WE refer to the complaint from V.F. of Ipoh (”Tighten our end of the service” — NST, March 7) on the Malaysian postal system.

The delivery process for international mail involves many parties and various procedures from the point of posting in the country of origin to its destination.

We regret the inconvenience V.F. has experienced over the non-receipt or tampering of mail received when V.F. was in the United States or in Malaysia.

We are grateful for V.F.’s understanding that such problems could lie anywhere along the delivery line between the two countries.

The various procedures in the delivery of international mail involve many parties, such as the postal workers, Customs Department, representatives of other government agencies and logistics operators.

Therefore, if you have not received a postal item, you should contact the postal administration within six months (from the day after the item is posted) to enable tracking of the item, provided there is a tracking number attached to it.

However, normal mail do not have a tracking number and, thus, cannot be traced.

In addition, we would like to remind customers that sending money via mail is strictly prohibited in Malaysia. Most postal administrations around the world also have clear and strict prohibitions.

Should customers choose to send valuable items or cash by post, it will be at their own responsibility as we would not provide any compensation for the loss.

It is, therefore, advisable to check a country’s postal website for service terms and conditions as well as alternative services that are safer and more secure (such as international money transfer, registered mail, express mail and insured mail services) should you wish to send valuable items by post.

Customers can go to our website, www.pos.com.my, for information. They can also contact our Customer Service Centre through PosLine at 1-300-300-300 from 8.30am to 9.30pm, Mondays to Saturdays (except on the first Saturday of the month) should they have any suggestions or comments.

DATIN ROHAIZA HASHIM for Pos Malaysia

Source: NST – March 14, 2008