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'No W-2s, no checks, no medicine' | Residents in Decatur without mail for 5 months

One resident at the Villas at Decatur told 11Alive she hasn't received her mail since October of 2022.

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — It's been five months since many residents at a Decatur complex received mail after their mailboxes were damaged and the apartment didn't fix them.

"We're not receiving any mail," Shuntaye Cooley, a resident at the Villas at Decatur apartments, said. "No W-2s, no checks, no medicine."

She's called the complex her home since 2019. 

While she said management at the complex located on Eastwyck Circle is not always helpful, her most recent complaint is more than a little inconvenient.

After neglecting to fix mailboxes, Cooley said the condition of the mailboxes worsened, and by October, the postal service was no longer able to hold her mail for her. She also explained that despite her attempts to ask management for help, the problem was never solved. 

"I ask, when are we going to get our mail sorted back up? All she's saying is go to the post office," Cooley said. "When we get to the post office, they're telling us they're returning our mail to the center sender." 

The resident said she'd tried multiple ways to get her mail. 

Recently, Cooley was told she would have to pay for a post office box at a nearby shopping center to have her mail forwarded. She disagrees with the idea of paying for essentials like her checks and medications to be mailed to her. 

"It's put a burden on me because I have to go out of my way to try to find a way to go get my medication from the pharmacies or from the hospitals around here," Cooley said. 

She also claimed her neighbors had had similar problems with their mail. 

"My neighbors, they're tired of complaining because there's nothing being done about it," said Cooley. 

Since much of her necessary medication can't be mailed, Cooley has driven to multiple places in the area to pick them up. 

11Alive has reached out to the leasing office at the complex and the company that manages the property, First Communities. Neither returned our request for information about the mailbox repair requests. 

In the meantime, Cooley said she's trying to weigh all her options. 

"I want to move, but I don't want to move because the situation is only going to get better or worse, " the Villa at Decatur resident said. 

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