Australian Postal Service to face late delivery fines
Australia Post and direct mail agents will be forced to compensate customers for late delivery and could face fines from a federal government-appointed ombudsmen if a new government initiative is approved.
Communications minister Richard Alston has released the discussion paper, which outlines the role of the new office, which would be funded by the postal industry but administered by a separate board.
Australia Post handles complaints internally, but the new ombudsmen would deal with all grievances. Under the proposal, the new regulator could be forced to compensate a customer for financial losses incurred by poor service.
But the watchdog would not be restricted to Australia Post, and would include direct mail agents, courier companies and document exchange operators.
“An ombudsman might offer an impartial, independent process for handling complaints that could not be resolved by a postal operator’s internal complaints management system,” says the discussion paper.
Australian Consumers Association spokesman Norm Crothers says ombudsmen had proved strong advocates for consumers wherever they had been set up, including in telecoms, banking and, in some states, the electricity, water and gas industries.
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Copyright 2002 Centaur Publications. Source: Financial Times – Europe Intelligence Wire.
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