I'm Not A Happy Bunny

[thelewisgang]

I was out for a couple of hours this morning & when I returned home, I noticed my letterbox on my door was partly hanging off. When I got indoors, the inside piece was almost off & this advertising flyer was in my doormat. My letterbox was sealed on the outside & inside & I have a large sign on it in large bold print saying "please use mailbox on wall". The person has used force to open it & in doing so has *** up the screw holes holding the letterbox on the door & now the screws are not biting in the threads. I've been told by a near neighbour there were four adults walking round pushing these through people's doors. I rang the number on the flyer (home cleaning operatives)but only picked up an answerphone. I then emailed them. I have had a reply which ignored my comments & just said if I preferred not to receive any more leaflets I could give them my address details & they would make sure no more were delivered. Surely this is criminal damage?

[Buenchico]

You'd never prove ('beyond reasonable doubt') that it was 'criminal damage' [as defined by the Criminal Damage Act 1971]. To do so it would be necessary to prove that either 'intent' or 'recklessness' was involved. While a civil court (where only 'the balance of probabilities' needs to be considered) might accept that there was an element of recklessness involved, a criminal court almost certainly wouldn't.

I used to supervise the delivery of Yellow Pages across much of East Anglia and our delivery teams usually managed to break several letterboxes with each new edition. (Indeed, I've been accused of breaking quite a few myself while delivering both Yellow Page and Phone Books, often when it was obvious that the damage had been done months beforehand. I admit to breaking about half a dozen, over several years, though!). The delivery company (Deya Ltd) was usually reasonably quick to pay out though.

It would be unusual for a firm of home cleaning operatives to employ their own delivery staff. It's far more likely that they'd use a dedicated delivery service, so it's that firm which you'd need to track down.

[thelewisgang]

Thanks Chris for your excellent reply. It would appear they delivered their own flyers...a new, small, family run business they have just started up. So, I'm now stuck with a letterbox, hanging off inside. The sign I have is BIG & they must have used some welly to 1st of all open it on the outside then force it through the other side which was also sealed & the long screws that go through it are no longer biting due to the damage incurred

[Buenchico]

Thanks for your reply.

Send them a letter, using Royal Mail's 'Signed For' service, demanding compensation and threatening legal action if you don't get it.

[Captain2]

Just a suggestion - if it is a timber door. You obviously don't want the letterbox used, so, now that the box is hanging off, rather than refix it get a good joiner in to remove it completely and infill the hole with a block of wood and then repaint the door. No more hassle anyway.

[thelewisgang]

Chris. There's no address of their cleaning company on the flyer...just a landline telephone number & an email address.
Captain2 my front door is metal with wood over the top

[THECORBYLOON]

If you have a contact number and email address can you not Google them?

[thelewisgang]

THECORBYLOON I did email them & as I put in my original posting, they replied just to say if I didn't want any more of their mailings let them know my address & they would make sure no more were delivered. No mention whatsoever about the damage that was caused

[thelewisgang]

i should have also just put their name isn't recognised on any google search. I think it is just a family cleaning business they have just started up but they are using "ltd" on their email address

[Eve]

If they are a company limited here, you can search for them on Companies House:

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo

It will give their registered office address, for example, if you want to send any mail recorded delivery to them.

[THECORBYLOON]

What is their e-mail address?

[thelewisgang]

I'm not sure it's wise to post that on a forum unless you can convince me otherwise. They have ignored my 2nd email & I have now taken pictures of the sign on my letterbox & also the damage that has been done & I will email these to them later today. I spoke to a lady earlier who lives 3 doors from me. She told me quite a young boy was responsible for posting these leaflets through the doors

[THECORBYLOON]

I typed my e-mail address into I site I found and it came up with my name, the site is, http://itools.com/tool/spokeo-email-address-lookup

[Canary42]

With the standard of education in this country these days the deliverer probably couldn't read.