My in laws went for their Umrah recently, after my MIL got a free ticket from his good buddy who is also an owner of a travel agency.
My DIL hesitantly tagged along as his funds were quite low, and also because he has had to leave the running of his business, which in actual fact did not run at all throughout his trip there as none of his children are interested in helping him out.
We have relatives there it seems, in the form of my dad's brother, who conveniently is marrying off my cousin later next month.
All the circumstances combined, I was really asking for it when I sent him an SMS asking whether everything was OK and if he needed extra cash to cover up any holes while he was there. At this point though, I assumed that everything was OK, as I haven't discovered about the wedding yet.
I don't know whether it is customary there, but my DIL told me that my uncle asked him to chip in a bit and dad dearest thought that since he won't be around for the wedding, it should be OK to throw in a couple of gold bangles for the bride.
Which was OK until he said he was flat and needed me to send some money..
Being the kind and obedient son that I am, I just said yes and asked him how does he want it sent. DIL said that the fastest way was by Western Union, as he could get the money in a couple of hours.
Marvelous!
After a short trip to CIMB and filling up the form given at the counter with his and my details, I was given a 10 digit MTCN which was the code that I needed to give my dad when he goes to the respective WU agent over in Saudi to withdraw the dough.
I thought everything was OK as I parted ways with USD222 (USD200 + 11% in 'service' charge) in good, clean clear Ringgit Malaysia notes.
A day after, and I got a call from my DIL who said that the teller refused to handover the money as "the code was incorrect"!
As for any service in Malaysia (which sucked badly), I thought that the problem was a phone call away. I launched my IE and tried looking for the WU's website.
Horrified at their sheer effort in avoiding human contact for customers in Malaysia, I quickly ran through the form that I signed for the transfer of funds and was relieved seeing a 1300 number at the back of it.
My joy was short lived however as that number was for CIMB's "too-bad-you-don't-have-a-million-dollar-account-with-us" call centre which frankly had the option to speak to an actual person buried in tons and tons of key tone entries, as with other shitty IVR driven call queuing system.
Pissed and totally felt screwed upside down, I sent the Customer Service a note at the provided address:
"Hi.
I sent my dad some money to Mecca but when he tried to claim it, the teller person keep telling him that the code was incorrect when it's not.
There is no one to call when things go wrong on your side, and the number at the back of the form I filled was connecting to your agent's call centre.
Your service sucks big time and I want my money back.
If I don't get it, I will make sure that the Consumers Tribunal will know about it and I hope you will drag your manager's sorry posterior to court.
PLEASE DON"T GIVE ME THE BS ABOUT THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF YOUR SERVICE BECAUSE NONE WAS RENDERED!
I will also post this incident on my well visited blog site so people know who the devil are taking their hard earned money. Please take my mail seriously and reply with a real person's answer within 24 hours or you will feel sorry for yourself.
You can call me at Malaysian International Code (Six) ZERO ONE SEVEN- (phone number)"
I actually wasn't expecting anything as the email was really a way to vent my frustration while gathering my wits to then figure out what to do next.
When I came to work early this morning, I was surprised find a reply in my inbox:
"Hello (Me).
Thank you for contacting Western Union. We are writing regarding your inquiry.
We apologize for any inconvenience. Please provide us with the following information so we can further assist you:
Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN)
sender's name
sender's phone number
sender's city and state
receiver's name... or biller's name
receiver's country... or code city & state
amount of transfer
date of transfer
If you have any additional comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at customerservice@westernunion.com.
Sincerely,
Fernando M.
Customer Service Representative
www.westernunion.com"
I have already sent them the information that they've requested, so let's see which worm hole are they going to hide into. To my worm friends, sorry to drag your asses into this but scums like this deserves to be buried in the dirt.
Not only they charge you exorbitant amounts, they don't even give you a proper person to talk to when things go wrong, EVEN WHEN IT'S NOT YOUR OWN FAULT!
Sorry WU, this fish ain't gonna swallow your bait, but I'll definitely be looking forward to swallow your boat.
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