Without mail for 5 months? One Columbus renter's plight

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Have you ever considered that being able to check the mailbox is a privilege most of us take for granted? It's something Kieauna Fuqua's considered after she moved into an apartment complex in north Columbus last September.

"I picked up my key to get into my apartment and then I asked the landlord, 'Hey, what about my mailbox key?' And she told me, 'Oh, you'll go to the local post office to get your mailbox key.' So, that's what I did," Fuqua said. "Showed them all of my information, they stamped it, told me to come back in seven to 10 business days and they'll have my mailbox key for me."

When that time passed, Fuqua returned to the post office to get her mailbox key.

"But, they said, 'No, you were told the wrong information. We don't have a key for you. You have to get your key from the rental property, where you're renting from,'" she said.

So, Fuqua said she went back to her landlord.

"Explained everything that was going on," Fuqua said. "She said, 'Oh, nope. That's not our issue. That's a USPS issue.'"

The back-and-forth with the post office and the property management continued, and Fuqua was right in the middle.

"Someone has to be responsible," Fuqua said. "I'm not responsible, I'm just the tenant."

But Fuqua said she became more and more frustrated and confused, especially after she took another look at her lease agreement.

"It even stated that I'm supposed to have one mailbox key and one key to my apartment," Fuqua said.

That's when she called Better Call 4 in February. She'd gone nearly five months without mail.

After speaking with Fuqua on Feb. 5, we were also confused about who was responsible. I even asked a mail carrier, who just happened to be outside of Fuqua's apartment the day we spoke. She told me it was the rental property's responsibility.

And a USPS representative echoed that, telling me in a statement, "We apologize for the miscommunication, but USPS does not own these boxes. Since they are considered ‘privately owned,’ the building management is responsible for maintaining the box including issuing keys."

I then reached out to property management, who told me Fuqua's "mailbox is a USPS mailbox," but added that they made the decision "to replace all of our mailboxes from USPS to our own to avoid this issue happening to anyone else." And went on to say Fuqua's mailbox was replaced on Feb. 12, and she was finally provided with a key on Feb. 21.

I checked back with both the property management and with USPS, but never got a clear answer as to why there was so much confusion about who was responsible for the key.

I also confirmed with Fuqua that she got her key. She did, it works, and she's officially able to get her mail.