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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — For an entire year, Joe Desmarais and seven of his neighbors faced erratic mail service after their community’s cluster mailbox was damaged and taken away. As an associate broker at Betmar Realty, Desmarais found himself without consistent mail delivery due to the absence of this shared set of secured mailboxes.
Frustrated by the lack of progress, Desmarais reached out to Better Call Behnken, seeking assistance after numerous attempts to get updates from officials about when a new mailbox would be installed.
“I’ve been in touch with them several times,” Desmarais explained. “They either say the mailbox is on order or they’ve received it but are waiting for installation.”
During this period, mail delivery was sporadic at best.
“The mail carrier delivers only occasionally,” Desmarais noted. “When mail does arrive, it’s usually a large pile, representing three to four weeks’ worth at once.”
While some neighbors have individual mailboxes, Desmarais said he was told that customers assigned to a cluster box are not allowed to install their own mailbox.
“I’ve got several case numbers,” Desmarais said. “Each time that I’ve called, which has been on a monthly basis since January, I’ve gotten a new case number and they’ve told me that we’ve escalated, we’ve escalated, and I just still haven’t seen any … obviously there’s no new box out there.”
The delay created challenges for his business.
“It is very frustrating not getting the mail,” he said. “As a business, we have things that have to go out to customers. And we need those documents to come back to us as well. And when they’re not delivered in a timely fashion, it’s very inconvenient.”
After months of delays, Desmarais called 8 On Your Side Consumer Investigator Shannon Behnken who then reached out to the U.S. Postal Service.
A spokesperson sent this statement:
USPS statement:
“The Postal Service strives to always provide the best possible service to our valued customers. We apologize for any inconvenience that may have been experienced, due to the damaged Cluster Box Unit (CBU) at this location. Local postal officials took swift action to address the situation. We are pleased to report that the CBU replacement has been installed, and regular mail delivery has resumed. We appreciate the patience of our valued customers.”
Within hours, Desmarais called to report a resolution: workers installed a new mailbox.
“I’m absolutely amazed and I want to thank you first off,” he said. “The squeaky wheel gets the grease, but with your help, it occurred much more quickly than me just trying to do it on my own.”