Registered letter saga

Much has been said in the last weeks (or is it months?) about the way the mail deliverer on the island is handling our post.

I was somehow sceptical about the claims of lost letters/parcels, missing items, or wrongly delivered, lost, or delayed letters and my point of view was that most of it was rather political, in this land of godliness.

But, as the Maltese saying goes "it is the turn of the Pope" (xi darba tmiss lill-Papa). And what turn it was!

On March 11, 2004 I received a note (Ref.OSF/054) which stated that on that day the postman tried to deliver a registered letter and, as nobody answered the doorbell, there would be another three attempts and after the fourth attempt the registered item would be returned to sender.

Obviously, the lady of the house did not leave my abode as she thought it might be a heavy cheque payment. But no knock came about on the following day, or on the following days. On the following Saturday I decided to go as usual to the Paola branch to collect the item. The man at the counter told me that I should have phoned (a telephone number indicated on the form) before going for collection.

Arriving home empty handed, I phoned the number indicated, which was the Zejtun branch, and a girl, who took my particulars, told me to go to the Paola branch on Tuesday between 11 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. to collect the item. But to my astonishment when I arrived on time at the Paola branch on the Tuesday the girl at the counter told me that there was nothing there for me. On my insistence she phoned the Zejtun branch and was told that the registered item was sent back to the sender! However, to hide her blushes she gave me a card to contact a customer care telephone number.

After I managed to get the customer care girl on the line, she tried to persuade me that the item was still at Maltapost and she would get hold of the item and phone me back. She never did. But on the following day, I did phone customer care. To my amazement a new voice answered the phone and, yet again, I had to start the story anew. This girl told me she would check and return the call.

She kept her word and telephoned back about 15 minutes later. Unbelievable. She stated that the item, which according to her was a letter from abroad, had been re-mailed back to sender that same morning! "Nothing can be done. Sorry, Sir!"

Can anyone beat this?