Neighbours and Parcels

[Debini]

AIBU to be fed up with neighbours thinking they can have their parcels delivered to my flat?

It’s starting to become quite annoying especially now I have a three week old baby, I don’t want to keep being interrupted or having the baby woken by delivery people who aren’t even delivering to me!
A parcel has just arrived, the neighbour has even used my address as the delivery address not just a “safe place”.
It’s not just one person who seems to think it’s OK to tell delivery people to knock at my address it’s at least two or three and I would say parcels are coming at least three times a week for different people. People who I don’t even really know other than to say hello to in the hall.

Am I being unreasonable? Should I just carry on or start refusing to take them and stop answering the intercom?

A delivery driver asked me to take in a parcel for a house 3 doors away. It was a bloody gaming chair! It was huge! I refused, he asked why I couldn't and I opened the door wider and said 'where exactly am I supposed to put it........?!' Not exactly blessed with space and with pushchair and scooters in the hallway there was no room 😂😂

Addressing it to your flat without asking is incredibly cheeky.

Tbh I'd just stop answering the door.

I think people expecting neighbours to take their packages in have got the cheek of the devil. There's so many places you can use as a 'safe space,' or you can use an Amazon locker. Say at Morrisons, Asda, Sainsburys, etc..

There's a neighbour of mine who moved into my street about 2 and a half years ago. After a few months, I kept getting packages for her. I took them in to start with, but when I tried knocking on the door to give it to her, (because she never came over for it!) she didn't bloody answer .. Sometimes, because her music was playing so loud she couldn't hear. So I had to watch out for her coming out onto the drive.

A package came this one time, (about the 5th or 6th one,) and yet she was in! I said to the delivery driver 'no, this is for number 6, not for me. And she is in!' He said 'yeah, but she's not answering the door - and your house (number 7,) is given as a place to drop it off if there's no answer.'

So the stupid lazy bint actually couldn't be arsed to answer the door (probably because her music was so loud that she couldn't hear it,) and she'd given me as a designated drop off point. Really pissed me off. AND as I said before, she couldn't be bothered to come round for it. I had to take it.

I took it round and knocked for ages, and couldn't get her to answer. (I tried 3 times!) And even when she did answer (on the 3rd attempt,) she kept me talking for half an hour.

So after this happened about half a dozen times, I actually started saying to the delivery driver 'this package is not for me' and refused to take it in. I used covid as an excuse, and started saying I'm sorry, I'm vulnerable. I can't take any packages in because of COVID.'

After that I stopped doing it for anyone - as I had been used like a servant by people who think it's OK for me to take their packages in - for some years at this point. So I got to the point where I just stopped answering the door unless I was expecting someone/knew the package was for me. And people on here wonder why people don't want to answer the door?! It's because of absolute cheeky fuckers like my neighbour (and the OP's,) who use you as their personal servant.

Also, I quite often put a note on the door now saying 'unless you are specifically coming to this house. (number 7,) then please do not knock this door.' And sometimes put 'shift worker asleep. Do not knock unless it's an emergency or you have something specifically for this house - number 7.')

Seems to have worked so far. Don't get bothered now. But the woman at number seems to be using the woman at number 8 now.

Obvious cheeky-fucker is obvious. I don't allow it now. I work from home, but even if I am not working that day, I refuse to be used by people who think it's OK to get their packages dumped on me!

@SecretsIWouldNeverTell This use to happen before photos became standard. Due to opening the door and telling them to go away, they would leave it on your doorstep.

Luckily in my case the items felt soft so I use to walk to the gate of the address and just throw in the direction of their doorstep.

I WFH and a woman down my street kept getting her parcels delivered to my house and using my address. She said she did it because I was at home and she liked to go out visiting friends. I asked her not to but it kept happening.

She even had the cheek to message me when I was on holiday to ask me when I would be back. She was annoyed I hadn't told her I was going away as she had a delivery scheduled to come to my house.

It came to a head when her friend started using my address as well. I refused all their deliveries which annoyed the couriers but I had had enough. She hasn't spoken to me since.

Yes. Go to a shop.
Its inconvenient for you, but you want it. Why inconvenience a virtual stranger?

id be doing return to sender if stuff kept turning up and interrupting my day!

That was meant to be a reply to someone saying should they stop ordering if they can’t be home for delivery!

Unplug your doorbell

If they're parcels that are being directly delivered to your address, tell the delivery driver nobody of that name is known at your address.

It's a rigmarole to get your address changed on a parcel if it's been sent to someone else's address so hopefully they'll soon learn.

I’ve never had a problem with taking in parcels for neighbours, and there have been occasions when others have taken parcels in for us, but I’m now refusing to take them in for our new next door neighbours.

There was one occasion when I had a notification that an Amazon delivery was a few stops away so I was watching for it when the neighbour went out with her dog, I saw her walk past the delivery van which was a few doors along the street. They came to me next, a minute later the doorbell rang again and I was asked to take in an Amazon parcel for next door.

One of them works from home while the other is a night worker and they have a fancy ‘do not disturb, night worker sleeping’ sign hung beside their front door but it’s left there pretty much all of the time so couriers see that and automatically knock on our door which is right next to theirs and this has been happening several times a week.
I’ve started telling them to ignore it and deliver to them, but obviously it doesn’t stop them disturbing me beforehand. And of course it means that if I’m ever out when a parcel for us gets delivered they won’t reciprocate because of this sign.
I was out last week and my son took a parcel in for them but they didn’t bother to come round for it. After four days I ended up taking it to them and made a point of saying that we’d had it for that long.

I’d put a sign on the door saying I’m not taking in parcels for neighbours but for a start I don’t want to cause bad feeling as it’d be visible to them and also I don’t mind taking them in for other neighbours who don’t take the piss.

Stop taking in parcels completely. Play hardball. They'll get the idea. Even if the courier gets to your front door refuse to take anything. Putting your address on as their safe place without asking is such fuckery. Take a stand and refuse everything.

I was once handed a parcel for a neighbour and I ended up leaving it on their doorstep which is directly on a busy town pavement. Odds are it would have been nicked within minutes but idgaf. Neighbour must be one of these weirdo Mumsnetters who doesn't open the door unless you're expected because I knocked and could see her clearly through the window tidying up. She saw me but ignored me.

I doubt she got her parcel and I refuse to take any of hers in now.