Disappointment with Lippo Bank
Since late 1996 I have been a holder of a Star Card under the account number 730-15-03688-6 issued by the Surabaya branch office of Lippo Bank. I had opened this account at the request of my head office in Jakarta so that my bonuses and commissions could be directly transferred to this account.
At first I was satisfied because my account statement arrived at my address in time, which was after the twentieth of the current month for transactions conducted between the fifteenth of previous month up to the fourteenth of current month.
However, in January and February 1997, this account statement came late -- not until the beginning of the next month. I contacted Lippo Bank's customer service and filed my complaint. Unfortunately, I received a disappointing answer.
I was told that the late delivery of the account statement must have been the mistake of the courier service delivering the statement to my address. Lippo Bank itself, so I was told, has never been late in disbursing its statements. I tried to explain that in my dealings with other banks, I have never had such an experience, while in fact these other banks also used courier services to deliver account statements and other correspondence.
I also told the officer in charge that the account statement was very important to me because the Lippo Bank Star Card uses only a current account and not a savings account. That was why, I argued, the account statement was very important for me to check on the correctness of the amounts I received.
Alas, the representative in charge, in her short temper, replied that it was beyond her control to take the courier service to task regarding this matter. In fact, I asked her to pass on my complaint to the management of the bank so that they could monitor the punctuality of the courier service in sending account statements to its customers.
Finally, I contacted the toll-free customer response center of Lippo Bank in Jakarta. I spoke to Mrs. Yuni, the officer in charge, on March 21 and March 28, 1997, relaying all of my complaints. She responded to my concerns kindly. Several weeks later I received my account statement from Jakarta.
Unfortunately, in the next several months, I received no account statements at all. Therefore, I had to contact the customer response center again. This time I talked to Mrs. Metti on Aug. 11. Again I told her what had happened to me and she promised to contact me again. I waited for several weeks, but no response came. So I contacted the customer response center again. This time Mrs. Metti was not available and her colleague, who talked to me, promised to look into the matter. Again I waited, and still no news came from the center. So I contacted the customer response center and strongly protested against the way I had been treated by such a big and modern bank.
Finally, on Sept. 11, I received my account statements for my transactions between May 15 to June 6, June 16 to July 7, and July 15 to Aug. 11 -- all sent to me at the same time.
The most disappointing thing in my dealings with Lippo Bank in this regard is that after these last three account statements, I didn't receive the statement for the next period. So I had to contact the customer response center in Jakarta again before I finally received the account statement on Oct. 19 for the period of Aug. 15 to Sept. 13.
Until now, however, I have yet to receive the statements for the periods covering October and November.
I am extraordinarily disappointed with Lippo Bank and have my doubts about the professionalism of the bank and its staffers, especially in attending to its clients' complaints.
I am waiting for both a response and follow-up regarding this matter from Lippo Bank.
MEGAWATI G.
Holder of Star Card Lippo
No. 730-15-0 3688-6