Ireland: Compensation made available for poor postal services

The ‘Complaints and Dispute Resolution Guidelines’ for postal service providers will see this implemented over 20 of Ireland’s 31 postal service providers.

Comreg yesterday issued the guidelines, which cover An Post, but also companies like Cyclone Couriers, Olympus, and Nightline, some of Ireland’s larger courier firms.

The new guidelines do not cover larger delivery firms such as Fedex, DHL and SDS, but this may change when the postal service industry is liberalised under EU laws in 2011 and is opened up to greater competition.

People can now be compensated by postal providers for delays in delivery of over seven days, damage or loss. It also says a postal service provider must display a simply explained complaint and dispute resolution procedure.

This will lay out the timeframe for a complaint to be made, a timeframe for receipt of answer and a guideline to compensation payable, which can be paid back in either cash or a number of stamps.

Comreg has brought in these regulations with the aim of maintaining into the future a “confidence to postal consumers that the postal industry maintains consistent complaints and redress standards”.

The company will have to refund costs and also pay compensation if it is found to be at fault.

The only time these guidelines do not apply is in the case of any form of industrial relations issue, such as a postal strike.