Clever s*ds - help required please!!

[LAT]

Absolutely no idea! The parcels have our address but not our name on. There have been two different names of people that don't exist* - at least not in this area (N spoke to the police who checked their records). Then rather more worryingly we started getting some with our son's name on but they aren't coming from his account either.
I have reported it three times to their customer services - one time I was on chat for well over 2 hours. Their phone lines are not available. The email address I was given just returned my email as undelivered. I wrote, by post, to London HQ and have had no reply. I was assured by customer services that their investigative department would get back to me within 24-48 hours. That was in June and I'm still waiting. I was also assured it would stop. It didn't!
They told me I could do what I liked with the parcels and didn't need to return them. It has been hard to refuse the packages as these days often they ring the bell and get straight back in their van ready to drive off as we open the door. We did manage to decline a couple. I now have a note on the front door telling delivery men not to leave parcels for the two unknown names but I daren't add L's name to that in case he does arrange for something to be delivered here at some point in the future. We have had some odd looks from people walking past!

It got to the point when I dreaded a white van pulling up outside the house!
I am now keeping a note of the tracking reference, date of arrival and name on the address label so we can at least throw the packaging away. If they do come back to me I will let them have this information. Almost everything seems to have been made in China - when we can tell. And there are no packing slips in the parcels.

*Does anyone know anyone called Scott C Maldonado or Stacy M Foster?

[Bunnylump]

That is REALLY peculiar!

[LAT]

Yes! It's been an odd summer - apart from the obvious - we have had the stress of that and also deer visiting our garden regularly to dine on our plants. Each time the geraniums looked like they might be about to flower I would wake up to lots of bare stems. Ditto a couple of roses in large pots and several other plants too.

But hey, there are worse things in life.

[Bunnylump]

You need to train those cats to be Ninjas!

[LAT]

Oh the cats have their own problems too! There are two cats that live down the road that regularly visit our garden and often even come into the house as well. I saw one panic the other day when I came in and spotted it walking into the kitchen from our hall. It ran back into the house but then turned and shot back out again when I followed it.
Sometimes we hear an almighty kerfuffle at the cat flap when one of our cats is trying to stop the intruder coming in

N now keeps a water pistol by the back door in the hope of catching it one day.

[Bunnylump]

You'll probably think I'm really evil, but when I found a miscellaneous cat had got into my kitchen, through the old catflap, and was parading around on top of my COOKER, stealing food, I decided to teach it a lesson so that it would NEVER come back. So I blocked its exit and then shook some vinegar on it - and then let it out, knowing that the cat would have to clean itself by washing. It never came back.

[Scurra]

No, I think that's the sort of thing everyone expects you to have done. <joke>

[LAT]

Oh that's a brilliant idea!
I shall see what N thinks of that.

[SparkOut]

Not that I think it is cruel, but just a few questions:
What is your relationship with the other cats' owners? Do they know about you wishing to stop them coming in? If their cats came home smelling of vinegar, would they be likely to complain or report you?

[Bunnylump]

This was a completely unknown cat, most probably from the ghastly estate behind us. If I had known the cat I would have spoken to the owner. Not that they would be able to stop it returning! And when I used to have a cat, I wouldn't have been at all surprised if someone had decided to do something like this. She was a pain when she wanted to be! I will never forget hearing my exasperated neighbour shouting at her when she managed to fish a huge koi carp out of the paddling pool my neighbour had them in temporarily whilst cleaning her pond! She came back completely soaked one day and it turned out she had fallen into said pond. Served her right!

And vinegar wouldn't hurt a cat, it just wouldn't like it.

What I really need is a way to deter foxes. They are becoming utterly brazen. My neighbour was out with his puppy the other night and said there were SIX fox cubs playing on my patio - which is right outside my back door. And no, geranium oil and garlic don't work, I've tried that.

[LAT]

We know roughly but not exactly where these cats come from, one of two or three houses that back onto our lane. From chatting to other people that live nearby they are prolific visitors with no shame.

And I agree, even if we talked to their owners there isn't much they would be able to do to stop them coming here. We are thinking of getting a chip-controlled cat flap but would need to be sure it would fit in our existing hole, and that our cats would take to using it OK.

[chazzie]

Whereas I have reached agreement with the owner of the cat that spends 75% of her time in my house - that I will feed her/have her here - and if the owner want to come and visit/see her she knows where she is And yes my fish pond has 50% less residency now than a couple of months ago

[Bunnylump]

K has one of those chip controlled cat flaps, it seems to work fine. Although how her gigantic cat gets through it always amazes me!

And yes, Chazzie, cats often choose their owners, not the other way round!

[SparkOut]

I just wanted to double-check that any vinegar treatment wouldn't be likely to cause a problem with neighbours, not suggesting that it is a bad idea.

As for foxes, back when we used to live in Kent, there was a fox family who enjoyed climbing on the bird table, using the perches spaced at wide intervals on the sides of the pole as ladder rungs.

[Bunnylump]

They are proper devils, aren't they? And they stole my gnome!

[LAT]

Do you think your fox was related to this one?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53612856

We do get foxes as well but they don't do so much damage.

Most exciting moment recently was seeing a woodpecker on the bird feeder. That was a first for us.

PS, glad the situation re your cat has been sorted out Chazzie

[Scurra]

K has one of those chip controlled cat flaps, it seems to work fine.

I have one too, and it works pretty well - as long as you remember to change the batteries.

[SparkOut]

What, in your robot cat?

[Bunnylump]

Do you think your fox was related to this one?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53612856

Quite possibly! Although ours are rather more eclectic - rubber gloves, dog toys, fluffy reindeer, footballs, gnomes...

[LAT]

Wouldn't it be fun to find where it has stashed them all!