not recommended!

“not recommended!”

Written on: 01/02/2012 by HolcombeTradingInc. (1 review written)

Via my exporter service, www.usashoppingservice.com we have a few foreign customers who prefer to pay via Western Union. We started using this service last year. In December , typically the busiest time of the year, this service was used quite a bit. Last Thursday, when cashing another Western Union order, this payment was held back, and after about half an hour of waiting on the phone it became clear Western Union’s compliance department wanted to interview me. I felt this was inconvenient; they could have called me before arriving at the Western Union office.

They asked for our California resellers permit, and I provided them with the link to my website. They then asked for the business bank account details and some tracking numbers for the merchandise being shipped to one specific customer. The payment would not be cleared until I faxed them this information, since they wanted to find out whether I was operating a legitimate business.

I returned to my office, and faxed them the requested paperwork. I followed up with a phone call to see whether they had received the documents. They replied they had, but stated they needed more tracking numbers. I forwarded three tracking numbers, but they wanted an additional five. I provided another five tracking numbers, and then spoke to a representative who apologized for the inconvenience. She told me I could now pick up the Western Union payment that was held that day, and hoped that I would not have any more trouble.

It was already late, so I picked up the funds without problems the day after. Then on Saturday, on my birthday when friends and family were visiting, I got another voicemail from their compliance department. I returned the call, and they told me they wanted to see even more shipping/tracking information. I told them I had already provided them with what they wanted, and that the temporary hold was lifted. The representative put me on hold again for 10 minutes, and then reasserted that he wanted more proof. I told him to contact my customer and ask him whether he was happy with our services instead of constantly requesting additional documentation after the hold was just cleared.

As requested, we provided Western Union with an additional 8 tracking numbers on Sunday, the limitation was lifted for a second time, but on Monday I was called by Western Union again to submit even more documents.
My wife and I feel like we have done more than enough to show that we operate a legitimate business. Western Union froze our account twice within 7 days. The restriction was lifted for a second time on Sunday after submitting more information. On Monday we found our account restricted again, for the third time within 7 days..

We feel that it is unwarranted to first hold the funds, release them, then restrict our account again, lift the restriction and then put everything on hold for the third time. In the course of 1 week Western Union was calling us to ask for even more documents, constantly telling us “ok, we are good to go”, almost immediately followed by “sorry we are not good to go, we need more info”.

All this makes us look bad; our customers do not know what to think or do any more, and neither does Holcombe Trading Inc.
Vincent, CEO
Holcombe Trading Inc.