On 02/19 I used western union services to send money to Brazil. Because it was an emergency, I paid an extra fee for "money in minutes", which was suppose to make the funds available in about "60 minutes", according to the representative on the phone. It took 24h for the record to show up in the bank in Brazil. Essentially you are paying for a service that can't be delivered. Only today, 02/23/10, the money was cleared in Brazil. It's unbelievable. Because the transaction could only be completed today, I called up Western Union to demand the extra money that I've paid for the transfer back. The representative took about 5 minutes to research for a reason why the service was paid for but not delivered. Then she hung up on me. I called a second time and was informed that the only way you can send money to Brazil is using money in minutes, but it wasnt really in minutes. Its just the way it is.
I asked how she would feel if she deceived the same way I was. More waiting on the phone and she told me that her supervisor informed her that sometimes the system can go down and it delays the transaction. I know it was rude, but I said "Please don't take this personally, it's not towards you and pardon my language, but I can't think on a better opportunity to use the expression "B.S.! Your supervisor is giving you a standard run around answer without doing any research. The system was not down. The service can't be delivered. She asked me to wait and came back saying that an electronic complain form was filled out and I should be contacted on the next 10 business days. Its a scam. Can you imagine how many people get scammed by Western Union on the same basis, day after day? Low income people, immigrants that can barely speak the language or don't have the resources nor the knowlodge to voice their concerns? Another multi billion dolars corporations taking advantage of people's good faith and stealing from the poor. This country is a joke. There is no such thing as justice and it will never be.
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