Consumer complaint received 2018-11-05
Company: WESTERN UNION COMPANY, THE
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Money was not available when promised

Complaint:
On the XX/XX/2018 XXXX XXXX XXXX a citizen of XXXX used the Western Union located in XXXX Florida to transfer US dollars, delivered in person, in cash, ( to me ) her relative, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, a citizen of XXXX, in Oregon, USA, in the amount of {$1800.00}. The company charged fees for the service, and received the amount in cash from XXXX. XXXX, the receiver of the money transfer, went to pick up the money and was denied the transfer. The first attempts were denied due to the amount of the transfer. When a Western Union location was found capable of handling the transfer amount he proceeded to supply the appropriate information, including his valid identification, confirmation numbers, and sender information. At that point the Western Union representative informed XXXX that the transfer was not found in the system and later revised that information to say the transfer had been put on hold. The representative could not inform any of the parties involved as to why the transfer had been put on hold but supplied a customer service phone number to call. After an hour on the Western Union customer service phone line, the customer service representative XXXX spoke to, XXXX, the supervisor provided after asking for a manager, operator number XXXX, did not provide solutions but informed him that the transfer status had changed from being on hold to being refunded. He did not provide answers as to why this happened but merely stated he did not have access to the system and there was nothing he could do. XXXX stated that it was likely due to the fact the sender was a citizen of XXXX. However, the sender provided this information in the form of a XXXX passport when supplying the necessary documents. The information provided on the Western Union website does not limit non-citizens of the United States from using their service and if they did it was their responsibility to deny the transaction at the time the sender was in person, at their office. They took her money in cash, in US dollars, and charged her fees for the service. XXXX, customer service supervisor, gave an email to contact that turned out to be a phony email address and refused to provide further contacts whom may be able to correct the mistake made by Western Union. 

During the four days it took sorting through how to receive the money transfer, the sender, XXXX, had finished her vacation in XXXX, and went home to XXXX. The receiver had been attempting to collect the money sent from the moment it was sent and has been encountering problems since then, unable to receive money, unable to find answers as to why it was cancelled, and unable to talk to anyone who made the decision to terminate the transaction. No one seems to know anything or who was authorized to cancel the transaction. The receiver of the money has not received the money that was guaranteed by Western Union and has now been forced to cancel vacation plans and suspend travel due to this unnecessary violation of Western Union. 

It is now XX/XX/2018, and Western Union has not cleared the transfer for pick up and will not supply the reason why they canceled it and every attempt to speak to someone that can supply a solution or reasons to how to proceed has been rejected. Western Union has now authorized a refund to XXXX against all the will of all parties involved. The transfer was initiated in XXXX, Florida, in US Dollars, to a recipient in the United States, in US Dollars and now Western Union has decided to provide a refund in XXXX  Pesos, at whatever exchange rate they decide upon without the consent of anyone involved. Neither parties agreed on this and Western Union still refuses to provide their reasoning or provide the appropriate person to speak to that can explain their reasoning or provide a supervisor that can correct the error made by Western Union. The money is now unable to be received by either the sender or receiver. 

It is criminal to take money in cash from a customer and then decide without authorization to send it out of the country in a different currency. All money was declared when entering the United States and all information was provided to Western Union when attempting to use their service. Eleven days has passed since the transfer was made and neither party is able to receive the money and the recipient has now been forced to cancel all plans due to a lack of dollars that was guaranteed to reach him eleven days ago. Refunding money to a person in XXXX does not solve the problem that Western Union created. The receiver is still without the funds sent. The money that Western Union wants to refund to XXXX would be in a different currency than what was sent. The amount would be less than the amount sent due to exchange rates. Fees would not be refunded. Fees encountered when attempting to send money from XXXX to the United States would be greater than the fees encountered sent from Florida to Oregon. US dollars left XXXX and would now be refunded in Pesos against the will of the parties involved. Eleven days of suspended funds has caused disruption in the lives of all involved. 

Western Union has taken no accountability of this problem or provided solutions to solve the error they made. Western Union has not provided any legal reasoning for their action. Western Union has taken cash from a customer and refused to provide the service agreed on. 

I, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, feel that Western Union has committed a crime by denying me receipt of the funds sent to me by my niece, XXXX XXXX XXXX, and I would like an investigation to be conducted into their criminal conduct. I would like the money that was rightfully mine to be allowed to be received by me, in the country it was sent and intended to be received in, in the currency it was sent in, and I would like compensation to be made for the days left without funds, the interest encountered, the frustration encountered, and the unprofessional misconduct made by Western Union.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation