Hi all,
Hope you're all well.
I'm just wanting to gauge who is in the wrong in a situation I'm currently faced with. While I'm biased I'd rather seek the opinions of those unbiased to ensure that I'm either right or in the wrong. I don't mind if your judgment is somewhat unrelenting towards me (if required) as I have noted that unrelenting opinions are common place on OZB.
Edit: The judges have made their verdict and I am indeed in the wrong. I'll take this in stride as a life lesson.
Photos have now been removed for privacy reasons
Disclaimer
This is a bit of a read so I do apologise in advance but I felt the need to be as detailed as possible so the judges may make an informed decision.
A bit of context:
I currently live in a 3 bedroom house which is situated near a school (Approx 800 metres), our front porch faces the road and is clearly visible from the footpath. The distance between the footpath and porch is approx 10 metres. We're renting this property and have been for a number of years and having the footpath within a small distance of our front door isn't a bother for us and hasn't resulted in any issues for us until now
While someone is usually home for deliveries however there are times that someone is out or unavailable to answer the door, for this reason I have put a sign right next to our front door for couriers to drop all deliveries into a heavy duty plastic box in front of our gate which is away from the footpath and is more secure.
This sign is difficult to overlook as it's approx chest height and you see it as you're walking up the path to the front door and even if they take an alternative route (Eg. across the grass).
We have a camera in that area as that area also doubles as our carport so we have a camera facing our vehicles which also doubles as a camera to watch the courier delivery box.
This was an idea I came up with shortly after moving into this property as I foresaw the minor issue. ALL couriers except one (I kid you not) have followed those instructions accordingly for all Authority to Leave (ATL) related deliveries. Any deliveries that need to be signed for are either signed for if someone is home or a card is left (Standard courier operating procedure)
Getting to the point:
On Wednesday (03/08) an Australia Post courier delivered a package to us, the package didn't require a signature so it was left. This courier decided to either overlook my clear + hard to miss instructions at eye-level upon approaching the front door and leave the package at the front door and didn't ring the doorbell or knock on the door. Somebody was home at the time but due to the dump and run without a knock at the door or doorbell ring we weren't aware until I received the 'Your package has been delivered' notification approx 30 minutes later (I seem to get them late for some reason) so I went out to my Courier Delivery box to find it wasn't there, I went looking for the package thinking the courier left it somewhere out of sight, to no avail. I requested a proof of delivery photo of where the courier delivered it, which was at the front door (photo below0
The default ATL instruction (Which applies to all packages unless you change it) was set to deliver to 'Mailbox - If safe to do so' - I didn't change this as I haven't really needed to change it as ALL couriers follow my instructions accordingly.
I emailed Australia Post informing them that the package was not there approx 30 minutes after delivery and that the courier didn't follow my instructions and to request possible compensation. The reply we received instructed us to check with our neighbours to see if they accepted the delivery on our behalf (They did not) otherwise to contact Victoria Police. It is my understand that Victoria Police have better things to do then to investigate petty theft for courier driver incompetence.
Also for those wondering, I haven't got front cameras installed as we have never had an incident happen in this area. We live in a somewhat safe area. The camera we do have that faces the carport/gate area + where the box is left is primarily to protect our vehicles.
Most of our neighbours do not have cameras as far as I can see without snooping too much. I very much doubt Victoria Police would do anything even with footage.
I would prefer to deal with Australia Post directly as opposed to going through the seller as the item was purchased off Aliexpress.
On a previous unrelated occasion I opened up a dispute on Aliexpress and it was closed in the sellers favour, the Australia Post tracking stopped at the last leg of the journey and the seller claimed that I had to pick it up 'from my local post office' which wasn't true at all and Aliexpress sided with them.
Also I don't see this as the sellers fault even if it was a local seller as it's Australia Post courier incompetence.
Judgement time:
Am I in the right to pursue this further with Australia Post and request compensation or am I in the wrong.
Final Note:
I'm aware that there have been reports of civilians (per se) following courier vehicles around and picking up what they drop off, whether that has happened here I do not know. I don't want to wrongly over-extend myself but whether the courier in question had something to do with it (eg. by proxy) I'm not sure.
Australia Post have no contract with you and aren’t obliged to offer you anything. I’m amazed they did previously. They’re contracted by the seller only so you need to go to seller and try to sort it out. It’s also why post insurance exists.
Deliverers are also not obliged to follow your personal preference sign instructions or courier box setup.