Safe Deposit Boxes Not Safe

From the Chicago Tribune: After flooding filled the basement vault of a Northfield bank, William Hielscher arrived to inventory the contents of his mother's safe-deposit box — one of a few hundred that had been exposed to floodwaters several days earlier.
Chase bank employees led him past a security guard, behind a floor-to-ceiling plastic curtain and down some stairs into a humid, rank-smelling room. There, workers wearing disposable gloves gingerly drained dirty water from his safe-deposit box, then photographed the contents under the watchful eye of bank employees.
Hielscher, a lawyer, described the ordeal as more emotional than expected as he looked at his mother's string of pearls and water-sodden photographs. He was stunned when the bank at 400 Central Ave. asked him to sign a release stating that it was not liable for losses.
"I find that to be unconscionable," said Hielscher, who refused to sign the release and told several other customers that they shouldn't sign it either.
He discovered what many disaster victims seldom learn until it's too late — that the contents of safe-deposit boxes are not covered by banks or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. As in superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Katrina and other disasters, people who weren't covered by homeowners insurance lost valuable heirlooms and documents, believing they were safe.
"Perhaps it should be called a 'potentially unsafe' deposit box," said Hielscher, who noted that his mother's pearls were described as "white beads" by a bank employee who wrote down the inventory. "I think people are under the mistaken impression that the bank is protecting their valuables the same way the bank is protecting their money."  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-northfield-chase-bank-flooded-20130426,0,1286566.story
Who would have thought that the big banks that love Obama would be out to screw the little guy.