Western Union
Reviews and Complaints

My name is Alexandra Kowalski and I was a very frequent user of Western Union money services. I do not have a bank account so using this company was very ideal for me. The last time I tried to receive money through this company I was very shocked and concerned to find out I was unable to receive my money all of a sudden. For some time I was unsure of why this was happening since I was such a frequent user and was always happy with my experience. It came to my attention from my father who was trying to send to me from out of state that the money immediately bounced back to his account and was told I was flagged for fraudulent activity. I dont understand why this was the case since I never did anything illegal or unlawful, all I did was get money sent to me. I have been unable to fix this situation and would really like to solve this problem. I trust and enjoy this company but cannot use it. Please get back to me with instructions on how to clear my name and be able to use my account once again since I was cut off so abruptly. Thank you.

I was the victim of a fraud on April 16, 2019. I repored the matter on that date and the bank to which money was transferred and the name of the person who was to pick up the money but not before April 18. I asked that the transfer be blocked. It was not.

On May 14, 2019 I tried to place a $20.00 money transfer online. It was denied.
I later called and a WU representative took my information and told me that it went through. It was canceled. I went to an agent location, and was given a receipt. However, when the recipient went to pick up the cash he was told that I was the recipent, not him. That transaction was also cancelled on me.

I have not only been defrauded; I also have been deprived of the ability to send a money transfer. I, the victim, somehow am the one being punished.

I have been on hold for almost an hour on your phone line.

I am asking what you will be doing to make me whole.

The matter has been referred to the FBI, the Internet Police and I will be meeting with the District Attorney on Tuesday if this is not resolved.

I had purchased 2 money orders on Jan 31st to pay my rent as i have for the past year. I drop the money orders off at a mailbox service, this time they envelope with the money orders never made it to the mailbox so I filled out the back of the receipts and checked the lost box and requested a refund, the western union website stated they would take fees from the refund. a month later I received two letters stating the money orders have been cashed and please send them a western union money order of $15 for each money order and mail it back for photo copies of the cashed money orders.
now i talked with my landlord and he said he never received the money orders so my guess is they were stolen and fraudulently cashed so I sent two more money orders for $15 each back to western union for the photocopies on 3/20/2019 and have not received anything back as of yet. I called in and their customer service which you can barley understand tells me it takes 10 to 15 days from the day they receive the payment to receive the receipts today is the 15th day since i mailed the payment to california from AZ. I called back to customer service and they tell me they have not received the payments yet, after 15 days they should have received the payments and mailed me my receipts! as of right now being on a budget and out the $1330.00 for the two money orders that I used western union for, im behind on my rent and western union does absolutely nothing to help their customers in a timely matter. by the time i get the receipts, whoever stole and cashed my money orders will be long gone. its been over two months and appears its going to be at leat another couple weeks before i get anything from this company.
Western union is one of the largest financial services in the U.S., why dont they take debit or credit card over the phone and email receipts to their customers? that was a question I asked customer service and they had no answer to that. its something that would have helped in finding a thief, getting my money back, and kept me from struggling to come up with the missing money for my rent so I don't get evicted.
Instead im spending more money to wait even longer for something that by now is long gone. THANK YOU WESTERN UNION FOR SCREWING YOUR CUSTOMERS

let me start out by saying that I was using MoneyGram services from 2009 to November 2018 before being banned for no reason on my part. I registered with Western Union beginning November of 2018 until today February 12th, 2019. I tend to go to the grocery store in by area to send a money transfer. I was told to call an 1-800-325-6000 number and give them a code # R7008. A week prior to this incident I when to the store to send money to my wife in Ghana (she is a U.S. citizen but her mother just died and I was sending money to help with the funeral cost. I try to send $1, 050 and was told to call Western Union office. The money was blocked. I was told to call WU office. the office asked me a lot of questions about me, my wife's niece and my wife and how well did I know them. I couldn't believe some of the questions asked me. I thought I answered all their questions to their satisfaction However, I was told I could not send this amount and to go back to the store for a refund. I got my refund and decide to send a smaller amount and it was processed though. Today When I tried to send the same ($450) I was told to was blocked and to call Western Union 1-800-325-6000 . I called there number, I was to then go on the internet and type in I believe CSR.westernunion and send the an email. I an going on 70 years of age, so I did the best I could. I received a email response stating a case#5313819 and they will try to get back to me in 24 hours.
Let me tell you a little about myself. I retired form TSA Dept of Homeland Security in April 2015. I worked for the Dept of Housing for 27 years than 10years at DHS. I feel deeply hurt and I can not send the money to my wife for her mother's funeral. I did nothing wrong in either case. I forgot to mention my wife and I have a home in Ghana also. my email address : [protected]@gmail.com. my land line phone: [protected].Western Union Case File a Complaint - Consumer ref:_00D15F40r._5001C18IsMA:ref
Inbox
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Updates
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Western Union Customer Care
11:41 AM (7 hours ago)
to me

Thank you for contacting Western Union.

We'll attempt to contact you within 24 hours using the contact information that you have provided to us.

For your records, your Case # is: [protected]

Please note this is an automated response. We ask that you not respond to this email.
You may also call us directly at 1-800-325-6000, so a customer support representative can help you.

Thank you,
Western Union Customer Care

www.westernunion.com

The information transmitted, including any content in this communication is confidential, is intended only for the use of the intended recipient and is the property of The Western Union Company or its affiliates and subsidiaries. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use of the information contained in or transmitted with the communication or dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the Western Union sender immediately by replying to this message and delete the original message

I sent my colleague to send 191 USD to my wife who is in South Africa. Now the nightmare started when my wife tried to withdraw the money in Welkom Absa Bank, South Africa.
She was told that middle name was not there as it appeared on the ID. My colleague went back to include the name. But now my wife is telling me that she still cannot withdraw as the Western Union gives the consulted the error message 'Mismatch'.
I'm surprised that the middle name can cause this dilemma. Here is the receipt number MTCN [protected]

I have used Western Union probably a dozen times over the years to send money to Ukraine, as I have a daughter who lives and studies there. Suddenly, Western Union rejected a routine transfer on account of "high probability of fraud", and then later informed me I cannot never use their services again. My protestations that the fraud allegation was ridiculous and unfounded were dismissed, and they never responded to a letter I sent them with clear evidence that my connection to Ukraine was legitimate, complete with pictures, airplane boarding passes, etc.

Not knowing where to turn, I am filing a complaint with the State of Washington Department of Financial Institutions. WU appears to be headquartered in Colorado, but it is my understanding that they need to be a licensed financial institution in every state in which they do business.

After at 10 plus years of using wu I was told that I am banned from using the service I was not even allowed to receive monies sent to me while stranded in another start due to an automobile breakdown.
I was also subjected to a humiliating inquiry ad to whom I'm sending or receiving. Monies from and Why. The questions were far too personal and after paying for services rendered by wu I was left feeling like I was in a criminal inquiry.
After a few weeks I called wu and was assured that it was just a temporary period an I was once again able to use the services.
However last night after receiving four(4) temporary min numbers the code which I believe is R7008 came up. Once again four attempts were made by Rite aide personnel were made to send monies to someone who needed it.
This is insulting an embarrassing. An if you view the history of transactions the amount Of monies sent or received images it ludicrous to assume any criminal activity.
Please attend to this matter as I was using this service in good faith and have now been treated in a disrespectful manor. Thank you.
I may be reached at [protected]. Orlando V Jonas

I had an incident last month of a fraudulent charge was told to close out my account and open another. I did as I was instructed . Lately I must say I have been having issues with extra charges on my credit card, that the bank is very aware of. I also contacted the FBI for possible Identity theft. A company was opened in my name last yr with out my knowledge . and I have a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. i also have paid for additional security of my credit thru Discovery that costs me 21.00 a month.
So I don't know what else to do. I now have been blocked from sending monies to family and friends in BOP. WHY? I'm the one that hasn't been in trouble or been in jail. So what do I need to do? I say a call from WU 3 days ago. No one knew what I was talking about when I called. My name is Cherie DiStefano please call me at [protected], lets resolve this. Or how can I help you? If someone calls, can u leave a message this time and not just hangup. Appreciated!

Just happened to me no idea no reason why I tried to send only 40 dollars and I feel like so bad I asked what do I do wrong ? Because I don't really know and understand why I can use others way to send the money but what i cAn understand what I did wrong I m not a criminal I work and I just wanted to help my brother with some money basically nothing because 40 dollars it's literally nothing please we need to get together and complain somewhere

I am beyond upset about this company I have being a member since 2010 I have been sending money back home to my love ones for years without an issue only to be told that I cannot use their service anymore and why is that? They can't give me a logically reason, which I found to be very disturbing and very absurd of them. I strongly don't recommend anyone to use WesternUnion because they do not care about their customers especially loyal customers that have been with them for years for them to stop service without an explanation, they have no remorse about what they doing. I explain to them I send money home for my disable sister for food, pampers etc still they didn't care I am very very very disappointed because u guys was a big help to me and family only to be left without a much explanation of why I can use the service anymore SHAME ON WESTERNUNION!

At 2400 Gallatin Rd Nashville TN 37206
@ Walgreens their Western Union System has been down going on 3 months.
I've complained to Staff and yet nothing has been done.
I use western union weekly and live on the same street as this Walgreens, I enter all my info to the end its fine then when I go to close it out to proceed to the register it says (SYSTEM ERROR) PLEASE SEE ADMINISTRATIVE
Everytime I go in they say yes we think it's up for 3 months and this happens everytime not just to me to every western union customer I've witnessed this.
If no one is going to address this problem
Then the western union needs to be taken out for it is most inconvenient!

On the 10th of October i went to Western Union in Midrand at Boulders mall to recieve money from Germany however upon arrival i filled all the neccessary forms and submitted the first time but the lady said i had a terrible handwritting and had to re dothe whole process again, after long and gruelling hours, and filling forms more than four times i was told that the money is there on the system but she could not give me for reasons unkown, i was told by the lady that the money had been sent back to the sender however i contacted the sender and was told no money was sent back, i would like to know what it takes for one to collect money from this branch and why would the lady have so much attitude torwads customers? how is it we are treated like criminals and interogated just for using the service which we pay for? today i havent recieved the money for unkown reasons please may the lady in Boulders be transfered, to archieve quality service.

I was scammed out of $300 that's American dollars from a family member in Jamaica. For a birth certificate so I contact Western Union and gave his name he has a twin brother. Western Union put his twin brother on the block list after I told him it was not his twin brother. And they put my name on the block list Western Union also asked me how did I get in touch with my cousin I told them through WhatsApp app they never got back in touch with me to investigate they just put all three of us on the block list. It's people from the Philippines that runs Western Union they don't speak proper English they don't understand English so this is what you get once you get on the block list it's hard to get off and they want all your personal information it's not worth putting out all your personal information it's not like you're asking for money you're just sending money.

My daughter had funds wired to her, after it arrived she was told they had to speak to the sender. She contacted the sender and during the recorded call and witnessed call by an entire office the customer service rep said my daughter was banned! My daughter called and WESTERN UNION will NOT respond what the heck they are talking about AND the sender was told he had to WAIT 7-10 days to be reimbursed when it took less than 30 seconds for his money to disappear out of his account. FRAUD FRAUD FEAUD! The only reason my daughter nor I use Western Union is the FEES ARE TO HIGH! Who can this complaint go to? Attorney General>> BBB€>FCC>>

My name is Olsen cammee Rachael my address that is on file is 660 south 300 East apt 207 salt lake City Utah I'm not there any more had to get a new I'd from the road home and that address is 210 south Rio grande St salt lake City Utah zip code is 84101 and I would like for my account from Western Union to be un block need to send money here is a photo of my I'd if you have any questions you can email me at [protected]@yahoo.com or call my number that is [protected] thank you. Cammee r olsen

I used the Western Union App to initiate money transfer. I went to a very helpful agent (at a Kroger store in Carbondale, IL) who attempted to complete the transaction. He reached a screen that requested my ID. The screen would not allow him to enter my ID.

It went rapidly downhill from there.

He called the agent help line. The best they could do was to suggest that I redo the App part on my phone. I did that, with the agent looking over my shoulder. It went through; he went to his system to complete the transaction; same issue.

I decided to call WU myself. After exactly 20 minutes wait, I managed to speak to a human. That person to transferred me to an App Department; I waited 15 more minutes and spoke to someone who wanted to speak to the agent. The agent allowed me to jump their service line and spoke to this person. No progress.

Finally, the agent kindly agreed to redo the who thing on his screen ignoring the App part that I attempted twice. Normally this service carries a fee of $45. The agent waived that and charged me the original fee that I was supposed to pay if the App had worked.

The main reason I am writing this is (1) to let WU know their App needs to be better integrated to the system their agents use (2) their operators on the phone simply suck.

To Whom It May Concern,

Greetings of peace and happiness!
My sister was banned from receiving and sending money thru WU for lifetime, just today in the Philippines, as per call from a WU representative - US based. She is receiving / sending money in WU for years for our parents' finacial support for their daily allowances and for some bills like water and electricity.
Your Representaive didn't provide any clear reason of blocking her to do transactions in the future and for lifetime.
You should give your client a clear reason or maybe a warning first before blocking her for doing any transactions in WU.
This is a clear unethical and irresponsible act of WU.

Regards,

Rafh Mascarina
Dubai, UAE

I tried to send wires to people in need in Ghana and if I didn't answer Western Union stupid questions they wanted the answers for I was stopped from sending money to work associates or business clients. I don't wire to random people though what is wrong with that? It's not illegal. Also problems with wires to Nigeria occur. Just because these areas are considered high scam doesn't mean everyone is a scammer. There are scams all over the world and in the US. I was blocked from receiving a wire in the US when I had my identification. The agent called Western Union. I had my passport too. The Western Union rep asked for my social security number. We don't give that in the US. I was fortunate the sender went to one of my bank accounts and deposited. More training is needed to advise of how many different ways people conduct business especially with international law, country law and US law. Besides if I am stupid enough to send money to a scammer well then that is my fault. I shouldn't be schooled by a wire service or any other financial service as to how to conduct my business. So every time Western Union blocks a wire I wonder how many innocent people in need are hurt.

I have been using Western Union to send money to my fiance in the Philippines. We started an online FB relationship in August of 2016. We decided to start a K1 visa and last year I flew to meet her. I spent 8 days with her and met her friends and family. This is when I started Regular money sending for her rent and basic needs. At the time she had work and it was fine. I retained a lawyer to help with filing the K1 Visa this year April. I have copies of her passport, birth certificate, and various other ids. I know her address. She is friends with my sister, father, my aunt and my niece. She is also friends with two of my best friends as well.

Two weeks ago I was trying to send about $520 via the app. It gave me an error code and told me to try again later. I did for the next 24 hours. I called them and asked why I couldn't send money and they told me I was blocked. I tried to talk to higher-ups and eventually told to send a request to a website to fill out a questionnaire and give explanations of the source of funds and explain what these sends were. I complied and shared multiple documents and a few days later I received an email stating their previous decision stands. I am blocked from sending or receiving using their services. I called the next day to see if I could find out why or seek clarification regarding this matter. I also emailed them requesting the same. I have yet to receive any further clarification and was told it was a business decision based on laws and regulations. I have found other services that actually care about their customers on both ends of the transactions. Plus their fees were lower and standard not based on the amount sent and the exchange rate is a peso better in worst case.

MTCN No : [protected]
Case No: [protected]

I Have made money transfer using western union on 2018/06/19 but still I have not received money .
I have spoken to Partner bank in Sri Lanka and they advised me that they are unable to see any record
relation to this transaction. Even if I entered correct bank details online still I have not received any funds. I have spoken
to customer service so many times I have not received any satisfactory answer also one customer service agent
advised me that " transaction is complete and they can not do anything and they will not guaranty for any transaction and
money can be lost as well". that was one of the customer service agent comment.