Nightmare at Western Union

Conchman

Silver
Jul 3, 2002
4,586
160
63
57
www.oceanworld.net
Anybody ever try to pick up money there? What a friggen nightmare. First, the amounts are limited so he could only send partial payment, like US$2000 something.

Went there Thursday (Sirena - POP), they told me that they cannot release the money to me because the sender put my name, e.g. John Charles Doe, as John Charles (last name) Doe (2nd last name). I had passport and cedula handy and even though all 3 names matched they wouldn't give it to me. The sender denies putting my middle name as another last name, he says whoever entered it from the form must have entered it wrong. Called the sender and had him change it.

Went there Friday and Saturday and there were too many people standing in line, so couldn't get it.

Went there today and I was told the money is there but I need the sender's name. I told them I have the sender's name and wrote it down on paper. No, the name is not there. So I called the sender he told me his assistant sent it. Sender says he was not aware that I will need the sender's (assistant) name. Of course, they could have told me this on my first visit because I handed them the paper with the sender's name.

So I guess I will try a 5th time tomorrow. What a waste of time. Western Union was not my choosing, and will never be in the future.

The simplest things can be so frustrating sometimes.
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
Anybody ever try to pick up money there? What a friggen nightmare. First, the amounts are limited so he could only send partial payment, like US$2000 something.

Went there Thursday (Sirena - POP), they told me that they cannot release the money to me because the sender put my name, e.g. John Charles Doe, as John Charles (last name) Doe (2nd last name). I had passport and cedula handy and even though all 3 names matched they wouldn't give it to me. The sender denies putting my middle name as another last name, he says whoever entered it from the form must have entered it wrong. Called the sender and had him change it.

Went there Friday and Saturday and there were too many people standing in line, so couldn't get it.

Went there today and I was told the money is there but I need the sender's name. I told them I have the sender's name and wrote it down on paper. No, the name is not there. So I called the sender he told me his assistant sent it. Sender says he was not aware that I will need the sender's (assistant) name. Of course, they could have told me this on my first visit because I handed them the paper with the sender's name.

So I guess I will try a 5th time tomorrow. What a waste of time. Western Union was not my choosing, and will never be in the future.

The simplest things can be so frustrating sometimes.

Western Union is the worst jackoff service in this country. my son sent me some money once , and i produced my passport to claim it. they said they could not give it to me, because my first name was spelt Micheal instead of Michael. so, even though i had the MTCN, and all his info, plus the amount he sent, they made me go through the hassle of calling the kid in Arizona, and have him go to the sending branch in his town to do it all over.

last saturday, my buddy?s wife went to send some money to her mother in Veron. they asked for her cedula, but she only had her driver?s license. a driver?s license has the cedula number on it, but they made her go get the cedula.

they blow.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
We used them ONCE, when our regular envio place was closed, to send money to my brother-in-law to pay bills at our house there. He has a middle name that we didn't use, and like you, had to jump through 1000 hoops before he could collect the money.
I thought that anything over $2999 triggered the problem - we once sent $3,000 USD, but before we could we had to prove where we got it from. Since I had just gone to the bank and cashed a check, it was another nightmare, needed a printout of our statement showing it, thank God we know our bank personnel well. Then we found out if we'd sent $1 less it would have been no problem. Not sure if that's still applicable, now we just wire money directly into our DR dollar account.
 

VJS

Bronze
Sep 19, 2010
846
0
36
It's not Western Union per se, it's Dominicans working there (and everywhere else on the island) that make any service interactions a huge pain.
 

SEO

New member
Aug 3, 2012
70
0
0
if he put your name wrong he need to cancel and resend it how it work.
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
if he put your name wrong he need to cancel and resend it how it work.

actually, it was the dumbass clerk who put the name wrong. i think a kid who has an advanced college degree can spell his dad?s name right.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
it seems to work perfectly well for thousand of dumbass sankies who can barely read and write. clearly you are doing something wrong, conchman. try porking wrinkled gringa in depends and have her send you couple of hundreds for a surgery of your sibling or a funeral of a grandparent and see how it goes. i betcha it will be as smooth as a loving seranade.
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
it seems to work perfectly well for thousand of dumbass sankies who can barely read and write. clearly you are doing something wrong, conchman. try porking wrinkled gringa in depends and have her send you couple of hundreds for a surgery of your sibling or a funeral of a grandparent and see how it goes. i betcha it will be as smooth as a loving seranade.

you are a piece of work...
 

melphis

Living my Dream
Apr 18, 2013
3,489
1,676
113
I used Western Union a couple of times. It was flawless. They asked for every piece of ID that exists but hey this is the land of scams. To bad you had such a bad experience but it makes for a good story
 

jd426

Gold
Dec 12, 2009
9,513
2,783
113
If you dress like a Puta with some painted on eyebrows ,and look like you just came straight from an all night TLN at a Gringos Hotel , cuz you got that MTCN text from your Sugar Daddy Simp Novio back in the states...

then you would have no trouble collecting that WU money.
 
Aug 6, 2006
8,775
12
38
xoom.com is a better service.

My guess is that employees have been told that if they screw up, the results will come out of their pay.
 

DRob

Gold
Aug 15, 2007
8,234
594
113
We used them ONCE, when our regular envio place was closed, to send money to my brother-in-law to pay bills at our house there. He has a middle name that we didn't use, and like you, had to jump through 1000 hoops before he could collect the money.
I thought that anything over $2999 triggered the problem - we once sent $3,000 USD, but before we could we had to prove where we got it from. Since I had just gone to the bank and cashed a check, it was another nightmare, needed a printout of our statement showing it, thank God we know our bank personnel well. Then we found out if we'd sent $1 less it would have been no problem. Not sure if that's still applicable, now we just wire money directly into our DR dollar account.

Exactly. I'd strongly encourage folk to think twice about standing in a line full of seriously broke people, and then walking out with 120k RD? That's almost the total income for a year for some people. Many banks offer free or deeply discounted wiring services for their clients who maintain balances in their accounts. Others, such as Chuck Schwab and Capital One 360, have no foreign transaction fees for their states-based accounts.

There's a bunch of safe and cheap ways to get money down there without having to deal with crazy fees or opportunists.
 

thomasj

New member
Mar 31, 2010
82
16
0
The Dominican arm of the Worldwide company Western Union, is the most stupid, ignorant, slovenly institution I have ever had contact with. They are a group of walnut brains that would not be able to find employment in any other country. I will never set foot into one of their offices.
 

Gringo Starr

*** I love DR1! ***
Aug 11, 2014
544
0
0
The Dominican arm of the Worldwide company Western Union, is the most stupid, ignorant, slovenly institution I have ever had contact with. They are a group of walnut brains that would not be able to find employment in any other country. I will never set foot into one of their offices.

Western Union in Panama is much worse.

Dominican Western Union (Vimenca) is OK to send money (never had a problem), and not that good to receive money. In Panama it's a nightmare whatever you want there.
 

amp

Bronze
Oct 5, 2010
730
8
18
I use WU a few times a month. Never had a problem.

You need sender's name, amount sent, and where it was sent from with the # for the transaction.

Your name has to be EXACTLY how it is in their system or you won't get it.

On the other hand, I tried to use xoom.com once and it was a nightmare.

Everyone has their own experiences and I find WU to be the best for me out of WU, MoneyGram, and Xoom.com or other similar services.
 

hammerdown

Bronze
Apr 29, 2005
1,466
107
63
actually, it was the dumbass clerk who put the name wrong. i think a kid who has an advanced college degree can spell his dad?s name right.

I guess the kid with the advanced college degree couldn't check the paperwork BEFORE he left the office.....good college....
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
1,327
113
Exactly. I'd strongly encourage folk to think twice about standing in a line full of seriously broke people, and then walking out with 120k RD? That's almost the total income for a year for some people. Many banks offer free or deeply discounted wiring services for their clients who maintain balances in their accounts. Others, such as Chuck Schwab and Capital One 360, have no foreign transaction fees for their states-based accounts.

There's a bunch of safe and cheap ways to get money down there without having to deal with crazy fees or opportunists.

Well apparently WU doesnt, but RIA home delievers.......
Send from europe, 2 hours later, the bell rings. Produce ID and senders name ( seems to be a constant ), sign off, count amount in front of him ( its a sealed enveloppe ). Thats it. Easy and painless.
Cost 5 chf up to 2000 chf sent. ( say between 200 and 300 pesos ).
 

Kipling333

Bronze
Jan 12, 2010
2,528
829
113
My view of Western Union is it is very much a hit or miss affair dealing with them .. Most of the times I have sent money ,the recipient only has had to have an ID and the transaction number,, but on several occasions I have tried to send money to my grandchildren when they were on vacations in Africa ...and Western Union refused to send the money because they said it was part of a scam.
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
I guess the kid with the advanced college degree couldn't check the paperwork BEFORE he left the office.....good college....

you tell me how many people spend the time checking every letter on a WU receipt. not me, for one. then again, we aren?t all perfect like you.
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
32,504
5,932
113
dr1.com
If you have a bank account in the DR just have them send you the money with MoneyGram directly to you at your bank.