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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that placing a parcel on a doorstep near a busy footpath is not delivered. Amazon, looking at you

69 replies

cakeorwine · 03/12/2023 17:32

So I open my door and find a parcel on the doorstep. It had been delivered 2 hours earlier.

The item is worth about £100. My doorstep is near a very busy pavement. Very easy for someone to have stolen it.

I don't get how someone can just do that. Just drop and run.

I am going to mention it to the company. I could easily have claimed it was stolen. It could easily have been stolen.

Surely you wait until someone opens the door. Or you give it to a neighbour and leave a card. Or something.

OP posts:
jc12689 · 03/12/2023 21:28

fairygalaxy · 03/12/2023 21:03

The only way to avoid it is to stop using amazon

It's not just Amazon, loads of couriers do it. You can always get stuff delivered to the lockers.

shearwater2 · 03/12/2023 21:29

If I lived on a busy road and didn't have a safe place for a parcel to be left when I wasn't in I'd have it delivered to a shop or locker to collect. Or just go and buy stuff from the shops.

I can count on one hand any delivery issues I've had from using all manner of online shops for over 20 years, and even when there was a problem it was always resolved with a refund or reissue of the goods.

BarelyCoping123 · 03/12/2023 21:31

This happened to us today - 5 people in the house all morning, open the door at noonish and a parcel has been left outside, no knock or anything! Busy road, it could easily have been taken. Ridiculous!

BarelyCoping123 · 03/12/2023 21:32

And this wasn't Amazon

J007 · 03/12/2023 21:35

MurielThrockmorton · 03/12/2023 18:00

They used to be an option to say leave it in the porch, I have an enclosed porch, and some drivers try the door, but others just leave it on the path two metres away from the pavement. I don't know why the leave it in the porch option has disappeared from the list.

Yes , I Noticed this too. I have also noticed the change from them leaving inside the porch to outside the porch.

We live in a townhouse with relatively high foot fall along the street. The only saving grace is that we do have a camera doorbell. It must be their new policy

OldTinHat · 03/12/2023 21:40

I've lost three amazon parcels in the past couple of weeks (never delivered according to Ring and I'm at home all day) plus one delivered to 'my neighbour' in a different road/postcode.

I've reported each time and Amazon have replaced with no issue.

Bellevu · 03/12/2023 21:49

Spent some time trying to track down an amazon delivery this week that was apparently 'left on the porch. The picture showed this was Aka an exposed porch with no door and parcel dead centre of the door and visible to anyone at the bus stop in front of the house and to the secondary school kids who have to pass my house to and from school.

I was home. So were 2 of the 4 neighbours in my building and the neighbours either side. All 6 are listed as alternative delivery addresses, but instead of ringing my bell or trying the neighbours they decided to leave a distinctively noticeable box where near on 2000 people would walk past it, just before Christmas.

coronafiona · 03/12/2023 21:51

Royal Mail have taken to throwing stuff in the bin. 🤢 I've asked them not to several times. Can't bear the thought of food gifts being left in there

SlipperyLizard · 03/12/2023 21:51

Last Christmas we were walking our dog in the town we were staying, and found an Amazon parcel just left next to a wall by a parking space/garage. It seemed like quite a nice area, and all the houses had long driveways, but we couldn’t leave it there to get nicked. It was raining and the label was hard to read, but we worked out what house we thought it was and took it up to the door & delivered it to the recipient.

How any Amazon driver could have thought they’d delivered it properly is beyond me!

shearwater2 · 03/12/2023 21:54

The worst is Royal Mail at the moment. I don't have much post but occasionally am waiting for something, and we only get post once a week.

imaceleb2023 · 03/12/2023 21:56

i don't understand the locker thing. the lockers are in town next to the shops. if i wanted to go to the shops, i'd go to the shops.

PandaCory · 03/12/2023 21:56

Amazon are the worst IME for leaving parcels outside without bothering to ring the doorbell or knock on the door. We were having building work done on our house recently and rather than knock, they left a parcel sitting in a muddy puddle next to the skip.

PermanentTemporary · 03/12/2023 22:00

The lockers at least let you get stuff out of hours!

Im currently on my fifth attempt to get something delivered somewhere I can pick it up...

I don't think amazon can really offer the service they promise indefinitely, especially with the kind of road works and staff pressures that exist round here.

LindorDoubleChoc · 03/12/2023 22:11

shearwater2 · 03/12/2023 21:29

If I lived on a busy road and didn't have a safe place for a parcel to be left when I wasn't in I'd have it delivered to a shop or locker to collect. Or just go and buy stuff from the shops.

I can count on one hand any delivery issues I've had from using all manner of online shops for over 20 years, and even when there was a problem it was always resolved with a refund or reissue of the goods.

Have you been reading properly? These are complaints about parcels being left when people ARE in! DH and I both mainly wfh - the house is rarely empty.

Owlsoutsidethewindow · 03/12/2023 22:15

Our amazon driver beats the door down so that my dog thinks somebody is breaking in, then just leaves the parcel outside and legs it anyway.

I wasn't in the other day and they left a £100 Xmas gift outside, fortunately it wasn't raining as its an electrical item. I did specify a safe space for them to leave it but they just put it in front of the door.

hellsBells246 · 03/12/2023 22:16

Changednayme · 03/12/2023 18:06

I personally hate it when they try and get me to answer the door and wish they’d just leave it

But that's stupid. If you have ordered a gift then surely you want to receive it??

susiedaisy1912 · 03/12/2023 22:21

imaceleb2023 · 03/12/2023 21:56

i don't understand the locker thing. the lockers are in town next to the shops. if i wanted to go to the shops, i'd go to the shops.

People who live in flats or can't have parcels left on their doorstep because of theft or if you are ordering a surprise present for someone or are away when you know the parcel will arrive. Lots of reasons for using the collect system.

Original poster
cakeorwine · 03/12/2023 22:23

shearwater2 · 03/12/2023 21:29

If I lived on a busy road and didn't have a safe place for a parcel to be left when I wasn't in I'd have it delivered to a shop or locker to collect. Or just go and buy stuff from the shops.

I can count on one hand any delivery issues I've had from using all manner of online shops for over 20 years, and even when there was a problem it was always resolved with a refund or reissue of the goods.

It was ordered from a company directly. But it seems they used Amazon to deliver it.

If I use Amazon, I usually get it delivered to a locker.

However - I have ordered many things recently and if I have not been in, then the driver (DPD, Royal Mail - and yes, even Evri) have not left the parcel but have left a calling card.

It's not hard to leave a calling card - and I get that it goes back to the depot, but surely if other companies can do it, so can Amazon.

Does Amazon get charged by the company if one of their deliveries goes missing?

OP posts:
TheVelvetOnion · 03/12/2023 22:35

shearwater2 · 03/12/2023 21:07

I find Amazon absolutely brilliant, I have been a customer since 1999. If any other company had ever been as good I would use them, but they aren't. Never as reliable or as quick. I'm not using them because they are cheap, I'm using them because they are good.

Yep same 👍🏽 Thankfully!

Clevs · 03/12/2023 22:37

I sent a Christmas present with Evri last year. Paid extra for a signature on delivery. When I got the email to say it had been delivered there was a photo of it on the doorstep in front of a closed door. My friend was out when it got delivered and it had just been left. I wish now I'd followed it up because what's the point of paying extra for signed for delivery if they're just going to dump and run anyway?

MereDintofPandiculation · 03/12/2023 22:50

shearwater2 · 03/12/2023 21:54

The worst is Royal Mail at the moment. I don't have much post but occasionally am waiting for something, and we only get post once a week.

I've heard from two sources now that our local Royal MAil sorting office has taken a number of roads off its regular delivery routes, and they only get letter deliveries when there's time.

Someone on the local facebook page says she was told by a postman that if she wanted her letters on time she would need to collect them from the sorting office.

MereDintofPandiculation · 03/12/2023 22:53

imaceleb2023 · 03/12/2023 21:56

i don't understand the locker thing. the lockers are in town next to the shops. if i wanted to go to the shops, i'd go to the shops.

Well, yes, that's fine if your town has the shops you want to buy from.

cottonstar · 03/12/2023 22:59

I have a safe place specified which they’ve used for years, but recently they’ve been leaving things on our doorstep too.

They’re also annoying me because if I specify a day that I want an item to be delivered, they always deliver it a day or two earlier. I can’t order later because items drop in price and you can’t wait if you don’t want to miss out. I ordered a couple of items to arrive tomorrow when the DC are at school, but as usual they dispatched them yesterday so they arrived today. If I wanted them today I’d have left it on the standard next day prime delivery 🙄

shearwater2 · 03/12/2023 23:01

LindorDoubleChoc · 03/12/2023 22:11

Have you been reading properly? These are complaints about parcels being left when people ARE in! DH and I both mainly wfh - the house is rarely empty.

Show quote history

I don't see the problem if you are in, you just go and get it! Surely the problem is parcels being nicked when someone isn't in, or being left in the wrong place, as you would have realised if you had read the thread properly. The answer is to contact the supplier or have it delivered elsewhere to a locker or shop.

Not sure why it's so hard. I've had far more delays and miscommunication from shops other than Amazon. It's probably the local courier who is the issue.

Daylightsavingstime · 03/12/2023 23:03

Amazon yesterday left parcel on our doorstep, didn't knock or ring the bell and we were in so would have heard!!