We have contacted Mr Thomas Soh and thanked him for his feedback ("Promise of express service undelivered"; Forum Online, Nov 12).

We are sorry for the inconvenience he experienced.

We have explained to Mr Soh that for the Speedpost Priority service, when we collect a package by 11.30am from Mondays to Fridays (except public holidays), the package will be delivered by 6pm on the same day. If the package is collected later, before 4.30pm, the package will be delivered by 1pm the next working day.

We have also clarified with Mr Soh that for the other service, Speedpost Express, upon confirmation of a booking by 4pm, Mondays to Fridays, and by 11am on Saturdays (excluding public holidays), we collect and deliver a package within two hours.

On Nov 4, Mr Soh called our customer contact centre in the afternoon to arrange for the collection of a package from his premises.

Mr Soh had furnished our customer contact centre with a booking reference number for a Speedpost Express service which he had previously used. Thus, our courier was unable to collect Mr Soh's package on that day.

We contacted Mr Soh later that day to inform him of the incorrect booking reference number. We also arranged for a new collection request for Mr Soh, using Speedpost Priority service, and arranged to collect the package from his premises on Nov 5.

On Nov 5, our courier was late and did not collect the item from Mr Soh. The courier should have informed his supervisor, if he had followed standard operating procedure, that he was unable to collect the package within the scheduled period.

In such instances, the supervisor would arrange for another courier to make the collection. We have counselled the courier on the service lapse.

We have apologised to Mr Soh, as there should be no excuse for our courier not following through on the standard operating procedure.

Lim Li Koon

Vice-President

Group Communications

Singapore Post