Consumer complaint received 2018-09-12
Company: WESTERN UNION COMPANY, THE
State: MI
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
On Thursday XX/XX/2018 I initiated a Western Union Quick Collect money transfer to make my mortgage payment to XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX  ). Somehow through my own fault, I selected the wrong receiver and the funds were directed to XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) instead of XXXX. Within a minute of confirming the transaction and realizing that the funds went to the wrong party I contacted Western Union by telephone at XXXX to have the issue corrected. I was given a Case # of XXXX and told the issue should be resolved in 24-48 hours. I called back in 48 hours and was advised that they were waiting for a response from XXXX  to get their permission to release the money back to me or to forward the payment on to my mortgage company XXXX. I have called every 48 hours since this time, spoken with 3 supervisors and multiple customer service agents and still have not gotten the situation resolved. I also reached out to XXXX on my own and was advised to fax them my personal info, including my name, date of birth, SSN and property address so they could research the situation and determine whether or not I had an account with them. Against my better judgment I did do this and received no response from them ( I am unsure of the date this was done, I shredded the info once it was sent ). On XX/XX/XXXX I reached out again to XXXX  where I spoke with XXXX, ID # XXXX who tried to locate my account ( which I advised I did not have one and after several search options he advised that he couldnt locate an account for me ). I explained the situation for the 3rd time now and then we decided a conference call with Western Union would be the best resolution option. I spent 1.5 hours on a conference call with both XXXX and Western Union where it was determined that the emails Western Union was sending to XXXX were going unanswered due to the 1st person no longer being in the department where these transaction were handled and the 2nd person was out of the office. XXXX provided Western Union with a managers email for the 2nd person and to date I have not received a response from Western Union or from XXXX and I still have not received my money back or has it been forwarded to my mortgage company.. I am attaching a copy of the Western Union receipt when funds were originally sent, the proof of withdrawal from the account that was used to make the payment and the case number is listed above and it was also noted by XXXX at XXXX that it is illegal for them to hold onto money that does not belong to them, and Western Union is still insisting that XXXX is holding the funds. As a result of this issue, I almost lost my home as this payment was an agreed payment plan with my lender to keep me from losing my home and they needed the funds in hand no later than XX/XX/18. I ended up having to get a payroll advance from my employer to pay the whole amount ( {$3000.00} ) I was past due in order to keep my home and I STILL do not have a resolution to this issue. On XX/XX/XXXX I reached out to an Attorney who also sent a letter on my behalf to both parties that went unanswered. I again contacted Western Union on XX/XX/18 and they have insisted that XXXX  is still holding onto the funds and there is nothing they can do to refund me the money until they have gotten the funds back from XXXX. 

** Please note, this complaint is against both Western Union and  XXXX XXXX XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation