When I stop and consider who MoneyGram’s target clientele is, I am particularly angry over a recent months-long struggle I had with them regarding the refund of a lost money order. Some exceptions will apply, certainly, but many of the folks who purchase money orders are in what would be easily considered a “lower income” bracket, and many of them are not native English speakers. It would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the “typical” MoneyGram customer to obtain the refund that I finally received today, delivered via UPS Next Day Air service. Indeed, it was a very difficult situation for me to resolve, having been trained in such business practices.
What is all the fuss about? It took five months for MoneyGram to refund a lost money order, although all protocol was followed by me, the customer, as instructed. In the end, it appears (although the evidence is circumstantial) that they did their level best to NOT refund the money, in fact. Follow along carefully, as I share the details:
July 13, 2009 – I submitted a Money Order Claim Card for a lost money order, the value of which was $150.00. The cost of submitting this claim was $15.00. It was stated on the form, “Most requests are processed within 30 days; however, please allow up to 65 days for total processing.”
October 5, 2009 – Having allowed more than the allotted 65 days, I called to check on the refund, which had not been received. I was told that it had been returned to MoneyGram as “undeliverable” on July 21. When asked if we had problems receiving our mail at this address, I informed the MoneyGram representative that we normally had no problems at all. After verifying that they had the correct information (they apparently did), I was told that they would send another refund check, which should take around 1-2 weeks for delivery.
October 27, 2009 – Still not having received the refund, I called MoneyGram once again. This time I was told that the date the original check had been returned as undeliverable was August 11, rather than July 21. When asked what happened to the second check, the MoneyGram representative stated that it had also been returned as undeliverable, after having been mailed on October 7. I was not told what date that particular check was returned. Questioning continued from the MoneyGram representative regarding our mail delivery, but I assured the person that we had absolutely no problems receiving any other mail items. In fact, I informed them that our mail delivery personnel was quite liberal in delivering mail that did not even belong to us, as we still receive mail for the previous occupants after having lived in this house for over four years. Once again, I verified the name and address carefully, which seemed to have been correct in their records.
I was told that, at this point, I needed to fill out a “Purchaser’s Statement” and submit that form for the refund. In fact, I was told that this form was specifically for customers who had not received a refund check after two such requests. It seemed odd to me that they would need a form for this specific reason, and the fact that such a form existed, suggested that this was a common problem. Having received this form via email from a MoneyGram representative (it was not available on the internet), I filled it out and faxed it to the phone number I had been given during my phone conversation. (I was told that faxing the form would cut down on the processing time considerably.)
December 1, 2009 – Once again I called MoneyGram, as we had not received the refund. I was told by Stacy that the refund had been mailed again on October 28, the day after I faxed the purchaser’s statement. Having previously spoken with a clerk at the post office, I was informed that there were no delivery problems for our address that he was aware of. After having verified that they had the correct address one more time, I became angry and insisted that they wire the refund to me locally. I was told that they could not wire a refund, so I asked to speak to a supervisor. “Stacy” assured me that a supervisor would tell me that MoneyGram could not wire a refund, but I insisted on talking to one, anyway. (Perhaps I used an incorrect term, but MoneyGram states on their website at www.moneygram.com that money can be sent and received within ten minutes – that was at least the general idea of what I was insisting upon.)
Shortly, the same representative (Stacy) returned to the phone line and told me that she had spoken to a supervisor. Although they could not wire the refund, they could send a check via overnight service. I agreed to that option, pending receipt of a tracking number for the package. I was assured that a check would be sent via overnight delivery the next day and I would be called with a tracking number. All I needed to do was fax yet another Purchaser’s Statement with the information to them. This time, I called after sending the fax, to ensure that they did receive the faxed information.
December 2, 2009 – I called MoneyGram at around 2:00pm, to check on the refund. I was told that it was being processed and I would be called after 4:00 with the tracking number, which did indeed happen.
December 3, 2009 – Received refund from MoneyGram via UPS Next Day Service, almost five months from the date I first submitted the refund request. The address on the envelope was correct; only the first name on the package was misspelled, which should not have hindered any mail from being delivered. There was no apparent reason that an envelope, similarly addressed, would have been returned to MoneyGram as undeliverable, much less be returned multiple times, as was claimed.
I am concerned that the checks which were supposedly “returned as undeliverable” may never have, in fact, been mailed by MoneyGram. My particular situation was eventually resolved; however, considering that many customers who purchase money orders may not have the resources, time, and business experience to pursue a refund request for five months as I did, it appears that MoneyGram may be taking advantage of a great number of people by not providing refunds according to their stated protocol. Such business practices are particularly heinous when they have the potential of targeting a segment of the population such as those who would purchase money orders (lower income, less educated, many non-native English speakers).
