Customer rights

I refer to the letter The Elusive Cheque (January 22).

Since then, unfortunately, subject to correction, there was no reaction whatsoever. In my opinion, it is a shame and disgrace.

A few days ago, I tried to trace with HSBC what might have happened to the cheque for Lm22 I sent to the Joint Office. The person concerned was very helpful and assured me that the cheque in question was not claimed or drawn. Up to a certain point, it is no news, since I made a stop payment on the cheque posted on November 7, 2004.

What bothers me a lot is the fact that no word was forthcoming from the Joint Office or Maltapost about the mentioned cheque. Certainly it must have been stuck somewhere. If Maltapost delivered the cheque to the Joint Office, and considering the excellent and expedient service Maltapost boasts so much about, I presume it must have been so, most probably it all adds up to the fact that the Joint Office must have misplaced the cheque somewhere.

Nearly two months had elapsed since the cheque was sent to the Joint Office and yet no one felt responsible enough to try and trace it. Another cheque for the same amount was mailed some days later, received and a receipt issued by the same Joint Office. If the cheque dated November 7, 2004 did not arrive at the Joint Office it was the duty of Maltapost to try and establish what happened.

It is very difficult to figure out how a cheque mailed in Malta to a destination in Malta gets lost on the way. What is a shame and disgrace is not the fact that I had to pay Lm2 to HSBC to have a stop payment on the said cheque but the fact that a customer is completely ignored.

I expected some kind of apology. The Joint Office should have declared forthright it did not get the cheque or else if it reached its offices it should at least apologise for it being misplaced. Maltapost, on its part, should have ascertained me that the cheque was duly delivered or, if anything happened through unforeseen circumstances, should have had the decency to say so and apologise.

It is really a disgrace that in our island the customer is so conveniently shrugged off when he queries about his rights. Certainly what I am writing about proves how lacking both the Joint Office and Maltapost are in respect of their customers.

I hope that what I have been through serves to help fellow citizens from receiving such indecent service from the ever-mushrooming number of agencies and corporations abounding in our island.