Postal Industry Ombudsman

If you have a problem with a postal operator the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman (the Office) can help you find a solution.

Our service is free. We don’t take sides.

We can investigate complaints about:

• Australia Post
• StarTrack

What we do:

Before contacting us, contact the postal operator and make a complaint. If you can’t contact the postal operator yourself, the Office can refer your complaint to the postal operator and ask it to contact you.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the postal operator, tell us about it.

The Office will consider the information you provide and the response from the postal operator.

If we decide not to investigate your complaint, we will tell you why.

If we do investigate your complaint, we will contact the postal operator to get more information.  We will look at:

• relevant laws
• the postal operator’s policies, terms and conditions
• what is fair and reasonable in the circumstances.

The Office can recommend an outcome or action to the postal operator, but we are not a court or tribunal. We cannot direct a postal operator to take a particular action or decision.

We cannot assist if:

• your complaint is not about a postal or similar service

• the complaint is not about Australia Post or StarTrack.

• you did not complaint to the postal operator within 12 months of the incident that led to the dispute
• the matter is the subject of a court or tribunal hearing (unless special circumstances exist)
• you are a postal operator complaining about another postal operator
• the complaint relates to employment related matters
• your complaint relates to the price of postal services or product pricing.

If we can’t help, we will provide contact information for an organisation who can.

There are consumer agencies  in each state or territory that may be able to assist.

You can also contact the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for information about consumer rights and obligations.