Australia Post Passing The Buck.....

[crowsman53]

Thought some sellers might be interested in this episode I just had with Australia Post .

Sold an item and buyer paid, sent the item and when the buyer received the item it was open and the contents were missing. He contact me and told me that I was the one who had to lodge the complaint according to Australia Post Web Site. I sent a replacement for the one that went missing and asked if he could send me photos  which he did along with a Statuary Declaration. When I went to the Post Office to post more items ( Not My Normal PO) I asked what I should do about this they told me to contact Complaint's. I contacted AP Complaints on 137678 and got the run around. They tell me the Buyer is the one to make the complaint Not the seller, I explain I have Photos and a Statuary Declaration and was more or less told they mean nothing. I was starting to loose it with this So Called Manager and in the end I did and blasted him with all sorts of words which I will not repeat here..... I told him I was going to go to the Media here in Adelaide and his reply was Just make sure you have your facts right. The Facts are simple Item was open before delivery, I have Photos and a Statuary Declaration and they want me to start all over again by getting the buyer to start  the claim.... This is only a $6.00 Item but it is the principle of the matter. We pay for a service and Australia Post Cannot Supply this service..Where should I go from here?? Drop it? Forget It or proceed to the Postal Ombudsman?

Thank You

[phorum_junkie*]

Had you asked at the PO for a complaints form and had read it you would have seen that it is the recipient who has to initiate the complaint, had you bothered to read the info on the AP site you would have seen the same so I am unsure why you are so annoyed that you were given the wrong information when the ability to find out the facts for yourself were within your control.

[casbit33]

I really feel for you. AP has a lot to answer for. I received an item in the mail that was wrapped extremely well with heaps of foam and butbble wrap, but was still broken. it had fragile written all over the box. I took everything to the post office and was told there was nothing they could do. This is what they told me.   The word FRAGILE written on the box means nothing. They will ONLY give claims if an Australia Post worker wrapped the item, regardless whether  you have insurance on it or not. 

I really believe if there was another postal service that could offer reasonable rates, reasonable delivery times and could guarantee the safety of your parcels and letters, then Australia Post would be left in droves.

i know a lady that sells Avon. She hates putting in orders around Christmas because they always get stolen from AP staff or Couriers.

[davewil1964]

Australia Post don't offer a 'fragile' service and writing fragile on a parcel is probably taken as an invitation to use it as a football.

[lane-ends]

parcels are piled on top of each other.parcels can be upto 20kg, and they are dropped, not placed, so you need to take this into account when packing.

[i-love-my-sheep]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

Australia Post don't offer a 'fragile' service and writing fragile on a parcel is probably taken as an invitation to use it as a football.

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I have been told that by multiple postal workers and courier drivers and have also seen it. They all said to NEVER put 'fragile' on a parcel, regardless of how fragile the contents are. Years ago I was at work and could see the courier van through the window accepting some medical supplies to go to another hospital and they did just as you said.....drop kicked them into the back of the van. A quick call to the company and I found out later those 2 workers were sacked.

[*crikey*mate*]

Crow, the reason the buyer must make the complaint in this instance is because they have the physical evidence, They have their procedures and terms and conditions that you agree to when you use their service.

This is one of them.

When a company is this big, they have to have SOPs and don't deviate from them in general. The reason being is that the processes are in place and this is how they choose to handle them. With the large number of issues they probably deal with,, and deviation from the standard procedures create opportunities for error and can cause difficulties in establishing a chain of events.

You may have photos and stat decs and a letter from God, but as this differs from how AP chooses to operate and to the conditions you agreed to when using their service, they mean nothing.