Disgruntled woman fed up of acting as ‘concierge service’ for next-door neighbour

As we are all aware, relationships with neighbours are either friendly and civil or a bit of a tense nightmare.

It was recently reported how one couple were having an issue with their neighbour coming into their front garden whenever she likes, as she claims that part of it belongs to her.

And now, another couple have shared their own problem with their neighbour, who they claim is treating them like their own personal “concierge service”.

In a post online, the anonymous homeowner details how they recently moved to a new property in a cul-de-sac, with four other houses, The Mirror reports.

One of their neighbours has a “scary-looking gate” which is electric and has its own intercom system.

Writing on Mumsnet, the woman explains how the doorbell on the gate is broken, meaning her neighbours are never alerted to any deliveries they may have.

As such all of their parcels have been sent to their neighbour – who is rather fed up of taking them in.

She claims she’s spoken to the neighbours about this and they are refusing to fix their doorbell to resolve the issue.

The post reads: “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).

“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 continues to say how there is no way to access the property when the gate is shut, unless a delivery person has their 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 explains.

“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.”

She added that she has no issue with occasionally taking in parcels for a neighbour, but this has become a “daily occurrence” and she is aware that they will never be able to return the favour.

“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 [Dear Husband] 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.”

More than 200 people responded to the post, with many agreeing with the husband’s approach.

One person said: “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 wrote: “I agree with your husband and just start refusing. If you try to bring it up in any way with them, it just sounds like you feel like have some kind of responsibility for taking in parcels/could be railroaded into continuing. It won’t go well.”

A third posted: “Just refuse. The bell will soon be fixed if they want their stuff badly enough.”

Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond – Sign up to our daily newsletter here.