Things getting delivered to the wrong address is frustrating for everyone involved. The person who ordered didn’t get their delivery, the person it was delivered to has to correct the driver, and the driver has to try and fix the situation.
Redditor Ok_Impression_9297 has been dealing with this issue for a while. Because of how the original poster’s (OP) apartment is numbered, it causes confusion for the delivery driver.
OP’s neighbor has asked that they stop ordering delivery to avoid disturbing their night, but OP doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.
To find out if they made the right choice, OP asked the “Am I the A**hole” (AITA) subReddit to judge them for their action.
They just want to order food delivery.
“AITA for refusing to stop ordering takeaways?”
Is that so wrong?
“I live in a gated housing complex with flats and a house. The flats are numbered 1-10 and the houses are 2-10.”
“I live in flat 5, and I enjoy a takeaway a few times a week.”
“The trouble is, some of the delivery drivers get confused and will knock on house 5’s door, which the residents find incredibly irritating and have come to me about it and told me to stop ordering food to their flat.”
“The thing is, I’m not – I enter my address properly (I’ve shown them) and in the notes section on the app I provide directions. It reads ‘please keep left after coming through the gates and come to the flats. Call [mobile number] when outside.’”
“I feel that’s pretty clear, but the trouble seems to be that the drivers don’t read the notes. Either that, or the fact it seems a few of the drivers have poor English skills as they grew up abroad.”
“Once after trying at house 5 unsuccessfully a driver called me and I had to leave my flat and go meet him outside because he didn’t understand my directions.”
“The house have told me to stop ordering food as it disturbs their evening. I said sorry, but I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and that it happened maybe once every week or two weeks.”
OP is convinced that they aren’t doing anything wrong. After all, it’s not their fault the drivers are going to the wrong address, right? But it’s easy to see why the neighbor would be so annoyed at getting wrong deliveries.
On Reddit, the users of the board judged OP for refusing to stop ordering food delivery by including one of the following in their response:
- NTA – Not the A**hole
- YTA – You’re the A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everybody Sucks Here
The board went back and forth, but in the end OP is doing what they can. They’ve added clarifying instructions, and try their best to avoid the mistake.
It isn’t their fault the driver gets things wrong, and it’s unreasonable to ask someone to stop something like getting food.
The board determined that OP isn’t wrong to keep ordering delivery.
“NTA – He can’t ask you to stop ordering takeaways lol Is clearly not your fault the delivery guys are getting confused.”
“If I got it right the flats and houses have the same numbers? Maybe they should change the numbers of the houses or flats.” – Mizamiiza
“NTA”
“I have a similar issue – Im on 26th AVENUE and there is another house with my same number on 26th STREET. Our mail is continually getting routed to each other.”
“Same with takeaway -I have put on the instructions ‘call me for detailed directions as mapquest is inaccurate’ and that seems to help.” – MissSuzieSunshine
“NTA you’re doing everything right and it’s annoying but like oh well first world problems” – CLj0008
“NTA, but I gotta be honest, if it happens several times a week, I’d probably start taking the food if I was the other party or at the least, just not answer.”
“Maybe if they need to refund the orders often they’d get the address right.” – SWG_138
“This is so stupid. Is there a community association? Can you propose renumbering the houses or flats so they don’t repeat? Or maybe complain to the city or town.”
“Whoever thought of this numbering system is an idiot. NTA” – Andie787
“NAH except your housing complex.”
“It’s not your fault that the delivery drivers are going to the wrong spot, but it’s also not your neighbors’ responsibility to act as the info desk for your housing complex. I can see why they’d start getting annoyed if this is happening every week or two.”
“Your neighbors would also not be the AH if they started simply accepting the delivery.”
“Yes, that’s a dickish thing to do if it happens on an occasion, but if it’s happening consistently then it’s up to you to figure out a solution. If you can’t, you might just have to live with some missed deliveries.” – FinancialHonesty
“NTA. My house on every GPS for some reason shows up a block and a half away every single time. This is rarely a problem, but it has been before (for neighbors or for the driver looking for my house) but best you can do is try to be really clear about directions.”
“It’s not reasonable for them to expect you to change a part of your life like that when the issue isn’t even your fault.”
“I do feel for your neighbors, though. They don’t really have a right to request that, but I get insanely anxious at any knock at the door or doorbell ring. Even without anxiety, I definitely see how it could be disruptive.”
“But you’re not an asshole for ordering food correctly and the drivers going to the wrong place” – cespirit
However not everyone agreed. The ongoing issue is that drivers aren’t able to figure out exactly where to go.
They felt either OP, or the flat owners themselves (at OP’s request) should properly label addresses for deliveries. Or do something more to correct the issue than just entering the address and basic directions, since that clearly isn’t enough.
The neighbors aren’t wrong to want something done about this.
“NTA – Ask the management of your community to put up a sign – ‘Flats 1-10, to the left’ ‘Houses 2-10, to the right’”
“Also – whoever decided to number them that way is a moron. Why are there duplicate numbers within the same gated community? Why is there no house 1?” – Forward_Squirrel8879
“House 1 is the big building where all the flats are.” – Ok_Impression_9297 (OP)
“Could you change your directions slightly to say ‘house 1, flat 5’ and see if that helps with the problem?” – queerblunosr
“NAH – if it happens one a week I can see why the neighbors are irritated by it but the confusing numbering isn’t your fault either.”
“Because it’s a repeat issue maybe it’s time to start taking the initiative to call the driver first while they’re on their way rather than rely on them accurately understanding the directions on the notes – this is assuming that you’re using the delivery apps like Ubereats, door dash, post mates, favor etc because they all have a call function when you’re assigned the driver.” – lobosaguila
“As a delivery guy, if this happened once NTA. But if you’re sitting comfortably on your couch knowing that your neighbours might be disturbed by your delivery, and your delivery guy is wasting his time trying to find the corect address then YTA.”
“If you’re aware of the issue yet do nothing to fix it then YTA.”
“You can either walk up to the gate and pick it up and do a favor to both your neighbours and the delivery person, you can provide accurate directions so that the food makes it to you without any hassle or you can do nothing and complain on reddit about it” – mikeynbn
“YTA but not for refusing to stop ordering food, but for how you lay out the address.”
“After reading the comments, if you just changed how you give the address, your issue would stop.”
“Write House 1 flat 5.”
“Then they will all go to house 1.”
“Or take off your flat number, and just have it as ‘house 1’. They will call when they arrive and you can direct them to Flat 5.”
“I can see how it’s confusing they way you have it.” – Wolf-Pack85
“YTA. You’re sending delivery people to a random house 3-4 times a week, you know they keep getting it wrong but you continue to do it.”
“You make no attempt to go meet the driver at the gate, or call the restaurant to ensure they go to the right place, you just keep ordering and pissing off the home owners lol.” – NGG_Dread
“You could also just not put in an apartment number and tell them to call you when they get there.” – LastPlaceStar
OP should take what steps they can to prevent this constant annoyance for their neighbor. This could mean contacting the property management and seeing about renumbering the apartments and houses.
But it’s probably a step too far to try and ban someone from ordering delivery at all. If OP puts the effort in to correct the mistake, there’s no reason they can’t keep getting deliveries.