didn't get any parcels for them. So my neighbour went back to amazon and through the tracking seen a picture of the parcel sitting on the bad neighbours doorstep with the door open so they clearly had taken it 🙄

OP posts:
PeapodBurgundy · 26/09/2021 16:05

We're another household who could have done something like this by accident. A couple of times I've ordered food before I leave work if I'm going to be late or it's been a rough day and I fancy a night off cooking.

It's happened a couple of times when they've ignored/not noticed the request to have it delivered after a certain time rather than ASAP, so it's arrived home before me but after OH. He's accepted on every occasion. Not sure what checks (if any) he did before accepting, but we've got a couple of specific dietary needs, so it would be pretty obvious upon opening that it wasn't for us so I would hope he'd have tried to find out whose it was rather than eat it!

girlmom21 · 26/09/2021 16:15

@toocold54

The mirror has picked it up already Angry I hope your neighbours read it though!
I hope they don't if they're as nasty as she suggests...
simitra · 26/09/2021 17:01

We order about once a month and when the app says the rider is approaching your address relative goes outside with phone to wait for them. We also have outside cameras which show both the street outside and the entrance to our dishonest NDN.