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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I am fed up with receiving letters for the people that used to live in our house over 2 and a half yrs ago, and today this letter that came for them really took the biscuit!

50 replies

pinkbubble · 14/03/2008 22:58

Crumbs I sound moany!

TBH I would love to just rip the letter up I am that fed up of receiving their post! They get more than we do! But toady, it was so obvious that it was not just an ordinary letter, so I looked through the envelope in the light and discovered it was a cheque for nearly £3000 ! Why have they not told people they have moved????? This is not the first cheque we have passed on to them, the kast time the cheque was for £5000. (that was last year!)

Surely this old couple have more money than sense.

TBH I popped the last cheque round to them (most of their other post I now just throw) I was so cross as they never even thanked me! Part of me just wants to throw it in the bin, esp what we have just unearthed in the kitchen due to the DH doing(or should I say playing at ELECTRICIANS!)

But I will be very good and tomorrow I will deliver cheque with a smile(grimace)

OP posts:
BroccoliSpears · 14/03/2008 22:59

Throw it in the bin!!

That'll learn 'em.

sparklyshoos · 14/03/2008 23:03

count yourself lucky, we still get mail for the people who lived at our house - unfortunately they shared the same surname, but they emigrated, leaving a wave of debt in their path - 18months on I had debt collectors turn up looking for them!!! we think they purposely ran up debt as they knew they were leaving the country, it's been hideous.
but sorry for the rude hijack, back to your question! no, YANBU at all - it is horrible getting post for people who no longer live in your house - we stick everything back in the postbox return to sender, no longer at this address. try that instead??

paddingtonbear1 · 14/03/2008 23:03

drop a note through saying if they want their mail, to come and collect it themselves, you are not their personal postman!
we used to get a fair few letters for a bloke who lived here before. By the look of some of the envelopes they were from debt collectors! we sent them back, eventually they stopped coming!

Original poster
pinkbubble · 14/03/2008 23:05

Thats a point, although I would feel guilty at them not getting the cheque! Maybe I will do that on all the other stuff, but deliver the cheque. I hate having other peoples post, not nice!

OP posts:
stuffitllama · 14/03/2008 23:08

deliver the cheque in person and say
from now on I will throw your mail in the bin if you don't change your address
and if that includes large cheques I won't know anything about it

they might just see their lazy way to doing it then!

sparklyshoos · 14/03/2008 23:08

who is the cheque off? is it from a bank or building society or insurance or something?

Mrspanic · 14/03/2008 23:09

Oh is it really so hard ? We set up a PO forwarding system every time we move (about every 5-7 yrs) but things do slip thru the net. If you just think they can't be arsed to do this, or ther's a alot of stuff, then do as paddington says and arrange for them to come round every - quarter or so maybe - to collect the post.

Original poster
pinkbubble · 14/03/2008 23:10

Think is some kind of insurance, although not a 100% sure.

OP posts:
PrettyCandles · 14/03/2008 23:11

Don't bin or open their post - I believe it is against the law to tamper with post that is not addressed to you. If you're fed up with their attitude then put it back in the post with "Return to sender. Not at this address." written on it. If you really do want to be sweet you can just cross out your address and put their new address on, and put it back in the post. No need to add a stamp.

Original poster
pinkbubble · 14/03/2008 23:12

They did set up a mailing system for 3mths. So far they have never been back for their mail. When we moved we took out a yr and contacted all the important things.

I cant believe they can forget they have got insurances and things!

OP posts:
Original poster
pinkbubble · 14/03/2008 23:15

Thats an idea PrettyCandles, although part of me feels a bit perdantic doing that seeing as they have only moved 5mins away in the car. But then saying that they would soon realise the amount of post we are still getting for them!

OP posts:
cheeseontoast · 14/03/2008 23:17

I used to do this for the previous owner of my old house. Turned out he was a double glazing salesman who never actually got around to fitting any windows.

I had inadvertently helped him rip off loads of OAPs

sparklyshoos · 14/03/2008 23:19

maybe take cheque round tomorrow (as you sound nice and have more of a conscious (sp) than me!), but say that from now on you think it best that you return everything to sender, so that all the companies they deal with know their new address as you would feel dreadful if they didn't get something important?

sparklyshoos · 14/03/2008 23:20

yes, cheeseontoast, I was thinking they sound like the lovely old couple off dirty dancing, who were actually stealing all the handbags and wallets!!!

Flibbertyjibbet · 14/03/2008 23:22

Put it all back in a post box marked 'Not At This Address'.
the post office charges the original sender a fee per letter that they return in this way. So your address gets taken off mailing lists sharpish. I know it works because DP and I did it with every bit of junk mail that arrived for us for about a year and now we hardly get any!

Flibbertyjibbet · 14/03/2008 23:22

Put it all back in a post box marked 'Not At This Address'.
the post office charges the original sender a fee per letter that they return in this way. So your address gets taken off mailing lists sharpish. I know it works because DP and I did it with every bit of junk mail that arrived for us for about a year and now we hardly get any!

Flibbertyjibbet · 14/03/2008 23:23

OOps! Bit of a junk mail post there

citylover · 14/03/2008 23:26

Initially I would forward mail etc but now just put most junk mail for previous occupants in the bin.

I haven't got time to mark it all up return to sender.

I would be tempted to put the cheque back as return to sender though!

Original poster
pinkbubble · 14/03/2008 23:26

LOL, no I dont think its quite that bad!

Think I will have a good think about the post though, as now I am worried about what Prettycandles said! I am a very law abiding citizen!!!!!

Guess at the mo we are having a new kitchen fitted and we are unearthing all the DIY jobs that the last couple did and so far its costing a fortune that we were not expecting, plus they have also done some very very dodgy wiring and we are lucky that we have not gone boom! (so part of me thinks that would be pay back for leaving such a mess! Although saying that, when they showed us round the house the man was so proud of what he had done!)

OP posts:
themildmanneredjanitor · 14/03/2008 23:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sparklyshoos · 14/03/2008 23:31

pinkbubble, your situation sounds exactly like ours, - everything we touched fell apart we've ended up with a major renovation after all their dodgy jobs!

We ended up opening a lot of mail purely down to the same surname - in fact the first time i opened one was by mistake, but just as well I did as I saw the water bill for £1000 , followed by the council tax (they were going to take us to court even tho' we were already set up on direct debit!) so from that point on, we opened everything then rang the companies, using the excuse of same surname, so opened in error! - I think it's easy to open something in error if you haven't seen the name.

Original poster
pinkbubble · 14/03/2008 23:31

Debt letters I could understand (although I would not be happy about!) But this is the second time that a cheque has come here within a yr! Surely they must know what insurances / pensions they have paid into!

OP posts:
ThingOne · 14/03/2008 23:32

Hmmm, I've moved several times recently (5 times in 7 years but hope we are done now) and have always taken at least a year's redirection but things always, always slip through the net.

You would not believe how crap some companies are about managing their databases. Boden, for example, has registered me as a new customer instead of as a change of address twice. Sometimes you just lack the energy to contact every contact more than once.

And some friends are incapable of changing their address books or, more to the point, Christmas card lists which they seem to keep separate.

I'm a great believer in return to sender, though, and use it for repeat offenders with great pleasure.

Original poster
pinkbubble · 14/03/2008 23:34

Sparklyshoes that is how I found out about the first cheque, well TBH, I just wondered what could be so private and confidential after they had moved over 18 mths ago. When I opened it I felt sick and sealed it up as best I could and delivered it to them pronto! So since then I have been so careful about what post I now chuck!

OP posts:
TsarChasm · 14/03/2008 23:35

We get a Christmas card for the previous owners and we've been here 15 years.