People who have a good relationship with their neighbors consider themselves very lucky as having bad ones next door can be a terrifying nightmare.
One homeowner has revealed that she is tired of her neighbor treating her like their own personal concierge service.
In a post on Mumsnet, the woman explained that the neighbor’s doorbell on the gate is broken so they do not get alerts to any deliveries.
“Very soon after moving in – having had brief but very friendly interactions with the neighbors – it became clear that the intercom/doorbell for the gate was not working properly,” she wrote.
“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).
“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 also said that there is no other way to access the neighbor’s property when the gate is closed.
“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 continued.
“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 neighbor took it in.”
She said that she doesn’t have any problems with taking in packages for a neighbor if it only happens occasionally. However, it has already 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 neighbors, 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.”
One person commented: “Just refuse. The bell will soon be fixed if they want their stuff badly enough.”
Another 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.”
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