Mailbox

Hi Everyone. I would very much appreciate some feedback about this issue. I purchased a newly built townhome in February. At closing, the builder told me to get my mail key from one of his employees. There has always been a large bank of metal mailboxes in a cluster together. I was annoyed that I would have to track down his employee but thought nothing of it. Eventually, we found out that there were no spaces in the mailbox for the newly constructed townhomes. It is a long story but the new mailbox cluster has been up for weeks and the builder and his employee still haven't been able to get me a key so I can receive mail in the box. The post office has told me they're missing paperwork from he builder. I have to make about an hour round trip plus wait in an often very long line to pick up my mail each week as it must remain on hold at the post office. Do I have any recourse? It has been over 3 months now without a mailbox and my patience has worn thin and I would really appreciate any advice.

Obviously, you could sue the builder, but that would be expensive and take a long time. Getting a lawyer to write a demand letter would be cheaper, but might still not have any effect.

Assuming the builder is still active in the community, you could try to find other ways to pressure them. Signs in the front yard, picketing at the sales office, that kind of thing. You need to check your governing docs to see if signs are disallowed or restricted. You could also try one of the local TV station consumer help shows to see if they would take up your cause.

Anything stopping you from replacing the key? They are available for like $10 at Lowes. The post office will put it in for you. I know our postman did if you just left in the box or found them.

Sounds like your issue may be deeper than just a mailbox. It sounds like your address itself is messed up. Can you bring any of your sales papers to the Post Office to prove the mailing address? This sounds like could be on the builder end not doing something. You can report this to the Post Master's office. The Post Office has it's own "Police". They do fall under Federal laws.

I would contact your local postmaster or inspector general, usually they have their office at the main branch of the post office. Explain your plight.
Some states or local jurisdictions allow the HOA to purchase and install cluster boxes, while other jurisdictions require the post office to maintain and
install cluster boxes. If all else falls, slap a mailbox on the wall next to the other boxes and call it yours.

When we bought our home there wasn't any cluster mailboxes (affecting approx 100 homes). It took 6 months of complaints to the builder and post office to get mailboxes installed.