I have a minor daughter living in Italy. She is there for one year. I have tried to rely on Western Union to make sure I can send money to my daughter as needed. The first time I went to an agent and the agent took my money and gave me a MTCN for confirmation. My daughter then contacts me and tells me she can not pick up the money because she is a minor. No where on the Western Union website did it tell me this information and Western Union does not educate their agents to know this information either. When I went back to tell the agent this information she did not seem to care anyway. I also sent a letter at this time to Western Union to tell them to add a title of "Important Parental Information" to their contract and to their website and this has not been done NOR have I ever recieved any information back that they even acknoweleged my letter.
Makes no sense my daughter is old enough to be living in another country for a year (on a scholarship to study but she cant pick up money her parents send to her)
Tonight after 7 months of using Western Union and being a (what do they call me?) a Gold Member instead of going into the store (due to time crunch and my minor daughter in need of the money Italy time) I decided to call over the phone to send the money to her. The agent I talked to took all of my information and gave me a MTCN confirmation number and then asked me to hold to go thru some security verification. The next rep which was named Teara ID# 349 again took information and asked questions and then tells me I am not meeting business standards or security permit of Western Union. She told me the money could not be sent. I asked her to hold and I pulled up my online account and behold...the money and the transfer fees were already taken out of my account. I told her to reverse my money IF THEY CANT OFFER THE SERVICES THEN WHY CAN THEY HOLD UP MY MONEY...now I have to wait 48 hours for this to drop off my account. The lady at Western Union told me to call my bank (I made her hold and called my bank from another phone line) the bank customer service rep was also appaulled by Western Union and was asking me to ask the Western Union rep different resolutions for their company to make this right. They could not believe either this company can run your money and then have it held up. It seems they would run the information needed and then tell you rather you meet Western Union business standards before they have the right to ask you your personal banking information and tie up your money for not delivering the goods of their services. Again this is the company I have used for 7 months to send money to the exact same place to the exact same person. The Western Union have given me the title of "Gold Member" and have all of my information from past services on file...I am disgusted with the way I was treated...there was never "thinking outside of the box" never a resolution or solution to the problem and never an attempt made to get with a supervisor to work out this problem. They simply did not care and did not offer any help...Just basically you have to go to a store and start the process all over...oh and by the way...you cant use the money WE CHARGED YOUR ACCOUNT TONIGHT because it is tied up for the next 48 hours!!! The sad part is I am sure there are many transactions for tons of money people do that make business standards questionable...MY minor child needed 70EUR to pay for something and the dead line was tomorrow...the whole transaction was 115.00 dollars...that sounds like it could be something suspecious...huh? What is suspecious is a company that can offer a service... take peoples private information, , , , CHARGE THEM FOR THE SERVICE and give them a confirmation number and then SAY YOU DO NOT MEET BUSINESS STANDARDS...and when asked they could not give an answer of what that means! Yet they have the right to tie money up like that! There has to be action taken it does not seem like this procedure is fair to the American consumer! Please tell your family and friends...especially if it is a need of a young person who needs to be able to depend on their parents when needed...you can count on family and friends but you cant count on Western Union to do anything but jack up your bank account!

FROM OFFICE OF THE WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER.
COTONOU BENIN REPUBLIC/ADDRESS 455 AGBOKOU, ANKPA ROAD
LAGOTES PALAR
WEB SITE..www.westernunion.com

CALL US ON +229-93567-581

ATTN;BENEFICIARY

PLEASE YOU ARE ADVISE TO GO TROUGH THIS EMAIL CAREFULLY AND AND MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND AND READY TO COMPLY WITH THE CONTENTS BEFORE REPLYING TO IT. WE ARE INSTRUCTED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF BENIN TO TRANSFER YOUR FUND TO YOU VIA OUR SERVICE (WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER) SO YOU WILL BE RECIEVING $5, 000.00 USD DAILY UNTILL IT COMPLETE THE CORRECT AMOUNT ($2.5, 000.00).

MEANWHILE YOU ARE REQUIRE TO SEND US THE TRANSFER CHARGES WHICH IS $275 USD FOR THE $5, 000.00 THAT WE HAVE ALREADY REMIT TO YOUR NAME BECAUSE WITH OUT THAT YOU CAN NOT PICK THE MONEY FORIT IS ON HOLD.

NOTE: THE REASON WHY WE NEED YOU TO SEND US THE $275 USD IS THAT WE TRIED TO DIDUCT THE TRANSFERING FEE OUT FROM YOUR FUND BUT THE MINISTER ADMINISTRATOR TRUST FUND OF BENIN REPUBLIC TOLD US THAT NO ONE HAS ACESS OVER YOUR FUND AS IT HAVE BEEN SIGNED AND STAMPED THAT NO MONEY SHOULD BE DIDUCTED UNTIL IT GETS TO YOU TO AVOID ANY MISUNDERSTANDING BEACUSE IF ANY ONE HAS ACESS TO THAT IT WILL INVOLVE YOU LOOSING YOUR FUND, NO ONE HAS TO BE TRUST EVEN YOUR MOTHER OR YOUR FATHER.

HERE IS THE INFORMATION OF THE ONE WE SENT TODAY TO YOU BUT IT WILL REMAIN ON HELD UNTIL YOU SEND US OUR TRANSFER CHARGES OF $275 BEFORE WE CAN RELEASESE IT TO YOU SO YOU CAN TRACK IT WITH OUR WEB SITE AND SEE THAT YOUR MONEY IS THERE.

WWW.WESTERNUNION.COM
Sender Name: Onwnesi Emeka
MTCN : 0602914717
Question---------------who
Test Answer-----------------me
Amount------------------------$5, 000, 00,

http://www.westernunion.com/info/selectCountry.asp
FINALY UPDATE US WITH HE $275 USD TO ENABLE US PROCEED ON YOUR PAYMENT IMMEDIATELY, BELOW IS THE INFORMATION YOU WILL USE TO REMIT THE $275 USD VIA WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER BEEN OUR TRANSFERING CHARGE FOR YOUR $5000.00 USD.

1.RECEIVER NAME:... Emmanuel ADILI
2.COUNTRY:...BENIN REPUBLIC .
3.CITY :...COTONOU.
4.TEST QUESTION:...A?.
5.TEST ANSWER:...APPLE.
6.AMOUNT:...$275, USD.

YOUR URGENT RESPOND IS HIGHLY NEEDED .

REGARDS
SIR. John Booma
FORIGN OPERATION MANAGER
WESTERN UNION OFFICE BENIN REPUBLIC

Western Union accepted funds for an international transfer by debiting my credit card account. They then canceled the transfer, claiming that their system was not working properly. Their Customer Service people unhelpfully advised that the funds would be put on hold for two to three weeks! This is a straight case of theft, and customer abuse. Avoid these scum bags.

Tried sending money to my friend in Australia through Western Union Online..

The f**kin phone number which I call to finalize my transaction says its not available.

Beem trying a million times... They don't have an alternate number to try... nor any damn customer serivice..

I wouldn't transfer money through them if they do it for free..

In fact I wouldnt even send if they offered me money for their service on top of making the transfer free...

Who the heck runs these kind of companies..

I'd rather loose money to an online scam than to Western Union for their pathetic service!

From: WESTERN UNION PAYMENT <[email protected]>
Subject: URGENT TRANSFER OF YOUR MONEY
To:
Date: Wednesday, December 24, 2008, 5:50 PM

WESTER UNION PAYMENT
DEPARTMENT OFFICE

Attention:

There is an issue with the WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER UNITED KINGDOM in the
amount of $600, 000.00 USD directed in cash credited to file
KTU/9023118308/03, at the owner of this email address.

The INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND contacted us for your compensation a couple of
hours ago due to your allocated security code. They said that they choose to
send it to an email address instead of a name.

We are unable to complete a transfer directed at an email address, so we require
some more information in order to complete this transfer.

FULL NAME:...
FULL CONTACT ADDRESS:...
MOBILE PHONE NUMBER:...

In order to resolve this problem, please email via Western Union Solicitors Fund
Verification Department: ([email protected]) PHONE::+229-9390-2604.

As soon as this information is received, and you have complied with the
requirements of payment for the remitence permit $275 the money will be sent to
you via western union and give you the MTCN for the pick up.

Note: That this is not one of those Nigerian/African scams that all they are
after is to ripe you off your money and at the end you wil not receive your
funds, but note that this is no scam and is directly from the Management of
Western Union Money Transfer Benin Republic Head Office and our Motto is To
Serve You Better.Contact us on our website on
website:http://www.westernunion.com/info/selectCountry.

And also note that you would be responsible for any payment that is needed for
the transfer of your funds into your nominated bank account or at the counter
directlyfrom the Western Union Transferring Bank.

THE MANAGEMENT OF WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER, BENIN HEAD OFFICE. DISPATCHED
THIS DAY

Sincerely,
MR.JAMES MARK
Office Number:+229-9390-2604