Australia Post loses Melbourne woman’s $55,000 inheritance cheque
A Melbourne woman has suffered from extreme stress for over six weeks after an error by Australia Post saw her inheritance money vanish.
Canadian-born Claudia Ruhland was waiting for a registered letter containing $55,000 in bank drafts that was mailed from her native country with tracking on December 19, 2017.
The letter was expected to arrive within 10 days but was nowhere to be seen.
The letter contained her inheritance, which was sent to her after a three-year court battle and, as she waited, the mother-of-two said the stress impacted her health.
“The stress of the waiting alone was unbearable and I feared the worst, that the bank drafts had been stolen,” she told news.com.au.
“My Canadian lawyer advised that if this was the case, there was nothing they could do and we would have to accept the loss.
“I was devastated and could not believe this could have happened.”
Claudia said the money had been sent through bank drafts rather than electronic transfer as she had been told that this was the best option.
However, after receiving a tracking letter explaining that the letter had arrived in Australia, the letter mysteriously disappeared.
On January 19, Claudia opened investigations with both Canada Post and Australia Post, but days passed without hearing any information about her letter.
On February 2, Claudia contacted Australia Post again and was informed that the letter had been found after a 46-day absence, in Lake Grace, Western Australia.
Claudia’s letter somehow ended up in Western Australia and had been “bouncing back and forth” between the mail sorting centre in Perth and the Lack Grace post office.
After hearing the good news, Claudia burst into tears while speaking to the Australia Post employee on the phone.
But Claudia is still confused as to how her letter first arrived in WA and then was incorrectly sorted and returned to the WA post office repeatedly.
An employee at the Lake Grace post office said that she had sent the letter in the express mail bag, in the hope the error would be noticed by an employee rather than a sorting machine.
Claudia then asked the employee to place the letter in a separate overnight express envelope, write her address on the front, remove the tracking sticker and then email the tracking number to her once it was re-posted.
After a long wait, the letter finally arrived on February 8.
Claudia said she had experienced “tremendous and unnecessary stress” from the bungle and had been left in the dark despite leaving her contact details with Australia Post.
“I cannot believe the continuous errors and bungles that occurred with this single valuable item. I am so disappointed with Australia Post and how this was handled,” she said.
“It wasn’t the fault of actual staff — clearly, it was caused by a mechanical glitch — but at some point you have to rise above what is procedure and use some common sense.
“The Australia Post technical system is clearly flawed as the letter did not reach its destination in a reasonable amount of time and instead simply went around in circles. It wasn’t until I, the recipient, intervened that a sensible resolution was implemented.”
A spokeswoman from Australia Post said customers with lost mail were encouraged to log an enquiry at auspost.com.au.
“Australia Post takes great pride in the efficient delivery of mail, with the vast majority — over 98 per cent — arriving safely and on time,” the spokeswoman said.
“Obviously something has gone wrong here.
“We have contacted the customer and will investigate this further.”