Citibank's treatment

On Feb. 12, 1999, I purchased in Singapore traveler's checks from Citibank with a nominal value of US$2,500 and $4,500 in the hopes that these traveler's checks would be safer to keep than cash. Two days later, when I arrived in Bali, I realized that I had lost the traveler's checks. I immediately contacted the "traveler's check loss and theft" division of Citibank Singapore. A Mr. Alex answered the phone and said that I did not need to worry because no one had cashed the checks and Citibank had blocked them.

Then for three days I tried to contact Mr. Alex again, hoping to get a response to the case. I finally got his reply. He told me that after one and a half months there had not been a reply yet from the head office in Florida, USA. Then he asked me to contact Citibank in Florida and ask for a Ms. Lucero Jones during working hours. When I contacted Ms. Jones, she asked me to tell her the whole story again. When I asked whether Alex had sent her an e-mail she told me rather rudely that she could not really understand what had happened to my traveler's checks. It struck me immediately what Alex had done during that period because even Ms. Jones did not know exactly what had happened. Four days later I tried to contact Citibank in Florida again but failed to get a proper response. I felt then that they were not serious in handling this matter and were simply buying time under the pretext of incomplete data.

Now it is three months since I lost my traveler's checks but it is still not clear where my $7,000 has gone. Is this perhaps a dirty game played by a company famous internationally for its quality and service? All I have been asking for is the replacement of my lost traveler's checks, which have been proven not to have been cashed. As a client I need certainty. How long must I wait for the settlement of this case, considering that the amount is quite large.

INA R

Jakarta