American express Travelers' Cheques were purchased by me for a trip to Africa. The checks were stolen from me by force. I was also forced to sign the cheques. ECOBANK in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, was absolutely complicit in the taking of my money. The United Sates Department of State backs me up on this.
The theft was repoted to AMEX as soon as was possible. I was actually rescued by the United States Embassy. I have filed a report for the hotel, Hotel Iris, and ECOBANK. I plan to file a report on Cingular Wireless. This is why I am not writing all the details. The American Embassy called American Express for me, initially. The Embassy also confronted the bank. The bank proved to be guilty. I have sent E-mails to the bank, but have never received a reply. Ditto for Hotel Iris which is owned by a Scandinavian company.
American Express gave me a claim number and a claims number to call. I first called the number on the second business day after I returned home. On that day, I was told to send them by fax, a report of the details, plus many other documents. The onlY item I am missing is the police report, which the Embassy is obtaining for me. Usually, the police report does not come out until the investigaton is complete. The Embassy has been returned, my first hand-written report which was translated into French, by the Ouagadougou Police.
I have called. The first time I called after faxing the papers they requested, someone named Anna, told me the fax was never received. I had a receipt of successful fax. Then I was told they receive many faxes a day. I asked if I could E-mail the information. I was given the E-mail address and E-mailed everything. Now, when I call I am told Anna is not there. I leave messages for her to call me. She had indicated she would call me. Since I received no call, I have E-mnailed her. No response. I have heard nothing from her all this week. She was rude and told me frankly, I was stupid to get into this situation. This was before she knew ANY of the facts. The Embassy personnel have told me, the story the captors told me was credible. I had no means of communication, because I had arrived inb Ouagadougou late at night, without a working cell phone. I had gome to Cingular Wireless before leaving for my trip. I was assured my cell phone would work in Burkina Faso. It did not. That was not my fault and does nothing to enhance my own stupidity.in fact, if I had not acted as cleverly as I did, these terrorists would have been successful in murderinbg me. If I were dead, my family may have some attention put on this. Since I was clever enough or lucky enough to get away from my captors, I am looked upon as a liar, at best. Only the State Department knows this is the truth.
It is wrong to be treated so poorly by a supposedly good company. I lookd on the Internet. Unfortunately, at an unofficial web sitre for AMEX, I find many have been treated even worse by AMNEX. It is reported and posted by ANEX employees that they are in control. They go on to say the claimants need to be very nice to them if they want their claims paid. There was somnething said by one, they do not wish to hear about "preganant dogs." This is wrong and needs to be fixed. One man LOST his cheques in the far East. He reported the loss immediately. AMEX advertises they money will be returned within 24 hrs, but this poor man and his family were left in a foreign country with NO money. Just about all he had was in the supposedly trusted AMEX Travelers' Cheques.
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