I am living somewhere near a thief. - YouLookFab Forum

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I am living somewhere near a thief.

Peri

Veteran

For the second time in 2 months a package has been tracked as delivered, but not delivered to me. I am crazy irritated. The first time was the PO, this time is FedEx. The PO wouldn't do anything about it but FedEx is at least looking into it. I had to describe my house and the driver is supposed to come look at it and see if he remembers where he delivered it.

One of the irritating things is that FedEx asked me if I had checked with my neighbors. Well if one of my neighbors I know got it I'm sure they'd bring it to me. The other scenario...that I'd go house to house down how many streets, asking people I don't know whether they got my package and decided to keep it...is ludicrous.

The strongest possibility is one street over...the streets kind of merge and we get mixups often. I've had pizza delivery attempts, someone showing up for a party, and exterminators I didn't hire attempting to spray my house. We've even put our street name on our mailbox, but on at least one occasion that wasn't even noticed. Sometimes we do get mail for the other house. On all these occasions I've directed people where they need to go and remailed the mail. I'm going to go to a drive by, but I don't know them and I'm certainly not going to ask if they got two packages they didn't pay for decided to keep them.

The first package was Ulta and they issued a e-gift-card for the amount immediately, no questions asked. This one is Neiman Marcus and they have said they will refund if FedEx doesn't find it. Sadly, the missing package is the EF white tunic tank I lemminged from Elizabeth, and supposedly I bought the last one.

Thanks for reading my venting! Any advice is welcome.

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14 replies

Latest reply was from karymk

Anonymous

I'm going to think that thief is the least likely possibility. The following things have all caused delivery problems for me several times .
There's a street in my town that has the same unusual name as mine except for the addition of a silent "h". Sometimes my neighbors are out of town when things are delivered and the person who's picking up their mail and packages doesn't check the address. Sometimes my neighbors think they know what's in the package and it's not exciting so it sits in the hallway. Sometimes the driver makes a mistake and wants to correct it privately.
I do think it's best to just pursue the carrier and the company you bought the item from and not get into a thing with your neighbors. I've never yet been stuck paying for something I didn't get. It must happen all the time, or it's one of those things that's factored into overhead because they never seem to doubt my version.

kkards

Veteran

how frustrating! i used to have issues with UPS not wanting to leave packages, we put a camera in the lobby of our building, and that cleared up that problem….but you probably don't want to do that….only other suggestion is have packages held at the nearest UPS or fed-ex store. i know that if you join my UPS they will do that, not sure about fed-ex

Peri

Veteran

Isabel, I wish I had your trust! But at least with the first package it wasn't the least likely possibility...it is really the only possibility. It has been about 2 months, so if someone was going to return it, they would have. Tracking said delivered to your front door on certain day and time, so it was delivered to someone, no possibility that the label was damaged or the package is lost in some dusty back corner. I'm sure the thief figured exactly what you said...hey it happens all the time, she'll get her money back.

I just hope you are right about this one!

Anonymous

Twice in two months is irritating and regardless of the cause the result is the same! Maybe you could insist on signature required? Or picking it up at the station? Hugely annoying but if someone is taking your packages a few months without deliveries to your door might break the pattern.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

I get my packages delivered to my local UPS store. FedEx locations have this service. It costs $5 a package but to me it's worth it. Some local businesses might offer a similar service. If you get a lot of packages you might consider renting a box there. Though it has also curtailed my online shopping.

Anonymous

My next door neighbour has an apparent penchant for ordering from J Crew, and I cringe everytime I see these big huge boxes sitting on her front steps with J Crew stamped in big black bold lettering all over the box. I wish I weren't so cynical but it's such an invitation to have it stolen. If I had no relationship with my local drivers (which I do because of my business ) who know if I'm home or where to leave things (or not) ....I'd never have things delivered. I'd go for pick up at a depot every time.

Peri

Veteran

I have no suspicions that it was stolen off my front porch. What I mean is that it was delivered to the wrong house and that person decided to keep it. I work at home, so it's not like a risk having it sitting on the porch all day...I usually hear the truck and go get it. At most one might sit an hour or so, but they are never very visible from the street.

Most of my orders seem to come from UPS and I have never lost one of those. And there are a lot!! They probably know my house so they don't mis-deliver. The PO's excuse was that a substitute driver was on the route that day. FedEx is really rare...once or twice a year maybe... so I can see that driver getting the streets confused too.

Maybe Isabel is right and it will show up soon. I just drove by the most common mix-up house and they are home, but maybe they were gone over the weekend.

Glory

Veteran

Ugh so annoying and frustrating. I agree that going up and down streets is out of the question. Hopefully they will sort it out soon.

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

I think I might at least visit the one house a street over to double-check with them. Thinking positively, what if the owner of the other house opened it before even realizing it was for someone else and then was too embarrassed to contact you or something? Or maybe put a note to that effect on their door such as: "I wonder if you might have accidentally received my package XYZ. One time someone I know mentioned accidentally opening a neighbor's package before realizing it and then felt pretty weird about contacting them, so I decided it was worth a try to check with you. This was a package I really can't replace so I would be so grateful to get it (opened or not)."

KikiG

Veteran

One day a couple of months ago I stopped my car because there was a box in the middle of the street. I thought surely it was an empty box. It wasn't. It belonged to an address near me, but in another subdivision. And I saw that it was from a very, very pricey skin care company. That little box was probably several hundred dollars of product.

So. I picked it up, and the next day, delivered it to where it belonged. Then I Facebook stalked the person it was addressed to, figured out where she worked, discovered that we had FB friends in common, and left a message for her at work. (This isn't quite as creepy as it sounds, given where I live.) Yes, it was several hundred dollars worth of product. I can only imagine it literally fell out of a delivery truck. She called to say thank you, which was extra nice.

DonnaF

Veteran

The only time I've had a delivered package go missing was during the holiday season when a FedEx temp lied about delivering my package. It was supposedly delivered when I was out to the supermarket, but it was a dark drizzly night and I think the driver was too lazy to climb my 44 steps. And yes, it was the last faucet(?) sold at that price.

I've seen several stories aired on local news shows showing peoples' surveillance cameras showing a thief or thieves basically following delivery trucks and picking up packages almost as soon as they are delivered. Luckily, I (or my husband) am generally home to receive UPS who knocks even though allowed to just leave packages by the door in my neighborhood. Other delivery services are not as predictable in terms of delivery time so I always worry about those deliveries.

Elly

Veteran

We have a chronic problem with the post office and letter mail. We constantly get the neighbors and either drop it by their house or send it back through the mail system (which the Post Office re-marks) but we NEVER get mail from them or receive re-marked mail. I know they are tossing it out or keeping it (magazines, etc.). For awhile we also had a postal employee who was opening/reading magazines and catalogs and then putting them in the mailboxes up to a week late (the kind that come in a bag or have paper stickers to keep them closed).

Now with packages, that is a whole other deal. It is one thing to forget to check a mailing label on a magazine and think you are getting a free survey subscription or something, but to take something work $40-$400 dollars depending on the package is pretty unethical, let alone illegal.

Em

Unless your house is on at least a few acres, with a private driveway going deeeeeply into the property, or you're home all the time, I wouldn't have packages delivered at home. I receive everything I order in the office. Even so, I cringe every time somebody ships with FedEx! They've been nothing but trouble in my experience! Once I had to go collect a package at their warehouse, which, naturally, is in an industrial zone I hate driving to, 45-minute drive away.

karymk

Veteran

Well I am hoping you have just had a few strokes of ill luck and that the mixups are a fluke. Anyway you can mark your house better might help though.