KATY, Texas (KTRK) — Help will be coming to neighbors living in the Katy area. They haven’t been able to receive mail near their home for months. This comes after a driver crashed into the community mailbox in the Castlerock neighborhood, leaving it broken and unusable.

Neighbors told ABC13 a driver crashed into distribution boxes on Vander Wilt Lane, which serve people living in about two dozen homes. The subdivision’s HOA, VanMor Properties, confirmed the cause of the damage.

A U.S. Postal Service spokesman said the condition of the mailboxes did not allow for secure mail delivery and that all affected customers should pick up their mail at the post office on nearby Park Row Drive.

“Most of us work in the neighborhood. So the only time we can go before Saturday afternoon is on the weekend and it’s crowded. It’s hot and it’s a pain,” said one neighbor. “I don’t understand what’s wrong. It’s a box. Put a new box.”

“It was extremely inconvenient. There’s usually a long line and sometimes the mail can’t find it. They say they can’t find it unless you have a tracking number,” another neighbor said. “My biggest fear is that the holidays are approaching. We will lose the packages.”

USPS is aware of the problem and tells ABC13 it is the HOA’s responsibility to repair the mailboxes.

“Purchase, installation, maintenance, repair, and replacement of mail containers is the responsibility of the customer or, as applicable, apartment property management companies and homeowners associations (HOA),” wrote Kanickewa Johnson of the USPS Southern Region.

An HOA spokesperson said the delay was due to a misunderstanding between the party responsible for the repairs.

“When the parcel boxes were first knocked over by a vehicle, we received a report from the Patrol Officer that he was completing an incident report and contacted the post office. He was told a technician would be out that week to repair the boxes,” said Lisa Brannen of VanMor Properties in mid-September. he wrote. “When nothing was done we were told the post office was no longer repairing the boxes and was only responsible for replacing damaged locks. At this point we had to request a quote for the repair cost and get approval from the Board.”

Brannen said the company that will repair the boxes has ordered parts and the work is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 15. He claimed that all email and phone requests made by homeowners were returned with updates.

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