Consumer complaint received 2024-08-18
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem — 
Company: WESTERN UNION COMPANY, THE (OK)

I went to the XXXX in XXXX, XXXX XXXX, to send money to a family member so that he could make a truck payment that was due on XX/XX/year>. I thought I was supposed to send it to my family member in Arizona, and completed the transaction using Western Union services to send money. That was a huge mistake since the money is locked up at Western Union and they are not telling me at all when I will get a refund. I told them I needed it on XX/XX/year> to go to Missouri instead. Then on XX/XX/year>, I asked for my refund, and they kept " checking the transactions '' for XXXX minutes while I waited on hold!!! So once I realized I had made a mistake I told the clerk that I needed to send it to Oklahoma and not Arizona. Then my son told me to send it to Missouri. The clerk was on a call to Western Union at that point for XXXX minutes to get them to send me a refund! Then another clerk came to the cash register and pushed the " amend '' button, and it said, " do you want to send this to another state? '' I told her that I did and she gave me a XXXX number to call. I went through the prompts on my telephone, and when it asked what state I wanted to send this to, I said Missouri. This was all automated, I didn't talk to a person at all. I sent the tracking number and the amount of the money to be transferred to my family member. They went to a XXXX in XXXX, Missouri, and showed their ID to the customer service agent. The man told him that the money had been returned to the sender, and rudely told him to just leave. So the family member called me and reported that the money had been sent back to me. I went to a closer XXXX store and tried to get my refund. I couldn't so I called XXXX XXXX, and they said to go to the original XXXX. I went there and gave them the tracking number that I had and they couldn't get any results at all with it. I called XXXX XXXX and told them that the clerk couldn't pull up the transaction. I told them that I wanted a refund. They said they couldn't give it to me as they were " checking transactions and I would need to call back in XXXX hours. '' So I called in about XXXX hours and told the rep that I wanted my money back. He said to call the Missouri location and have the XXXX clerk call them and explain what had happened the day before when my family member tried to get my money I sent. So, since they WERE NOT willing to do their job, I called the Missouri XXXX, explained the situation and asked them to call XXXX XXXX!!! The manager at the Missouri store called me back and said that I could go to the XXXX and get my refund. So I went to the original XXXX XXXX, asked for my refund and the clerk couldn't give me a refund AGAIN. So I called XXXX XXXX, talked to a guy who said that they were still checking the transactions and I couldn't get a refund. So after XXXX minutes of waiting on him, I told him that I wanted to talk to the supervisor. After waiting another XXXX minutes the supervisor, XXXX, came on. She kept checking the transactions and putting me on hold and I talked to her off and on for XXXX minutes. She said they wouldn't call me but I would have to call them in XXXX hours and it could take up to 21 days to get my refund. They had all of the facts. I told her that what she was doing was illegal and I needed my hard earned money back. She again told me it would not be possible today. I told her, " This is a bunch of XXXX!! '' She promptly and rudely hung up on me. I had already told them that my family member needed the money for a truck payment or his truck would be repossessed that day. They were not responsive to my needs as a consumer of their financial services. I will NEVER use them again, and I need my money as soon as possible because this puts me in a financial situation. She had such a thick accent that I had to tell her at least XXXX times to slow down so I could hear what she was trying to tell me. This is another instance of poor management.