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Complaints against Deutsche Post soar, as customers seethe at late deliveries

DPA/The Local
DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Complaints against Deutsche Post soar, as customers seethe at late deliveries
Photo: DPA

Over 6,000 complaints were registered against the German postal service in 2017, an increase of 50 percent on the previous year, the Saarbrücker Zeitung reported on Thursday.

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Roughly 6,100 complaints were lodged against Deutsche Post with the Federal Network Agency in 2017 over the service. The agency also confirmed that its own inspections showed that the service provided by Deutsche Post had “deteriorated significantly.”

“Over half of the complaints were to do with the processing and delivery of letters and packages,” the Saarbrücker Zeitung reports.

The Federal Network Agency confirmed the figures to the German Press Agency (DPA).

The Federal Network Agency, which is the oversight authority for electricity, gas, telecommunications, post and rail services, criticized the fact that only slightly over half of post boxes were emptied in the early morning.

At the same time, Deutsche Post employees increasingly no longer work on Sundays and public holidays.

“This is one of the reasons why people have the feeling that post isn't delivered on a Monday anymore,” the Federal Network Agency stated.

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At the beginning of December, the Federal Network Agency had already reported increased complaints, but at that time their increase for the year as a whole was estimated to be only a quarter to 5,000.

But the number of complaints rose sharply in the Christmas season, which was particularly labour-intensive for Deutsche Post. Most complaints concerned delayed delivery of letters and parcels or them being put into the wrong mailboxes.

A spokeswoman for Deutsche Post said the company takes every complaint seriously. She pointed out that 94 percent of letters and 90 percent of parcels reach the recipient on the next working day.

She added that "the increase in complaints is also due to the fact that the Federal Network Agency is increasingly perceived by the public as a complaints body for concerns in the postal sector".

Consumer expert for the Greens, Oliver Krischer, told the Saarbrücker Zeitung that "consumers must not be taken for fools when they send important letters. The German government needs to support the company. Deutsche Post still has a public mission to fulfil in correspondence.”

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