Western Union
Reviews and Complaints

I am soooo very pissed at WU right now! The last 2 times I have used them was to send money to my son when he had minor emergencies. They charged have charged my bank acct twice, their csr's can't speak english, they make you jump through friggin hoops to get "validated". I never knew that WU outsourced their cs and I will never, ever use them again! They are collecting american money and using it to pay cheap out of the country cheap labor, when there is so very many people here in the U.S. that needs the work! I'm going to quit being an ignorant consumer and start boycotting any company that outsources...any that I possibly can! Who's with me? dolphinlvr55@yahoo.com

No knowledge of the English language & No ability to say anything that is not scripted.
Denied a transfer I have sent every month this year. No One Knows Anything!
Terrible business practices, Western Union, makes me mad every time I see a commercial!

i have hsd since mar/2012 amout owine me $412.00 and the keep bouncing you around from one dept. to the next- and no one seems to have any authority- or knows anything when it comes to refunds
MTC no:697-=126-851

From 3 days me and my wife trying to send little money from Cairo and believe me, we are suffering. We went Arab African Bank here in The Mall Of Egypt and the answer they gave rudely were totally unethical.

1. Western Union guy told us to convert money into Dollars from elsewhere as they only accept Dollars. I have traveled internationally and this ill practice not exist in good countries. Every money transfer service provider is bound to give you exchange rate of internationally accepted currencies into local currency. Means when you give local money they change to international currency and send. Simple.

Next day i went to money exchange and changed Egyptian Pounds to Dollars. and very next morning we went again to Arab African Bank, The Mall of Egypt Branch.

2. After getting into long line on our turn the bank guy told us that we have to proof relationship with the receiver. Now how i proof him that the receiver is my nephew ? His father name is different from my father name. Senders and receivers both IDs are valid. When i told him this is not required coz what documents are required i am providing even willing to give copy of receiver's ID and it is just 356 Dollars which they need in emergency. The bank guy rudely said it is the new bank rule and if we want to send we have to open bank account in Dollars.

This [censored] new bank rule which he used as excuse they are doing it from several years. In past i had to submit my university fee in international bank account and they said the same. Now why they do this ?

I am business graduate and they way i understand is when someone open bank account in foreign currency S/He has to put some minimum foreign currency in account which become good amount in local currency hence bank get collection. Secondly when you use your bank account to send money via western union they charge extra fee. Bank generate income. Now you must be thinking why not use your own account for transfer rather than bank account, Well Egyptian bank not allow international transaction freely, you have to activate service or get credit card. This way Bank will charge service fee first and then international transaction fee. Cheers!

Few people just to make some money exploiting the rights of general public. Shame on them.

Dear all
I have acriticale problem with one of your branche in Egypt
(mitghamer -dakhlia-Egypt)
kindly take action againist those who caused the problem, have been today's problem with one of your branche(mitghamer-dakhlia), shortly i have sent money from saudi arabia yesterday and the employee have told we have some maintainance in the branche so we couldent give you the money and you can come tomorrow to Alexandria bank(Mitghamer, branche) to get the money
the employee bank have told them the system is dawn then they have waited about 11 hours because all the bank will be close because of Eid time
.It occurred bargaining to change the dollar to pounds already they did it with alot of customers, I will not tell you about the the chaos that pervaded the place and the shouting, realy im disappointed from the bad service, Use the crisis cash in the country, the last thing is i have sent my wife to get the money and my baby was with her all this time without taking into account of any one of the employees

thank you
your soonest respond will be highly appreciate
mohamed abdallah
e-mail:mohshalbe@yahoo.com

The rubbish Happened yesterday in Cairo.. My client wanna transfer money to me.. But they told him that system was shut down.. I can't even understand them anymore.. Its better there is solution for all this ###ing rubbish..

You all need to go check those transfers! right away! - I sent a money order to Cairo Egypt.. The western unions wont allow them to retreive their money saying that their systems are down.Wont even let people inside - Then they brought security..

I made the payment June 1st 2010
They took the money out of my account on June 3rd 2010
they have been closed since then and have not allowed the receiver to pick it
i looked up the mtcn number to get a refund

It says the money has been picked up - THEY HAVE BEEN CLOSED

I called the fraud line - They told me that the money was picked up on June 03, 2010 from the closed branch. I am VERY UNHAPPY with Western Union!

They said they will open an investigation and after 20 days I may or may not get my money back.. although I have to now send the original balance AGAIN!

Yes, Agreed With You and they claim they send the transfers quickly some people delay for few days to get the money, its not the best service of transfer money after all, not like before.

I tried sending money to my wife who is in Ghana who is doing missionary work there the person at Western Union told me that I could not send money ok to western union because I was far from using their services and they would refund me the money every time I tried calling baywood 3 for me to have another department I was on the phone for 2 hours any with still not give me the information or tell me why I was denied I asked him why and they still could not tell me let me tell me that they could not verify my identity over the phone and I would have to send in paperwork or they would send me paperwork to verify that I said how can you verify me through the mail but yet you can't verify me over the phone in person is a complete idiot Western Union is a complete idiot and the people there are rude and up and do not know how to deal with people they are read from a script and they keep telling him how great they are and that's their services but its my money that I'm sending to my wife so I told him that I'm going to file a class action suit against them anybody who wishes to join please get ahold of me here at this at this place or go on Facebook and look at the Western Union and see me what I want complaint made my business partner and I are going to sue Western Union for several million I hope we get to get rid of this business there a lousy and they don't know do not need to be in this country if they cannot deal with people properly I can't stand Western Union I will find another place to do my business

I have been trying to send money transfers to my fiancee in the Philippines. I have already sent more than a dozen over a period of about 4 months. But now I have been told I can no longer ue any Western Union services. When I asked why they really couldn't answer. They said something about fraud but would not elaborate. I have spoken by phone to every conceivable Western Union office and have gone on line also to correct this problem, but have not gotten any response at all. Western Union is a monopoly for money transfer to this part of the planet. They can do want they want, whenever they want, to whoever they want. I just want to be reinstated so I can support my fiancee and my 2 sons. I would have a easier time sending money to AL Quaida.

DO NOT PURCHASE THE WESTERN UNION MONEY VISA CARD! If you do be sure it does not expire because having it replaced is a hassle. I requested a new card in November 2012 to be sent which I never received. I called to report that and requested another card In January 2013. In trying to activate the new card, Customer Service is asking me to have a wire transfer to the card in order for them to have it activated. My card was a gift and it started out with a $50.00 balance. It now has $39.10. I was charged $5.00 for a replacement card and $2.95 twice for November and December fees! And now they are asking me to put more money on this card! HELL NO!
The customer service agent then asked me to go to the nearest Western Union office to have them activate the card! ARGH!

I just had the same problem today as I'm trying to send money online, the personal I spoke to was rude and eventually hung up the phone. I answered all the questions correctly, but apparently they couldn't verify my identity.

Treyecu, Your comment is irrelevant and only proves the problem with WU customer service.

Western Union money transfers can easily be sent without any assistance via a computer if you go the the western union website. You do not have to talk to any individual. After working at a western union location for 12 years, i would say its customer base is the rudest and most ignorant of any customer base in any industry. Most of them can't even fill out a simple form that I could have filled out while in kindergrten

Can I get a response to the below pasted email. Can some one inform me about how far its the correct email or a Scam.

WHAT IS THIS WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER DOING?

WELCOME TO WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER
FROM OFFICE OF THE WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER.
COTONOU BENIN REPUBLIC/ADDRESS 455 AGBOKOU, ANKPA
ROAD OPPOSITE TUNDE MOTORS COTONOU.
Direct:Telephone Number: +229-[protected]
Email: (western_union678@msn.com)

My Dear Email Owner,

I am here to inform you that IMF -- International Monetary Fund have decided to release and send your $2.5 million fund through Our Western Union hereby we wish to inform you that (IMF) and (ECOWAS) have instructed us to send you the sum of $2.500, 000.00.USD and we have send you $5, 000 dollar already as first collection.

I Mrs. Yemi Susan hereby inform you that we have processed your payment and your first payment of $5000.00 is available for pick up by receiver (YOU); Your First payment is still ON-HOLD. because you have to pay the IMF certificate stamp fee of $55 dollar Only as it was required by IMF.

Below are the first instrumental payment Tracking details. Track your first payment online now using the MTCN, Senders First Name & Last Name as directed below:

Click on below link or copy it and past to track your payment online.

https://wumt.westernunion.com/asp/orderStatus.asp?country=global

MTCN... [protected]
SENDERS NAME... HENRY NWORA
SENDERS COUNTRY... BENIN REPUBLIC
TEXT QUESTION... IN GOD
TEXT ANS... WE TRUST
AMOUNT... $5, 000.00

Send the $55 fee to IMF with below mane and send me the payment information.

RECEIVER:_______MR. EDDY NWAEZE.
COUNTRY:________ BENIN REPUBLIC,
COUNTRY CODE:____ 229
City__________ Cotonou
QUESTION:_______URGENT
ANSWER:_________Today.
AMOUNT:_________$55
Send The MTCN NO:___________________
Sender Name:________________________
Amount: $55 DOLLAR

HOW EVER, NOTE THAT IF YOU CAN BE ABLE TO SEND THE $55 USD RIGHT NOW THEN YOU WILL RECEIVE YOUR FIRST PAYMENT SAME DAY WITH OUT DELAY. EACH PAYMENT HERE IN OUR OFFICE HAS JUST ONE WEEK, SEVEN DAYS AS EXPIRATION DATE. (3days) SO HASTEN UP AND SEND THE FEE AND RECEIVE YOUR DAILY $5, 000.00USD AS THAT IS THE PROCEDURES AND INSTRUCTION FROM FINANCE MINISTRY.

Contact: +229-[protected]
Email: (western_union678@msn.com)
THANK YOU SO MUCH AND WE AWAIT YOUR URGENT RESPONSE. CALL ME AS SOON AS YOU HAVE SEND THE FEE AND LET ME HAVE THE PAYMENT INFORMATION. CALL OR SMS+229-[protected].. EMAIL: (western_union678@msn.com)
Yours Faithfully,

Mrs. Susan Nychezain
Office Telephone +[protected]..
Western Union® Send Money Worldwide
Email: ( western_union678@msn.com)
Registered © [protected] Western Union Money Transfer.

mallam mustapha has received over three thousand pounds using western union, in a similar scam.

how can this money be recovered?

It is a scam.

Hesham Elsayed Mohamed Attia

3 Ebn Elbarzy Street, El Ebrahimia,

Alexandria, Egypt

[protected]

chexxx501@yahoo.com

July 16, 2010

Western Union

Smoha, Alexandria, Egypt Branch

To Whom It May Concern:

Regarding: Customer Service Complaint

I have been a satisfied customer with Western Union numerous times over the years. On my most recent visit, July 13, 2010, I received extremely poor service that I felt should be brought to your attention. Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can prevent this unfortunate approach to customer service from continuing in your store and resolve this problem.

Before I begin my story, I would like to inform you that the employees in this branch were not wearing nametags. I have attached my paperwork with the transaction number for you to review for further information.

I was in the store to receive a money order from a family member in France for an urgent situation. As I mentioned, I have used your services many times and as always I came prepared with my confirmation code. I arrived at the branch and waited more than 30 minutes. The branch wasn’t crowed with customers, but I proceeded to wait patiently for assistance. After my wait, an employee at the branch proceeded to complete my transaction. There was a mistake in the system stating that my name is Attia Hesham Attia. My correct name and also the name listed on my identification that I gave your employee, is Hesham Elsayed Mohamed Attia. I understand and respect the rules and regulations of your company and planned on simply calling my family member and have him correct my information so that I could complete the transaction correctly. Immediately the employee began to act in an impolite manner. He told me that I would not be receiving my money that day because my name is incorrect and gave no option for a solution to the problem. Again, I understood and planned on correcting the name. He then continued to tell me several times in a very disrespectful manner that I would not receive my money and he made fun of me and asked me to go bring Attia Hesham receive the money.

I quickly realized that I would need to speak to another staff member if I wanted to find a solution to this mistake. I then spoke to another employee who immediately approached me in an extremely disrespectful and irritated manner. He began to shout at me and asked me to “shut up” when I asked him if there is a way to correct the problem. He printed out a piece of paper and told me that I could only see it and he would not hand it to me because I would not be receiving my money. Then got increasingly offensive with every word by shouting at me “Do you know how to read? Can you read this?” He was referring to the incorrect name on the money order and shouted again that I am not Attia Hesham Attia and I will not receive the money. At this point, I was extremely embarrassed and left the store. I couldn't believe that I had been shouted at and had been made fun of by employees in such a severe and disrespectful way. I simply wanted to find a solution to the problem and resolve it.

Despite the unfortunate treatment I received on July 13th, I still had to correct my money order and complete the transaction. The branch that my family member used was closed because of a holiday on July 14th, so I had to wait until July 15th for him to correct the name. He called me immediately after the correction was made and I went to the branch again. The staff member that assisted me on July 15th was exceptionally respectful and proceeded to finish my transaction, only to find out that the name was once again incorrect. The name this time was written Hesham Attia Hesham Attia. He explained to me that he trusted that this was my money order, but could not continue the transaction without the correct name. I was very relieved that this employee treated be in a respectful manner. I then called my family member in France to change the name for the third time. As I mentioned at the beginning of this letter, the money order was for an urgent matter and had already been delayed two days, so I waited at the branch until the changes were corrected.

While I waited I saw the branch manager and asked if I could speak with him. I began to express my disappointment about the treatment I received on July 13th. The manager was very polite and agreed to listen to my concerns. During our conversation, the employee that I was speaking of interrupted and asked if something was wrong. I explained to him that of course there is something wrong. I reminded him of how he shouted at me in an extremely disrespectful and inappropriate manner. The employee began to shout again in front of his manager. He told me that he knew what he was doing and I had no right to complain about him. I told him that I would like to continue my conversation with his manager. I couldn’t believe the treatment I was receiving. The manager took the time to apologize, but took no other actions and showed no remorse about the treatment I had received from his angry employee. I told him that I would be sending a complaint to the main office. He told me that there was no solution to my problem and the complaint letter wouldn’t do anything. I was very disturbed at the poor customer service from nearly everyone at the branch and shocked that the manager didn’t take into consideration the treatment that I had been given by his own employee. No one showed concern.

I received my money order, however, they gave it to me with the incorrect name despite my waiting two days and dealing with appalling treatment from the staff. The final transaction stated that my name was Hesham Elsayed Attia Hesham Elsayed Attia while my actual name is simply Hesham Elsayed Mohamed Attia. So, the transaction was completed incorrectly by the employees after all the incidents attempting to correct the name. On the bottom of the money order, there is a section for customer service. The section is left blank with only xxx-xxx-xxxx. No phone number and no e-mail contact of any kind. I assume the reasoning behind this is because similar situations happen on a daily basis at this branch. If there were actually a number or e-mail to contact someone about their poor customer service, the phone would never cease ringing with complaints.

To conclude my story, the employees were doing their job by asking for the correct number. I’m not upset about that at all. I appreciate when people follow the rules and regulations. My biggest concern is the terribly disrespectful treatment that I received as a customer. I don’t want this to continue to happen to other people. To resolve this problem I would appreciate if you would take action in the quality of service that is given in your branches. I look forward to your reply and a resolution to my problem and will wait until August 15, 2010 before seeking help from the Better Business Bureau and/or filing a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office. Please contact me at any of the above contact information. Thank you for your time. I hope that I can continue to do business with Western Union when this problem is resolved.

Sincerely,

Hesham Elsayed Mohamed Attia

i just sent $1075 USD to thailand to pay some products to my supplier and when she claimed the money, it was $42 short!

imagine that! t's almost 20% that they are stealing from the transaction!

They should stick to international exchange rates!

This is stealing and it should be stopped!

These guys are very bad. Our money orders were lost in the mail. We sent in all of the required info for a refund, including our receipt. They responded claiming that we didn't send a receipt. Whether they lost our receipt unintentionally or not, this is unacceptable. I just hope I can figure out a way to take legal action.

Western Union screwed us over on sending a pymt.

We usually use them for our car loan; however this time, I lost the receipt, contacted WU for a copy, got the run around by customer service. Mailed in a correspondence letter requesting a copy, I got no response back and my money is missing and the lender has never rec'd my pymt. I finally though I had it taken care of but apparently not. I don't know what else to do. They are costing me a lot of money and stress. I went as far to go to their headquarters.

I tried to send money to a friends bank account online. I had to register with WU, after registering I triede to send the money and got a message that I had to call in and confirm some information. When I called in, my transfer request was refused because my phone did'nt match the records they were checking against. When I questioned what records, they appoligized and said thats all we can tell you.

Later in the day I went online to check my bank account and found the money had been withdrawn for the money transfer. When I called WU about it they said the money was withdrawn before they decide to approve/dissapprove so they know the money is available, and "I" would have to contact my bank to have them contact WU to have the money put back in my account. I WENT SPASSSSS...

Not only were they telling me it was my responsiblilty to get the money back, but they never even let me know they took it.
Had I not checked my account they would still have my money...

I threw such a fit, that a supervisor from WU called my bank and had the money returned. When questioned about there practices of doing business this way, they said oh well, thats our policy...

I made a small money transfer through www.westernunion.ca. First it charged my card the amount and then posting a message for me to call the customer service. I called and the customer service told me that the order could not be completed for security reason. What exactly the reason was unclear since they have their own policy not to divulge specific reason. What a "great" service! Yet, they charged my card and it will take 15 days for the refund! For those who plannin to use Western Unions "service" for money transfer, be very careful. I certainly will not use that site anymore and I am now fighting to get my account removed. You never know if the site serve to keep my personal information and since the site have no use for me.

I have just spent an hour on the Western Union website, trying to send money abroad to my son. Great website with promise of easy online payment using credit card. I registered as required and entered the details of my card. After completing the lengthy process of trying to send £450, a message was displayed telling me that the limit is £400. Why it could not tell me that at the start of the process I don’t know.

When I clicked the send button, I then received a message telling me to go to an agent! What is the point in having an online service then? I checked my credit card and no problem. They even wanted to charge £32 pounds to make an electronic payment, which is a rip off. What a waste of my time!

I wanted to send my friend some money for some contract work he did for me. He works abroad in places like Shanghai, East Germany, and Canada where I met him. On Sept 20, 2017, I went to Western Unions website and did the online transfer -- I paid with my credit card. This was my first time using their service. The final step is to phone them in person to have the transfer approved. So we went over my transfer over the phone, and I was declined! No idea why. He told me i'd get an email and that was it. Nothing was mentioned what would happen to my $316.00.
I assumed it would be like any other business -- they would simply credit my credit card and the balance would show a couple days later.

So, a couple days later, I phoned again. Where is my money? The rep said "oh, your money is on a 1 month hold". Ok. So I believed him. 1 month hold. Just have patience. So, I put the issue on the backburner -- afterall, I'd have to wait almost 1-2 months to see any credit on my credit card summary.
Christmas came around and I was gone for a week or two, so it wasn't until mid-Jan that i remembered. The issue is still not resolved. I didn't see any credit from Western Union on my creditcard transaction summary in November or December. So i phoned them again. I was told that they'd put in a request to have someone phone me after 48 hours. No one ever did. So I phoned them yet again. I was told the same thing.

By this time, I had had enough of Western Union. They sounded unprofessional and incompetent. They were telling me that they had nothing on file. I didn't trust anything they said at this point. Everything was lies, and deceptive. So no one ever phoned me -- so I phoned yet again. This time a rep told me that I'd have to "contest it" with my bank -- the one that issued my credit card. So, i wrote my bank an email. I got an email back, days later stating it was my creditcard company I had to contact. So I contacted my credit card company, and they replied back to me, stating that because the transfer had occured more than 100 days ago, they couldn't do anything about it, and I'd have to take it up with "the merchant": Western Union.

Oh gawd. So, I've emailed western union about a thousand times -- no reply. So that's it. Western Union has stolen $316.00 from me. It's amazing how it's legal for these big companies to steal from people.

I will never ever do business with these crooks again. And I have half a mind to write a letter to the grocery-store where I shop, to get the western union out of there. Why are these crooks everywhere? If that happened to me, it must be happening to other people! I don't use their service often. That was my first time. And last time!

Please don't patronize crooks like Western Union. They should be shut down because they think they are above the law.

Do not believe western union!
Without any valid id, someone picked up our money within a few hours! Usd9000! Their system is the weakest, their service is the worst and their staff are not reliable. The uk police and financial crime department are involving in our case, but without any assistance from western union, the investigation cannot go any further. If you are the victim too, I hope we can unite. I really appreciate that someone can give us the victims any suggestion. Please contact me wuv2009101@hotmail.com

After spotting large revenue made by money wiring services, the I-Team went undercover to see why companies that earn so much are doing so little to protect consumers from fraud.
In 2017, Western Union hauled in more than $5 billion and MoneyGram 's take was $1 billion.
"Most of the people that have this happen to them, don't talk about it, " said Mark Barone, of Fallbrook, whose father Norm Barone claimed he was ripped off in a convincing scam. "They're embarrassed.
Norm Barone, 80, said, "It plays really on your emotions, " noting how he received a call saying his grandson Justin was jailed in Canada and needed money for bail.
The group allegedly involved in the scam pretended to be the police, convincing Barone to wire $6, 000 via Western Union for Justin's bail money. However, when Mark
Barone tried to get some help for his father from Western Union, he said he didn't get any help. "They were very, very uncooperative, " he said.
The I-Team learned anyone can be scammed, and according to the FBI, all ages are susceptible. Popular scams include the lottery scam, where victims are asked to wire money to cover fees to collect their winnings; the secret shopper scam, where victims send off their own money after cashing the company's bad check; and the scam Barone fell for: the grandparents scam. Many of these cons rely on money wires.
The biggest players, Western Union and MoneyGram, have signed agreements, promising state agencies they'll aggressively prevent fraud.
The I-Team tested these companies and the fraud agreements by going undercover sending $1, 000 KGO-TV's investigative unit in San Francisco. KGO sent the I-Team $1, 000 in return. The money wires were sent again and again between San Francisco and San Diego.
In San Diego, undercover tester Frank told the clerk he had won the lotto and needed to send a money order to San Francisco to pay fees on his winnings. Frank wasn't warned that he might be getting scammed. But the MoneyGram and Western Union representatives told the I-Team they work at preventing fraud and will educate and warn consumers.
"They all say, 'It's not my responsibility, ' and I'm saying 'Yes, it is, '" said San Diego Deputy District Attorney Paul Greenwood.
In San Francisco, the undercover tester told the clerk she needed to send a money wire to San Diego as part of a secret shopper job, which is a common scam. Again, she was not warned. In San Diego, the clerks didn't suspect any scams and provided no warnings, except at a Western Union in San Ysidro where a clerk and manager told our tester, "It sounds like a scam, " said tester Frank.
"I am looking at this and I do think Western Union and MoneyGram can be doing so much more, " said Greenwood.
The Federal Trade Commission recently settled with MoneyGram for ignoring widespread fraud over its network. MoneyGram agreed to pay $18 million. In response, Willard Hart of MoneyGram's fraud prevention unit said, "We're working very hard to educate consumers about the scams; working very hard to educate our agents and their employees about the scams and we're working very hard to stop the scams from going through our network."

Dear Sir, I am Rokan Hameed, from the Embassy of Iraq in Vietnam. With reference to the complaint I submitted about two weeks ago concerning the amount of money that the western union in London gave to a person who did not hold the original passport under the name Rokan Hameed, I would like to receive an explanation for this issue because I think that it is illegal for the bank to give money to a person and he/she does not have the original passport or other legal documents. I am pressing for this incident and waiting for a convincible reply in this concern.
Thank you for your consideration to my complaint.
Rokan Hameed]
Iraqi Embassy in Vietnam

I made a cash transfer via Western Union to a specific city in Nigeria - they paid out to a different state - they claim they did nothing wrong - the transaction was fraudulent - Western Union cann ot even be bothered to respond to emails. They are a bunch of arrogant crooks.

same happened to me:( did you get it back?

its the worse [censor]ing system my uncle sent money to jamaica w.i which is west indies and the [censor]ing [censor] worker keep on ptting west consent or someting like that.every [censor]ing time the money is refunded all nw i cant get it from yesterday so tell me now what the [censor] is that is it your [censor]ing money u refunding it all the [censor] time and my uncle has to drive 40 [censor]ing miles i need all of u [censor] to go to hell [censor]ing thiefs...thats my comment..

I am referring here to a transaction that I attempted via online.westernunion.com. Simply put: STAY AWAY FROM THEM ! I needed to send $150. to Costa Rica. Time was of the essence. 6 days later the result is: I have been debited $22. oo from my bank account as a service fee. The $150. was never sent; 31 cents was sent. They informed me that I should be happy they didn't charge me a $35. Cancellation Fee ~ Eventually I discovered that my local Publix supermarket will wire money via Western Union. The entire transaction, including the $$ arriving in Costa Rica took about 6 minutes. The online transaction took about 12 hours total dealing with the whole situation. One of my worst business experiences of my life.

I attempted to send via WU's online service, using my VISA card. At the end of the form-filling process I received on-screen directions to call customer service, 'additional information was required for confirmation of identity.' Long story short, they refused to complete the transaction (and wouldn't explain why...I can tell you all of my 'identity' details are in order, so I couldn't begin to guess). Funds were, nevertheless, deducted from my account. I called Western Union customer service, they were of no help; said they had faxed notice to return funds to my bank, that funds were 'not with WU, but were being held by my bank.' This is irrelevant and is an answer that should not be accepted by any WU customer. Fact is, WU submitted the charge to the bank *before* the transaction was complete and without the service being rendered. Bad process, equally bad customer service. I certainly should not have to bear the burden of absent funds for a service that wasn't rendered and neither should any customer. Profoundly frustrating. A quick search of online customer complaints/reviews reveals that my experience is not a unique one. Funds are still absent from my account.

The same thing happened to me, I sent 800 + the 68$ fee for a total of $868 to Iraq to my husband. I had plenty of money in my account, but after filling out all the information I got the message "This transaction has been declined" Well I checked my bank statement and there was the $868.00 plus a test transaction of $0.00 So I called the customer service line and they stated the money is pending but will be put back in my account eventually. They need to come up with a different system. I want my money back so I can send it at Rite Aid. Now its just floating there under pending. I dont dare send it till I know they refunded the $868.00 from the online transaction. That should be illegal, either its declined and they dont charge your account or its approved, how is there an in-between? I'm glad I didnt have an emergency. Worst on-line service ever!