Blocking US mail?

[westtexas]

Okay so this might be a weird question, but maybe one of you knows the answer.

My ex boyfriend has been having his mail sent to my apartment, without my permission. Bank statements, business documents, and now today a certified letter from his dentist (probably because he hasn't paid his bill). Normally I just write "No one by this name at this address" on the envelope and put it back in the mail slot.

Now with the certified letter however - I don't feel like I can pick it up at the post office, since it isn't addressed to me - but I don't feel like chasing him down to let him know he's got the letter. It's not my fault he doesn't have his (pardon my French) together. However, I don't want to get in trouble with credit agencies/debt collectors/business agencies, etc. because of him. We have different names and it's just an address, but still.

Is there a way to block mail from coming to your address? I can't do a change of address form because I don't know where he lives now and I don't want my own mail to get messed up. Do I need to go to the post office and talk to someone (if I can even find the time)?

Thanks in advance.

[goldfinch]

You might go to the closest post office and tell the clerk. Otherwise, keep doing what you are doing. The letters go back to the senders who should eventually figure out that they don't have a good address for him.

I would ignore the certified letter. You weren't married, you don't have the same name, you credit should be fine.

[jessmarimba]

In my experience, there's nothing you can do besides what you are doing.

The people who used to own my house refused to change their address. Filling out a change of address form for someone else is apparently a felony (tampering with someone else's mail) and I decided not to do it. I forwarded their mail to their new house for awhile and threw a temper tantrum last Christmas, sent them a letter requesting that they change their address, and started returning everything to sender. EVERYTHING. Holiday cards from Israel, business stuff from her freelance clients, you name it.

My address is also linked to someone's license plate who doesn't live here, and I keep getting toll bills. The DMV won't help at all.

Good luck. That's a pain.

[ny biker]

You could call the dentist and tell them the address is not valid for him.

This is from usps.com:

Reporting/Returning misdelivered mail

Despite our best efforts, occasionally mail is mis-delivered, or is delivered to an old location for an individual. If you are receiving mail for the previous resident and do not know their address, simply return the mail piece back to the mailstream (by leaving in a Collection Box® or other mail receptacle) with the notation "Not at this address" marked on the envelope.

Important: If the misdelivered item meets any of the following criteria

The Express Mail service item,
An unknown applicant submits proper ID.
The applicant provides a verifiable point of contact (e.g., place of employment, shelter, charitable institution, or social services office).

Please contact the Delivery Supervisor at your local Post Office facility:
For Express Mail items only, you can obtain the number of the Express Mail Reporting Unit by calling:

1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777)


For other misdelivered mail items (such as letters):


If the mailpiece is delivered to the wrong location:


Don't erase or mark over the information, or write any type of endorsement on the mailpiece.
Place the item back in the mailbox or hand the item back to your mailperson.

If the mailpiece is delivered to the correct location but the recipient on the mailpiece does not reside at the address:


Write"Not at this address" on mailpiece.
Don't erase or mark over the address.
Provide the mailpiece to your mailperson or drop into a Collection Box receptacle.


Destroying mail that was not intended for you may be prohibited by US laws.


Willfully destroying mail is an act that may be punishable by the Federal Government.


If you have any questions about the legality of doing this, please contact your local law enforcement.

=====

They also have a phone number for customer support, but they will probably tell you the same thing as what's on the website.

Call 1-800-ASK-USPS® (800-275-8777)
M-F - 8:00am-8:30pm ET
Sat - 8:00am-6:00pm ET
Sun/Holidays* - Closed

[soprano]

Go to the post office and talk to the postmaster/postmistress. Tell them what's going on, and that you've been writing "Not at this address" on the mail but that it keeps coming. Be calm and polite.

When my husband and I bought our house, the prior residents (who were renting and unhappy about moving out) didn't get around to changing their addresses for a long time. I also didn't receive an important piece of mail that was addressed to my maiden name. Chatting with both the postmistress and our regular carrier helped a lot, although we do still get the occasional piece of mail... like the package that came FIVE TIMES last year! We kept writing on it and sending it back, and then two days later it would reappear. The third time around we even printed out a note saying, "Mr. Smith moved away in April 09. Please do not give us his mail," and taped it to the package. Eventually we sent it away and it stayed away.

Overall, however, talking with the postmistress did the most good. She put a note on file at the post office regarding who does and does not live at our house, and that really helped.

[Irulan]

yes to talking to the postmaster... maybe. I don't know that I'd put the energy out with someone that doesn't care about their stuff.RE the dentist, bills, certified letters: you aren't legally responsible for it so you don't touch it. You have no obligation for any of his financial responsibilities. He's a big boy, let him deal with it.

[marni]

a year after buying this house, we are still getting dunning calls for the previous owners, even though the telephone number is different. We have no idea where the previous owner are, but begin to understand why they were so willing to negotiate on the sale price, and suspect that they obviously left a lot of unpaid bills behind. I ust say there is no one here with that name, although it obviously the same people calling over and over thinking perhaps they can catch me out in lie, or tojustify their existence, I'm not sure which. It is tiresome and irritating.

marni

[Irulan]

a year after buying this house, we are still getting dunning calls for the previous owners, even though the telephone number is different. We have no idea where the previous owner are, but begin to understand why they were so willing to negotiate on the sale price, and suspect that they obviously left a lot of unpaid bills behind. I ust say there is no one here with that name, although it obviously the same people calling over and over thinking perhaps they can catch me out in lie, or tojustify their existence, I'm not sure which. It is tiresome and irritating.

marni

get caller ID and don't answer it.

[Catrin]

get caller ID and don't answer it.

Yes, but that just makes them think that it IS the right number...this is a hard situation to deal with.

When I had a landline it was obvious that the previous person with that number took years to actually change it with their doctors office, school, etc. Eventually the calls stopped, though it was easy enough to get their non-creditors to understand the situation.

[OakLeaf]

Basically there's two things going on.

You've gotten good advice re: the mail.

Bill collectors, OTOH, will pursue any lead they have, no matter how tenuous, even though it's usually illegal. Once or twice bill collectors called my DH (at a number that has never even been listed to me) looking for my first husband. If that gets to be a problem you can take a look at your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

[westtexas]

Thanks for the advice ladies. I shall continue on as I have been doing then and scratch one more thing off my "Not enough time in the day to worry about this" list.

[sfa]

My parents had this problem with mail being delivered to their home intended for my deadbeat brother (who had apparently intentionally left no forwarding address when he moved from one apartment to another, so creditors went back to his last known address, which was my parents' house). They talked to the mail carrier about it after months of returning things to senders, and the post office eventually stuck a note on the inside of the mailbox saying "nothing for Joe Smith" to remind the carriers to sort the mail themselves at the house and pull out anything addressed to my brother. It's a lot of extra work for the mail carriers, though, so I'm not sure they'd be willing to do this in every case.

[Koronin]

The place we rented last year I got tons of stuff for at least 2 different previous renters. I just kept sending stuff back, although I actually did have to cross out the address a couple of times because even though I wrote not at this address and return to sender on the envelope the post office it's self sent it back a couple of times. The house we bought the very first month I got a couple of things which I sent back and occasionally I still get the odd magazine or catalog with the previous owners name, but they definitely got their address changed.

[Brandi]

Can you leave a note in your mail box to the person who deliver's your mail? Or talk to them in person? I have the same mail carrier I have had for years. If I talk to her she would take any mail not addressed to me and send it back for me. But then I live in a small town and that might be easier for me then you.

[OakLeaf]

Yes, small town letter carriers and postmasters are AWESOME. They've gone above and beyond more times than I can count, over the years.