Problems with Post?

(Not sure where to post this so please move if neccessary)

I'm having serious problems with my post over the last 3 months. A lot of regular letters (esb, gas, visa bills etc...) among others have not been delivered. It began around Christmas time and has continued on and off ever since. An Post assures me that these items do not generally get returned, ie: they have been delivered somewhere.

Part of the problem is that the address of my apartment is almost identical to an apartment 100 yards down the road (don't ask me why they did this ). Anyway, I have called at this address to ask whether any mail is there for me and the tenant is not that co-operative and to be honest seems a bit dodgy to me.

I run a business from home and so get many cheques posted to me from time to time. These have been going missing also over the last few months.

To add to my problems, a key to my letterbox was stolen in mid-February and two men have been seen hanging around the post boxes over the last few weeks. I've since changed the locks but my mail is still going missing.

My question I suppose is this, what are my options regarding the tenant in the other apartment? I'm convinced they have at least some of my mail as I have received some of theirs on a few occasions. But what can I do. They won't answer the door, they just shout out the window "No mail, no mail".

I've rang the local sorting office and the customer services dept in the GPO to notify them. They were very nice to deal with but there's nothing really they can do either. I've considered ringing the Gardai and reporting the missing mail as stolen, but again, to be honest, what are they really going to do. It just seems as if this issue is not going to get resolved?

Any thoughts welcome!

Perhaps use Irish for your address/block. Send a few letters with Irish / English addresses to yourself so the postman gets to know your address in Irish.

Good thinking! The guy at the GPO recommended removing some lines from address to make it less like the other simlar apartment. Perhaps I'll try a combination!

How far away are you from your local sorting office - could you rent a PO box there, particularly for your business mail?

or go into the local sorting office and explain the situation to the manager there. when you say 'almost identical' how identical do you mean?who allowed this to happen ie local authority or builder? Do the esb etc know of the problem of 'near identical' addresses? This really shouldn't be your problem, its either a problem with the address or the post office failing to identify the difference. ( I know an post don't have to know the names but they should be able to identify the individual addresses.)

gipimann said:

How far away are you from your local sorting office - could you rent a PO box there, particularly for your business mail?

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Think this would be the best idea. Unless as akward as it may seem maybe be there when the post is delivered for a few days..ie begining of the month when the chickens necks are due..

Try speaking to the postman that delivers it too.

cuchulainn said:

or go into the local sorting office and explain the situation to the manager there. when you say 'almost identical' how identical do you mean?who allowed this to happen ie local authority or builder? Do the esb etc know of the problem of 'near identical' addresses?...

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I've been to the sorting office, and also rang them twice so far. No joy. They did say however that they mentioned the identical address issue to the developer at the time but their advice was not taken.

In terms of the address, my address is...

Apartment Number, Apartment Block Name,
Development Name,
Town...

Their address is..

Apartment Number,
Development Name,
Town...

All detail is identical. Only difference is mine has the apartment block name. Their address doesn't as it's above a house.

cuchulainn said:

...This really shouldn't be your problem, its either a problem with the address or the post office failing to identify the difference. ( I know an post don't have to know the names but they should be able to identify the individual addresses.)

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I agree, but to be honest I don't have much trust in the post office. They once delivered two esb bills into my post box at the same time. One for me and the second one was for the other address. How any postman can do this is beyond me. They had our different names on them. Did he really think there was two meters in the one apartment? Pure lack of care on their part.

gipimann said:

How far away are you from your local sorting office - could you rent a PO box there, particularly for your business mail?

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I could I suppose. It's not too far away. Maybe a mile or so. I'm taking a few different measures to fix the situation (eg. bank transfers rather than cheques) but to be honest I'm more concerned about the lost mail at this stage.

GeneralZod said:

Try speaking to the postman that delivers it too.

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Haven't been able to catch him yet but have been assured by the sorting office staff that he/she would be told of the situation.