European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 18, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday May 18, 1994 the stars and stripes Page 3 s by Marian Hamilton Mediterranean Bureau Naples Italy a six months after Navy exchanges introduced a worldwide Home layaway card european customers Are giving it mixed reviews. Many extol the next Ards a convenience. Others say problems with no computerized Billing and a Lack of controls when customers charge purchases make the cards less desirable than traditional credit cards. The new cards underwritten by Citicorp took the place of the Navy exchanges Home layaway and delayed payment plans in no vember. Customers must make a minimum Pur chaise of $50 each time the nex card is used overseas. The minimum Purchase in the United states is $200. There is no credit Check required. The maximum charge per customer is based on rank with Els having a credit limit of $750 overseas. Higher ranking people overseas can charge up to $4,000 per card. Ceilings Are lower in the states because sailors there have More shopping alternatives. _ customers Are billed monthly with a 12 percent annual finance charge. Problems began As soon As the new card was launched said John Duncan head of the. Overseas nex card operation in Naples. A a lot of applications got lost and there were people who were charging and who weren to getting billed a Duncan said. A it was a mail problem and it got  Petty officer 2nd class Curtis Cooper was among those with Billing woes. A we waited two months before i got my first Bill a Cooper said. Then he a got a warning letter because i Hadnot paid the first months payment  the matter has since been cleared up he said. Regina Wilson manager of an on base club said she and her husband Are still having problems with their Billing. A a we be had nothing but trouble with the card a Wilson said. A a we be been to the of files of the Navy Exchange Here half a dozen times and we be written to Citicorp with no results. Another card Holder said she and her husband Are satisfied with the card. A a we be had four Billing cycles since december a she said a and we be even gotten credit Back when we be returned something we charged earlier a and without a  a bigger problem Duncan said is that the system has not yet been computerized. Instead each Exchange manually enters transactions below $250 and sends them to Citicorp in the United states. Twice a month Citicorp sends Back a list of delinquent account holders. Transactions above $250 Are handled overnight by Telephone. The problems come from the purchases under $250, Duncan said. People who make frequent smaller purchases can exceed their credit limits without the Exchange knowing it. He Hopes the system will be computerized within six months. A a a a a still Duncan said three quarters of re a ported nex card problems Are related to customers not paying their Bills. A people done to Tell us when they arc having problems with their payments and they should a Duncan said. A there is a hardship program where the customer has six months interest free to help catch up on his or her debt and All the customer has to have is a letter from the customers command. One card Holder who got into trouble with her card said she was Well treated. A amps Marian Hamilton the n Encard has replaced other layaway plans in Navy exchanges worldwide. A i overextended on the card and they sent me a letter a said the woman who asked not to be identified. A but they gave me a Chance to work it out instead of firing off letters of indebtedness like a lot of com panics in the states do a another Navy member who has watched subordinates struggle with paying off the cards Bills said he advises them to dump the cards. Quot in a telling my troops to pay off this card give it Back to the nex and go to the Navy Federal credit Union and get a visa card a said Navy chief Petty officer Thom As Nichols. A traditional credit card a can be used at just about any store in the world there a no $50 minimum charge and the yearly interest rate is the same a 12 percent a he said. Cooper added that a with Mastercard and visa or any other department store credit card once you reach your limit you can to charge anymore. With the nex card especially if you and your wife both use the card you never know what your charge level is or whether you be gone Over it until the Bill arrives 30 to 45 Days later. New car Deal in t such a Seal Volvo owner decides. V. A by Ron Jensen a Nairn Borg Bureau Mark Haring thinks $3,000 was a lot of Money to spend to have his car stolen. The civilian ammunition inspector in Berlin also thinks the Dealership that was accountable for the theft should have lived up to its original offer to replace the stolen 1093 Volvo with a 1994 Model at no Cost. Instead when the stolen car was recovered slightly damaged and with 1,500 additional Miles on it the Volvo Lochner Dealership offered to repair the old one or sell Haring a new one for $3,000, taking the old one As a Trade in. A a we be been messed with to the Hilt a Haring said. A a it a been a Nightmare. A Andrew Rayment the manager of the Dealership said the offer to Haring which was made by Dealership owner Dieter Lochner was fair. A Haring took his 1993 Volvo to the Dealership on the Truman Plaza shopping area near Clay Headquarters compound on March 3 for repair of the Remote control Locking system. He purchased the car there eight months earlier. The next Day Haring said he was called by Rayment who told Haring he had a some bad  the car which had been left unlocked and with the keys inside had been stolen. Rayment also said according to Haring that the Dealership accepted blame and would replace the car with a 1994 Model. A they told me that several times a Haring said. A they took full  a a that a True a Rayment told the stars and stripes. A we would not have had any Choice. It was on our premises and stolen from our  a 1994 Model with All of the extras on the 1993 Model was ordered Haring said. But on March 15, Haring was told that the stolen car had been recovered. It was scratched. The compact disc player had been ripped out and a liquor bottle was in the Back seat. He was then offered a new Deal Haring said. The dealer would repair the car at no Cost to Haring or it would sell him the 1994 Model that had been ordered for $3,000. A i said a in a sorry. In a not taking the car Back because i done to know what its been through a a Haring recalled. After thinking about it for a couple of Days and getting an opinion from the judge advocate general a office in Berlin Haring accepted the offer of a new car for $3,000. He now thinks he should have taken the Dealership to court. Rayment said the return of the stolen car changed the situation. A when his old car was returned we simply said w e have two options a Rayment said. The old car would be repaired or a new one would be sold to Haring for $3,000. He said the Normal depreciation for a year old car is 25 to 30 percent. At a Cost of $27,000 for the 1993 Volvo that would be about $6,700 to $8,100. He said Lochner agreed to take a depreciation of Only $3,000 and sold Haring a car that costs $2,000 More than the 1993 Model Rayment also said there was no major damage to Haring a 1993 Volvo. He said it would have been completely repaired for about 2,000 Marks about $1,226, which the dealer would have paid. He also said a reimbursement for the mileage was offered. Rayment said the entire episode is embarrassing and he admitted that the Dealership was negligent. A a it a never happened to me in my 10 years Selling Volvo Quot he said. But he said Haring got a fair Deal. Haring remains unconvinced however. He said the Deal he accepted Cost hint about $1 for every mile on his 1993 car. Meanwhile he is Content but not Happy with the 1994 Model a a it a Nice a he said. A we really like it. But its not the car we fell in love  go s wife claims she was abused murder trial told by Joseph Owen Heidelberg Bureau Frankenthal Germany Deborah l. Buck master says she suffered sexual abuse As a child and then was physically abused by the husband she is accused of murdering an expert witness testified tuesday. Buckmaster 31, a native of Orlando fla., is on trial in a German state court in Frankenthal. She and two German men Are charged with murdering army sgt Douglas r. Buckmaster who was clubbed and thrown from a window of his 17th-floor government leased apartment dec. 12, 1992, less than a mile from the  chose not to testify during the trial session which lasted less than an hour. Instead the judges heard testimony from or. Joachim Glatzel a psychiatrist who had evaluated her. Deborah Buckmaster reported that both her father and her Uncle abused her sexually and that another family member also was sexually abused by them Glatzel said. Glatzel and the judges made fleeting reference to the alleged abuse by her husband but did not discuss details. Another defendant charged with murder Stefan Tanski 24, said he became acquainted with the Buckmaster in 1989 when they were his neighbors living near Heilbronn. Tanski said he occasionally saw the army sergeant under the influence of alcohol. The Buckmaster went Back to the United states that year but returned to Germany in Early 1992. Tanski said he and Deborah Buckmaster began having an affair in late May that year. He served As a baby Sitter for the Buck masters children while the couple attended a funeral in the United states he said. Deborah Buckmaster and Tanski Are two of five co defendants including two others accused of being accomplices. The trial is set to resume next tuesday with statements about the other defendants backgrounds. The court plans to hear testimony about the killing during later sessions