Consumer complaint received 2018-03-14
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC
State: DC
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Money was not available when promised

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, a friend used the XXXX platform to transfer me {$1300.00} for her portion of our house 's rent payment for the month. Both of us were registered with XXXX, and had it linked to our respective bank accounts. XXXX markets their XXXX transfer product as nearly instantaneous, where funds can be transferred within minutes, which is why we opted to use this platform rather than XXXX, which can take 1-2 business days to transfer. 

The money was taken out of her XXXX account on XX/XX/XXXX, and I received a text message from XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX stating that she sent me {$1300.00}, the correct amount of the transfer. By XX/XX/XXXX, I had still not received the deposit, and followed up with XXXX XXXX XXXX via a phone call on XX/XX/XXXX to inquire about the transfer. They told me that sometimes a first time transfer can take from 1-5 business days to process. At that point, I agreed to wait until the 5 business day mark, even though at no point during the signup for transfer confirmation process did they mention that a transfer could take longer than the much marketed " minutes. '' On the main page of their website, a footnote even says, " Transactions between enrolled XXXX users typically occur in minutes. If your recipient is not yet enrolled with XXXX, it may take between 1 and 3 business days after they enroll. '' We had both been enrolled with XXXX for some time, but decided to wait until the 5 day mark that was told to me my XXXX XXXX XXXX 's customer service representative on XX/XX/XXXX before becoming truly worried. 

At that point, the wait time for my transfer created great financial hardship as we had to make our rent payment by XX/XX/XXXX, the third business day after the day of the transfer. I had to transfer the amount of her rent out of my savings account to make sure I had sufficient funds in my checking account. Had we not paid this on time, we would have incurred a {$1000.00} late fee from our landlord. 

By XX/XX/XXXX, I still had not received the transfer funds, marking the XXXX business day after the original transaction. I once again contacted XXXX  XXXX XXXX, and I was told that sometimes transfers can take longer, but that the transaction was processing and would be deposited into my checking account that same day by XXXX. The customer service representative connected me to their XXXX help line, where I spoke to a XXXX customer service representative. He told me that sometimes a first time transfer can take 1-5 business days to complete, but once I relayed that we were now on the 7th business day after the transaction, he could not explain why it was taking so long, but also assured me that the money would be processed into my account by XXXX that night. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX again, inquiring about the funds that had not been deposited into my account since its initial transfer 9 business days prior. Once again, I was told that the transaction was processing, it should be deposited into my account by XXXX that night, and that there was nothing further she could do to track the transfer. 

On Monday XX/XX/XXXX, it marked two weeks since my friend had transferred the money to my account. I still did not have the money in my account. I took my lunch break from work to go to a physical XXXX XXXX XXXX branch to try and solve the issue once again. I was told that all she could do was connect me to the XXXX, and could not track the payment since it was a XXXX transaction. I left the branch, and called XXXX XXXX XXXX again. The customer service representative could not tell me why the money had not deposited, and could still see it processing. She told me at this point that I should remove my phone number from my XXXX account, and re-sign up for the service. She also told me that I should have my friend who initiated payment call her bank and have the transfer cancelled. 

As of XX/XX/XXXX, the 15th day since the original date of transfer, I have still not received the transfer. I had to transfer money out of my savings account, and have taken time out of my workday to make phone calls and visit a XXXX XXXX XXXX branch to try and resolve this issue. My friend has contacted her bank, XXXX, to try and cancel the transfer, but was told that the money has already been deposited into an account. She also contacted XXXX, to track the status of the deposit, but XXXX told her to contact her bank. 

At this point, the money is still not in either of our accounts, and {$1300.00} is in financial transfer purgatory, where no one seems to know where it is. All three parties involved ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX ) have repeatedly pointed fingers to the other to try and shift the blame for not being able to control their own fund transfers. This is a horrible example of operational control by institutions that are supposed to be protecting our money. I no longer have faith in my financial institution, and am more wary about using my own bank to transfer funds, than a third party service such as XXXX. A platform that is backed by most of the big banks in our country should be able to accurately track XXXX transfers in real time. There should be no question about where a money transfer is at any step in the process, and there should be set contingency plans in place if the transfer fails, instead of just saying to contact someone else to deal with the issue. XXXX 's internal controls are ineffective, and dangerous for customers if they are going to try and continue to take over the XXXX transfer market. 

Losing {$1300.00} of a customer 's money is unacceptable, and XXXX should not be allowed to continue to market their product as " fast, safe, and easy '' when it is none of those.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation