Dr Mario Bonnici writes:

'I have been having problems with Maltapost for some time. Letters I expect never arrive. I know this for a fact, because documents which were posted to me several times (on one occasion five times) from abroad never arrived, even laboratory reports. Another Mario Bonnici lives in the same street, so I thought perhaps my mail could have been getting mixed up with his.

'However this hypothesis was completely ignored. Who knows how many unexpected letters went missing without my knowledge and how many a time the writer of those letters thought how arrogant I must have been not answering. I too posted letters, including medical reports, and these were never received.

'I have received, on several occasions, other people's mail, including Mr Bonnici's, and have always posted his letters in the postbox. The last time I had a problem I complained to Maltapost, and David Calleja, customer relations officer, almost implied that I was not telling the truth, didn't know what I was talking about and was adamant that this could not happen.

'He said the only way one could trace mail was if this was registered. So unless we register each and every letter, Maltapost can brush away all responsibility with the excuse that the letter was not registered. I asked Mr Calleja if he registered each and every letter he sends. He went to great length trying to explain that maybe someone else had taken the mail and hadn't told me or that the expected letters were never posted. How do you know that they posted them? was one of his questions. An internal inquiry was carried out and I received two letters of explanation.

'I recently found someone else's letter in my letterbox. I had promised Mr Calleja that the first letter would not be reposted, but instead I would forward it to you - so that readers have evidence of the crumbling service. At least this time Mr Calleja will have documented proof of my accusation.

'You can also verify that the envelope is pristine and was definitely not stuck to anything. I wish that all those who receive mail not belonging to them would post it to you. Only in this way can we convince Maltapost, which also happens to be a monopoly, that a solution must be found to amend this disservice. Maltapost must start compensating us for losses.

'There are lost bank statements where the client must pay to get a new statement, lost cheques, and birthday cards that are not received. I wish that you would take this upon yourself and use this letter to help convince Maltapost to improve its service.'

This is a very important issue that needs to be addressed.

I asked Maltapost for its comments:

'We refer to Dr Bonnici's complaint and your request to provide you with our comments.

'In May, Dr Bonnici contacted Maltapost, bringing to our attention that mail addressed to a third party was erroneously being delivered to his address. The officials were immediately informed and necessary action has been taken.

'Regrettably, Dr Bonnici never informed us about the wrongly delivered mail of August 7. The complaint has now been re-opened and brought to the attention of the officials in charge for necessary action. We will be contacting our customer, apologising for any inconvenience caused.

'May we also point out that in the last few months Maltapost changed a good number of delivery staff, in view of those members who opted to revert to government service after privatisation. Consequently, there is a learning curve period to enable our new postal operators to get the necessary knowledge and experience to ensure the best levels of service possible. Nevertheless, the management is doing its utmost to ensure the highest quality service possible.

'While we hope this clarifies the matter, do not hesitate to contact us for future reference. (Isabelle Micallef, head, Customer Care, Maltapost).