Consumer complaint received 2016-02-12
Company: MONEYGRAM PAYMENT SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE INC
State: IL
Product: Money transfers
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Other transaction issues

Complaint:
MoneyGram canceled and refund my transaction after more than 35 hours of having my money blocked - doing that by offering a - In minutes transfer money service. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX 2016 I went to a MoneyGram location in XXXX IL with the intend to send ~ {$1500.00} ( XXXX ) to a Friend of mine in XXXX . I talked on their red phone that they have at that location, that someone automatically answers to guide you with the transaction. 
After I confirmed my name, my friends name and location, the Transfer in Minutes fee for sending {$1500.00} was {$80.00}. So I agree to that and pay the money, I got a Reference # XXXX and they said the money should be available to pick up in XXXX in a mater of minutes. But that never happened because the second day XXXX XXXX I called moneyGram to check the status of the transaction and they said the transaction is under review and that they need to transfer me to a different department that has some question for me. So they transfer me and I waited 20 min and nobody answered.I called 2nd time after ~1h and same story I was transferred to this department that never answers ... and waited for ~32 min this time ... still no answer so I give up. XXXX XXXX in the evening I go to a money gram location next to my house to try to get some answers, I used their Red phone again and guess what, same story I had to wait to talk to this department and they said it may take more the 40 min or 1 hour. So I told them that in this case I just want to cancel the tansaction, because it is not money in minutes transaction anymore, almost a full day past by and I spent XXXX on the phone trying to understand what do they need to review. 
XXXX day the XXXX XXXX 2016 I called them again, same story this time they transfer me and this department finally picked up after just ~15 min waiting for them. And they asked me the same question that they had asked me when I first made the transaction on the phone, my name, my friends name ( the receiver ) and so on ... that finally they come up with this reason that the transaction has to much risk and that they will refund my the money. Now I got a new reference # that I hope I can use it to get my money back, I have not got to and MoneyGram office yet. So this was after min ~ 35 h from when I made the transaction and payed the money for it. So the SCAM that MoneyGram IS DOING is that they have use my money ~ $ XXXX {$80.00} fee ) for ~35 h and as they work almost all over the world they probably do this for XXXX of people like me and are able to block huge amount of money just for at least 24 h so they can collect interest on it or invest the money or whatever. For a service that is called money transfer in minutest that actually blocks your own money for more then 24 h that is outrageous and most probably illegal. I relay appreciate if you will take note of this fact and start investigating Money Gram. 

I WILL NEVER USE MONEYGRAM SERVICE AGAIN

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation