In the first week of November 2003 I sent a Christmas present to my son in Australia by registered air mail.

At the beginning of January 2004 my son informed me that he had not received the present, so on January 19, 2004 I contacted the Maltapost customer care and reported the matter. My call was acknowledged under their reference OUT/O4/V10 dated January 23, 2004.

On February 26, 2004 I wrote to Maltapost requesting information regarding my claim. The letter was never acknowledged or answered.

On March 29, 2004 I again wrote to Maltapost, still no acknowledgment or reply.

On April 16, 2004 I spoke to Rose Abela, who promised an "early" reply. Two days later I received a letter signed by Sarah Dimech which stated that the Australian postal authority had not responded to Maltapost's inquiry concerning the postal item in question and, after various telephone calls to customer care, on June 24, 2004, another letter signed by Ms Abela, senior administrator, customer care, was received and this stated that the Australian postal administration confirmed that the postal article under inquiry had not been traced. They accordingly authorised Maltapost to settle compensation on their behalf and that I would receive compensation shortly.

I have since phoned Maltapost several times and the last verbal reply I was given by customer care was that the accountant was very busy but settlement would be finalised soon.

My brother also left messages with Ms Eleonora to ask Tony Barbaro Sant to phone back but this request was also ignored and up to the time of writing this letter settlement has not been finalised.

As Mr Barbaro Sant is always very quick to reply to letters in the press, I trust he will find enough time to dedicate to a detailed reply why matters at Maltapost have reached such low and unacceptable levels.

Furthermore, I would very much appreciate it if the minister responsible for postal services would explain why such disservice to the public is being continuously allowed.