Danamon's extra charge

As a customer, my relationship with Bank Danamon only began about 50 days ago but the experience has been disgusting.

On July 11, 1997, I transferred a small amount of Australian dollars from my AUD primadollar account to Australia. For that transfer, besides a fixed transfer fee of Rp 15,000, the Danamon JSX Branch charged an additional US$3.00 fee because the amount transferred was below the equivalent of $3,000.00. I was disturbed by this additional fee because:

a. Aware of misleading practice by many companies, before opening the account I inquired about any charges and fees that the bank may charge a customer for various account-related activities, but such a fee was never mentioned.

b. It is very difficult to understand the logic behind the charge because the fixed transfer fee was relatively high for smaller transfers while larger transfers will not benefit the bank as they represents a reduction in bank funding.

c. The teller in charge failed to show me the bank's written provision regarding the extra fee's validity. The teller simply said that the branch didn't keep a copy of the provision because it had been in effect for a long time (therefore, they had memorized it and customers should not question anything about it).

Again, on July 22, 1997, I transferred A$3,000 from a primadollar to primadana account. The exchange rate for such purpose displayed on the board was $A1 = Rp 1,935.60, but the rate applied to my transaction was $A1 = Rp 1,908.53. Danamon's staff explained that due to rate volatility at the time, the head office had corrected the rates and the rates displayed were misleading. Because of the bank's misconduct in displaying the wrong rates, I asked the bank to cancel the transaction without charging me additional costs. And do you know what the staff said? The only way to cancel the transaction was to buy back the $A at the rate of $A1 = Rp 1,974 point something. Which means the bank made around Rp 200,000 in a matter of seconds by cheating and being misleading. This suggestion will even make an idiot laugh and an angel angry.

In some countries such a practice could cost a bank a fortune in the form of heavy legal fines and lost customers. And as a well-known company in the 15th most competitive country, I think it is time for Danamon to stop preying on weak customers.

ALFONSUS S

Jakarta