• giving at least 3 months’ notice of any contract changes;
• making sure that discounts are not unfairly withheld; and
• ensuring any disputes with customers are openly resolved.

“Within Royal Mail there is a growing awareness that customers must come first.

Unsympathetic responses to legitimate customer concerns should increasingly be a thing of the past. I hope therefore that Royal Mail can accept our suggestions for improvements to its Mailsort services. This would demonstrate a positive response to the difficulties experienced by some of its largest customers.

“About 40 per cent of post is sent by major mailers using Royal Mail’s monopoly Mailsort services. Several major mailers have complained about unfair charges and unworkable terms being imposed by Royal Mail. These have been investigated by Postwatch and were referred to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for action under the fast track, 90-day “Super complaint” procedures. The OFT asked Postcomm, the postal regulator, to investigate in March. An announcement is expected soon.

To help customers, Postwatch has instead discussed improvements to Mailsort services directly with Royal Mail. Royal Mail has been positive and customer focused in its response and Postwatch hopes that agreement to key contract changes can now be reached without further delay and without outside intervention.

More information:

1. The Mailsort products are available to mailers posting over 4,000 letters or 1,000 packets. The mail has to be pre-sorted and machine-readable. Customers receive discounts on standard postage rates.

2. Contact Andy Frewin on 020 7259 1223 or visit the Postwatch website www.postwatch.co.uk