Western Union - Slow/No Service

[somo]

After seeing an ad here on Thai Visa I thought I would try their online money transfer to get money from my UK bank into my Bangkok Bank account. Just sent 100 quid as a test and now 9 days later still no money has arrived. BB usually credit my transfers within 24 hours so don't think they are at fault.

Now going to have mess around chasing my own dosh. I live 4 hours from Bangkok so can't just pop down to the main office and ask where it is.

Anyone else had experience using them for online transfers?

I will never use WU again

Edited August 15, 2015 by somo

[FritsSikkink]

used them from bank to money pickup at a bank, money was there in 20 minutes.

check id nummer transaction and date of transfer then give this to Bangkok bank

[krisb]

Have you tried ringing wu and your bank?

[NancyL]

WU is just about the most expensive way to transfer money into Thailand, esp. if you already have a Bangkok Bank account.

Simply consult the Bangkok Bank website for faster, lower cost ways to make the transfer:

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/ReceivingFundsfromUK/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUK.aspx

[somo]

WU is just about the most expensive way to transfer money into Thailand, esp. if you already have a Bangkok Bank account.

Simply consult the Bangkok Bank website for faster, lower cost ways to make the transfer:

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/ReceivingFundsfromUK/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUK.aspx

Thanks, never knew about that system.

Is there much difference sending it as Pounds or Baht?

[HLover]

WU= expensive and outdated

[CharlieH]

WU is just about the most expensive way to transfer money into Thailand, esp. if you already have a Bangkok Bank account.

Simply consult the Bangkok Bank website for faster, lower cost ways to make the transfer:

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/ReceivingFundsfromUK/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUK.aspx

Thanks, never knew about that system.

Is there much difference sending it as Pounds or Baht?

Send in sterling convert to baht in Bangkok, better rate.

[kungpao]

Moneygram is cheap and fast.

[novanova]

MoneyGram, like WU, charges big fees and gives a terrible exchange rate.

[kungpao]

Moneygram from the U.S. Is only $5 a transaction and takes minutes from send to pickup. Money gram has only charged us 1 baht per dollar. Not bad for the cost of business.

[Pib]

OP,

I've never used WU (because of low exchange rate/fees), but have you contacted Bangkok Bank (any branch)?

Didn't know you could transfer funds directly to a Bangkok Bank account using Western Union unless you had a Bauluang Western Union RING privilege set up for your Bangkok Bank account...and if Bangkok Bank has your account coded as an account of a "non-resident" you can't setup up the WU Ring privilege. Otherwise you can only send moneyvia WU the typcial way which is go to "any" branch with the WU control number and get the money that way.

Go to this Bangkok Bank webpage for more details about sending/receiving funds via WU. Link

Your money may be waiting for you to pickup at "any" Bangkok Bank branch/any WU money receipt location...then you could just deposit it into your account if you are within Thailand.

[pmarlin]

Moneygram from the U.S. Is only $5 a transaction and takes minutes from send to pickup. Money gram has only charged us 1 baht per dollar. Not bad for the cost of business.

Lets see that will be 100baht for $100 or 1000baht for $1000 and so on. That is not cheap when I can do a ach transfer from my us bank to Bangkok bank for around $13 no matter how much I send.

[Carmine6]

Unclear what service you've used, but if it is a withdrawal from your account elsewhere, combined with a wire to your account in Thailand, you might have just not waited long enough.

From the US, it is actually a different company and different website that does this, though Western Union branded, so might be slighlty different than from the UK. But I've done this and it takes maybe 12 days from the day submitted. Again, that from the US to a wire ending up directly into a Thai bank account. This service is more expensive than doing a regular wire since they also make money on the exchange rate, though for amounts over about 20,000 baht is less than a regular Western Union transaction where the person picks it up at a Western Union agent.

[somo]

I have to eat some humble pie here.

The money was actually in my account within 24 hours but a payment of almost exactly the same amount had just gone out so the balance stayed the same. My fault.

However it has been usefull posting here as after looking at other options it turns out WU is cheaper (flat GBP 4.90) than using Bangkok Bank's London branch who charge 20 pounds + 0.25% for converting it here in Thailand.

Anyone interested can persue it here http://www.westernunion.co.uk/gb/send-money-to-thailand

You can test it out without the ID needed which is what I did.

Have now sent them proof of ID and address so can send bigger amounts.

[manfredtillmann]

just mention it because i have not seen a reference to this before. i use 'hifex' (http://www.hifx.co.uk/) or their nz sub to do my transfers from oz to th. good, cheap, quick...check it out.

[kungpao]

Moneygram from the U.S. Is only $5 a transaction and takes minutes from send to pickup. Money gram has only charged us 1 baht per dollar. Not bad for the cost of business.

Lets see that will be 100baht for $100 or 1000baht for $1000 and so on. That is not cheap when I can do a ach transfer from my us bank to Bangkok bank for around $13 no matter how much I send.

I agree. I was contrasting WU vs Moneygram.

We sometimes send money to family for now. We use MoneyGram but are transitioning to a bank ACH method.

Main point, just don't use WU. If you need a quick transfer, Moneygram is pretty good.

What are bank rates for exchange?

[FritsSikkink]

Moneygram from the U.S. Is only $5 a transaction and takes minutes from send to pickup. Money gram has only charged us 1 baht per dollar. Not bad for the cost of business.

Lets see that will be 100baht for $100 or 1000baht for $1000 and so on. That is not cheap when I can do a ach transfer from my us bank to Bangkok bank for around $13 no matter how much I send.

I agree. I was contrasting WU vs Moneygram.

We sometimes send money to family for now. We use MoneyGram but are transitioning to a bank ACH method.

Main point, just don't use WU. If you need a quick transfer, Moneygram is pretty good.

What are bank rates for exchange?

WU used to be very expensive but have droped their prices quite a lot

[Pib]

WU and PayPal type companies make the majority of their profit from their lower exchange rate versus the upfront/direct fees they charge. You might want to call that lower exchange rate a hidden/indirect fee....regardless it's still basically a fee.

[steven100]

I have to eat some humble pie here.

The money was actually in my account within 24 hours but a payment of almost exactly the same amount had just gone out so the balance stayed the same. My fault.

However it has been usefull posting here as after looking at other options it turns out WU is cheaper (flat GBP 4.90) than using Bangkok Bank's London branch who charge 20 pounds + 0.25% for converting it here in Thailand.

Anyone interested can persue it here http://www.westernunion.co.uk/gb/send-money-to-thailand

You can test it out without the ID needed which is what I did.

Have now sent them proof of ID and address so can send bigger amounts.

I'll bet you did some whinging and whining over the phone to the poor girl ....

[somo]

I've gone around in circles and back to my original agent.

http://smartcurrencyexchange.com/

They transfer over 3000 pounds for free at a good rate. If you check the rate on their site subtract about 50 satang that is what you actually end up with. They have been great in the past. I was only looking around at options because they make a charge for transfers of less than 3000 which I now want to do. I mistakenly thought it was 30 pounds but turns out to be just 10 so very reasonable.