By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The Consumer Protection Commission’s executive chairman yesterday said the watchdog has met with courier companies to understand how customers are compensated for lost, stolen or damaged shipments.

Senator Randy Rolle, confirming that the industry has received the highest number of consumer complaints lodged with the Commission for 2024 to-date, said there have been frequent concerns about the level of service when customers do not receive their packages or requested a refund.

“People call in and complain about services rendered to them,” he explained. “Every time people don’t get their goods or they want a refund, or they believe they have been wronged by these providers, the Consumer Protection Commission is an outlet to report these types of things.

“In terms of complaints that we would have gotten from consumers, courier services were number one ranked above other complaints that we would have received from consumers about different companies. So courier companies being number one just simply meant that people had the most bad experiences from them, and they came to consumer protection to get recourse on those issues.”

Mr Rolle said in response the Commission has dedicated the month of October to raising awareness in the courier industry about best practices and consumer rights. Commission officials have visited several courier companies including Ship X, Go Postal and Mr Ship It to discuss their policies for lost, damaged or stolen goods and how they determine when a consumer is due reimbursement for packages.

He said the companies have been receptive to the Commission conducting site visits and are open to ensuring consumers have a positive experience when doing business with them. “We started a public campaign visiting all of the services, getting an idea of their processes and finding a way how we can mitigate to slow that down in the coming weeks and months,” said Mr Rolle.

“They have been very receptive. As a matter of fact, those who we did not catch on the first instance have called us back and arranged meetings to simply say that they want to be compliant, and they want to make sure that customers receive great experiences when doing business with them.

“We just wanted to know: ‘What’s your policy if an item is lost or stolen’. They told us about their processes and how they check their warehouses, how they make calls, and if all else fails how they would then look to reimburse customers for packages that would not have come through.”

Mr Rolle said the site visits have “sensitised” courier companies to complaints lodged by consumers and work will continue to ensure the number of complaints are reduced going forward. “Based on the visits, I think it sensitised them a lot about what should happen, what needs to happen and how we can avoid it from happening in the future,” he added