Profanity In An Address
I have recently received orders where profanity has been added to the address, IE
The Recipients Name.
1 The Road
LOADS OF PORN IN HERE
Wherever
The f*cking location
Postcode
United Kingdom
The buyer’s name is not the same as the recipients and I am sure that the buyer is wanting to cause the person he is sending the goods to a serious problem. I’ve spoken to the Royal Mail about this and they have informed me that if anyone would get prosecuted it would be the person who gave the shipping address. The Royal Mail customer service agent advised me to report this to the Police though it’s unlikely they will take action unless it happens many times on a regular basis. They also advised that I should report the buyer to Amazon who should take appropriate action to prevent this happening again. That I have done but if I’m honest I get the impression Amazon aren’t overly concerned.
Amazon state that a seller cannot change an address, cancel an order, even with undeliverable address without taking a hit on your metrics which I’m not prepared to do. Being a reasonable person I’m not enthusiastic about sending an item with profanity in the address that could cause damage to a person’s reputation in their home or place of work.
Has anyone else had this situation and if so what did action did they take.
37 replies
Seller_nzOP4CDTAVG9a
Don’t take it to heart, seems like this weirdo has a problem, not yourself! Hardly award winning comedy material there!
Police is way over the top. Civil matter.
Seller_hC0hNVDuILaKO
If you send it with that profanity in it then you are likely to face a backlash from the recipient , who can certainly complain to Amazon about you for having done so.
Personally I would also cancel as undeliverable address as this is the option which will cause you least trouble.
You could mark as dispatched and immediately refund, but that is obviously against policy.
Seller_O5gtp3YtSIDKU
Not sure what the items being ordered are but is it possible they’re gifts and the address is a joke to maybe make the recipient laugh or cause them some light-hearted embarrassment? Only thinking that as I knew someone who used to send a family member post addressed to all sorts of things like “The Batcave” just to make them smile and to give their postman something to talk about.
As name, house number, and post code are all that’s really required for an address you could just remove the parts that are unnecessary.
That way the item could still be dispatched, sender would see the item sent, and recipient would receive the item with no profanity.
If you cancel, as you mentioned, it’s a metrics hit, and sender could also leave bad feedback etc.
Seller_MT8rt0A2OpbCx
If the printed address label, had a black felt tip line obscuring the offending line, who knows who did it. Could have been you, or any number of postal workers en route.
Seller_zWhFURNhcbesd
What if you contact the customer to get a “better” address? That you are unable to verify that address and therefore cannot send to it. If the customer cannot come up with a correct address, tell them to cancel the order?
Are we allowed to tell a customer to cancel, btw?
Can you get a proper address with the help of the mobile phone No? See if it is registered to the same area? (Don’t know if that is possible in UK. In Spain it is not, in Sweden it is.)
Seller_cJms0GbotqqtV
I have had some weird addresses in the past. I have always sent the item, censoring the address if necessary. Never had a problem as a result of doing this. The buyer may be playing a joke; or seeking revenge; or drunk. Mine is not to reason why, just process the transaction and do what seems sensible.
Paul
Seller_QlN0mmCAFPtjZ
My goodness , the crazy place that is Amazon . Reason does not seem to exist . Send it to Jeff B and say you thought it was his address , maybe . 
Seller_UZsgyillXwZ7o
A similar thing happened with me once but the profanity was in Punjabi so I just posted it.
