Western Union Customer Reviews

My wife used WU to transfer to send money to her family. After about 9 months of use, I started to use it as well. My exchange rate was markedly better than hers. I contacted WU , and they denied it said it was a different setup.. it wasn’t. After 10 months of use, my exchange rate dropped markedly compared to WU offered rate. My son sent some money in exactly the same method and circumstances recently, his rate was 43.5, I checked mine it was 42.1 , my wife was 42.5. Keep an eye on your exchange rate if sending regularly. The difference between the quoted exchange rate by WU and what you get may surprise you even if you send to a bank account and use a card. It should not vary by 3% in exchange rate when sending the same way at the same exact time.

Made a $500 transaction to send to Uganda. WU site said “in minutes”. Hours later, when I check the status, it says “in progress”. I tried calling two local offices. Google has the numbers but they are wrong. One was a Dollar General, the other a private number. When I look at the “details” it still says “in minutes.” I tried calling I called “customer care”. After 5 minutes I finally talk to a real person. He said “up to 7 days. He can do nothing except file a customer complaint. I’m looking for a better way.

I am done using western union. Today I wanted to pay for something and yes have known this person 5 years. They blocked payment with NO explanation. When I called the 1888 number they had the nerve to say, send an email to the compliance office and wait 20 to 30 days for reply. I kid you not.

Would never do business with them again.

Removing my information from their system immediately.

It is 0 not even 1. The worst service in the world. They kill your time and steal your money. It is 0 not even 1. The worst service in the world. They kill your time and steal your money. Never again!

This is the worst company you can ever used to receive money. I spent about six hours on the phone speaking to different Western Union representatives to try to help me retrieve my funds to transfer to my bank account and they were not able to help me m, not ONE even the supervisor couldn’t. I’m so disappointed because I’ve been using WesternUnion for about 15 years now and I am so sick of getting disappointed. The worst part about this company is that 99% of their location aren’t active but they’re still showing that they’re available on Google. I will never use this company again.

Yes he is such a confusing site you try to cancel I spent three or four hours trying to figure that out. At times I’ll send a payment three times because she hasnt’ received and you look at your transfer on your phone and it still says pay now so you pay again they don’t tell you if anybody picked it up it just say received but then I’ll check my bank account online and the money has been taken out three times sometimes she received once sometimes nothing at Western Union they send you a message and tell you if the person picked it up I’ve been ripped for thousands and thousands from PayPal and I don’t know how to get the money back the one lady in the states she said if it says complete nothing you can do about it she said you got to talk to the recipient and get them the phone PayPal and put it in there complaint so the recipient couldn’t get through on the phone and sent a message about the money she’s not receiving she never heard from them again I have sent messages and talk to people with no answers all they have to tell me is if the money was picked up they must know that and if the money wasn’t picked up and shouldn’t be taken out of my bank happened hundreds of times last couple years what can I do I can’t afford a lawyer I asked him to investigate it and refund my money never heard back

No. Western Union stole my money! They are thieves!

I’m looking to open a lawsuit against Western Union. My fiance is living in the Philippines, and ever since 2021 they have refused to send my transfers, and when I ask for a reason why they tell me they are “legally unable” to tell me? How is this a good customer service practice? And for some strange reason, it seems they’ve put out some kind of “alert” or red flag on my name because MoneyGram, Remitly and a slew of other companies are also refusing my transfer attempts. My fiance and our daughter are in need of help and WU has caused this blockage. So looking to open a lawsuit against them so that they can remove whatever block they have against me. And it sad because I’m a loyal and devoted customer, what gives them the right to not only block me but to cause other companies to block me as well? And me being a black man from the US, the stench of racism flows from their corporate offices, so they will have to answer for this in court. If anyone has any pointers or tips I’d greatly appreciate your advice!!!

Things to consider about a merchant bank and taking credit cards :

(1) know your customer. Taking phone orders, doing business on the internet. exposes you to fraud. You do not know the person from a hole in the wall, so why should you trust them. Do your research into whom your doing business with. Do a back ground check on the person, services like mylife.com you can do a quick look. If they have been convicted of crimes, law suites etc. It will be posted there.

(2) how much is the person charging on their card and what are they buying. Well thieves love the internet because instead of breaking into a business and stealing their goods, the business is send the goods directly to the thieves. Buyers will file chargeback disputes for any and all excuses. Mainly because they want to steal from you and your 20 states away from them! Buyer’s dont expect you to file a law suit, call their local police department, because they are counting on you being lazy! They will buy a product, find out when it was shipped or have it in their possession and then contact their credit card company and file a ficticious dispute. The person can lie through their teeth and get away with it because banks dont care. They dont ask for proof of the buyer’s claims. On your side, you have to submit page after page waisting hours of your time while the buyer just spends minutes trying to steal your product. So know who you dealing with!

(3) never ship to an address that is not verified! One thing theives love is having the seller (merchant) ship things to a non credit card billable address. If the card holder says oh its because i moved, etc. cancel the order or refuse the card. Its not your problem that that buyer is too lazy and stupid to update his information. He doesn’t care either or not he’s putting you at risk, he’s just looking after himself. Dont be afraid to walk away from the sale! Because if you ship to an address that you cant verify, the buyer will file a non receipt of merchandise, and then you’d have to prove you sent the item to the credit card’s confirmed address, the person lives at that address, and the person signed for the product. And if you ship international, even to canada, there’s no tracking! So be careful about.

(4) Make policies and stick to them. Your policies are your protection and the procedures you operate by. Do not alter your policies for no one regardless of who it is. The second you break your own policies, the scammer knows he can take advantage of you. If you get scammed, make additional policies and procedures to protect yourself. People dont care what you have to go through they only care about themselves!

(5) watch out what you charge! DO NOT charge large amounts on your account, that’s an immediate flag for getting your account or funds put on hold. Once this happens, its unlikely you’ll ever see that money again. Do not involve third parties, like credit card processors, they will only complicate your life. If the transaction is in the thousands or hundreds of dollars, the buyer shouldnt have any problem sending you a ceritified check, money order, or western union. If they are serious about the transaction they wouldnt worry. Once a processor sees a large amount trying to pass through, they will steal it because they are afraid you’ll take the money and run, or the buyer filing dispute and they will be the one’s holding the losses. So do yourself a favor dont even think about it.

They sent me a fraudulent check and never apologized!!!!!!!!

They sent me a check as a refund for a lost money order, which took about 1.5 months to deliver, and yet the check was fraudulent!!!!!!!!!!!! After lots of hassle and calling back and forth, they issued another check without the driest apology, saying it would take another 2 to 3 weeks to deliver!!!!

Bunch of cheating gangsters…

Very frustrating, unimpressed and disappointed. Western union starts to micromanage my life now. After over 5 years using their services to send money abroad to help my family, now they want me to tell them in detail why do I send money? Who am I sending money to? Why do I use their services so often? They have the audacity to say that they are simply complying to a sort of international law.

After reading tons of painful bad reviews on western union, I decided stay away from these thieves. good bye. no more western union

I WILL NEVER USE WU AGAIN I am sorry for the workers who are forced to lie in order not to lose their job, WESTERN UNION IS NOT RELIABLE AND WILL NEVER BE.

All good day WU has poor no help customer service ,covid has been an interfencewith mail . i had send out 3 mo and it wasnevercash bcofcovid. now i been calling these idiots give a bs excuse and then charges us extra money to trace it but WHERE ISMY REUND YOUR THIEVES. WE BETTEER GETOUR MONEY WE WILL BLOCK YOU AND TELL THE NEWS THE SCAMS UR DOING AND KEEPINGOUR UNCASH MO . ITS BEEN A YEAR. RETURN OUR MONIES . IN GOOD FAITH. DOTHE RIGHT THING . OR WE WILL PROTEST IN FRONT OF CORP

Bad service, NEVER AGAIN !!! Customer service just try to make you stupid, kicking you from one operator to another operator just to hold your money away from you as long as possible. Hard to get cancel transaction and get your money back to you. Takes almost 2 weeks to get my money back to me. I had to call in Trenton for complain to get same result. BE AWARE !!!!

Wester Union is a terrible way to send money. I used Western Union for years to transfer money to Thailand. Suddenly without warning I was unable to send money. I tried for weeks to get their customer service to help to no avail. I will never use their service again. I now use Wise for all my international money transfers. They are cheaper than Western Union, more efficient and the transfer of funds take a fraction of the time. Avoid Western Union like the plague.

I have been useing WU for years. Answered a lot of questions, but that is ok. I am a 50s year old white male sending money to my wife and her family in the Phillipines. Recentlt i was banned. I filled out the GCR form. Sent bank records, pay statements, proved that I know my wife and my money was legal. The banned me. Would not tell me why. I know they use software that profiles for fraud. This software accounts for race and age. So I have been refused for service in part because I am an older white guy sending money to the Phillipines.

western union is stealing our money plain and simple,the indian call center is nothing but a bunch of low life thieves acting like they customer service…….why hasnt justice dept. step in and put them out of business?

Do NOT ever be a customer with Western Union. They will treat you like other reviews have said as a criminal. They will ask you personal questions online and in person if you want to send people. They will make it impossible for you to send any money to beloved people, professionals, and businesses even with an invoice. I wish Western Union can go out of business.

I have been using Western Union since back around 1984, doing fairly regular transfers to family and some friends. The last several money transfers through Western Union were placed on hold and I was required to call a number to provide information, which I did, they asked a lot of personal questions and they decided that for those transfers, that I was a potential victim of fraud, which was not the case, in those particular transfers, I used another service with no issues. This week, I tried to send some money to my brother, again they placed money on hold and required that I contact the fraud group, again, they started asking personal questions, I explained I was sending to my brother which I had sent to many times in the past, again they started with the personal questions, who I was sending to, how long have I known them, what is relationship, why am I sending money, ….. At this point, they became so annoying that I told them to forget it, they still wanted to go through their script on personal information. I gave them a few choice words, then contacted customer service to cancel and delete my account because I would no longer use their service, they asked why and gave me a bunch of b.s. saying they are sorry that I feel that way. I pushed and they said they would delete my account knowing that in the future that if I ever would want to renew my account it may not be possible. I asked them to cancel the HOLD transaction as it was still pending, they said that they could transfer me back to the fraud group for that action, I told them I was done talking to that group, as they have no interest in working with me, as to cancel the HOLD transaction, they still ask those same personal questions. Never again with Western Union. I lost all of the discount points from so many previous transactions through them. Not sure who gave them the power to make decisions on who I can send my money to.

Western Union just refused to transfer money for me and refused to tell me why so that the situation could be rectified. They didn’t advise me that they weren’t going to approve the payment but left it until the recipients went to the agency to collect the funds. It felt to me that the assessment was on sexist and racist grounds. I am a white woman who chose to send a gift to some kids overseas in India. They have thrown the baby out with the bath water, the company seems to have gone from ignoring scammers, to treating everyone as a criminal. There was a sense of disbelief that I would send a gift to India. I chose to send a little gift to people overseas who I have communicated with for 9 years. Apparently an independent, financially stable woman with three university degrees is not qualified to make this decision on her own behalf. The arrogance of the ‘assessor’ and supervisor was belittling and reflected a lack of insight into the purpose of their assessment. So, poorly trained staff with a list of tick-a-box rules is not an intelligent way to run a business. Also, their failure to stay in and support the people of Afghanistan is just one more example of their lack of concern for actual people. I know it’s a very large business so arrogance comes with that; but I only hope the old adage comes to fruition, ‘pride comes before a fall’.

Ridiculous w u. Wanting to charge me 15 processing fee for a 10 money order refund. Wtf. Never again wil I ever deal with them. F em

There are far better money sending services that I would prefer to use than WU.

So it started with me sending $2.5k dollars to India in mid June 2021. I went for in store transfer in Fred Myers as the website was not allowing me to schedule an amount of $2.5k online. For some reason, they said that they could not allow so much for cash pick up and told me that I would get a refund and it would take around 14 days to issue.

After 14 days I called them as I could not see the refund, and they told me that they had not acknowledged the transfer, so my bank would have to issue a refund. So I called my bank and they told me to file a dispute and they will investigate it. I did that and after one month, the bank came back and told me that they could not issue me the credit as I had my money already debited.

So I contacted WU again and they told me that the money was ready for the receiver to pick up. And I told them that I had already sent the receiver through some other means and immediately requested to issue me a refund. Since the money was not picked up by the receiver (which is so dangerous, as if the money would have already been picked, I would have lost all the money), they issued me a refund and gave me a new MTCN number which I can take to the store and collect the money. THIS IS SO HORRIBLE, that after assuring me a refund they still went ahead and processed my original request and made money available to the receiver but the story doesn’t end here

So I went to the store with my new MTCN number and they told me that they cannot give cash to the tune of $2.5k. So I went to another WU store and they told me the same thing. Then I called the customer service again and the person called Kabir, spoke very rudely with me but still managed to give me the new store address which would be able to process my request. Then I went to that store and they gave me the same reply that they could not arrange for so much money. Luckily it was a safeway location and they had the money, so the nice lady did told that they can honor my request. But guess what, when she tried to take the money, WU website showed that I was being serviced at some other treminal. Now this is because the previous 2 stores that I inquired, some idiot WU employee there forgot to log me out and it was another 20 minutes call with their customer service. The safeway store employees then called the WU office from their store and they managed to shut the other location access and give me the refund finally!

To see my own money, I had to go through so many loops which is unacceptable. The entire way in which they run their business is SHADY at best and there are so many loopholes where the customer can easily lose their money.

If the money would have been picked up by the receiver (whom I had already sent them money before through other means because WU initially told me they could not honor the request) had picked up the money, I would have lost it. If the store employee would have hit the serviced button, I would have lost it. There are just too many loopholes in their process and I advice everyone not to use WU as you could easily lose your money. At best BEWARE!!

Do not give, or do not accept the Western Union Card as a form of payment or as a gift. They make it impossible to activate the card. After waiting an eternity on the phone to activate the card, they then announced that it was blocked; that took another 20 minutes to get an agent on the phone who then started making my life difficult. Thankfully, I don’t need the $100+ card, but for those who do, and who may have to use up mobile phone pre-paid credit to retrieve the money, this is an absolute hardship. Meanwhile they charge $5.95 per month for inactive accounts. So, I guess they get to keep that money. Frankly, with new forms of payment coming on stream such as digital cash, I can’t see a long future for this company with such an appalling and stressful service. If I were in the stock market, (which I am not…so please do not take my advice)…I would definitely short this stock. This company, in my opinion, has no future, unless it miraculously embraces new technology and a whole new attitude and culture. Meanwhile, I feel defrauded, but this too, will pass.

Very bad customer service and they do not solve your problem. Know one knows what is going on. I have been using them for many many years. For such a big company they need better customer service .

This business is a den of thieves and liars! They’ve repeatedly denied me a refund for my transaction, which their very own MTCN when tracked, proved my receiver never obtained the funds. They’ve told me the only way I can get proof from them is to issue them a subpoena for bank records, and the BBB, FTC, Wisconsin DATCP, and private attorneys I’ve consulted with are either unwilling, unable, and/or afraid to help me. This has been going on since 12/09/2020. There’s a special place you-know-where for WU’s leadership in the next life!!

really bad ,not good a all , the worst customer service i am steel waiting on my refund since 01/28/2021

Worst customer service, I send the money for my friend who needed immediately but they keep black the money for him twice but they didn’t tell me the reason for me or him. It took me one week to get my money back. I called customer service did told me the reason, and also i even talk to the manager. He is ignorant I’m not recommended for anyone and I’m not using Western Union anymore

The paper tapes used are illegible and difficult to copy and send to other parties without enhancing and enlarging the text. If you must use tapes, then the paper should be opaque (no color ads on the back making it difficult to copy) and the font larger and more bold. As it is I have to scan the tape – cut the scan in half – enlarge each half and then have the word processor enhance the contrast and remove the background. It shouldn’t have to be that hard.

I have been dealing with western union literally hundreds of times over the past 20 years and now all of a sudden their customer service sucks. on the past 5 occasions I have tried to send money internationally once even to myself I have been denied with no explanation. my advise to everyone is save yourself the headache and go through an app called remitly where it’s more efficient, 10 times less expensive, and secure. plus their personal service if you have questions is much better than western union. I’m done with even trying western union. waste of my precious time.

Sadly I was a victim of a scam these people threatened me if I didn’t send the money I did so and now im blocked from ever using western union and they told me I wasn’t entitled to a refund very sad that a company doesn’t have any compassion for people ive been a loyal customer for many years one incident ruined it for me

Western Union is the absolute worst. What they are doing is basically fraud. I have tried to send money and they canceled the transaction for no good reason. (You cannot understand the reason because the customer service rep. barely speak english) , yet they charged my account. I phoned customer service and I was told that they will reimburse the money in 5-7 days. They took the money for a service that was not provided and they are free to use it for 5-7 days. FRAUD that’s exactly the name of it. Absolutely horrendous customer service. I seriously don’t know why this company is still in business.

Western union is bad business. Charge too much fees and got terrible customer service. Please use other services like money gram or k.a.m. no I’m not getting paid to write this I’m just a dissatisfied customer.

This app has become the worst app I’ve ever encountered. I’ve been sending money to Philippines since 2015. It was great to start. Now for over 16 months it

Takes up to 15 minutes for the damn app

To open. Just sits there & spins. I’ve complained more than once. I was told

To uninstall & reinstall. It changes nothing.

It’s impossible to click on the app and it

Open right up as it should. I’m looking

For other alternatives.

western union of kuwait service is very bad, i remitted money through there app and they asked receiver’s ID so i did provided them, after all these they rejected the transaction and wasted my 3 days. it was really horrible experience with WU kuwait for registering account with WU app and then verify KYC by visiting there branch and then transactions are rejected.

I just send $80 to my brother in Costa Rica and looking at the exchange rate he was supposed to receive 49,015.62 Costa Rican Colón but instead he only got 41,607.16 Costa Rican Colón

I think this company is not only charging me for the money transfer but they are stealing money from my family member.

I hope people stop using this company that on top of charging and stealing from us is not willing to pay in USD….. I can’t believe it