'I'm sick of taking in my neighbour's parcels - they never answer the door'

25 April 2022, 11:54

A woman has spoken of her upset after being treated as a 'concierge service' for her neighbour.

With more than every of us opting to do our shopping online, many of us are guilty of forgetting to stay at home when our deliveries are due.

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Thankfully, we can often rely on our neighbours to take in our parcels, but it seems that one family was guilty of taking this to the extreme...

An anonymous woman has spoken of her anguish after they treated her like a 'concierge service' - as they never take in their own parcels.

She revealed that they live in a cul de sac, and that the neighbour has a scary-looking gate with its own intercom system. Their doorbell is broken, however, meaning they are never alerted to their deliveries arriving.

Taking to Mumsnet, the woman wrote: "Am I being unreasonable to not want to be concierge service for new neighbours.

"Very soon after moving in - having had brief but very friendly interactions with the neighbours - it became clear that the intercom/doorbell for the gate was not working properly. There is a barrage of deliveries from DPD, Hermes, Royal Mail etc. Delivery men asked if we would take them, we agreed assuming that the doorbell was not temporarily working properly.

"Bear in mind that in virtually all cases I believe they were in, but no way to let them know other than shouting or jumping over a high wall (not realistic as there is a spikey hedge on the other side).

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"Next time I saw them I shouted over the wall and mentioned that I had parcels, they came to collect and I made a joke about the bell not working. I expected a 'yeah sorry we're on with that' but actually got words to the effect of 'no it hasn't worked for years and we don't intend to get it fixed'. I was so gobsmacked I didn't know what to say."

The woman added that there is no way for delivery people to access the property, unless they have a number to call them.

"I see visitors pulling up and calling and then being let in. Clearly, delivery men don't do this. So they mostly knock on ours instead," she added.

"Had an interesting discussion with a Royal Mail man today who was trying to deliver a signed for package. They have apparently arranged redelivery three times and each time despite them blatantly being in he has failed to be able to deliver. After three times it returns to sender so he said he would be doing that. Am just baffled you would order a package online knowing that there would be no way to get it delivered unless your friendly neighbour took it in."

The woman stressed that she has no issue with occasionally taking in parcels, but added that it has now become a 'daily occurrence'.

"Am I being unreasonable to not want to take in all the parcels? And if I'm not being unreasonable how do I approach this with them, bearing in mind we really want to foster friendly relations with all neighbours, not least as some work will be done later this year which could be noisy/disruptive. DH suggests the passive-aggressive approach of just refusing to take any more. I'd prefer to be a bit nicer about it but not sure how."

Many users rushed to offer the mum advice, with some claiming they'd refuse to continue taking the parcels.

One person wrote: "I just would refuse to take in the parcels. You don’t need to speak to them just don’t accept them. Not your problem."

Another added: "Just refuse. The bell will soon be fixed if they want their stuff badly enough."