Here is the advice we recently received from my brother-in-law regarding getting refunds from Auspost for failing to deliver Express Post items on time.
Hi XXXXXX and XXXXXX
Set up simple MyPost account. https://auspost.com.au/
Make complaint that express post failed the standard and they can see it did - and no fuss refund (has been anyway for a few times) .
See screen snips.
Cheers, XXXXXX
I have set up the account but have not needed to claim a refund as yet.
Thanks.
I made the complaint through their complaints process and the response was as attached. No refund because either the official post office which sold me the bag isnât in the Express Post Network, or the address it was sent to isnât - or both. The wording is ambiguous, IMHO.
I continue to ask why AP is charging people for a service they have no intention to provide.
Because?
It is still a priority service.
And faster than a cheaper postage option.
Our local âout of overnight service areaâ post office still has the yellow post packaging and a posting box. There is simply no guarantee according to the nice guy behind the counter it will get to the regional mail distribution centre before they pick up for the onward services. Same for mail coming to us making the local distribution run.
Sometimes it takes an extra day.
Sometimes it is as quick as the promise despite us being out of the zone.
A straight line I cannot resist.
In the OPâs case if they bought an Express Post prepaid bag and presented it to the counter I can understand Auspost would normally accept it no questions asked, as they would any other post, but wouldnât Auspost taking (or accepting?) money for an Express Service they by definition could not nor had any intention to deliver be much like the financial worldâs fees for no service?
As a âpriority serviceâ there are also less costly âless priority servicesâ that seem more appropriate to sell âoutside the Express networkâ, are there not?
At the minimum shouldnât the customer be advised accordingly at the counter for ânext timeâ even if not applicable to âthis timeâ?
It would be polite. Our post office does exactly that, as did several of those at our previous wayward home locations. Experience has been that âexpress postâ is always reliable. For larger items it has been faster and almost as cheap as the premium for oversized standard postage of any bulkier items.
The delivery times for high volume routes can be determined from the fine print. For less common point to points ask the post office or use AP online to determine if there is a guarantee.
If the debate is about cost, the posted express item still travels the express system. Perhaps the relative value is not there. In which instance the option is to not use the service. I donât think AP hide the fact there is no assurance of timeliness for certain point to point services. Buyer beware.
How much faster, âyour mileage may varyâ!
A parcel sent to me from cross Melbourne on 19 Dec remains in transit, Auspost knows not where. A replacement posted on 6 January is still in transit although simplistically it is a 2-hour drive in traffic if one could do a point-to-point. Maybe it will arrive on Monday, or maybe Godot will come. I shall see. Neither was sent Express or priority anything, so maybe there is a lesson to be learnt?
Perhaps.
Hope it turns up.
It always seems to be the little things that we have the occasional delivery problems with. Weâve had items from small parts kits (50gms) through to 100kg fire pump sets delivered across the state boarders. Some suppliers seem to know what always works.
We use Express Post mainly for documents.
Auspost is atop its game.
The replacement was sent Express. Sender and receiver are both in-network in metro Melbourne. 6 business days and counting. Auspost tracking has its peak informative message of âits on the wayâ after taking 4 days for the first and only scan registered to show it got all the way to Melbourne! No other tracking.
Edit: Auspostâs âestimated time to deliverâ. It does seem like a scam.
FWIW the last 3 are leaving ORD, leaving LAX, and leaving MEL (eg Auspost has it). Although the tracking ceased at MEL I admit the item arrived timely thereafter, no tracking or scanning needed since âweâ are so good and reliable?
Not so long ago Auspost appeared to have raised its game with actual tracking seeming to be done. Probably hit their P/L to do it right, and customer satisfaction/service/âdoing it right rather than cheapâ is usually the first to go in our world.
Iâve had multiple problems with this organisation in recent months
⊠words fail me ⊠itâs the âserviceâ (servicing more like it) that you get when you have no choice and when the organisation can hide behind protective legislation, impotent ombudsman and sheer obfuscating size.
I lodged a complaint today. Educational. Auspost apparently does not scan Express Post excepting for receipt to assure it gets delivered ASAP so by design if they lose an item they do not have a clue where it is or has been unless someone finds it in an âemptyâ bag or lost along the walls.
With apologies to Eric Idle, Say no more, know what I mean? Cluelessly ill-designed âproductâ!
Cluelessly ill-designed postal system from start to finish, Iâd suggest 
It seems a little like a totalitarian state - you know there are good people in there somewhere, but it is impossible to tell where and the result is the same in the end âŠ
Per Aust Post Express Post. Interesting!
3 Tracking number on barcode is only available if youâve used a satchel or have lodged your parcel in-store and have been provided with a receipt. Track advice will only be shown when a scan has occurred. Find out more about our tracking service.
That doesnât really explain the commitment. Or does it?
P.S.
Despite our relative positive experiences with Express Post in the past, I was well informed through a recent dealing with a Solicitor. They have given up on the service. They now pay for a dedicated legal document delivery service!
My sister in Melbourne sent me an item in the smallest size Express Post paper envelope on Monday last week.
Some 7 business days later, I have still not received it.
Fortunately the contents had no monetary value.
Back in the days of the Howard Government, there was talk of floating Australia Post for an expected $200 million return.
I seriously doubt that the Government could now find any party to take it even if they were offered $200 million to do so.
You may be on to what this government intends to do.
One often needs a program to follow the plot. eg a gift at fire sale value to an important donor? Isnât that how capitalism and the sanctity of private enterprise sometimes works these days?
Item still not received.
Perhaps Australia Post has adopted this US mail scheme?
Is Australia Post abandoning letters?
Greater metro areas reduced to letter deliveries every second day. Today during phone conversation AP confirmed to me that âevery second dayâ means:
One version of logic would say that if there are fewer letters in the system then AP delivery times for letters should stay the same or improve. ?!..
Logic and Australia Post are mutually exclusive.
Our postie in regional Tassie still rides up and down the pavement every business day (see him about 8.30am every morning while on a walk). Nice fellow and always says hello when passing.
Our parcels service (I believe it is a husband and wife team) also deliver everyday. Often seen them driving the streets around town.
The bottleneck for post in Tassie isnât the frequency of local delivery, but getting the letters/parcels in a timely manner from the mainland.
You, sir, are a truly lucky man 
I hope your experience stays like this for as long as possible !! The last service I remember like this was our milkman, who would score me a small chocolate if I could catch the van on my trike. That was 50 years ago and I still remember it with fondness - the real, human side to customer relations, where people actually cared. Thanks for reminding us that it does still exist !
Five letter delivery runs per fortnight
Iâm old enough to remember when Brisbane had twenty-two (22) letter delivery runs per fortnight. Morning run and afternoon run each business day (M-F) and one on Saturday.
AP says âYou now have the choice of 3 delivery speeds when sending a letter within Australia.â https://auspost.com.au/general/changes-to-your-letters-service
Yet Australia Post when I rang them on 2020-09-04 told me that letters in a Qld-toQld situation (actually Brisbane-to-Brisbane) delivery time is longer than seven (7) business days, and once it gets to the distribution centre that serves the destination address it will also have to wait until the next of the âfive deliveries in a fortnightâ.
Given that letters [ordinary sort] and parcels [ordinary sort] go into the same AP bags (from post offices and red posting boxes) what is Australia Post doing to âensureâ that letter take longer than parcels?
This is a serious question, as AP has had automatic sorting systems that read printed and typed addresses for many years.
