To want my parcel - woman denying accepting it but I have a photo..

[BitOutOfPractice]

I ordered some stuff off sports direct (about £20 worth) and, because I haven’t ordered off there for a couple of years, stupidly got it sent to my old address which was stored on the web site. Yes I know it’s annoying and stupid so I don’t need that lecture.

So once I clocked on what had happened, I went round there to collect it - couple of days later. The woman who bought the house off me completely denies having received it, despite the courier’s photo showing it being accepted at the front door. I can see two sets of children’s feet at the door on the picture. I obviously recognise the doorstep - I lived there for nearly 20 years.

Please note, I did not shout or accuse, I was very polite, I said I was “puzzled” and that there must have been some sort of confusion but she was adamant she hadn’t had it. It was a shoe box sized parcel so not massive to store and not easy to lose either.

Do you clever lot have any idea if there’s anything I can do?

I half expected her to come to the door wearing my gym gear 😆

I think it's not your role to decide based on what you think is or isn't a waste of police time. None of us have the information needed to determine whether it's a waste of their time. If they think it's worth their time it's hard to imagine it's just this one isolated incident, but their time management is on them.
Keep the updates coming :)

Placemarking, to find out the outcome

No, it's not punishment enough, she's a lying thieving cow. Nobody acts like this as a one off, this is her m.o. Let them pursue it to the bitter end, come what may, and do not feel any pity for her. Maybe then - just maybe - she will think twice the next time. A warning is nothing at all to thieving cretins like this.

Well you will have wasted police time if you drop it now! I think I’d be quite annoyed if I was on this case and had taken the time to follow it up for you and you then backed out!

i am finding it very reassuring that the police are actually doing something for a change!

Maybe she’s got form for it or shoplifting in general and the police have had enough of her.

What I’d do is just read the thread. Then I might find out there’s actually been several updates already.

That's actually a brilliant tactic ... mental note to pretend to have Alzheimer's if beggars or Jehovah's Witnesses turn up on my doorstep!

Sorry to hear about your mum though 💗

Surely 'being on the case' would involve ringing the person and asking if they had the item? I don't think it would be a complex investigation involving forensics, csi and teams of detectives.

The op has said she is now stressed with it all. Life it too short, write off the lost 20 quid item and ensure delivery details are correct going forward would be my advice.

Absolutely, but people seem happy to never do anything about it and the they complain everything is so expensive!

Don't doubt yourself OP! The police must (surely, hopefully) believe they stole it or they wouldn't be planning to prosecute someone.
Like you, I would take a thief over a liar, she deserves to be prosecuted for lying.
Unless the kids took it and opened it secretly then destroyed the evidence? if that happened then maybe the police coming round will have scared the Bejesus out of them and will deflect them from a life of crime so there's that.

We have parcels delivered every single day. Some get put in the correct places, others don't. All the residents of the house <where this parcel was correctly addressed to> need say is oh sorry we were mistaken should a csi squad land on their doorstep.

Wnat a massive waste of everyone's time

The police will sort it out as it’s theft

Not a waste of time- this is a case of theft!

I'm a bit confused about the idea that this woman makes a habit of stealing other people's parcels; presumably only the OP sold her the house, so there can't be that many people getting things sent to that address by accident because they used to live there.

It was delivered to the correct address, the op's mistake. If it had gone to a neighbour as the op was out fine but it was the op's responsibility to make sure delivery address was correct.

It's like when folk do a bank transfer to the wrong account no one sends the police round it is written down as user error.

It had the OP’s name on it, so clearly it did not belong to the woman who moved there. I had the same scenario and the Police agreed with me.

That simply means it is not the courier or sellers problem to resolve.

It doesn't mean the recipient isn't guilty of theft if they keep the parcel.

In your bank transfer analogy - the bank is not at fault, the money was sent to the bank account specified. However if the recipient is not the intended recipient and they try to keep the money, they're guilty of theft.

No. The courier has no responsibility because they delivered to the correct address, but that doesn’t absolve the woman herself. She took the parcel in, there are photos to prove it and she’s denying any knowledge of it. It’s theft.

Possibly taking delivery of neighbours parcels when they’re out and then denying all knowledge ? There was a thread on MN recently from an OP who had to specify with couriers that they were not to deliver to her neighbour as she wouldn’t hand parcels over.

Ah, that makes some sense of it. Thank you!

There is a well known scam where people order goods to be delivered to someone else's house. They then send someone round purporting to be a courier to collect it saying it has been delivered in error. Then the perpetrators extorts money from the hapless recipient accusing them of theft.
I suspect this might be what the police suspect the OP of. I can see why else they would be involving themselves

I don’t believe the police suspect her at all!

I really don't see how that would work in this case, since OP has a photograph of the parcel being accepted and therefore it seems likely the people at her old house would still have that parcel two days later and could simply give it to her – or if really exasperated, send it back to the person who sold it. OP was not pretending to be a courier; she was the person who sold them the house and they ought to have known perfectly well who she was. And since presumably the police have OP's name and address, the scam is a non-starter.

Look at it this way: that woman has given you a new experience in life, and going to court will give you something to talk about for years.

Can't you imagine your grandchildren sitting round the fire on Christmas Eve saying to you?: ''Tell us about the time you went to court''!

How can you not want to do it? Don't think about the stress, think about the triumph at the end of it.

You clearly don't understand how the scam works
Of course the op has a photo, because the parcel is genuinely delivered. The accomplice picks it up an hour or so later saying its been wrongly delivered.. I don't think the op is a scammer but I can see how the police might think she is.