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MONEYGRAM - DON;T USE!
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Posted by Jo (216.86.66.124) on February 01, 2003 at 01:17:20:
Today I went to receive money from a transaction made through Traveler's Express MONEYGRAM. It will be the first AND the last time I will ever use them!
I was transmitted the sum of $5,000 and when I went to the agent location to pick up the funds I was told they could not pay out more than $300 in cash and the rest would be in the form of a Traveler's Express Money Order - this TOTALLY negated the reason Moneygram was used in the first place.
The fee for this transaction was over $200 - down the drain!
This particular agent location was a Walmart store and I called Moneygram from their store when they refused to pay out more than $300. Moneygram told me they have an areement with Walmart whereby they only pay out $300 in cash and the rest in the form of ONE - and only one - money order!
At NO time was the sender informed of their being any restriction on the amount of cash that could be paid out to the receiver at the other end. Their web site, in fact, states that you can send as much as $10,000 in one transaction - but what they do NOT tell you is that you cannot get it in the form of cash at the other end.
After being told of the agreement with WalMart they tried at least another dozen agent locations, none of which could pay out more than $1,000.
I then asked if they could break the amount down into THREE money orders - one for the cash plus two others which would at least have allowed me to make my mortgage payment and do one other major transaction. The remaining money order I could have cashed at my leisure but the first two were really important - the reason this process was used in the first place. They could not do this.
The terms and conditions on the Moneygram documentation in NO way indicates this payout restriction and simply says it can be in the form of cash, money order, etc. or a combination depending on availability of funds at the agent location.
It would seem only fair and ethical that Moneygram at least build into their system some way of letting the sender know of these restrictions before the transaction is processed. They could also put such information on their web site since they already have a list of agents there.
I continued on the phone with Moneygram to try to search for possible solutions. I asked if there was a way they could transmit my mortgage payment electronically and take it out of the lump sum. They could not do this either.
After an hour of talking on the phone and STILL searching for solutions I asked if a friend could cash the money order the next day through her bank account and was told that the bank would probably put a hold on the check.
WHAT ON EARTH IS THE POINT OF HAVING SUCH A SYSTEM WHEN IT DOESN'T PAY OUT. WHY WOULD ANYONE USE THIS SYSTEM.
I plan to write to their corporate office and state how totally disgusted I am and ask for a refund of the fee. The supervisor I had been talking to told me she did not blame me and was sorry they could not help.
I told her that sorry didn't cut it. Sorry was not worth over $200 in fees and was not worth a worthless transaction that has now caused me endless difficulty.
They could not even link to Western Union so I could at least make a payment to my mortgage company.
Talk about disgusted!!!!!!! I never CEASE to be amazed at the immorality behind such schemes.
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