Not a pleasant situation at all.
Honestly, I haven't had to sign for a package since COVID hit. It was a USPS stipulation here that for everyone's safety, signatures could be bypassed or applied by the delivery agent so that there was "no contact required." The one that I did have to sign for about a year ago, package was coming from Europe and signature requirement was added automatically (without automatically letting me know I might add, a real pet peeve!). The package showed as delivered before I knew it and when I went to check the progress on eBay, it had already been delivered, 3weeks prior. At this time 4-6 weeks was standard lead time from Europe. By the time I made a claim and heard back from eBay, the window was closed for an investigation of an international shipment from the shipping company here stateside. I did some investigating of my own and went to the street address the shipping company provided a picture of saying that the package was signed for there. It was not my doorstep in the picture, not my street number, and not my signature. The street number they delivered to was the same number as the 4 digit additional code at the end of my zip code. When I went there, a couple blocks down on the same street name, the gentleman said he didn't receive or sign for any package and made it clear he was open to help. He even said, "you know what, I have some bike parts like that out back, let's go look." It wasn't what I was looking for, but before I left he says, "you know, sometimes they deliver my packages to the same street number, 2 streets over." I go there and sure enough, it's the porch in the proof of delivery picture!!! No answer at the door, multiple visits. I had provided this information to eBay and they had to put me in contact with an international claims agent or some such BS. I made it clear that the address and door step that the shipper delivered it to was assuredly NOT my address. After much back and forth, eBay closed the claim saying that the address they delivered it to and the address that I had on file with eBay was not in error. How they saw 2 different street names and 2 different street numbers as being THE SAME, I cannot fathom. I understand it as an honest mistake from the Seller not knowing the format of street addresses in a foreign continent (the same as I don't know what zip codes and area codes look like across the pond) coupled with complacency on the part of the delivery person....having delivered to the wrong street name before. I'm not anymore happy about the situation today, but it makes you sit and think about how amazing it is for a package to make it to its destination so many miles away from its origin after considering how many factors there are that can go wrong. Add theft of packages left out in the open and I'm surprised even 1/4 of them make it into the right hands.
Luckily for me, I left a note on the pictured proof of delivery doorstep and a week or so later the husband that lived there called me. He said his wife had been afraid to answer the door when she was there alone and they were scratching their heads about what to do with the package...until they found my note. He had her leave it outside for me to pick up and I had it in my hands within minutes of the phone call. I'm glad these folks were honest enough to do that! It flares up my irritation with companies that are incapable of admitting ANY accountability for faults of their own though...same goes for the eBay seller too I suppose.
Sorry, end of rant!
