Dogged by complaints

AUSTRALIA Post has been told to make it easier for customers to lodge complaints online after the Commonwealth Ombudsman identified persistent delivery issues.

The ombudsman has made six recommendations aimed at reducing the number of complaints over the notification of failed delivery cards, the Safe Drop program and compensation for lost items.

Commonwealth Ombudsman Michael Manthorpe said complaints to his office fell 30 per cent over the past two years but the company itself received 1.1 million complaints in 2016-17.

That was despite three earlier reports into the same delivery issues.

“While the scale of Australia Post’s operations need to be borne in mind to put complaint numbers in perspective, the fact that more than one million people have complained to it is cause for concern,” he said in his report released yesterday.

There is also evidence from people in contact with his office that some cases which should be classified as complaints are not being counted as such by the company.