Royal Mail Wholesale Customer Complaints and Compensation Policy
Introduction
Now that the postal market is fully liberalised, a large number of competitors operate in the UK. Many of these competitors have signed ‘Access Agreements’ with Royal Mail, which means they collect mail, process and transport mail prior to handing it over to Royal Mail for final delivery. In these circumstances, it will often not be clear who is responsible for handling complaints and any compensation.
Complaints
Where Royal Mail receives complaints from recipients (the addressee) of Mailing Items sent under an Access Agreement, the addressee will be advised to contact the originating sender (except where the issue clearly concerns delivery procedures e.g. mis-delivery, when Royal Mail will deal directly with the recipient).
Any issue that the Access Agreement Holder wishes to discuss with Royal Mail Wholesale (RMW) in relation to its Access Agreement should be raised in the first instance with its appointed RMW Access Account Manager, unless otherwise specified in its Agreement. Any service or operational issues, including complaints, should be raised in the first instance with Down Stream Access Central Control.
Compensation
In the event of loss of, or damage to, any Mailing Item dealt with by Royal Mail under an Access Agreement, Royal Mail shall, subject to satisfactory proof of hand over to Royal Mail being provided by the Access Contract Holder, pay compensation to the Contract Holder for such loss or damage up to the maximum amount of compensation which Royal Mail may pay under the Inland Letter Scheme, subject to proof of cost.