Saturday, January 31, 2009

XOOM Money Transfer Sucks!!!

If you're a constant visitor of my blog, you would very well know that I don't usually complain negatively in my posts. Why? I just like to create a positive, feel good, light mood in everything that I write and share to my readers. It's not that I'm putting up a front or something, I just really want to be careful with what I write and say. This post might be different. I am so mad that I really had to let it out, or else, I'd be taking out this anger and frustration on my dear hubby.

We've been using XOOM Money Transfer when we send money to the Philippines monthly for two years now. Transacting with them had always been smooth, easy and convenient...BUT not anymore!!! For the past two times that I've sent money through them, it takes 1 WEEK before the recipient could claim it, NOT minutes as they have been advertising in their website and TV commercials. It bothers me a lot since we're old customers and we have not received any notification that they changed their terms of service or something. I would understand if we made any changes in our accounts which I did before, I know that they will have to verify some information but hey, we've been using the same bank for a long time and why the heck now they're telling us that they were waiting for my bank to clear the money. I mean my biggest question is "WHY JUST NOW?" What's the deal? Don't think that I didn't contact their Customer Service right away because I did, only to be put on hold for 30 minutes and not been able to talk to any single soul. I tried emailing them, sure I got a reply which didn't really answer any of my questions. I'm not even sure if it's a real person who emailed me back or just the standard auto-response to their general customers. One thing is for sure, the reply was nonsense.

I hate to dwell on this problem the whole weekend so I decided to just let it go. I sent the money last night and they said it's gonna arrive Feb. 6th, ok fine, so be it! But I'll definitely look for a different money transfer service from now on. We've tried Western Union way back, they charge exorbitant fees but I've never had any problems with them when it comes to claiming the money but if any of you know of any other money transfer service that charge reasonable fees, you're welcome to give your comments on this post. I'm desperately in need of finding a better one because I'm not using XOOM any more. I want this post to add up to the number of complaints from XOOM customers on the internet. I don't want to feel so stressed out whenever I send money so...

To XOOM, Good Riddance!!!

19 replies:

AdinB said...

sorry about that ate Jhen... I hope you feel a little better now. I was just thinking about using XOOm for sending money, but now that I heard it from you then good thing. WU sure charges a heck of a fee.. My goodness! I have no idea about a new service to use in sending money.

""rarejonRez"" said...

oh sorry about that sis! i'm sure it is the worst experience ever!

why don't you try moneygram? it's what we used and so far, in the last 3 years, wala jud mi problema na-encounter. we are even benefiting a discounted transaction fee every 3 times of sending. that's when u have an e-moneygram account. they're cheap, and the process really rocks! :) hope you can consider it! :)

regards!

Anonymous said...

Well I haven't heard of XOOM.
I thought there are a lot of ways to send money from the US to the Philippines? Like Moneygram. It has been advertised here for a long time already...

Anonymous said...

In 2003, dear hubby signed up from Xoom and he forgot his password so he sent an email to Xoom to request his password, and guess what? Nobody even bother to answer his email. So he decided not to use Xoom because their customer service sucks! We're been using WU for 6 years now and never had a single problem at all. We also use PayPal as an alternative if we're busy doing something, etc.

Wena said...

ohhh,i been using remithome and so far they are good,it will take like a day when u send the money,the moment ur check is cleared,ur family in the PI will receive a text msg informing them that money is available and u have to give them the reference number that they will sent u tru email.


you can give it a try if you want Jhenn,the charge is just 10$.

Dean and Lee Schroeder said...

Hello Jhenn! I am using philsend.com they are reliable and so far I have no problem using their service. You can even choose which service type you want like premium or economy. I only pay $7 per transaction... you can check the website Jhenn

www.philsend.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Jenn, what my parents did is open a separate savings/ATM account here in the US. They sent the ATM card to my brother in the Philippines and he just withdraw the money. They just deposit the money for my brother at the end of the month. The average balance they keep in that account is the minimum amount needed which is $50.

Anonymous said...

Btw Jenn, regarding our vacation to Europe last year that you asked about. I planned it all by myself. I used the internet for everything. I relied on tripadvisor.com for the reviews on various hotels and I'm happy to report that we enjoyed all the places we've stayed in. Always remember that you get what you pay for so try not to skimp on lodgings. We didn't want to be tied up in rigid schedules (just like in a tour group or cruise) since we have the kids with us. We have the time to ourselves and were able to go anywhere we want and whenever we want. As for the cost, I can just approximate since we also went to 6 other countries. So probably for the Italy part of our trip it was around 6K Euro not including the airfare. Half of it we spent in lodging with Venice being the most expensive. It'll be cheaper for you and your husband since there's only two of you traveling. You can email me if you need more info. Lou has my email or you can see it in my main blog. I'd be happy to help you and give you hotel recommendations and other tips.

Shawie said...

wonder why it'll take so long to claim the money...been using xoom for few months now from WU & I had no problems at all and it's way cheaper too $3.50 minimum since i have a USBank account..I was warned by a friend though that somebody hacked her email or something and send money to somebody using her bank account (registered on xoom's) w/c is terrible:( & so I always remove my bank info after few minutes when the transaction is already ready for pick up...

ChinkyGirLMeL said...

Hi dear! how are you? what's new? I tagged you in my latest blog post called Me, Myself and I. If you have time please check it out. thanks

Beth said...

I still use xoom and I have no problem with them . I have been sending money to my family lately when my brother was hospitalized and my sister was able to pick up the money right away. They have two options to send money , one is cheaper where you can use your checking account, but takes about 4-5 business days to pick up. I always use the other options especially when they needed the money right away

Anonymous said...

hi jeneatte its rhea, how are you guys doing? it has been a longtime since the last time I drop by at your blog thingy, but anyway I have a suggestion why dont you open a bank account for your family in the philippines I think after a long time of sending $ thru money grams or money services I learned my lesson and its not a good one!I open a bank accnt at citibank 4 years ago ( in the chicago area) I send the ATM card to my momma sa pinas until now we are using it, its convenient and its just like you withdrawing the $ and handing it to them in an instant, there is a citibank in the ayala area sa cebu.

Anonymous said...

sorry for that, Jen. I used to withdraw from xoom and claim the money in Cebuana Lhuillier but I didn't experience any problem. My sister, Carol tried claiming her money from BDO the other day and it took them a couple of hours to release the money. Maybe there's really problem with the banks or the bank's system as what BDO claimed regarding the delay.

Anonymous said...

I've only used Xoom for a couple of times and let my recipients pick-up the money from pcib, not deposit as you used to. I'm more comfortable and satisfied with Yespinoy's service though.

Unknown said...

thanks guys for all your replies...i appreciate it..using an atm card and send it to PI seems appealing to me but i still have to research more about it. i might try moneygram for the meantime though. salamat jud sa tanan na tips ha. at least naa nako idea asa lain na ways to send money.

Anonymous said...

I wrote apost on my blog about this exact same thing. Same here for me and my situation. Xoom Management tried everyway in the world to get me to change my post.

Keep up the good work and you can check out my post, same story
http://www.fmqinc.com/xoom-money-transfer-complaints-filipinos-beware/

Lanie

Yheng said...

To add up some some comments about my experience, I tried sending my own funds using my Paypal account going to Xoom to ick it up immediately. Guess what happen? they cancel my fund transfer without valid reasons, I even contacted them to explain what's the reason behind but no exact explanation. My first time fund transfer went smoothly the next time it took 10x cancellation of process. How the hell they cancel my fund transfer without providing valid reasons? And I found out that most of the customer service from Xoom were Indians (not being a racist) but I think they don't understand well?

Unknown said...

I agree... Xoom let me down big-time. I have been a good customer for them for at least 2 years, and when I needed them most, they without warning cancelled my transaction, even after sending me an email that it was available for pickup. My asawa was in the hospital and I needed money to pay the hospital. I stood in line for over an hour only to be told that the transaction had been cancelled. Talk about crappy customer service... there was no communication at all about this cancellation. As much as I hate the high fees, I guess it's back to ATMs or WU for me. :-(

Vidya said...

Hi Jenn,

Sorry to hear that. I had tried WU before. I had the bittermost experience when I tried their online transfer. The cll center executive collected all my personal info including my SSN and once the money has been deducted from my US a/c, they denied to proceed and the reason was that the phone number I had in my profile was registered in my husband's name. I don't understand how the registration of the phone number could be the single point of verification!! I was ready to attend the call with my husband so that they can verify it, but they insisted that they could not proceed.And without any shame they deducted the money from the bank a/c. It took me 14 days to get my money back. What is a husband n wife take a joint connection or use a landline!! That means they are not eligible to transfer money online. The way exceutive responded was thoroughly unprofessional and rude. Then I moved over to Xoom. I have been using their service for the last 6 months. So far, I have no complaints and the money was delivered ontime and I was notified everytime by e-mail. I hope your query get answered by Xoom quickly and to your satisfaction.