Help! What to do when someone uses your address?
By rowantree
@rowantree (1186)
United States
July 17, 2010 4:08pm CST
We've lived at our address for almost 6 years now. Through the years, we've gotten mail addressed to the people who used to live here. They originally built the house. At first I wrote "no longer at this address" on the envelopes and returned them to the post office because they were valid pieces of mail. Time went on and the valid mail stopped but every now and then, what I call "spam mail" will arrive with the name of one of the original occupants.
Within the past few weeks, we've been receiving "spam mail" for someone who has never lived at our address. Six years of living here and never receiving a single piece of mail with this person's name on it. Right away I thought something was up but I recycled the mail. Today though, we received not one, but two, pieces of mail for this person.
I find this really odd and wonder if someone isn't trying to use our information in some way. Is there anything I can do? I know I could write on the envelopes that this person has never lived at our address but the businesses involved probably got this information from one of those mailing lists. They're valid businesses - TCF Bank and Globe Life and Accident Insurance Company.
Any advice?
2 responses
@Memnon (2170)
•
17 Jul 10
We are familiar with this, but for us it is probably Post Office incompetence- after all, the UK is famous for it's failures. In our conurbation there are three roads of the same name, all in different districts. The P/O here made a big deal of post codes when they were introduced, but they obviously do not check them, as we return the mail to the depot and it comes back despite the words "WRONG ADDRESS CHECK POST CODE" being written in permanent marker prominently on the envelope!
