Travelers, check fraud by Visa

In response to Ina R's and Citibank's letters (May 21 and June 28 respectively), I would like to warn users of travelers checks of the "investigative process". I had purchased Visa checks from Standard Chartered bank in Jakarta and lost them, plus passports etc., in Melbourne. I complied immediately and fully with all the refund terms and conditions as stated on the back of the purchase agreement. The "investigation" continued for almost a year, during which time Interpayment Services, owned by Thomas Cook and contracted by Visa, gave a number of reasons, including implied suspicion of criminal intent on my part. I checked up on their "investigation" and found that they had not followed up on the information I had submitted.

Interpayment Services were rude and accusatory the whole time. Standard Chartered, by the way, although polite claimed no responsibility for the problem. After ten months, my claim was refused. Even after my complete compliance with each and all of their requests, they opted to "reserve the right of decision at their discretion", which is added at the bottom of the "legal" agreement. They did reverse their decision, quickly I might add, only after I officially threatened court action.

I have found a number of people on the Internet with the same problem -- this appears to be common procedure by Interpayment Services in their statistical evaluation that many people give up on their "delayed investigation", and they are able to retain customers' money.

BRIEN D

Jakarta