Archived on 6/5/2022

Parcels being taken

GillB
13 Aug '18

My OH put a parcel packed in a builders bag with the marking Asbestos clearly marked on the bag on top of our recycling bin tonight for the London authorities to collect in the morning.
About 8.30, 3 young men crossed over the road to our side, glanced at us through our shutters as they walked past. I then heard a rustle (thought I was imagining things)! My OH looked out about half an hour later & the parcel was gone. We found it down the end of our road half ripped open. It could be coincidence, but Saturday night we had a ripped open box, contents gone thrown down our road from Stondon Park. I thought they had just abandoned the box so returned it to the address, but now I think about it, I think we have opportunists on the look out again for random parcels, so keep them safe.

InTheNightGarden
14 Aug '18

Roughly which are are you?

GillB
14 Aug '18

Do you mean where do I live? If so, we live in Kilgour Road, 5 mins from Honor Oak Park Station.

JS
15 Aug '18

I had arranged for a clinical waste collection, and someone stole it before they managed to pick it up. This would have happened between 11pm and 3.30am.

GillB
15 Aug '18

Well more fool them! Makes you look an idiot though doesn’t it when the person who should be collecting it turns up. Are you near me? Clinical waste is just as dangerous as our asbestos package, which was collected safely yesterday.

JS
15 Aug '18

I’m on Brockley Road these days. It’s a busy road, which I flagged to the person when I arranged it. I did as per their instructions and this is the result. No wonder these things end up in parks etc. where young children and dogs play.

GillB
15 Aug '18

It’s not your fault though & to be fair it isn’t the collectors fault, it’s the dickheads who either think they can make a sale from whatever’s in the package, or in your case of course it could be drug addicts…
We kept our package indoors after the incident & I made sure I was up nice & early to put it outside. It did get collected by the authorised person as we had a receipt posted through our door. What else can you do, apart from asking the courier to knock.

Pea
2 Dec '20

Sadly this has happened to us today with Hermes. Parcel ‘delivered’, photo taken but doorbell not rung and parcel taken. :weary: be vigilant

Pea
2 Dec '20

Pretty sure it was the courier who took it but CCTV a bit blurry.

Beige
2 Dec '20

Did you get a delivery attempted slip?

Pea
2 Dec '20

Nope. But I have an image of it on our doorstep in the hermes confirmed delivered. No slip saying it’s outside. No doorbell ring.

Beige
2 Dec '20

Not much you can do to prevent this, save staring out your window all day. Hope you don’t have any issues dealing with the sender.

Pea
2 Dec '20

Thanks. If nothing transpired tomorrow will report to police. Hopefully a crime reference number will show them I’m not trying to scam them too (it’s an eBay purchase).

Welshcake
3 Dec '20

If you’re at home during the daytime, try to track the parcel online if possible – I had a couple of packages (sent via a different company) suddenly show up as “delivered”, even though no one had rung the doorbell or entryphone for my flat. (I was definitely in at the time.) They’d just been left in the hallway nearest the main door. Luckily I managed to get to them fairly quickly because I’d been tracking them.

Pea
3 Dec '20

Yeah - annoyingly I was outside within about ten mins to get them but gone. :weary: but I’ll now be twitching.

JohnH1
3 Dec '20

Pea, unless when you ordered the item you agreed that it could be left on the doorstep your parcel has not been legally “delivered”.
According to the Which? website - “If your delivery is left somewhere like your doorstep – without your permission to do so – and is then stolen, the retailer is in breach of contract and it needs to replace and redeliver your item, or give you a refund”.
So it looks like you just need to talk to the, hopefully reputable, retailer.

Pea
3 Dec '20

That’s really helpful! Thank you. And something I forgot to mention was we never selected doorstep. :slight_smile: It’s an eBay item so wish me luck.

JohnH1
3 Dec '20

I don’t know much about the workings of eBay but good luck and fingers crossed your seller is a good one.

oakr
3 Dec '20

I can’t remember how it works, but I seem to recall raising a dispute early is helpful and harder / impossible after a certain time - did you use paypal to pay, I think that makes it easier.