Sydney, Dec 19: Australia Post, along with its subsidiary StarTrack, has agreed to pay approximately $2.9 million in compensation to businesses for lost or damaged parcels.
This decision comes after the companies admitted to likely engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct by failing to honour compensation requests from business customers for four years, up until October 2022.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Australia Post and StarTrack, collectively known as the Australia Post Group. This undertaking obliges them to compensate around 10,500 affected business contract customers and less than 1,000 recipients of StarTrack deliveries.
This move follows the Group’s failure to correctly apply an amended exemption to the consumer guarantee rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
From October 2018, these rights were extended to the transport of goods to recipients not involved in a business concerning those goods. However, Australia Post Group did not acknowledge claims from businesses for articles lost or damaged in transit, based on a misinterpretation of this amendment.
ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver expressed serious concern over Australia Post Group’s failure to provide due remedies to business customers. Nevertheless, she acknowledged the Group’s initiative in self-reporting the misconduct and their commitment to rectifying the error.
Business contract customers are eligible for compensation, which includes the cost of postage plus interest. For receivers of StarTrack deliveries affected by this issue, claims can include the value of lost or damaged goods, plus interest.
The remediation program is designed to automatically compensate many business customers, and both Australia Post and StarTrack’s websites will provide detailed information about eligibility and the claims process. Importantly, to avoid scams, Australia Post Group will not use clickable links, phone numbers, or request email or text message responses for this program. Customers are advised to report any suspicious contact to Scamwatch.
The Group will reach out to identified affected customers, offering either automatic remediation or instructions for filing a claim. Business customers who previously filed compensation claims for lost or damaged articles during the specified period will be contacted within two weeks to submit their claims or receive automatic compensation.
Eligible customers may receive compensation through account credits, bank transfers, or cheques. Unclaimed or undeposited cheque amounts will be transferred to state or territory unclaimed monies funds.
Non-business customers with lost or damaged articles may also have compensation rights under consumer guarantees.
This development reflects Australia Post’s and StarTrack’s efforts to amend their past shortcomings and ensure compliance with consumer rights.
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