Last year the South Africa Post Office sparked an uproar in the community. Residents spoke out about the ongoing problem with its services.
In November the Record published an article detailing residents’ concerns about the ongoing poor service by the Post Office. Numerous residents complained about issues such as not receiving their mail or parcels, and their post boxes remaining empty for more than eight months.
There were also the ongoing problems of unethical, unpleasant and rude behaviour, and lack of assistance by Post Office employees, and incorrect mail delivery.
“No mail (including slips for mail collection) has been delivered in Wilro Park for months on end. When it eventually gets delivered and you go to collect it, I was told by a smirking staff member at Wilro Park Post Office, ‘sorry it was sent back to the sender because it’s our policy’. Emailing a complaint did not get any response, and the telephone rings into oblivion. There’s no service or any form of communication,” said Deseré Steenberg.
“The Post Office still owes me a year’s subscription to my National Geographic magazines for which I paid R480 and never received. I had to write it off after giving up trying to get answers,” Deane Walker commented.
When the initial article was published, the Record was still waiting for comment from the Post Office. The Post Office Management eventually responded as follows:
“The Post Office has put various measures in place to improve our delivery standards and customer services. Our monitoring systems indicate a gradual, but consistent improvement. To address individual service failures such as those mentioned by the community, we need details of each incident. Feedback from our customers is one of the best methods pointing out where our service needs improvement and for that reason, your readers with enquiries or feedback are encouraged to send a direct message to the Post Office Twitter account @PostOfficeSA, send us an email to Socialmedia@postoffice.co.za or call our centre number on 0860 111 502. Each incident is logged and followed up,” said Paul Fouché, senior manager of the Gauteng region of the Post Office.
