Satisfied customer

In January I remitted US$6,000 from my UK bank to my Tabungan Plus account with the BNI in Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta. The exchange rate at the time was varying but I had assumed it would be in the 6,000 to 8,000 region. I returned to Indonesia in March and discovered that the dollars had been converted at Rp 4,000 to the dollar. I was naturally concerned and rather assumed that I would be writing you a letter of complaint.

On March 21 I telephoned my BNI branch and I asked to speak to the manager. I was given a Mr. Budi Santoso and explained the problem in very halting Bahasa Indonesia. Mr Santoso said he would look into it.

On March 23 Mr. Santoso told me that he had referred the matter to his head office. On the following day, one of his staff called to say that BNI accepted that a mistake had been made, that the rate should have been Rp 7,350 to the dollar and that they would refund the difference. Note that 7,350 is higher than the rate of 7,100 quoted by the Post for the day the deposit was made. On March 25, the amount owed was deposited in my account. Also deposited was interest on the amount unpaid at relevant BNI TaPlus interest rates -- I had been intending to inquire about this but only after receiving the main sum owed for fear of appearing too greedy!

I would like to commend BNI, and Mr. Santoso, for the professional (and honest) way in which they dealt with the matter. To be frank, I do not know how I could have dealt with the problem if they had not done so in such a businesslike manner.

IAN BARTLETT

Jakarta