No failure by Maltapost in delivery of parcels

I refer to a letter entitled Late Packages... Is This A Good Service?' (February 25) by David Agius of St Paul's Bay.

After contacting Mr Agius and also Royal Mail we investigated the matter further and it transpired that:

• The supplier of Mr Agius' items applied two separate tracking numbers to them;

• Both registered items were posted by the supplier in the UK through Royal Mail as International Zone - Sort Economy - signed for service. This is popularly known as Surface Mail;

• Although posted simultaneously through the same service, Royal Mail mistakenly dispatched one of the two items by Priority Mail and this item was duly delivered by Maltapost the day after it was received. This item was notified by Royal Mail and could be tracked on MaltaPost's website;

• On the other hand, the second item was sent correctly by Surface Mail, as intended by Mr Agius' supplier. This service is cheaper, does not provide for tracking outside of UK, and takes much longer to arrive at its country destination.

Consequently, the facts of this case as put by Mr Agius do not result in any failure whatsoever on Maltapost's part. One needs to bear in mind that Maltapost relies on the service provided by foreign postal administrations and holds no control on mail until it actually arrives in Malta.

We recommend that the public checks the actual level of postal service that suppliers offer before shipment. Sometimes terms used (and paid for) may mislead one into believing that the level of service is more expeditious than in fact.