Waterford Park neighbors say post office not delivering

Some residents in the Waterford Trail neighborhood say they are still not getting their mail.

John Clifton said since he moved into the neighborhood more than two years ago, he has had problems with his mail delivery.

“It has been since I moved in,” he said, “but not to this level.”

He said at first he would get mail for a different address, but then he began noticing he was missing mail such as credit card statements.

“When we got the bill, it was a couple of months old. There were interest charges and late fees all piled up on the thing,” Clifton said.

Although his wife was able to rectify the charges with the credit card company, Clifton said he remains concerned.

“It’s just one of the examples of how the post office here is failing the community,” he said.

Cindy Schipper, editor of Waterford Park newsletter and a resident, said the mail delivery in the area “has always been an opportunity.”

“Since taking on the newsletter, it has become more and more apparent to me that it is an issue out here,” she said.

According to Schipper, the newsletters for September and October were never delivered and she decided to hand-deliver this month’s to be certain they got to the homes.

Clifton said he did not contact the post office about previous problems, but he did send an e-mail to the post master general after his credit card statement and a few other bills went missing.

Another Waterford park resident, Brook DeVore, agreed with Clifton saying she had several important pieces of mail never arrive.

“We had a check from a sale of some stock a few weeks ago — it’s still out there somewhere,” she said. “We had a credit card not arrive. We had at least three credit card statements not arrive and a mortgage statement not arrive.”

DeVore said she also has had minor issues since her family moved to the neighborhood two and a half years ago and the problems have worsened in the last three months. She said she received her neighbor’s property tax statement, and Schipper said she found a neighbor’s tax statement blowing around in her yard.

“There does not seem to be any accountability with our local service,” Clifton said. “There doesn’t seem to be any stability with our delivery service either.”

Clifton said he has not seen a consistent delivery person on the days he is home and the time of delivery varies widely. During a phone interview Monday, DeVore said she had not received her mail as of 5:30 p.m.

Several residents have posted their concerns on the homeowners Web site to help keep on top of the issues.

“Café@waterfordpark put out that some people had not received their electric bills for the month,” Schipper said. “Half the neighborhood was missing some of their mail for the month

… We’re all just taking a lot of precautions.”

Hankins said he was being proactive as well with regard to when his bills were due and “keeping his finger on the pulse.”

Jerry Gentry, the U.S. Postal Service officer in charge for Allen’s post office, said since he received notice he has investigated and corrected a few issues. He said he could not validate the claims of lost mail, but acknowledged that mail could be delivered to the wrong address by mistake.

“All I can tell you is that they’re having delivery issues. I have checked with the carrier and have been doing case checks and delivery checks with the carriers and am not finding the problems they’re having,” he said.

Gentry said one of the concerns may be the misconception that the neighborhood is on a regular route with a traditional in-uniform postal carrier. He said the neighborhood is on a rural route that is contracted out to individuals in their own vehicles, but the service should be consistent with any other route.

“Rural delivery is just a different type of delivery. They’re all still career employees; they’re just not furnished a vehicle, and they are compensated differently,” he said.

Gentry also said he was taken by surprise on the concerns of the Waterford Park residents by a report on the evening television news.

“I got an e-mail from one customer, and I asked him to call me back so we could talk directly to see what the issue was. Then it just ballooned from there,” he said.

He said the postal service had issued a statement to the television reporter, but it was not aired.

DeVore said she sent several e-mails to the post master and had not received any response. Kent Hankins, another Waterford Park resident, said he has become frustrated with Gentry’s response so far.

“I made contract with Gentry a couple of times. I asked to speak with him and was asked to make an appointment,” he said.

Hankins said when he did speak with Gentry he learned that the post master was new to his position, having arrived at the Allen post office in mid-September. He said he thought the problems would go away as Gentry became familiar with his new surroundings and said the post master said he even sorted the mail personally. But Hankins still continued to have delivery problems.

“I tried numerous e-mails to try to get him to call back. He was always busy,” he said. “When he does respond to an e-mail he says he needs specifics. Well, Jerry, can you not read e-mails?”

Schipper said she thought the same when reading through e-mails Gentry was trying, but “now that it’s been going on (a while) I don’t sense that.” She also said she called the post office twice about missing mail, but no one ever called her back.

“I think the residents were very open to him to address it but it seems that it has gotten worse and not better,” she said.

Gentry said the homeowners’ Web site has forwarded him rude and threatening postings, but he had begun to get positive responses in the last few days and some people had responded to the harsher postings defending the post office. He also said it seemed to him all the complaints on the homeowners’ site came from the same group of residents and their messages were tagged with responses from other neighbors saying they had no issues.

Clifton said he thought there were bigger problems — such as a possibility of theft — that needed to be investigated. He also criticized Gentry as “not worth a flip.”

But at least one resident noticed a little improvement.

“It has got better in that I am no longer getting my neighbor’s mail,” DeVore said. “That is a very recent development.”

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