Consumer complaint received 2017-11-30
Company: MONEYGRAM PAYMENT SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE INC
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Money order
Issue: Lost or stolen money order

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX I purchased a total of 4 Money Orders valued at a {$1000.00} each from the XXXX located in XXXX XXXX, Ca with a overall total value of {$4000.00}. The reason I purchased the Money Orders is at that time I was considering moving into an apartment complex if the Apartment Units that I toured between the days of XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX had suitable units for me. I toured 3 to 4 apartment complexes and misplaced or lost one of the Money Orders on the XX/XX/XXXX. I viewed a few more apartment complexes on XX/XX/XXXX and while I was viewing a few apartment units the rest of my Money Orders were stolen since the apartment complex was in a bad area. 

Upon discovering that my Money Orders were missing I attempted to go back to the XXXX where I purchased the Money orders from. The employee working at the Money Center and who I purchased the Money earlier that morning informed me that there was nothing that they could do to void the money orders. The employee then informed me to reach out to MoneyGram to void the money orders and to get a refund. Since I lost the money orders on a Saturday I had to wait until early Monday morning to speak to MoneyGram since the office was closed for the weekend. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I reached out to MoneyGram via e-mail and telephone and received a response from them at XXXX XXXX pacific standard time. MoneyGram responded to my email and informed me that one out of the four money orders were found and cashed and informed me that the other three money orders were still outstanding and were not cashed. They gave me instructions on how to request a refund and to get the refund process expedited since the other money orders had not been cashed yet. 

I filled out the claim cards as MoneyGram requested and sent it to the email given to me so that the process can be expedited. I also received a phone call from a MoneyGram employee on XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXX informing me that they were in the process of getting me a refund and had already processed one for a refund. The employee also informed me that he would locate the remaining two money orders and process a refund as well. 

I also had to pay an additional {$18.00} processing fee to get my refund. I approved MoneyGram to deduct the processing fee from my refund amounts. MoneyGram also stated that it was {$18.00} each for each money order that had to be refunded. Nine days after submitting the proper documentation to request a refund, I received an email from MoneyGram stating that the other two money orders were cashed on XX/XX/XXXX, the day after I informed MoneyGram that my money orders were lost/stolen.

In the email MoneyGram informed me that I can request a copy of the cashed money order and can receive an expedited copy of the cashed money orders if I pay {$24.00} for each cashed money order online. I paid a total of {$72.00} to receive a copy of the cashed money orders. After receiving the cashed money orders I called the MoneyGram customer service and asked what should I do with the copy of the cashed money orders in order to receive a refund since they were stolen and cashed. 

The employee that I spoke to informed me that I should speak to my financial institution on reimbursement procedures. I called my bank and informed them of what the MoneyGram employee told me and my bank stated that it should be MoneyGram that  should be reimbursing me because the money order was from them and not my bank. 

I called MoneyGram again and informed them that my bank has no reimbursement procedures because the money order was not from my bank. The MoneyGram employee I spoke to then informed me to speak to the financial institution where the money orders were cashed at and that I should ask them for my refund. The MoneyGram employee also informed me to file a police report and I informed the MoneyGram employee that there was already a police report filed. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I decided to speak to one of the financial institutions where one of the money orders were cashed at and the banker at XXXX XXXX XXXX that I spoke to informed me that there is nothing that they can do on their end and also stated that MoneyGram should be the one handling the refund policy. The banker attempted to help me by calling the customer service line provided on the MoneyGram claim card and spoke to an employee at MoneyGram. 

The XXXX XXXX Banker asked the MoneyGram employee on refund procedures and the MoneyGram employee hanged up on the banker and gave him no information on refund procedures for lost/stolen money orders. MoneyGram has no fraud department that I can report to and the employees whom I have spoken to from MoneyGram are from different countries. 

Since MoneyGram outsources their customer service to foreign countries the employees that are receiving customer service calls are not familiar with reimbursement procedures in the United States. My bank and the bank where the money orders were cashed as well as the XXXX Sheriff all have stated that it should be MoneyGram that should be processing my refund since, they failed to void the money orders after I informed them that they had been lost/stolen. Two money  orders were cashed a day after I informed them that the money orders were stolen. MoneyGram also failed to void the money orders after I submitted the required claim cards a day prior to the other two money orders being cashed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation