Consumer complaint received 2018-05-19
Company: MONEYGRAM PAYMENT SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE INC
State: FL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
Wiring funds domestically or internationally should not be this difficult for a tax paying, law abiding citizen. The foreign entity used is simply incompetent in computing a successful transaction. 

On XX/XX/XXXX {$2500.00} USD were wired to my biological sister for a surprise gift to my nephew who just graduated XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX my sister called to say that the funds were not available to her. Upon calling Moneygram on XX/XX/XXXX, a customer service representative who called himself XXXX explained that he needed to verify a few things : My full name, address, name of a highway near my home, my age, the receiver 's name, age and purpose of the money. All of this information was provided to the customer service representative. 

This form of questioning was quite perplexing. I told XXXX that I'd been using Moneygram for over 20 years -wiring to XXXX , XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX.The reputation of my use of this company should vouch for itself. I have had to verify the funds wired internationally and I greatly appreciate that. But this domestic transfer questioning was too extreme. 

XXXX asked me if I was comfortable with him asking the questions. I asked him what does my being comfortable have to do with my sister being able to pick up the funds I wired her. He said, " If you are not comfortable with my questions, I will refund you your money. '' I told him that I will answer the questions ( as I did ) so that my sister can pick up the funds. But the questions are a bit extreme. I even laughed about that. 

XXXX became defensive and stated that " Since I ( the customer ) am not comfortable with the questions he ( XXXX ) is asking, then he will refund me my money. '' Again, I told him that I really wanted my sister to collect the funds to day for nephew 's surprise gift. XXXX refused to complete his interrogation. So I asked him to allow me to speak with his supervisor. He said he would allow me to speak with someone AFTER he refunds the money. 

I REALLY FEEL THAT IF THIS SITUATION WAS HANDLED BY DOMESTIC CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES, I WOULD NOT HAVE HAD THIS KIND OF AN ISSUE. XXXX was not professional. He did not have good customer service skills. He refused to assist me in a professional manner. 

I contacted moneygram immediately after this disappointing situation. After explaining that I needed to make formal complaint and being placed on hold for 4 minutes, the first called was dropped. The second call was answered by a nice lady by the name of XXXX. She listened to my complaint and requested that I hold so she could transfer me to someone. I was transferred to XXXX who said that he was not a supervisor but a equal to XXXX. XXXX and XXXX apologized for XXXX 's impromptu decision to refund the transaction. XXXX told me that I can complain on the online moneygram site. 

Wiring funds domestically or internationally should not be this difficult for a tax paying, law abiding citizen. Perhaps the federal government should only allow wire transfers to be completed by banks regulated by the federal government. The foreign entity used is simply incompetent in computing a successful transaction.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation