need feedback/suggestions on a serious matter

[Dew]

hey peeps .... here's the scenario


we receive Netflix ( movie rental DVD subscriptions online where they mail it to u) about 2-3 times a week... the past 3 weeks or so, a few have come up missing.... we've been subsribers for the past yr or so .. everything has been fine, they always delivered on time and nothing has been lost or stolen... til now :?

i called Netflix last weekend complaining because we havent received 3 movies ... today i called them again.. 2 movies are missing :x


i also called the PostMaster General (postal service), he assured me that there is no backlog of the mail; he sounded very sincere.. but they both worked in harmony for the past yr without problems.

so, both companies hinted that someone in the building may be stealing our Netflix CDs (they come in big red envelops with Netflix on the package) .. now that we think about it, the only thing that has changed in the past month is that we have new neighbors :roll: ... and the mail is sitting in the lobby on a table where everyone has access (total of 6 apartments in the building)

anywho... doxx and i placed bait ... we placed one of those big red envelopes downstairs with a blank CD to see if anyone bites the bait

have u ever been a victim of mail theft? ... can u think of any other possible scenario that we may have not thought of?

 

[carlita]

maybe the mail man's takin em.

 

[dlc]

If they are big enough to be a small parcel, they could stick in the bottom of a mail sack when it is dumped and be found later when they reuse the sack. Under those conditions you should receive the mail marked "found in supposedly empty equipment" unless it is happening repeatedly. If it is happening often enough, it is probably theft where you are living.


When Kodak use to send slides in the little yellow boxes, I have received my slides late because of a mail sack not being emptied completely at the PO, but not very often. I know this happens because I worked there for 32 years.

 

[terri]

If people are helping themselves to your subscription....that just stinks. issed:

We live in a subdivision that for some reason, issued identical street NUMBERS to streets with identical names except ours ends with "LANE" and the other is "DRIVE". Needless to say, we get each other's stuff quite often. We have always tried to hustle the misdirected mail right back over, hoping they would follow suit. But - they don't. They have held onto mail-delivered Christmas packages, accepted a free pizza one night (when the restaurant was trying to make up to US for a very late delivery), and kept a few magazines.

Those are the things we KNOW about.....so now, anytime something important has to be delivered, we've taken to having it sent to the hubby's work addy now....sad, but we DO get our stuff now! Oh, and pizza places just get the usual lecture: "That would be LANE...you have to keep GOING after you see the same house number on DRIVE..." PITA? YES!!!! :|

Good luck on this one, Dew.... it's very hard to circumvent such petty theft when the post office is making it so easy with the general delivery thing..... you could have it delivered to Doxx's office, I suppose, but it does seem silly to have to go that route, doesn't it??? :roll: Good luck!!

 

[Dew]

it just seems a little strange ... we've had the same mail man since April ... he had ample oppurtunity to steal them because we get them at least 3 times a week ... so he decides a few months later that he wants to take 5 movies in the past 2 weeks? :scratch:

we've had the same people living in the building... but we have one new neighbor that has been there for about a month ... i dunno .. im getting a little suspicous.

... if the mail was being delayed at the post office, wouldnt u think we would receive it at some point?

i dunno ... if this happens again ... we may have to get a PO box or something ... it would be quite interesting if we're getting all of our Netflix then ... but its quite interesting, our bills never get lost or "misplaced"

 

[oriecat]

Can you talk to your super or managers or whoever about having a private place for your mail? That just doesn't seem right that it would be out there for anyone to take like that.... :?

 

[Dew]

i could talk to management, with red tape and stuff, it'll be at least 3-4 weeks before something happens ... and again, i'm being presumptuous.... i really dont know for sure that its the neighbors ... im trying to think of all possibilities and process of elimination .... i mean, who knows, the "mail bandit fairy" could be stealing the mail

im trying not to overeact, but if it happens again i will be knocking on my neighbor's door :roll: asking them if their mail is being "lost"

Netflix has it under investigation, the post office offered to put it under investigation but i declined (that was for the incident last week) ... looks like i will have to call them again monday to get to the bottom of this.

 

[havoc]

I think you should sick Carli's Yao Ming poster on them, if he can take care of the likes of Osama and Saddam, then a couple mail thieves will be no problem for him.

Honestly though i would lobby for private lockable mailboxes, whether your neigbors are good or bad, its just a security issue i wouldn't wanna deal with, (especially when tax returns come). No one should be able to rifle threw your mail, or even see it for that matter, its yours and its private property, to tamper with it is not only a federal crime, its just bullshiet......

 

[Shubin]

There are a couple of things I gotta ask:

1) was your bait taken?

2) if not, was it STILL there or THERE AGAIN?

There's a big difference between the choices in #2. If it was apperantly still there, then take it back and don't do anything for a bit. A month from now leave the bait out again with one of your georgeous recently-dyed-black hairs against a corner. Check to see if the hair has moved.

You left a blank CD, if the bait was still there, then it might have been checked and put back by a disappointed thief.

or...Instead of a blank CD, put a DVD with a voice (use your cute visiting friend) saying that the lobby is now videotaped for security reasons, and if the missing DVDs are all on the table in the morning, you will not go to management. Otherwise, management, security, AND the NYPD will investigate.

Either that, if you're the vindictive sort... leave a DVD coupled with a CD ROM containing every bloody virus on the planet... set to AutoRun. Label the CD ROM with something enticing such as "Preview Copy for Netflix Subscribers Only!"

Alternately, you could leave a copy of a DVD for a Hugh Grant movie and just listen for the anguished screams. But that's cruel.

 

[Dew]

i dont know if the bait has been taken yet, i heard someone leaving the building last night and ran downstairs to check ..it was still there. i saw the elderly lady's son ... i forgot about him

there is an 85 yr old lady who lives right under me, her son comes to visit her often (he looks about 45 yrs or something) ... he lives down the street and also looks very shady, he looks like the loser type :?


i thought of that, they see the blank tape and put it back ... my hubby wrote "gotcha" on the CD ... if anything, they will get nervous and know that someone is on to them ... i wish we had a hidden camera ... as soon as i see them pick up that envelope, i'd be on their back

 

[TwistMyArm]

Can I call you Nancy Dew?

 

[Dew]

and the Hardy boys

 

[TwistMyArm]

And the Case of the Vanishing Videos.

In all seriousness though, good luck with finding out what is going on. Do you still have to pay for the missing DVDs if you have not recieved them? Will NetFlix wave whatever fees they normally charge?

 

[oriecat]

LMAO!!

 

[Dew]

they (Netflix) said they will waive our entire monthly charge ... but the proof is in the pudding ... when i see it, i'll beleive it. ... they dont charge us per movie, they charge a monthly fee for unlimited movies, we can have 5 at a time home. ... yesterday i went downstairs, the movie was still there ... havent checked yet this morning :?