1 year on from Ofcom’s complaints guidance

It’s happened to many of us — a late parcel delivery, a package left in front of the door is damaged, an online purchase disappeared with no trace. But when something goes wrong with parcel services, it’s often far from easy to find out what’s happening and resolve the problem. This adds to the stress, inconvenience and sometimes financial losses for those affected.

Parcel consumers have long struggled with poor complaints processes

We started talking about the challenges of making a complaint in the parcels market over 3 years ago, before Ofcom’s review of regulations. At the time, our evidence showed that contact information was difficult to find for consumers, operators were unresponsive or slow to respond, automated systems didn’t work well, and the process was time-consuming and complicated. This issue is of more concern in the parcels market than others, as consumers often don’t have the alternative option to punish carriers for poor service — going elsewhere. If you’re shopping online, the decision on which carrier to use is made by the retailer.

In April 2023, Ofcom responded to our concerns by introducing more specific guidelines for parcel companies on managing complaints processes. We welcomed the change as a useful starting point for improving consumer experiences, and have been monitoring their impact through our research. Last July, we took a look at people’s experiences of complaints, and found that more and more people have come to us about parcel delivery problems over the past 5 years. Over a year on from the new guidance, we now need to take a look at the current situation.

New guidance is having a limited impact

Despite the more specific guidance from Ofcom around complaints, we’re concerned this hasn’t yet led to material improvement for consumers. The proportion of people with a parcel delivery problem who reported a further problem getting that issue resolved has remained relatively constant since the new guidance came into force.

This is reflected in much of our latest research. In November of last year, we published our third annual league table, looking into the top 5 biggest parcel companies’ performance across different criteria. We found that all of the operators are delivering substandard service, with none of them scoring above a 2.75 out of 5 stars. On the issue of complaints and resolving delivery issues, which fall under the criteria of customer service in the table, no carrier scored above a 3.6 out of 5 stars. On top of that, a majority of the carriers we examined scored below a middling 3 out of 5 stars on this front. This was 6 months after the new guidance came into effect.

The lack of improvement over the past year is also reflected in our most recent consumer research. We found that just under a third of consumers said they had difficulties trying to resolve their initial parcel delivery problem, including having to contact the operator multiple times to get a response, not being able to speak to the right person, and problems with the communication system. 1 in 5 didn’t get a response at all. The same research conducted before the new guidance in spring last year, found the same proportion of respondents — 31% — having problems resolving their delivery complaints.

Based on the research we’ve carried out since the introduction of the new guidance, there isn’t evidence that the guidance has had a notable impact on consumers’ experience of the complaints process. However, we’ll continue to monitor developments through this year’s parcels league table, and will use that research to assess progress towards the end of the year.

What would make a difference in this area?

Current trends suggest Ofcom’s guidance hasn’t gone far enough to create material change for consumers. Based on what we’ve seen in our recent data, it’s unlikely that there will be the significant improvements needed unless further measures are taken by the regulator. For one, it stops at guidance, which isn’t strong enough to hold operators accountable to specific standards of service.

It’s time for Ofcom to act decisively by not only monitoring, but also setting up specific standards for carriers to meet around the accessibility of complaints processes, speed of resolution, and clarity of communication. If these standards aren’t met, Ofcom must take action to penalise operators and should consider extending the regulation on complaints that would set the bar higher for all carriers.

To make the complaints process easier for consumers, parcel companies should focus on improving 3 key areas:

1. Accessibility: provide more than one channel of communication — including for digitally excluded, visually impaired, hard of hearing and other disabled consumers — and have contact information accessible in multiple formats and across multiple platforms
2. Speed: acknowledge and reply to complaints within 7 working days
3. Clarity: provide clear communication of each step in the resolution process

But complaints won’t fall significantly without addressing deeper problems

Although some steps are being taken by Ofcom and parcel companies to address common issues with problem resolution, the overall level of complaints reflects the unacceptable level of delivery challenges consumers are having in the first place. Given the sheer scale and volume of parcels delivered each day, there will always be some mistakes in the process, but Ofcom’s own data shows that two thirds of consumers had an issue with their last delivery. In any other sector, such poor quality of service would need to be taken seriously. It’s critical that the regulator steps up to its responsibilities to protect consumers, as this market continues to grow and play an ever greater role in our day to day lives.