Complaint Review: Amscot Financial

I visited the Amscot branch located @ 4206 Bee Ridge Rd last night to pick money wired to me from my son who is currently stationed in Baghdad Iraq. I chose to go to an Amscot location to pick up the money as I'd been a customer (in good standing) there for well over a year.

An odd thing happened a couple of months back. With our personal economy floundering between losing our home in February and my wife losing her job we had to ask my 21 year old son (currently serving in the US Army Baghdad Iraq) to wire us money so that we would be able to pay rent/utilities. I went in and picked up the monies wired to me without incident but from that point forward each time I visited the branch for money orders or a payday cash advance, I was always delayed and the employees would have to call the corporate office for some kind of password.

That would bring me to last night as I visited the Amscot branch located @ 4026 Bee Ridge Rd and again went to collect monies wired to me through Western Union. I arrived at Amscot, filled out the required paperwork and presented it to the cashier. The cashier processed the request, printed a check and had me endorse it and counted out several one hundred dollar bills until he had correctly counted the monies I was to be given.

Here is where it starts to get unusual and frankly enough to dishearten, discourage, and slightly enrage anyone in this situation. After yet another call to the corporate office, the night manager comes to the window and informs me We're sorry, but we cannot do it. Surely they can't mean the wire transfer? Paid for by funds in a bank in the same town I reside in (Sarasota, fl) and where this Amscot is located and initiated through Western Union online. I, literally, askedyou can't do what? The night manager explained to me that the corporate office needs for me to produce some sort of document showing where my son came up with the funds he is sending me.
What??? I swear, I almost looked for the cameras. Ashton Kutcher is punking mebut how did he get my name?? Or is he?....

By the very nature of Western Union they would want people to use that service as often as possible as that is how they make their moneybut in the wild and wacky world of Amscot, they need to know your life history. I was interrogated in the lobby in front of several other customers as to why I was receiving money. I had to explain that my wife had lost her job, and that rent and utilitiy payments were not suspended until she finds something. I had to explain that while asking your child for money can be difficulteven embarrassing, having the rest of your family homeless might just be a tad more impactful especially when there are young children involved.

I was publicly humiliated and moreover it was increasingly evident that other customers were now looking upon me as if I were some sort of crook.
With the prominently displayed signs all over the wall stating We'll cash any check and You're OK with us, I was certain this was all some paperwork error, or perhaps a new and overzealous employee. Surely they wouldn't deny a transaction of funds that were already appropriated and guaranteed by Western Union? I called the number prominently displayed on the wall for help. After all, that's what the sign and number are there for, aren't they?

I reached a young lady at the Amscot corporate offices who parroted what was told to me inside the branch. It appears that because I had received another Western Union a couple of months ago, that it should somehow make a difference..??!?!?!

All she can tell me is that I need to get one of my son's paycheck stubs and proof my rent is due and they would give me the Western Union funds. Copy of my son's paycheck stub!? It's not my business what he makes in the Army nor is it any of theirs! Proof my rent is due? Like when my family camps out in front of their store when we are rendered homeless???

I then asked if it was a case of the monetary amounts and was told nojust that I had received money from Western Union before. I interrupted her and asked if that meant that he was wiring me $100 to pay his bills each month would we be in the same predicament and she emphatically said yes.

Ladies and gentlemenapparently Western Union @ Amscot is a once in a lifetime deal unless you wish to share with them your personal business or perhaps your first born male child with them. She then snottily told me to have a good night and proceed to hang up on me. Wow, there's some exceptional customer service for you.
I have followed up with Western Union and the supervisor with whom I spoke was mortified and insisted that this was not the way they did business and it would be investigated. Western Union assured me they will look into this and they are to have their regional manager visit this location and explore their relationship with Amscot but I don't have high hopes of anything good coming of this.

In addition I contacted Amscot today, thinking that in the light of day that surely they would not want to run a business like thisI mean really, and American Soldier in Iraq wires money home to ensure that his siblings and parents will not become homeless and the You're OK with us company will not complete the transaction, not due to the rules of Western Union, but to rules the company themselves have put in place.

As a footnote, I spoke with my son in Baghdad today (he'll be returning to US soil next week) and he was livid! Brought him to tears on the phone that someone would even dare ask what this money was for and moreover question his right to help out his family.

Art
Sarasota, Florida
U.S.A.