Why do they make it so damn hard to report misdelivered mail? And why don’t they have even a semi-decent way of handling it?
For the third time this month, I got mail that belongs elsewhere. For envelopes, it’s no big deal: shove it back in the box.
But this was a carton, like maybe 18" X 24" X 36", and heavy. This address is clearly printed, and sorta like mine. Like if my address was 123 Spring Brook Street, this package was supposed to go to 123 Brook Field Drive. Well, they got the number right, and they both have ‘Brook’ in the street name, right? Nevermind that that address is nearly SEVEN miles from here, and cannot possibly be on the same mail delivery route. Oh, and the names are not at all the same. That name is “Lu” and mine is a scrabble dump of 13 letters, nearly all consonants, and no “L” or “U” anywhere in it.
Printed all over the box is the name of the manufacturer, an electronics brand, so at a guess the whatever is relatively expensive and on the ‘needs careful handling’ end of the spectrum.
But is there a phone number of any kind? For the Post Office, or the shipping entity, or even the customer? Hah.
So it’s google time, then call the Post Office. No, make that try to call. There’s two listed numbers, a local one and a 1-800 one. The local number is ‘not in service’ of course. The 800 one offers five options, none of them anything close to ‘report a misdelivery’ so I punch zero a few times and eventually get a ‘transferring to customer service agent’ message.
Maybe ten minutes later the call is finally picked up. I tell the person “a package was misdelivered to [my address] and I need someone to pick it back up and take it where it belongs.” Simple, yes?
No. First we have to go through a whole series of info about me: my address, again, my name, my phone number…I finally rebelled when they asked for my email address. What the fuck? I bet they plan to send me a ‘satisfaction survey’ or some such crap.
And then they weren’t satisfied with the name and address the package should be sent to. Oh, no. They wanted their zillion digital/letter tracking code, which of course I had to go back outside to get.
And after that the flunky just tells me “It will be taken care of.” WTF? “Just give it back to the mailman tomorrow and explain it to him.” Uh, why the hell did I have to give you all that info for, if you’re not going to actually do anything with it?
More importantly, I could count the number of times I see my mail carrier face to face in the course of a year on one hand, and have a couple of fingers left over! My kitchen, living room, and office, the rooms I spend time in, are all on the back side of the house. The mail box is on the front of the garage. Most of the time I’m not even aware of them being there. Do they think I am going to spend hours (literally could be hours, I’ve gotten deliveries as early at 9 am and as late as 2:30pm. I don’t think we even have a regular carrier right now.) hanging out at my mail box to handle this?
I explain this to the CS dweeb, and there’s some silence. “Well, why don’t you just put the box out somewhere near the mail box?”
Sure. Why not? It’s not like there haven’t been dozens of boxes stolen from porches in this area. Why would any thieves want a big mystery box of electronic gear?
Never mind that the forecast calls for scattered thundershowers. That won’t bother a cardboard box of electronics, right?
Sorry, Mr./Ms. Lu.