Closure of account

I would like to lodge a formal complaint to Citibank Pondok Indah branch in the hope that this top tier international bank can improve the quality of its service to its customers.

My mother has a number of accounts in the above bank which she wants to close as she has moved permanently out of the country. She wrote a letter of instruction initially on March 17, 1999, to this effect which upon presentation to the bank by myself was rejected because the signature varied slightly. I then requested my mother to write another letter and to sign this several times to make sure the signature matches.

Upon presentation of the second letter to a Ms. Nuarni (Ani) at the customer service section, I was told that since my mother is overseas, the instruction would have to be reconfirmed by recording on the telephone. After waiting half an hour for Ms. Ani to make the call with no result, I called my mother directly on my mobile phone but unfortunately she was not in. I then informed Ms. Ani of this fact. I was then told that the account could not be closed until they had spoken to my mother on the phone and until my mother's safe deposit box was closed as well and the keys returned.

This second unsuccessful visit took no less than two and a half hours.

My mother finally managed to speak to Ms. Ani over the telephone and she then sent me the keys by courier.

I ventured forth on my third visit on April 30, 1999. I presented my mother's letter again plus the keys to the safe deposit box. This time I met with Ms. Yayuk who did not seem very sure of what to do and was surprised that a customer actually wanted to close an account. After asking her superiors what to do she finally announced that the account could not be closed unless my mother signed several account-closing forms.

I was stunned and demanded to know why Ms. Ani did not inform me of this on my last visit. She then referred me back to Ms. Ani who was with another customer at that time. I waited for her for 45 minutes and still had not finished.

I went back to the reception area and demanded a clarification and was told again that the forms had to be signed prior to closing the account. I again demanded why I was not informed for this earlier only to be met with a shrug. No apologies were ever made by anyone at the customer service whatsoever. This visit took almost two hours.

I am a former banker with the Chase Manhattan Bank Jakarta and I am appalled at the service and arrogance of your staff. I demanded a formal apology and a speedy execution to the account closing the next time I appear at your bank. What is so difficult about closing a bank account?

DR. LANI WIJANDANA

Jakarta