Consumer complaint received 2024-10-03
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — International money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem — 
Company: TransferWise Ltd (OH)

Due to an extended outage of a XXXX XXXX I have been using for a long time, I searched around for another way to transfer some funds to my fiance in XXXX. I found an online company called Wise.com that seemed to promise quick and reliable service. I initially transferred a small amount of {$20.00} to open an account with them. Then I after reading the transfer terms and service times on their website, I decided to use a debit card to transfer a larger amount of {$1200.00} into the account since their promised service completion terms as published on their web site was " For a {$16.00} fee should arrive within seconds '' but unfortunately they held the incoming funds from the account for XXXX to XXXX extra days because they said they had to do extra verification. They do NOT mention the necessity of this extra verification ANYWHERE on their website. They also requested scans of my drivers license or passport. They also requested that I tell them why I was making the transfer and what it was for. I satisfied the document requests and in an email provided the reason why I was making this transfer. I also told them in the same email that I had NEVER had a bank ask me for these kinds of details when transferring funds into an account. Finally after XXXX to XXXX extra days of " verification '' AFTER I submitted the required documents, the funds finally were shown as being present in my Wise account. At that point I added my fiance in XXXX as a send-to-recipient and then setup a transfer of {$1100.00} to her. She is currently living in XXXX XXXX since her original home is in XXXX controlled territory, it is way to close to the front lines to be safe. Ufortunately her bank account is still tied to her original address in the town of XXXX in the XXXX region. After setting up this funds transfer, I got requests from Wise for LOTS of additional details about the transfer such as " A detailed reason for this transfer '', " Is this transfer related to XXXX, XXXX region '', and " Confirm recipients current residential address. Send us a document proving recipients address this can be a utility bill or bank statement ( should be from the last 3 months ) if the recipient has been recently relocated '' At this point I was really fed up with the quality of their service. I requested that they cancel the funds transfer to my fiance. After XXXX or XXXX more days the funds were credited back to my Wise account and I received an email telling me the transfer had been cancelled. I then set myself up as a recipient so I could just pay the funds in my Wise account back to my own regular bank account with XXXX XXXX. Once again Wise required me to provide yet more verification documents for this new recipient. Once that verification was completed XXXX setup a transfer of ALL of my remaining funds, {$1200.00} back to my regular chase account. They said there would be a fee of {$1.00} and that since this was a XXXX XXXX  account that once again this transfer should take " seconds '' I set this transfer up on XX/XX/XXXX and as of today XX/XX/XXXX this transfer of my funds back into my XXXX bank account at XXXX XXXX  has STILL NOT completed. Wise says they are verifying details of the transfer. I can provide screenshots and emails from them for all of these details. I can not however provide recordings or transcripts of the many phone conversations I have had with their customer service line. Their customer service will not allow me to speak to a XXXX or other authority ad simply states that " they understand my frustration ''. Beyond that they do NOTHING!