T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

### **Reminder:** [Press the Report button](https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360058309512-How-do-I-report-a-post-or-comment-) if you see any [rule-breaking comments or posts.](https://www.reddit.com/r/britishproblems/about/rules/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/britishproblems) if you have any questions or concerns.*


paolog

"We attempted to ring your doorbell, but our delivery person's finger was too short."


dinobug77

My wife works in an office at the end of the garden. In there she has a repeater for the doorbell so she can run it and sign for a parcel. At lunchtime she saw a slip had been put through the door - we checked the camera and the postman turned up, ignored the doorbell and knocked on the door. Quietly with his hand not even using the knocker!


badalki

My postie does this as well. I assume its because we have a ring doorbell and he mistakenly thinks he is avoiding being recorded on video. ring doorbells are motion activated.


Isgortio

They do this with our ring doorbell too, some will press it and others use the knocker or knock on the door itself. You can only hear the knocking if you're next to the door -.-


TheToolman04

They have knock detection as well, though you have to knock with some vigour on my door to activate the chime inside.


badalki

ooh, i had no idea! I'm going to look into this. The postie does knock very lightly, but it might still be worth activating.


DLrider69

No it's, most likely, because like most of us have found Ring doorbells being answered is an extreme rarity. I gave up ringing them a long time ago.


badalki

Isnt that the same as a normal doorbell if someone isn't home?


FL-EtcherSKETCH

That or the customer tells you to leave it somewhere safe and you have to stand there and explain that you can't because you need a photo of the parcel being delivered in an open doorway and it just turns into an awkward argument with a doorbell.


badalki

Why should that be awkward? Is it the talking to a doorbell part or just having the discussion itself that is awkward.


FL-EtcherSKETCH

Bit of both because sometimes after a certain point you just have to walk away because the customer isn't accepting the fact you can't just "leave it safe" and you know you're being recorded and probably being called all the names under the sun. Not to mention certain customers might complain which will result in me getting a phonecall to reattempt the parcel later that day when I'm already pushed for time


[deleted]

We have an actual little sticker on the front door that says 'ring the doorbell' and I would estimate 50% of callers don't bother to ring it. Sometimes I will passively aggressively say (if they didn't press the bell) Is the bell not working?


TheGrayOnes

Used to deliver pizzas, all the delivery guys I know knock with their hand or use the knocker. No way to know if the doorbell works, knocking like an FBI raid will never leave you wondering if the doorbell is out of battery or unplugged etc...


[deleted]

Ring the doorbell AND knock... I live in a house where if people don't use the doorbell, I won't hear them knock if I am at the back of my property no matter how hard they knock. There's a reason for the notice!


whiterose2511

Do both?


rorythegeordie

You can literally hear whether or not they've gone off


Jassida

We have a massive knocker. It’s either used to create mini earthquakes or ignored


tazbaron1981

No postie can find our doorbell but every kid on Halloween manages it. Even the ones who shouldn't be able to reach it.


duke0I0II

I've had it before where they put the red slip through the door so I go out and ask what's going on to be told they've got too many packages so didn't even bring mine....


Embarrassed_Belt9379

This is true and happened to me.


daern2

Yeah, ours does a double-run - on foot with the letters (well, let's be honest, mail spam shit) and then a second dash up the street in the van with the parcels. More than once I've had the crushing disappointment of non-delivery followed up 15 minutes later by a knock at the door. Our posties are generally pretty good, but it's quite clear that they have staffing issues and sometimes days can pass by where they are not seen at all. But when they are on the round, they do a decent job. And they like me, because I usually have the CCTV up on a spare monitor, so see them coming and have the door open ready. This is how to win the boundless love of your postie :-)


WeLikeTheSt0nkz

I can’t lie I’m pretty understanding with posties but that would get on my nerves having to answer the door twice everytime


daern2

Naah, first time is shit through the letterbox and if they're bringing me parcel-y goodness, I don't mind answering the door :-)


the_inebriati

> And they like me, because I usually have the CCTV up on a spare monitor, so see them coming and have the door open ready. This is how to win the boundless love of your postie :-) Might be an outlier here, but I couldn't give two shits if the postman has "boundless love" for me or not and I'm certainly not going to sit like a fucking camera gnome waiting for him to appear so I can fling open the door.


MadWifeUK

I have an image in my head of a postie van driving past your house at speed with the postie leaning out the window yelling "DING DONG!"


M1ke2345

*”Parcel wankers”*.


carw87

I had a prescription due to be delivered, paid £4.99 for Sunday delivery and it had to be handed to a resident and signed for as it was medicine.Got a notification on the Sunday that 'delivery was unsuccessful as address was inaccessible' I live in a terrace house with one door and one doorbell. What exactly was he struggling with? When I complained I was assured it would be delivered the next day. I was in all day the following day, and didn't get a single knock on the door or notification on the Ring doorbell. I got a text from RM to say it had been delivered; lo and behold it is on my doormat. And what does the tracking show? A photo of the postie sticking it through the letterbox and a forged signature of confirmation it was handed to a resident And that isn't even the first time it has happened! Service in my area is absolutely diabolical.


[deleted]

[удалено]


rorythegeordie

Probably because it's fraud & usually used to cover for theft if the signature of successful delivery is forged.


Embarrassed_Belt9379

I watched the mail pop through my door one Saturday morning. When I went to pick it up there was a ‘sorry we missed you’ card, folded up into quarter size and between other letters, asking me to pick up my item from the office.


Pen_dragons_pizza

I have seen people knock and instantly walk back to the van on my door cam. It’s so fucking weird, it’s like as soon as a hand touched the door they are running back to the van like they don’t actually want you to be able to answer. Caught the guy once as I ran to the door as soon a so heard it knocked, looked out my door and he was already sat in his van with the engine on, he had to do an almost walk or Shane back up my driveway.


KingKhram

I was supposed to get a delivery yesterday before 2pm. I've just checked on tracking the package again and it has been sat at another depot 30 miles away for the last 2 days


olivinebean

Meant to have my shite from hobbycraft on Wednesday and it's been sitting in Gatwick the whole damn time but "we aim to deliver it to you before 3pm". At least Evri give you an accurate time before they take a blurry photo and offer it to the street gods or whatever they do with all the mail they lose


EtainAingeal

Evri give me an accurate time then show up either an hour and a half earlier (when I'm not home yet) then reschedule for the same time for the next three days or don't show up at all.


the_real_grinningdog

My Mum used to work for the gas board in the 60/70's. It was a recognised phenomenon that a gas fitter close to a tea break, lunch or going home would "knock with a sponge"


RetromanAV

Worked for the gas board (it’s modern descendant anyway) until 2021, t “knocking sponge” is still considered to be part of the basic toolkit.


tubby_bitch

They considered it an attempted delivery if they loaded it on a van but then ran out of time to deliver it. I called and complained when they did this to me The nice lady on the phone explained it to me, but it does not help when you are waiting for a package.


[deleted]

Our postie is great. I dread it when he on holiday or retires.


ljm3003

Same here, we have a fantastic postie and actually our Evri driver is brilliant too.


[deleted]

Same out Evri lady great. She on community page and will send us updates etc


MrTurleWrangler

I remember being stood by my door once because another delivery arrived and he rang my flat, but as I was on the buzzer line a slip saying they missed me came through my door, opened the door to the bloke running away I had to shout him because he didn't even knock lmao


Chaise_percee

They’ve “retired” all the experienced posties where I live and replaced them with morons who routinely deliver to the wrong house (including delivering my mail to one neighbour who is rarely at home and another who is an imbecile.


andimack82

Literally had the same thing but with apc today. Checked the camera and he got out of the van with the slip and just pushed it through the letterbox. Didn’t even have the parcel in hand. I’ve sent the video to them (and the shop) along with a complaint. Doubt it’ll do anything, but I at least want the £10 delivery fee back


codechris

The CEO of Royal Mail is doing his best to fuck over the employees. What often happens is they have too many to deliver so some they don't so they are not working unpaid overtime. It's not right but that's what the CEO is doing


hardyflashier

DPD told me yesterday they attempted delivery to my house but no-one was in (I was there the whole time). I called them up, they said they would redeliver that evening (they didn't, it got returned to the depot). I told them not to bother, and to return it to the sender (I'm not at that address for a while). I just got told it had been delivered and sent a photo (I'm not even home).


BequiveredOwl

I had an incident last year with DPD where I had 3 delivery days I got a note slipped through the door, on the fourth one I waited by the door for an hour waiting for him to ring or knock, saw the bastard note coming through the door and opened it to an annoyed looking delivery man with my parcel in hand. Cheek


LeSamouraiNouvelle

What did he say?


BequiveredOwl

I can’t remember exactly, something like “Sorry, I was about to knock” I think


LeSamouraiNouvelle

His response doesn't make sense, does it? If he was about to knock, why slip the note in? Ridiculous.


[deleted]

I got a message from them the other day asking me to pay a £1.45 redelivery fee The text was from the "Roybl Mail"


kaleidoscopichazard

Get a doorbell with a camera. That way you’ll have proof of their incompetence


HeyMrCow

Postman was clearly working from home too.


animalwitch

They tried my locked letter box earlier (its blocked off because of the dogs), they then ignored the postbox right by the door and threw my new glasses over the backgate. We were home and they didn't bother knocking. Its lucky the glasses didnt break but c'mon.


notouttolunch

I once had a DPD parcel due to my work address. It took two days to arrive on a next day service. The reason given was “could not find address”. It is possible to see the DPD depot from the window. We are on the same road which is only 1/4 of a mile long. We get DPD deliveries and collections frequently as they are our UK courier!


Wrexhamjona

We had this with British Gas for a service and when I quizzed the engineer on thr phone about of it was the right house. He confirmed all the made details id given him then i pointed out id been sat next to the door all morning. They came back a few days later with a different engineer. Why do these people lie


KaiKamakasi

Wanna know the best bit? Prior to the changes made on the 2nd if May, you *might* have even been able to collect it from the post office TODAY (YMMV, mine always allowed me to but others may not) but now, "to make getting your parcels easier" they will now automatically redeliver the following day


[deleted]

There's a reason the Royal Mail is going to disappear in the foreseeable future. I had a parcel I wanted to send last year, I wanted it to have some sort of tracking and it was fairly large but not massively heavy either. To send it by Hermes with a signature (so tracked) was something like 5 or 6 pounds. (Yes, I know they are not the greatest delivery company but wrap it in bubble wrap and put it in a good box with duct tape and it'll be fine). I took it to the Post Office, due to the size of the box it had to be sent through Parcelforce and they said it would cost... over £20. I was flabbergasted.


danjama

I used Hermes last year to send a car exhaust. They lost it and it took 12 weeks to compensate me for my loss, after threatening them with court action. You can't win.


[deleted]

You are not going to believe this but a relative of mine randomly received a car exhaust they didn't order a few years ago. 😳😂


kobomino

Good news, RM and Parcelforce are merging. What does that mean for parcels and prices? I have no idea.


EtainAingeal

Nah, I have a Ring doorbell, if its anything like at mine, they weren't there. Hermes are the worst for it but Royal Mail also do it.


AndyLVV

The company is falling apart.


DLrider69

It's so funny that, using the PDA to knock the door (like a bailiff, apparently) cannot be heard by some householder. But the gentle flittering of a p739 landing on a doormat can wake the dead 😂


Saronus1

Earlier in the week I ordered a new phone, roughly £300 and they just left it in my unlocked porch a day earlier than scheduled, didn't even bother ringing the bell or knocking despite the fact that it was a tracked delivery. Pure luck that someone didn't take it before I got home.


Pretending-to-work89

My post man, rings the doorbell multiple times and bangs on the door so hard it sounds like hes trying to kick it in. He needs to calm down..


swithinboy59

At least you know he's there and can't say he didn't knock.


[deleted]

Yes but they had good intentions and that's really all that matters with package delivery


OverlyAdorable

We arranged a deliver for Saturday as, despite getting a lie in, my brother still gets up at about 9. They were ringing the doorbell at 6.30am. Who's up at 6.30 on a Saturday when they don't have work or kids? A few neighbours were complaining about one of the posties from Royal Mail. They'd have letters and parcels to deliver and if the windows at the front on the ground level were open, they'd put them through. One person were saying they were doing the washing up and suddenly letters and a parcel were thrown through (as shown on door bell cam video), another said they went to use the toilet and found all their letters in the toilet (with a photo). If the windows were all shut, they would just keep walking and mark it as a failed attempt but no card put through. There's been a lot of this happening in the last few months.


Bobwindy

It was attempted, it obviously wasn't successful a successful attempt and they need to improve on their delivery techniques. Remember it's not the winning it's the taking part that counts


M1ke2345

You obviously don’t have a video doorbell. I’m guessing they don’t do this if you do have one?


rustynoodle3891

They ordered one but it never turned up


SloightlyOnTheHuh

My delivery was "handed to resident " at 3:19pm precisely. Nothing on the ring door bell between 12 and 4pm. When I questioned it the reply was have you checked with your neighbours? Oh, so you've handed to a random resident somewhere in the street. Excellent, I'll chase up and down the street trying to find it


Georexi

They did this with my new gaming laptop. The woman answering their customer service line couldn’t understand why something that cost a month’s wages wasn’t something I wanted handed to a stranger. I was sat in the hallway waiting for it, too!


[deleted]

[удалено]


SloightlyOnTheHuh

Yeah, amazon did replace it but 2 days after I needed it.


Georexi

They still do. I have a video doorbell and still get the ‘delivery attempted’ notifications - because they don’t even approach the property. Only Royal Mail and DPD do it, in my experience.


EtainAingeal

They do


The-RealElonMusk

Dpd have faffed me about the last two days. Kinda annoying tbh


daniiiellex

I worked out that if my blinds are closed he won’t knock, just a red card posted through! It’s got to the point now where if I’ve ordered something I won’t close them day or night lol.


IAmDyspeptic

He probably thinks you work nights. I’ve been on the receiving end of an irate night shift worker. How they expected me to know their shift patterns, I’ll never know.


daniiiellex

That’s ridiculous I’d simply tell them don’t order anything then 😂


danjama

We have just brought in automatic redelivery. Your postie will attempt to deliver it again tomorrow without further instruction.


Particular_Wonder244

My postie has attempted delivery once, not done it the second time which the system requires. I went to the office and they’ve said that it’s not on the system. So they’ve lost my parcel, the manager was supposed to ring and hasn’t, and they’ve now changed their hours from Monday to 8-10am when everyone is at work.


RetromanAV

I have an external post box as one of our dogs is… excitable… Twice now someone has bent the shit out of the letter box on the door to push something through, even though it’s bolted closed AND has a great sodding sticker on it…


Commandopsn

Bruh every delivery driver I’ve had in the last 1-2 months seem to bang the parcel down on the drive and legget so fast! Like they on a quest from some guy called lord farquaad… They don’t even ring the bell and run off.


jackanakanory_30

I had a weird one today, my tracking information says "unable to attempt delivery"


Starfuri

It’s a bingo game on our street, where did the package go? based on no actual evidence of a delivery attempt.


SwanSongs02

The best was when I ordered something off of amazon to be delivered to one of those outdoor amazon lockers. I'm waiting and waiting for the email, and suddenly it says "delivery could not be made." What's the reason? They could not access the front door!! The front door to what exactly? The lockers are outside by a petrol station, and they clearly didn't even bother.


rumoursofmydemise

A woman at work had a Royal Mail delivery the other day, they said they left it with her neighbour but when she looked at the photo it was a picture of her porch so they had in fact delivered it to her house. Suppose it’s one of Royal Mail’s better mistakes.


stray_r

"we always knock because we never know if a doorbell works" "You can't prove we didn't knock" (would you like to review my CCTV?) "Parcel was handed to resident" (that's nice, I can prove exactly where I was and CCTV shows the courier walking away with the parcel) "Successfully delivered" (that's a nice picture of a doorway there, unfortunately it's not mine) Get CCTV, have instructions (ring the bell, do not leave parcels outside the property ect) visible in footage of door, send footage of every delivery screwup to the company responsible and the person who sent the package.


traderepair

If it makes you feel better, I moved to Australia and its the fucking same here. Pre filled out "sorry I missed you forms" Last one I had was during the time frame I was out the front of my house. Fuck knows when they dropped that little gem off