Consumer complaint received 2019-07-09
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Money was not available when promised

Complaint:
My sister transferred money to my account as an emergency cover for some expenses this morning. She used Zelle/clearXchange through her XXXX platform in order to get the money to me immediately. I have sent her payments though Zelle and it goes through within moments- 15 minutes at the outside. 
I got a confirmation email that a payment had been sent to me through Zelle/clearXchange, and that I should check my account for the deposit. Both companies were listed- in face it was stated stated that clearXchange is now Zelle .

Not only was the money not showing up when I called- hours later I found out that it was not due to be visible for 3 business days!

When I initially called Zelle they told me that had no idea what would take so long and that length of transaction was up to the bank sending the money. So, I called XXXX the issuing bank. They informed XXXX that no, the money went into the the Zelle/clearXchange network immediately and it was now their proces. I then called Zelle/clearXchange back and was told I just needed to activate my email for money transfer through Zelle. I tried that, was impossible- becasue it was active under clearXchange ... .which I was told is the same as Zelle, but becasue the same email address was active with clearXchange- i could not make it active with Zelle. It is important to note that on each of these phone calls the agents verified my account and could see both my Zelle and clearXchange information. So these differing and not useful instructions seemed odd.

I called one last time and stonewalled. The agent told me that clearXchange was the same company as Zellle- but he had no idea where the cash was or how long it would take to reach me. He literally just kept saying I apologize but it will be 3 business days. I asked why- he said the same thing. He told me that if I had deactivated the clearXchange email connection prior to the transfer them money would have gone through Zelle. I asked him how a person would know that- he did not answer. 
All three agents told me that could see the transaction- but could not give me any information on the process or the ETA of the deposit. They all said they could not expedite the process, and claimed no knowledge of why it would take so long for an electronic transfer through a quick-pay app. 
I believe that this money transfer app is exploiting loopholes to hold onto customer 's cash for longer than expected. Each agent told me something different, and said they had no information on a transaction passing through their interface- and could not access any information on it. They would just keep repeating themselves- regardless of the question. I am now not able to get the cash for days- and the whole process is useless, I would have been in the same position had I not used Zelle/clearXchange. I would be in a far better position if I had used another service- or if all the different qualifiers for " quick '' payment had been disclosed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation