Royal Mail is now facing 1.2 million complaints a year – over 3,288 a day and double the number received by the big energy suppliers combined – although nearly 60% of people are not happy with the way their gripes are handled, Consumer Focus has claimed.
The figures come in a new report, carried out by DJS Research on behalf of the consumer watchdog. It said only 41% of those surveyed about Royal Mail were satisfied with their complaints experience, compared to 65% for legal services, 47% for water services, and 41% for energy services.
Telecoms companies were judged the worst performers in the study, with just 30% of complaining customers satisfied.
The survey group suggested that 27% of those complaining about Royal Mail wanted services to improve, 22% demanded compensation, 21% wanted a refund, and 19% wanted an apology.
But Royal Mail has hit back, with a spokesman saying: “Among that monthly survey are a number of customers who we survey about their experience of us handling their complaints. Our tracking among those customers shows that more than 80% are satisfied with the way Royal Mail handled their complaint.”
Meanwhile Prashant Vaze, the chief economist at Consumer Focus, said under-performing in the handling of complaints could be bad for businesses, undermining their relationship with customers.
With the growth of social media, poor complaints experiences “make it easy to publicly dent a company’s reputation”, he said.
“The benefit of getting complaint handling right should be as plain as the nose on your face. But the evidence suggests much more needs to be done and some of that involves some pretty basic customer service principles,” said Vaze.
The study follows the publication of an Ofcom consultation, which could pave the way for the scrapping of first and second class post. The vast majority of consumers and small businesses which took part in the scheme, said they would prefer a single tariff, offering delivery within two days.
