NEVER EVER USE WESTERN UNION!

[vindibona1]

I was trying to make a purchase and the seller wanted to have cash prior to shipping the merchandise. I was willing to wire the money direct to his bank account but he insisted on my using Western Union. I did so immediately via electronic check and ACH transfer. My bank debited my account the same day. Upon transferring the Western Union said that the funds would be available in 0-4 days. Two days later they said it would be another 5 days before the funds that were immediately taken from my account. And the deal fell through, largely because the funds were not delivered when promised which complicated the whole thing. I immediately called Western Union for a refund and was told that I could not get my refund for 5-7 days. Today is the 10th day and when I called them they said it would take ANOTHER 5-7 business days. And so I'm out the money for at least 2 weeks, not able to make a replacement purchase elsewhere.

I WILL NEVER EVER EVER AGAIN USE WESTERN UNION FOR ANYTHING. You've been warned.

 

[dawgpilot]

Sellers asking for you to use Western Union is one of the hallmarks of a scam. Hopefully you weren't scammed and get your money back soon.

 

[BigAl07]

Sellers asking for you to use Western Union is one of the hallmarks of a scam. Hopefully you weren't scammed and get your money back soon.

Exactly!! That was my first thought as well.

Hope you ultimately have a positive outcome and get your money back @vindibona1

 

[lannes]

Have you called the WU fraud hot line to cancel/stop the transaction.
As soon as it hits the other account it’s untraceable.

Answers to Your Questions About Fraud | Western Union Australia

Have questions about fraud? Protect yourself by learning more about fraud and what Western Union Australia does to fight it.

www.westernunion.com

 

[vindibona1]

I'm pretty sure I'll get my money back, and the deal wasn't a scam. The guy just decided to back out of the deal at the very last minute after I'd sent the money. I canceled the transaction at once. I was told I'd get email confirmation of the cancelation. Didn't happen, but I called them back and the guy on the phone confirmed that I'd cancelled. And today I got some bullspit that the only got the money from my bank 6 days after I had sent it (ACH, which only takes a 2 days max). And now they're saying, now that they've confirmed that they have my money from the bank that it will take another 5-7 days to refund it back into my account.

I think I'm onto their game: Arbitraging. It has nothing to do with securing funds. They're using all the temporarily unallocated floating funds from all the customers' money that they hold in limbo and trade currency with it, possibly use the money as interest free loans to lend and whatever they can do with 14 days worth of floating funds.

As I said... Never again. Western Union sucks at every level.

 

[22kane]

I'm pretty sure I'll get my money back, and the deal wasn't a scam. The guy just decided to back out of the deal at the very last minute after I'd sent the money. I canceled the transaction at once. I was told I'd get email confirmation of the cancelation. Didn't happen, but I called them back and the guy on the phone confirmed that I'd cancelled. And today I got some bullspit that the only got the money from my bank 6 days after I had sent it (ACH, which only takes a 2 days max). And now they're saying, now that they've confirmed that they have my money from the bank that it will take another 5-7 days to refund it back into my account.

I think I'm onto their game: Arbitraging. It has nothing to do with securing funds. They're using all the temporarily unallocated floating funds from all the customers' money that they hold in limbo and trade currency with it, possibly use the money as interest free loans to lend and whatever they can do with 14 days worth of floating funds.

As I said... Never again. Western Union sucks at every level.

That's exactly what they do. I went thru the same scenario 10 years ago, and I see they still haven't changed.

 

[lookout]

Might be the hot check exercise. You try to cash it and the money isn't there, so you get to pay the bank for the missing funds to make up the difference.

 

[stairtherefore]

I'm pretty sure I'll get my money back, and the deal wasn't a scam. The guy just decided to back out of the deal at the very last minute after I'd sent the money. I canceled the transaction at once. I was told I'd get email confirmation of the cancelation. Didn't happen, but I called them back and the guy on the phone confirmed that I'd cancelled. And today I got some bullspit that the only got the money from my bank 6 days after I had sent it (ACH, which only takes a 2 days max). And now they're saying, now that they've confirmed that they have my money from the bank that it will take another 5-7 days to refund it back into my account.

I think I'm onto their game: Arbitraging. It has nothing to do with securing funds. They're using all the temporarily unallocated floating funds from all the customers' money that they hold in limbo and trade currency with it, as mentioned in Amscot Financial reviews, possibly use the money as interest free loans to lend and whatever they can do with 14 days worth of floating funds.

As I said... Never again. Western Union sucks at every level.

Hey, last year I used Western Union to transfer money online from the UK to India for cash pickup within an hour using my credit card. However, I recently got hit with some unexpected credit card charges for this. I never faced these charges when I used my card four years ago, but it seems like Barclaycard may have changed their policy. Does anyone know if the bank charges are the same when using a debit card, or are there no additional fees?