I've had a packet stolen

[QWERTYOP]

Please bare with me on this, it only happened today and i'm still very angry - i'll try to stop myself from going off on one and stick to the point. Anyway...

So yesterday I was in the shower when my buzzer (I live in block of 6 flats) rang. Later on I checked my mail box and saw a "we called but you weren't in" card. So the next day (today) I went to my local office to pick my mystery pack up... They couldn't find it. So they collared the postie that tried to deliver it for me, and what he said surprised me - he said he rang the buzzer, got no answer, so put the card in, and then somebody came up to him asking "is that for flat number 1?" he said yes, and then gave him the packet. So essentially, the postie appears to have just given my packet to somebody else.

Only a couple of things in his version make no sense to me - how could the guy he gave it to have said "is that for number 1?"? I live on my own - nobody else could possibly have heard my buzzer go off.

The other thing is - the post boxes are on the corner of the building on the side away from the front door. So in posties version of events, he would have had to ring the buzzer, go round to the boxes and push the note through, and then instead of returning to his van, he somehow found himself back at the front door to talk to somebody who apparently claimed to be me.

So one of two things have gone on here - either postie has robbed me, or postie has given my packet to somebody claiming to be me who never answered my intercom or emerged from my flat. Surely there must be guidelines against just giving a parcel to somebody who is stood there claiming to be somebody?!

So what do I do now? Am I essentially screwed & should just accept i'm never going to see the packet again? Is it worth involving police? It can't be too hard to solve. He claims he gave the packet to somebody "wearing work boots". I even went to the trouble of ringing the lettings agent to see if there were any workmen on site at that time - there were not. There are surely only a small number of people that my parcel may be with? Either postie or a tenant.

Thoughts? ANY advice would be massively appriciated. As you can imagine, I feel both helpless and furious.

[jackdaw53]

Very unlikely that the Postie stole it.... after leaving a card! (If he was type to steal it why on earth would he leave a card, knowing it would prove he had it, and then come up with such a weak story?)

No, the poor sod has been conned.

But it really doesn't affect what you need to do. I assume you know what was in parcel. Suggest you put together details (assuming order form, etc showing cost if you've got it), go down to Post Office and ask for compensation. (Or no doubt if you prefer there's ways of putting in complaints on line.)

[QWERTYOP]

Having had a chance to calm down, you're right - it makes total logical sense that it couldn't be the postie. Having said that, he still gave my packet to somebody without seeing them emerge from my flat or speaking to them from inside my flat on the intercom. Surely there are guidelines or procedures to stop something like this happening? Heck, even asking "what's your name?" would have prevented this! In that respect, I still think I have a right to be annoyed with him. At the end of the day, he's just given my packet to any old person off the street.

To be honest, I don't really care about the money - I just want my property back. Failing that, I want to rat out the person that stole this from me - particularly is they're a resident in the same block of flats as me. Sounds quite likely that the person lives here. The postie obviously believed he was a resident. How likely am I to get joint cooperation from the postie in question and the lettings agency of this building to try and ascertain if the person who stole from me is a resident here? Is police involvement out of the question?

Obviously, I don't feel very comfortable about the idea of living in the same block as somebody who has flat out stolen from me.

Thanks for your help & advice.

[jackdaw53]

The postie dropped a clanger no doubt. But I do have a chunk of sympathy for him... leaving stuff with neighbours is a pretty new scheme, and no doubt not all posties have yet worked out when its prudent to leave stuff with neighbours (i.e. when they are sure of their address), and when not. And I always have sympathy with people being conned. But as for the toe rag who's got your parcel....

No reason why you couldn't involve Police. But if its a one off incident I'd guess they won't put a massive amount of effort into tracking culprit down (might be different if a lot of stuff is being nicked in area).

Best chance of tracking guy down may be to ask Postie to keep his eyes open, and let you know if he ever sees him again. Mind you... I'd be scratching my head what to do even if you do track him down. (Long story... but my dad once tracked down a guy in similar circumstances, but realised they was still naff'all to be done.)

[TeeferTiger]

Have you knocked on and asked the people living in your block? They might assume that the postie has put a note through your door saying where it is/who has it. And the postie should really have put another note through your door saying they'd given it to someone to save you the trek to the DO, but he might assume that the other person was honest/reliable and would give it to you before that happened.

Personally, when that's happened to me before, I'd apologised to the person asking and said I've already left a P739 advising them to collect and I can't hand over the packet until I get the other P739 back-prevents fraudulent claims of people turning up to collect parcels already delivered and accusing me of half inching stuff.

[DGP1]

We have the ability to deliver to neighbour now, the postie hasn't really done anything wrong in the case.............although he should have left a note telling you he left the packet with the neighbour.
http://www.royalmail.com/personal/recei ... -neighbour" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[NewPostieUK]

This type of thing seems to happen quite a lot. The customer gets angry when all the time the packet is with a neighbour who is waiting for you to give them a knock to pick it up.

It's all quite innocent but the postman should know who he is giving the packet to, and fill in the card properly and post it through your letterbox so you know exactly where your item is.