ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Retired Major Denise Williams served over 30 years in the Army. Her tours of duty included Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Now seven years into retirement, Williams, who lives in St. Petersburg, enjoys the good life, which includes her new ride, a Lexus SUV.
Williams told ABC Action News she had not yet set up autopay with the lender, so she made her March payment of $1,073 at a St. Petersburg Publix using Western Union.
“I handed her this form which is my money statement, what is due and where to go,” Williams said.
Williams' loan account number was printed on the statement she handed to the clerk, who typed in the information. Then she asked Williams to sign and review a printout of the transaction.
Williams said she reviewed the printout and quickly noticed it had the wrong account number. Williams said a manager came over and admitted the employee made a mistake but the wire transfer had already been made.
The payment couldn't be located. For the next seven hours, Williams waited as Publix and Western Union tried to locate the missing money. Three days later, Williams was still waiting.
So she made a call for action. ABC Action News relayed the details of her story to Publix’s corporate offices. The company did not respond but the store quickly refunded all of her money.
We asked Western Union about the training required for all vendors. A spokesperson explained in a statement that "Western Union requires each customer to review and confirm a pre-transaction disclosure which provides the customer the opportunity [to] confirm all data before the transaction is finalized and the wire is initiated."
Read Western Union's entire statement:
“Western Union takes the issue of consumer protection very seriously. As such, the company has and continues to make significant investments in people, processes, and technology over the past several years to enhance our compliance program. Our global retail agent network consisting of hundreds of thousands of locations is spread over 200 countries and territories provides convenient access for consumers around the world. Each agent is required to go through extensive training to ensure he/she has the proper level of knowledge to service our customers. In addition, Western Union requires each customer to review and confirm a pre-transaction disclosure which provides the customer the opportunity [to] confirm all data before the transaction is finalized and the wire is initiated. If the customer is sending to money to a bank account, Western Union first validates the account details with the bank. Should there be a discrepancy, then Western Union rejects the transfer and the sending customer is notified.”
