Postal Redress Service
This page contains information about the Postal Redress Service (POSTRS), an adjudication scheme for resolving disputes with postal services.
What it does
Advantages and disadvantages
Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
Cost
Timescale
Procedure
Outcomes
What it does
POSTRS is a free, independent adjudication service to resolve disputes between consumers and licensed postal service operators. It is run by IDRS, a dispute resolution service owned by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). IDRS also runs CISAS, the telecommunications adjudication service. It is a corporate associate member of the British and Irish Ombudsman Association; what this means is explained on An ombudsman overview on this site.
An Act of Parliament passed in 2007 made it compulsory for all licensed postal services, including the Royal Mail, to have a customer complaints scheme which is approved by the regulator (formerly POSTCOMM, but now Ofcom). They must all also be members of an approved redress scheme. POSTRS is the only scheme currently approved.
This information applies in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
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Advantages
- It is free
- It is independent
- It is relatively quick
- There is no need to attend a hearing
- The decision is binding on the company but if you are not happy you can decide to go to court
- If you lose, you will not have to pay the other side's legal costs
Disadvantages
- You have to try to resolve your dispute with the company first which may delay things
- It is up to you to compile evidence and submit it with your claim
- You won't get the costs of compiling and photocopying evidence back, even if you win
- Your complaint might not be investigated or upheld
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Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
The complaint must be about a company that is a member of POSTRS. A full list of members is available on the POSTRS website.
You can complain about any aspect of postal delivery, but the following complaints are NOT covered:
- Products and services you bought from a company that is not a member of POSTRS
- Products and services that are not about post
- Matters already being dealt with by the courts or another complaints procedure
- Employment or staff issues
- Complaints that have no real substance or that are made only to create trouble for a company
- Business decisions about whether or not to provide a product or service
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Cost
The scheme is free to consumers. You will have to pay for your own photocopying and phone calls. The POSTRS scheme says that you do not need legal advice. Of course you can get some advice if you want to, but if you pay for a solicitor you can't claim the costs back.
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Timescale
If you want to take a complaint to POSTRS, you must do so within 9 months of first complaining to the company. Once you have made your complaint, you should have a decision within 6 weeks. During 2010, 97% of final decisions were issued within 6 weeks.
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Procedure
You must give the company a chance to settle your complaint before you apply to use POSTRS. All postal services must have their own complaints procedure, which must be approved by Ofcom. So the first thing to do is to contact the company's own complaints department. If you need advice or information before making a complaint, you can contact Consumer DirectGov. If you need help with making your complaint because you are a vulnerable consumer, Consumer Direct can refer you to the extra help unit at Consumer Focus.
You can apply to use POSTRS if:
- you have not been able to settle your complaint within the timescale set out in the company's complaints procedure
- the company has referred you to the scheme
- the company has not followed its own complaints procedure when handling your complaint
- you have not been able to contact the company, despite making every effort to do so
You can download an application form from the POSTRS website - there is a link at the bottom of this page. Or you can phone on 020 7520 3766. You must send copies of any letters or any other evidence to support your complaint.
Once POSTRS has received your complaint they will send it to the company. After this:
- The company has 14 days to respond
- You then have 7 days to comment on their response - you can't raise any new issues at this stage
- An adjudicator will then be appointed, and will receive a copy of all the papers - you will be told the adjudicator's name
- The adjudicator will then make a decision within three weeks
- You will get a copy of the adjudicator's decision, with a clear statement of the reasons
You then have 4 weeks to decide whether to accept or reject the adjudicator's decision. If you accept the decision, the company has four weeks to do what the adjudicator has decided.
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Outcomes
If POSTRS agrees with your complaint, they can tell the company to do any or all of the following:
- Give you an apology or explanation
- Give you a product or service, or take some practical action that will benefit you
- Pay you any compensation up to the amount you claimed on the application form for any loss that you may have suffered - this must be within the limits set out in the terms and conditions of the relevant product or service you used
- Pay you an amount up to £50 for any stress, anxiety or inconvenience you suffered as a result of how the company handled your complaint
If you settle your complaint with the company, POSTRS will close the case. BUT if the company does not keep to any agreement you have made with them, you can ask POSTRS to re-open the case.
In 2010, 41% of the complaints decided by the POSTRS adjudicators were found entirely or partly in favour of the consumer (111 of 231 complaints).
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January 2012
