BS: Western Union's 'business decision'

Subject: What Does That Mean?
From: keberoxu
Date: 27 Sep 17 - 10:46 AM

For the first time in my life, I attempted to send money -- all 21$USD of it -- through Western Union.

It never went through. WU stopped the order, and has now offered me a refund of my money. Which ought to be ... okay?

It took me a while to simmer down. I was pretty emotional about it. The emotions are still there, but in hand.

When I attempted to find out what happened, two conflicting messages came through.

Western Union of course has a Customer Service department and you had better believe they heard from me, as soon as the individual on the other end protested that the WU where they were had no knowledge of the order and no transaction could be completed.

So, you telephone WU Customer service, with your tracking number, and when you work your way through the voice-mail menu, you may inquire about your specific order. I did what I was directed to do, and entered my tracking number (I have an old-fashioned prehistoric telephone), using the telephone's calculator-sized pad of number keys.

A recording came on. The cheerful voice disclosed the date, time and place in which "payment" had been processed. What? Somebody paid out the money?! The place was no place near me, the sender, nor near the recipient. Oh, and how can WU offer me a refund (I've got a code number from Customer Services for that as well) if "payment" was made?

I stayed with the call and used the voice-mail options to go further with my complaining/inquiring; this took me at last to a live-and-in-person operator. Poor child. Feminine gender, first language positively not English, when I asked her to repeat her name she courteously did so but I still couldn't understand the name -- it wasn't "Deepa" exactly but it had those vowels, I just don't know what her name is.

Our conversation was civil for a while. She was unfailingly polite and well-mannered, even when I raised my voice. My voice went up after the operator used my tracking number to pull up some sort of record on her monitor screen. So, did she find an account of a "payment" somewhere, to someone? No, she said something different.

The order record that she read off to me over the phone, stated that the order had been stopped entirely. The reason was stated as a "Business Decision."

At which my voice went up umpteen decibels, slowed way down, and I thundered,
"W H A T    D O E S   T H A T   M E A N   ? !"

But the operator had told me all that she could tell me. So I chilled out, quietly ended the conversation, got back on to the voice-mail, and got directions for filing a complaint.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 Sep 17 - 11:05 AM

I know somebody called Deepa who spells her name that way so you may well have got it right.

Were you sending to some country the US disapproves of?

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 27 Sep 17 - 11:08 AM

Funny you should ask:

Santiago, Chile.

(It was payment for a 50-year-anniversary album/recording
by Inti-Illimani Histórico.)

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 27 Sep 17 - 11:12 AM

I hope it's not a scam, with Deepa keeping your money to pay what she owes:

Another day older and Deepa in debt, St Peter don't you call . . .

Cheers

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Monique
Date: 27 Sep 17 - 11:42 AM

The 50 years recording can be now downloaded on Amazon if this is the one you wanted.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Sep 17 - 06:57 PM

Bob Newhart made a good living retelling stories such as yours keb

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 11:13 AM

Digital music is outside my lifestyle; there are no digital devices in my residence/apartment. Nothing into which to program digital music formats.

Amazon's only available format for the Inti-Illimani Histórico release in question, for the Cincuenta Años, is digital. Amazon does not provide this release in compact disc format. Which is why I ordered from outside Amazon and, indeed, outside the US.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 12:30 PM

You might do better going to someplace the local Hispanic community uses for remittances. Or PayPal, but if you're not digital at your house, do you have accounts set up for services you can tap into from the library?

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 01:34 PM

Erm ... good advice, VN, but the "community" in question
favors Western Union ...

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Sep 17 - 03:56 AM

My daughter was in Zimbabwe about twenty years ago. She gave her PIN to a friend, and then her bank account got cleaned out. After that, there seemed to be no way to send money to her. Even Western Union didn't seem to work.

Somehow, she survived and got back home.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Mr Red
Date: 29 Sep 17 - 05:25 AM

is that what you would call a Chile reception?

..........


I would bet there are services to burn CDR from MP3. Cyber cafes and the like, but how popular are they these days?

What device are you posting on Mudcat from? Any more techie 'Catters withing shouting distance from you?

There are more ways to skin a cat then choking it with cream and butter.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: EBarnacle
Date: 30 Sep 17 - 11:13 AM

What about PayPal? Are you and your recipient both on it?

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Joe_F
Date: 30 Sep 17 - 05:50 PM

It is amusing to see that Western Union's attitude toward its customers has survived the demise of its monopoly. In the days when it was the outfit you went to to send a telegram, its fine print had it promise, not to send a telegram, but to *attempt* to send a message by whatever means it chose. If it failed to deliver an important message and you wished to sue, you had to try to prove that it had not made an attempt.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 Oct 17 - 09:52 AM

Surely there will be several different money transfer services operating in Chile. Western Union can't be the only option.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Oct 17 - 02:18 PM

The recipient, may God be good to him,
had already shipped the CD by mail from Chile;
the shipment arrived yesterday.

Cracking good music from Inti-Illimani Histörico,
all with a strong Cuban "sabor."

I have put a postal money order
inside of a USPS international express priority mail envelope
and posted same, also yesterday,
to the return address
displayed on the CD shipment from Chile.

Of course, with my luck,
the recipient won't be able to cash the USPS postal money order,
but I had to try something!

And to heck with Western Union at this point.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 10 Oct 17 - 06:25 PM

Wrapping up the unreasonably long saga of a business transaction that is taking place in spite of Western Union.

International Express Priority Mail is succeeding where Western Union did not even try. Having paid for the privilege, I am using the tracking number from the USPS to follow the envelope with the postal money order inside.
The payment was permitted to leave the US. It went through whatever security in New York City; then, enroute south, a stop was recorded in Atlanta, Georgia.
Then it was the Santiago Chile airport, and now the shipment has left the airport and is on its way to the address for the musical compact-disc vendor.

I wonder if it is a waste of time to proceed with the Western Union complaint. When that wire didn't even get sent, I was certainly emotional about it, but now it's, yawn.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 Oct 17 - 01:59 AM

Nigel, you crack me up.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Oct 17 - 04:03 AM

so it's 😴

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 Oct 17 - 02:59 PM

Go ahead and laugh at me.
Fool that I am,
I am going to try Western Union a second time.

The vendor of the compact disc
received my money order...
and can't cash it in Chile.
So it's useless.

And I still owe him the money.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Greg F.
Date: 20 Oct 17 - 04:02 PM

There's plenty of outfits besides Western Union that can send/transfer funds to Chile. You could try one of them.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 Oct 17 - 05:46 PM

The second Western Union payment has gone out now.
The payment was made from a local bank which acts as a Western Union agent but is not owned by Western Union.

One thing is different from the first time.
The first time, I was still waiting for the compact disc music recording to arrive, the shipment delivery, and being a truthful person, I said as much.

This time the recording has already been delivered,
so I was able to say,
The vendor kept his part of the deal,
and now I need to keep mine,
because I don't want to be one of those fraud people.

Do you suppose,
that one detail will tip Western Union toward
a "business decision"
that is the opposite of the "business decision"
that was made regarding the September payment?

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Jack Campin
Date: 20 Oct 17 - 07:19 PM

Just wondering, why didn't you use PayPal?

I've bought stuff from Brazil that way.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 Oct 17 - 09:53 PM

If PayPal allowed me to pay as a "guest" with a credit card,
that would be possible.

It is not possible for me to have my own PayPal account.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Greg F.
Date: 21 Oct 17 - 10:26 AM

Hmmmm- know someone WITH a PayPal account that would send the money for you & you reimburse them?

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 Oct 17 - 07:08 PM

Well, the second attempt has been made.
If/when the Chilean vendor receives the sent money, and notifies me as much,
you all will be the first to know.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Oct 17 - 04:05 PM

Just heard from Santiago, Chile.
The good news:
the money went through.

The bad news:
I misspelled the vendor's middle name,
although his first name
and his very Spanish two-names-in-one last name are correct.

Because of the misspelling by one extra alphabet letter,
and the fact that the recipient name was not identical
to the vendor's name,
the WU agent was not authorized to hand over the money.

I am now advised to go back to WU and
tell them I got the one name wrong,
and I need to correct what I got wrong.

Oh, some day...
well, go ahead and laugh at my expense.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Oct 17 - 09:48 PM

Just returned from Western Union.
Happily, the staff member at the bank branch
is the very same agent who took care of the order a few days ago.
He was efficient and courteous;
he made certain that Western Union stood corrected
and that they know that the Chilean vendor's name
is Cristián, without the "o" that I put on the end;
and he assured me that
other customers make similar errors to mine (spelling)
more often than I might think.
So now the message has been sent,
in my moth-eaten Spanish,
to the vendor in Santiago;
and all should be in order for him to receive his money.
I can relax a LITTLE.
Will relax more when his message of confirmation reaches me.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: keberoxu
Date: 24 Oct 17 - 07:19 PM

The vendor in Chile got the money,
and the transaction is completed. Finally.

Subject: RE: BS: Western Union's 'business decision'
From: Amos
Date: 26 Oct 17 - 03:15 PM

Bien hecho, hombre!