Snail mail costs postal department Rs 4,000 in consumer court

The next time your mail arrives late, don't fume, just do what Mumbaikar Prakash Sheth did.

Based on his complaint, a consumer forum recently pulled up the postal department for failing to deliver his parcel on time and directed it to pay Sheth Rs 4,000 as compensation.

The South Mumbai district consumer disputes redressal forum directed the postal department to not only refund the cost of postal charge (Rs 267), it has also ordered it to pay Sheth Rs 3,000 for mental agony caused and another Rs 1,000 for litigation costs.

According to his complaint, Sheth sent three articles by speed post to three different locations in New Delhi on August 24, 2010. As per its norms, the postal department would deliver any consignment within two days, and would refund the client if it failed to do so. "I approached the postal department to send my parcel to New Delhi. They failed to deliver it on time and even delayed it by a day," Sheth told dna.

On September 13, 2010, Sheth had addressed a letter to the postal department requesting them to refund the postal charges. However, the department on October 19, 2010, rejected his request, claiming that there was no delay from its end, and that the delay was caused because Sheth had failed to mention the correct pin-code on the parcel.

Sheth however claimed that the pin-code was wrongly mentioned by an employee of the postal department who had accepted the parcel.

He finally approached the forum and filed a complaint. After going through the complaint, the forum asked the department to file its reply, in which it stuck to its stand.

After going through the evidence, the forum held the postal department guilty of failing to provide the services promised to its consumers, and penalised it for the same.