Consumer complaint received 2018-04-02
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC
State: TX
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX a friend recommended that I use XXXX to send her money that I needed to pay her. I used my XXXX XXXX app to send the money since it is sent with XXXX. The only information that was needed to complete the transaction was her name and phone number ( XXXX XXXX / XXXX ). The next week, on XX/XX/XXXX, my friend asked me to contact my bank because the money wasn't transferred to her. When I spoke to XXXX XXXX, I was told that the payment was completed and that my friend would need to speak directly to XXXX because it might be a simple solution where she would just need to verify some information. Later the same day, she told me that XXXX recommended for me to cancel the payment so the money will be refunded back to my bank. Afterwards, I contacted XXXX XXXX to request the refund but I was denied that request because the transfer showed complete on their end. They recommended that I have my friend contact XXXX. I emailed XXXX to inquire about the missing transfer and was told that no information on my friend 's account could be provided to me so she would just have to contact her own financial institution. She contacted her bank on XX/XX/XXXX and they requested a trace or tracking number. I spoke to XXXX XXXX and they couldn't provide a trace or tracking number but promised to open up an in-depth investigation along with a proof of payment. Finally, on XX/XX/XXXX I received two letters from XXXX XXXX stating that they completed their investigation and considered the matter closed. I took my frustration to XXXX and wrote about my experience with XXXX. XXXX support asked for my information so they could look into my concerns. When I finally got a response from XXXX on XXXX, I had spoken with my friend to confirm which bank she uses. It was that day that I realized that XXXX doesn't even offer services with the bank she has an account with. When I relayed this information to XXXX Support on XXXX, they advised that if that was the case, the money should've been refunded back to me within 14 days. At that point it had been more than a month. When I asked for more assistance on where the money was, they stated that they could only assist with transaction used on the XXXX app ( I used XXXX thru the XXXX XXXX app ). On XX/XX/XXXX, I decided to reach out to XXXX again and emailed them from their previous response. I advised them that my friend uses a bank that they don't partner with and requested them to provide proof that the money was transferred to my friend or refund me the money. They replied stating that I can cancel the payment if it is still " pending '' or I would have to request a reversal with my bank. I replied back stating that the transaction was already completed and my bank, XXXX XXXX, refused to refund it since they considered it transferred. 2 days later, I receive a response from XXXX stating that they recommend my friend to verify that she enrolled using the correct information, etc and AGAIN, I would need to reach out to my own financial institution. My final email to XXXX was on XX/XX/XXXX and I have yet to receive any response from XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation