BANK WIRE TRANSFER MISSING

[Donald Birch]

Please note that I have had a Banco Pichincha savings account since Jan. 2012 when my wife and I bought a
condo in Salinas. We live most of the year in Ottawa,Canada but have been spending about 2 months per year
in Ecuador. I have been successfully funding my Banco Pichincha account with Bank Wire transfers since Oct.2013
– until the problem one. On January 9,2018 I sent a $5100 transfer from my Canadian bank to my account with Banco
Pichincha. When we arrived in Salinas, I went to a Banco Pichincha branch on Feb.7th to reactivate my account and then realized that the $5100 was not there. I mistakenly assumed that the funds would be put there after reactivation, and was surprised by a Feb.14th ATM withdrawal to find the $5100 still not there. I then emailed
a Banco Pichincha contact in Cuenca (a woman who had emailed me about reactivating my account) about the missing $5100, sent 2 reminders before she emailed me back on Feb. 19th (that my account was being checked and
she would get back to me soon). On Feb. 20th I called my Canadian bank and requested a trace on the $5100 bank wire transfer, which they did and – confirmed to me on Feb. 26th that Banco Pichincha had received the funds on January 24,2018. I emailed this information to the Banco Pichincha employee in Cuenca but received nothing
back as of now. I also went into a local Banco Pichincha branch on Feb. 28th with a hardcopy of my $5100 transfer, and explained the situation. They took a photocopy of the transfer, requested a copy of my email correspondence with the Cuenca employee, and on March 1st sent an email to the same Banco Pichincha employee in Cuenca, who has apparently done nothing since Feb. 14th(I am not aware if the branch contacted anyone else about the problem). The woman in the local Banco Pichincha branch who was handling this is apparently now on holidays.

It appears that I am getting the runaround from Banco Pichincha. Should I be contacting a lawyer in Ecuador to apply more pressure on Banco Pichincha?(and is there one you can recommend)? Is there any other course of action you might recommend? If the $5100 cannot be found, is Banco Pichincha required under Ecuadorian law to reimburse me? We expect banks to safely look after our money, and then something like this happens.
Thank you in advance for any helpful information you can provide.

Frustrated.
Don Birch
email: dbirch150@hotmail.com

[Country Expert Jim Santos]

Mr. Birch,

Sorry about your difficulties. You will find in our Rolodex a list of some attorneys in several cities in Ecuador. It would be best to talk to one of them about your legal options.

https://members.internationalliving.com/country_clubs/ecuador/rolodex/

-jim

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