Western Union Gave my rent money away to criminal through fraud and now i've been evicted from my home! Englewood, Colorado
September 3, 2012, I purchased two Western Union money orders from a local Moneytree location. I filled out them correctly, payee was my landlord and placed both money orders in one envelope addressed to my landlord.
On September 4, I then placed this one envelope into a local blue mailbox - located directly in front of the United States Post Office, with proper postage.
On September 8, I received a 3-day notice to pay rent or vacate from my landlord. I was very confused, since I DID pay rent. I emailed my landlord the receipts from Western Union proving the purchase of the money orders in the amount of rent.
Needless to say, one money order was never cashed and I was refunded my money from Western Union in a timely manner. Now, the other money order (the larger amount), I was told by Western Union, was cashed. I had to request from Western Union a copy of this money order that was illegally cashed.
Once I received the copy, it was very obvious to me that it had been altered to read the payee as CHRISTOPHER WATSON instead of my landlord, KITTY HAWK REALTY. After I alerted Western Union of this problem, they instructed me to fill out an affidavit that they emailed me, get it notarized and mail back to them; which I did.
Upon their receipt of my affidavit (on October 19), they then told me it would take THE BANK 90 - 120 days to "investigate" the fraud. This is no work on Western Union's end, the responsibility is solely on the bank, which in my case is WELLS FARGO.
I have since gone to court for unlawful detainer against me by my landlord and LOST. I have been EVICTED FROM MY HOME and I am STILL getting the run around from Western Union.
At this point, I do not believe I will ever see my money again. It took me SIX tries to get a supervisor on the phone when I called customer service (LOCATED IN COSTA RICA). The "fraud department" does not have a direct phone number for customers to call for help.
Western Union has proved to me that they do not care about fraudulent practices that involve their company.