Complaints persist as Australia Post fails to deliver

Commonwealth Ombudsman Michael Manthorpe today released a report into Australia Post complaints regarding carding, Safe Drop and compensation. The report reviews the actions taken by Australia Post since the release of three earlier Ombudsman reports concerning these matters. The report seeks to determine why complaints about delivery issues persist despite Australia Post’s reported service and product improvements.

Complaints to the Commonwealth Ombudsman concerning Australia Post have decreased 30 per cent over the last two years. However, complaints concerning delivery issues continue to be the primary reason Australia Post customers contact the Ombudsman.

‘Recently published data from Australia Post indicates that 1.1m complaints were received in the 2016–17 financial year. While the scale of Australia Post’s operations needs to be borne in mind to put complaint numbers into perspective, the fact that more than 1 million people have complained, is cause for concern. Australia Post has initiated some action independently to further improve the customer experience.’ Mr Manthorpe said.

The report makes six recommendations aimed at reducing the number of complaints. Australia Post has accepted five of the Ombudsman’s recommendations and partially accepted one.  The Ombudsman’s Office will continue to monitor the implementation of the recommendations in the report.