Helthjem – Christmas presents disappeared from mailbox

– It’s incredibly boring sitting there, without the things you ordered. Especially when it happens many times, Julie Verena Myreng tells Dagbladet.

She and her husband Bent Ove Myreng recently experienced that three packages disappeared without a trace from the mailbox within days of each other.

All packages were shipped via the Helthjem delivery service, which delivers door-to-door delivery in much of the country. Packages are delivered via early morning newspaper delivery and are often placed outside the front door or by the mailbox.

The messages that the packages have arrived came to the phone first thing in the morning, and Myreng was out to collect them as soon as he woke up.

– The first package was broken and parts of the content were removed. The other two were gone when I went looking for them.

The local newspaper Tønsbergs Blad mentioned the incident for the first time.

– Very rare

The couple, who live in Teie on the outskirts of Tønsberg, wrote a post on a local Facebook group, where several are said to have recounted similar experiences.

To check if there could be a non-delivery, or if there could be a theft, Bent Ove Myreng posted a “cheat pack” last week, which contained garbage. The next morning, this one too was gone.

The couple have not reported what they believe to be thefts to the police, but Helthjem customer service has been resolved and they have received a refund of the amount of the goods and delivery. According to the delivery service itself, incidents like this are very rare.

Used gifts that are new

– We deliver many packages and on rare occasions we experience some of these being stolen. But fortunately that is the exception. In the last two months, we have delivered around 2 million packages and the vast majority reach the recipient safely, writes communications manager Marius Husebø-Evensen in an email to Dagbladet.

According to Husebø-Evensen, there has been no increase in these types of cases in the run-up to Christmas.

Package thief caught in peach

However, similar incidents have recently been reported in various parts of the country.

In late November, Stavanger Aftenblad reported that Christmas gifts worth NOK 4,000 were lost from a mailbox in Våland before the Helthjem courier received the shipment, and on Eidsvoll, the police told the local EUB newspaper two years ago weeks they had received multiple reports of mailbox theft.

At Vesterøya in Sandefjord, several residents have experienced mailboxes being opened and are searching for missing letters, Christmas cards and packages. On Friday morning, Sandefjords Blad reports that overnight, police arrested a man who was in possession of large amounts of stolen mail.

The man is an acquaintance of the police.

– He admitted he took all this. It is difficult to say how many packages are in question. We don’t have a full overview, but we’re working on getting it, crime boss Paal Knutsen tells Dagbladet.

The police have seized several objects and are now encouraging people in the area to get in touch if they recognize the objects in the image below, with documentation that they are goods they have ordered or shipped.

Knutsen says several have made contact in the morning, but none of them have recognized their items among the seized.

Contest prizes disappeared before collection

Beauty Influences Maria Sofie Hjertaas Øygard of Skedsmo recently sent holiday calendar gifts to five lucky followers who had entered a competition on her Instagram profile. Øygard has a commercial collaboration with Helthjem and will cover the shipping costs.

The packages were placed in the mailbox at 11 p.m. and she double-checked that they were there before going to bed at one. The next morning he woke up to five messages from Helthjem stating that the packages had not been collected because they had already left.

– I live in a safe neighborhood and I calculated that everything went well, although I was a bit stressed. It’s very uncomfortable, says Øygard.

The lucky winners of the calendar will still receive new awards, according to the influencer.

– How does Helthjem relate to this kind of challenge?

– We are very concerned that we deliver safely. We have good employees who do what they can to deliver our products as efficiently and accurately as possible. Unfortunately, we do not have one hundred percent protection against active theft from mailboxes or doormats, but this happens very rarely. So we understand well that this is unpleasant for the person it happens to, and we will follow up on individual cases to help the client in the best possible way, responds Husebø-Evensen in Helthjem.

Get new packages delivered to the store

The Myreng couple have been asked for new Christmas presents, but they are not sure they will arrive in time for Christmas Eve.

– People should get the gifts eventually. There is no crisis, she says.

For one of the products, Julie Verena has sent out a Finnish search with a notification to see if anyone in the immediate area is trying to sell her scopes, so far without any results.

– From now on, we have agreed that we can have the packages delivered to the store, to avoid the same thing happening again.