VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Some residents at Brookside Condominiums near Baxter Road and Independence Boulevard in Virginia Beach haven’t received mail since the week of Christmas, more than seven months ago.
They say their boxes were vandalized and all the doors were broken off and pried open.
The mail carrier told them they couldn’t deliver mail to a damaged box, but mail deliveries continue to other boxes in the complex that aren’t damaged.
Residents said they thought it would take a couple weeks, maybe a month, but more than seven months later, still nothing.
The United States Postal Service told 10 On Your Side a work order is in to fix it, but residents said they’ve been told that for months.
Becky Roberts has owned an apartment at Brookside Condominiums in Virginia Beach for more than 30 years. She rents it out and said her tenant sent her a photo the week after Christmas showing her the damaged boxes.
“She asked me, ‘Have you ever seen anything like this before? It’s been a couple days,” Roberts said, “and I said ‘No I haven’t, but let me investigate.”
Roberts contacted the apartment association and they told her a police report had been filed, but the boxes are federal property.
The mail carrier told them they couldn’t deliver mail to a damaged box, so in the meantime they’d have to drive to the Witchduck Post Office to get their mail.
She then filed a claim with USPS and they said they’d look into it.
“I kept checking in with my tenant or coming over and looking and nothing, nothing, nothing,” Roberts said. “I figured a couple weeks at the most, and this has just gone too far.”
Another resident, Susan Taylor, had also been trying to get this fixed.
“Mine had no front,” Taylor said. “It was off dangling (and) it was just in pieces.”
Taylor is a performer and music teacher and said she’s missed out on jobs because she is not getting her mail. She said at first, the boxes were just missing doors. Then after a few months, the whole box just fell over.
“We’ve asked, ‘Can we pay for cluster boxes and have it installed? We were told no,” Taylor said. “What’s the delay? We are seven months with no mail.”
She said she contacted the police and the apartment manager. They told her because the box is federal property, she’d have to contact the U.S. Postal Service, so that’s what she did.
“I asked, ‘Would this be done in a few days? And he said no. I said, ‘What’s the timeline here?’ And he said two weeks to a month,” said Taylor. “Another month went by, and at that point, Feb. 15, this is my cluster box, and this was just hauled away by the mailman.”
Taylor said she continues to check-in when she picks up her mail at Witchduck Post Office.
“Another month goes by, we’re now in May,” Taylor said, “and he said, ‘You’re next,’ way across the room, and I said, ‘we are? I said ‘when is that,’ and he said next and I said OK. Another month goes by, and I went in there and he said, ‘Nope,’ and ran in the back, and it’s been like that ever since.”
Roberts said she’s getting ready to rent out her condo and said she’s nervous to tell them they won’t get mail.
“I was angry at first, (but) I’m over it now,” Roberts said. “I just want to be reasonable and let’s just take care of the situation. Why are we being inconvenienced for so long?”
Both Roberts and Taylor say they offered to help purchase new boxes if money was an issue, but USPS told them it wasn’t.
They also told residents they could get P.O. boxes, but they’d have to pay a monthly fee.
A spokesperson for USPS told 10 On Your Side in a statement that “the security and sanctity of the mail is a priority for the Postal Service. A work order has been placed to begin restoration of the CBU’s. Once necessary repairs are made to the CBUs, the Postal Service can install locks and resume normal delivery. Until then, customers residing at the complex can continue to pick up their mail at the Witchduck Post Office, located at 4831 Columbus St.“
