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On March 1st, 2016 a standard letter was mailed at General Post Office, Kingstown. The envelope bore a local postage stamp valued at EC$1.10. The envelope was addressed to a Post Office Box located in the same General Post Office in Kingstown.
Up until Friday, March 18, 2016, that letter was not placed in the Post Office box to which it was addressed. Now, this might be a normal situation for many people who experience it but I assure you that it is not normal in the universal sense and in terms of the importance of a post office to a society.
This unusual delay on the part of the post office to secure and deliver the envelope is serious and disturbing. It does not matter whether the envelope contained a simple greeting card, an invitation, a money order or a cheque. I can assure you that there was no cash in that envelope and there was nothing illegal being transported.
You have a worldwide web presence which says that you adhere to the following, and I quote:
“We deliver first class customer satisfaction by providing high quality postal and other related services in a reliable, secured manner through well trained motivated staff.” I have no doubt that this is your intention but based on popular opinion of your services and of my recent experience, it is not happening.
Your failure to deliver on a promise and on a service for which I paid whatever you asked me to pay has led me into an expense which you will not reimburse. Frankly, I do not expect you to but I expect you to take this note seriously and look after your business. This is in the interest of all citizens, not just me.
If you find it difficult to continue to deliver the basic services offered by post offices in general, you might need to consider your options for redress. I do not believe that the post office should hold its citizens and users hostage while the same citizens continue to finance its upkeep.
I would be much obliged to see a useful response in the public arena in the same manner in which the complaint has been placed.
Yours truly
J. James
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My neighbor did the same thing about 6 months ago.
Because he suspected some postal delays he posted a letter to himself at his post box number as an experiment and it took 8 days to arrive in his post box.
Can you believe that, here in the UK I can post a letter to someone living hundreds of miles away and it arrives in the recipients letter box at their house before 8 am the next morning.
What a lazy bunch they must be in Kingstown.
I am told that there are cases in which the item never makes it to the recipient yet negotiable instruments contained in the envelope are encashed in SVG. This is unacceptable. And worse yet, there is no longer any recourse for these sorts of things. When they happen, many just see the situation as the perpetrator “got through”. Trickery, abuse and Institutionalized banditry seem to have become attributes to be praised and admired.
Welcome to St. Vincent and the Grenadines where a three-year airport construction process is now into its eighth year since earthworks began.
Well here is a story for you: I pay my taxes through Scotia a few feet from the tax office. I was made aware that my tax for 2010 was not paid. I retrieve the document from the bank to prove the fund was transferred. I took it to the tax office and they claimed the fund was for the previous year. I produce evidence to prove the previous year was also paid.
The next excuse was that the bank did not point the funds to a specific area so it was just deposited to the government official account where all moneys are deposited.
Keep in mind that during my first encounter at the tax office I was told the books were at the treasury and they could not look up the records. I asked for a name so I could go over to the treasury to get someone to examine the book. I was promised the tax department will investigate.
Nothing happened and I was placed on hold again. On my next visit to SVG I repeated the same process and found nothing was done after I left the previous year.
I demanded to see someone at the treasury and was give a name. The treasury saw the transaction and was aware of my inquiry when I went there to determine what was holding up the process. It is now 2016 and I am not sure if this issue is solved. Incidentally, the bank, the tax office and the treasury are all aware of the issue, so I hope this case is closed.
Otherwise I may have to visit Papa, something I dont want to do, but may have to because I want to get to the top people responsible for these ministries. On the other hand I may get some pictures of these officials and post the story on Face book and to my email list of hundreds of Vincentians. The purpose is to make folks aware of what to expect when dealing with incompetent government workers and departments.
I find SVG is an island of excuses and lies.