Last weekend I found myself in a situation where I urgently needed to get some funds across to South Africa. That being the case, a traditional bank transfer wasn’t an option which meant having to turn to a service that avails transfers to recipients within minutes.
I’m not new to using these services as I have in the previously used Western Union to make the transfer. At that point in time it was more a case of walking into an agent, filling out the necessary paperwork, handing over the cash and letting the person on the other end of the transfer know that the money was available for pick up.
They have advanced since then and now have an online option which I have tried a couple of times. On one of those occasions, I did run into issues with the transfer and had to verify my details in person which was a bit of an inconvenience.
One other thing that has happened in this space with the progression of time is that a number of other providers have set up shop. That said, I did a bit of research to see who else provided a similar service and offered competitive rates. I eventually settled on WorldRemit.
The review
Rates
As far as rates goes, WorldRemit had pretty good rates when compared to Western Union and MoneyGram where at the time of transfer, one New Zealand Dollar would get you the following:
- Western Union: 0.6187279 (USD) (this didn’t make it very transparent given that the transfer was to South Africa.
- MoneyGram: 7.949415 (ZAR)
- WorldRemit: 8.48795 (ZAR)
Fees
Based on the recipient receiving an amount of lets say R2000 (for ease of use), the fees for a cash pick up were are as follows:
- Western Union: NZ$42.00
- MoneyGram: NZ$22.00
- WorldRemit: NZ$9.99 (First transaction free – see end of post for fee free details)
Given the currency conversion rates and fees charged by the different providers, to make a transfer where the recipient receives approximately R2000, the total to pay was as follows:
- Western Union: NZ$292.00
- MoneyGram: NZ$272.00
- WorldRemit: NZ$245.62 – NZ$9.99 = NZ$235.63 (First transaction free)
As far as parting with my money went, I was pretty happy with what WorldRemit had to offer because their rates and fees were significantly better than what was offered by the other providers.
Sign up
Sign up is pretty simple and straight forward with all thats being required to create an account being your name (with the first and last name being exactly as they are shown on your legal document), email address and password. Address and phone number are required later down the line.
Sending Money
For the transfer process, you are taken to a page where you select the country you would like to send to and the type of service you would like to use. By type of service they mean how you would like the money to be received. The available options are bank deposit, cash pickup, mobile money, mobile airtime top-up and home delivery (Philippines only). The available receiving options vary from country to country but the options that they have available means you pretty much spoilt for choice in a number of locations.
During the transfer process, they send the usual confirmation emails and on top of that, they send a confirmation txt to me the sender and a message to the recipient to inform them that they have some money available to pick up along with a PIN number to present at the pickup location. This is nice and convenient as you don’t have to communicate the details of the transaction to the recipient.
Verification
A short while after completing my first transfer, I received an email informing me that in order to process future transactions, I needed to provide them with a valid photo ID. This is a step that I usually find a hassle but with them,
In this case it was a simple and easy process of following a link in the email which takes you through to a page where you supply them with your ID either by uploading images that you have on file of using your webcam or smartphone camera to take a photo of your ID.
Cash Pickup
This is a process that should have been nice and easy but the point where we ran into a bit of trouble. When the recipient went to pick up their cash, they were told that their name was spelt incorrectly and this needed to be amended.
But, as far as I and the customer service representative I spoke to about the issue was concerned, everything was in order. The CSR then emailed the agent in South Africa to inform them that everything was in order and to release the funds.
This is something that was easier said than done because the agent (or should I say the particular person there at the time) seemed to have some sort of complex because they informed the recipient that they had to wait because of the name change that had been made (when there wasn’t one made) and then all of a sudden their system went offline meaning more of a wait. When it did come back online they for some reason said that they couldn’t complete the transaction. It now happened to conveniently after closing time and they told the recipient who has now been there for an hour that they had to return on the next business day which was Monday.
I sent an email to WorldRemit about the situation and to express my disappointment in the service that was received.
Fast forward a couple of days to the recipient returning to try once more to pickup the cash and they are told that the transaction doesn’t exist. Once again, I had to get on the phone and this time around i requested the CSR to call the agent in SA about the situation.
It is at this point that it became apparent that the agent had some sort of personal issue against the recipient. They told the CSR that they were trying to get a hold of them yet the recipient was in their store and right in front of them. It was also round about this time that I finally got a response to the email that I sent informing me that they had been in touch with the agent and the funds were ready to collect.
So, at the end of the day it was an agent issue that made the pickup more painful than it needed to be. However, that said, even though two different entities were involved in the end to end process, this goes down as a WorldRemit transaction and the actions of their partners has an impact on their reputation.
Customer service
As far a customer service is concerned, the wait times on the phone were a little lengthy (10 – 25 mins to speak to a human). But, when I did speak to someone they did all that they could have done to resolve the issues. As far as the email went, it was a bit of a while before I got a response. But then again it was sent over the weekend and they would have had to wait for them to start off their working week in SA.
All in all, I would say that I was pretty happy with their service bar the issues faced with the cash pick up. This something that you won’t come across if you select a service option where you will have little or no human interaction such as a bank deposit or mobile money. If you need to send money across borders and you haven’t given WorldRemit a go, i’d say give them a go and see how it works out for you.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts Gerri, it’s always interesting to hear what our customers think of the service. Issues with cash pickup are very rare, and we’re looking into this one to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Otherwise, we’re glad to hear you’re happy with the service.
The WorldRemit team.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, read and comment on what I wrote about WorldRemit. An issue with a cash pickup is something that I wouldn’t have expected to happen but I guess humans will be humans and now and then will make things difficult for another person (for whatever reason). From a service perspective where agents come into the mix they do need to realise that they are representing someone else and their interaction with customers can have a positive or negative effect and influence brand perception. I hope that this, albeit rare is looked into so that no-one else has to go through a similar inconvenience.
you people are not human just because i felt that i can use your organization that why you people cheat without consider the fact that they are people with problem. i trust you with my money but all you do was to cheat me bully me and make me feel very useless. the mock me and never reply me . WORLD FUKING REMIT ARE SCAM AND I WILL NEVER OPEN THERE SITE ANY MORE LET THEM REFUND MY MONEY CHEATER
Hey there Frans,
That is unfortunate that you’ve had such an experience with them. I have recently had to get in touch with them with a minor query and they responded quickly resulting in a positive outcome. Maybe look for someone more senior within their organisation through which to air your concerns?
I am still waiting for my money refund. After trying to send 3800 and something nzd to my family in Peru, and they never getting the money, I decided to cancel my transaction, Worldremit said it will take only 3 working days for me to get the money back into my account but I’m in the 4th working day and my money hasn’t reached yet. Worldremit put the blame into my bank saying that my bank doesnt accept the money transfer. Which is bullshit, I went to the bank branch ASB New Zealand to see what’s going on and there is not a single trace that worldremit tried to make a deposit into my account. Worldremit keep asking me for a fax number so they can contact my bank, after providing the fax numbers as soon as possible my bank never gets anything from them. I ask myself why do I have to be on between my bank and worldremit trying to fix their issue. Is worldremit that poor system that they cant hold the phone and call NZ bank and figure out what the hell is going on.?? I called many times the Worldremit customer service and it’s always a new person to talk to and tell all my story, they never can put me on the phone with a person who knows and who is following my case. It’s so annoying and frustrating, I spend hours waiting on the phone for each person who pick on my calls to read about my case, answer the answer its always the same we will call you back or we will email you back. I just can’t get my money back and it makes me think that worldremit just stole my money and everything it’s a fraud.
I will start taking legal actions against them, it’s not acceptable that after all this time they keep throwing the ball here and there and I never get any solution.
Hi Milly,
Wow! You have not had a good experience with World Remit by the looks of it. I do agree with you there in that you shouldn’t have to be a good between between them and your bank. Just as easy it was for you to initiate the transfer, they too should work as quickly to initiate and complete a refund. Are you able to escalate your case and get a hold of a more senior person to personally look after you?
Please do keep me updated on what the outcome for you and how you reached a resolution.
This company does NOT act in good faith, if you have a problem, like I did, the internal controls of this company are POOR, and they will charge the poor customer if something goes wrong like fraud…in other words, they love the customer, until they suffer $2000 loss, then they make the honest customer absorb the loss, this company should NOT be in money transfer business.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
And WOW, sounds like you didn’t have a pleasant experience with World Remit. As you can see from my experience, customer service was both hit and miss.
It doesn’t seem right that the consumer should pay the price in the instance of fraud (if it isn’t through their own doing).
Do you mind elaborating on what it was that happened to suffer a loss of $2000?
Gerri
Hi there, just want to ask if we can amend the receiver’s name (Due to lack of IDs). The Worldremit transfer has been made online. Thanks
Hi Niloy, Thanks for stopping by. It would be best to get in touch with WorldRemit with your query. You can get in touch with them via Facebook where they usually respond in a reasonable timeframe.
I’ve been trying to find out if my first transfer with WorldRemit can be made without a photo ID being required.
I am reluctant to give them my card details only to get a request,after payment, that they need a photoID to complete the transaction, since my passport is being renewed at the mo.
Any ideas? Thanks
Hi Michael,
It would be best to get in touch with WorldRemit to answer your query. You can call them or send them a message via their Facebook page (they respond pretty quickly).
I hope you are able to find a resolution.
WORLD REMIT ARE THEFT THE NEER SHOW ANY CONERN THEY ARE GREEDY, THEY ARE BAD AND HEARTLESS THEY ARE THEFT THEY ARE BAD
hi pls my sister send money to my account from USA.. world remit cancel it and they refund it.. but surprisingly the bank said they need to investigate my account.. what I do … Stanley
Hey Stanley, sorry to hear about your situation. It would be best to get in touch with WorldRemit and your bank to see what may have happened for the transfer to be ‘flagged’ like that.