Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Konglishman]

On our last day in Siem Reap, a friend of mine who was traveling with me, had run out of cash and his bank card was not working with the ATM machines. So, I suggested that he use Western Union.

Then, he called up a very good friend of his in Korea who agreed to send him money in excess of a thousand dollars. After receiving the control number, we went to one of the banks which has a Western Union. Unfortunately, we had to wait a while since their computers were running too slowly at first. Well, finally, we heard the most ridiculous thing. They said that there was no test question but an answer that he should know.

So, he called up his friend who said that he did not fill in any test question or answer. In fact, he faxed him the copy of the form which showed that those fields were indeed blank. Yet, the bank in Siem Reap continued insisting that there is an answer that he should know before they would give him the money.

They even continued saying this after his friend in Korea went back to the Western Union in Korea whose representative also said there was no test question or answer. Finally, we got frustrated and went to a different bank in Siem Reap with Western Union. Then, we were told that the money had already been received.

Of course, at that point, we went back to the previous bank and demanded to know what is going on. The bank manager said that the bank had indeed received the money and that was why it was being listed as received. However, he said that the bank could not give the money since my friend did not know the answer to the nonexistent test question.

At the end of the day, the bank did nothing to resolve the issue. However, the bank manager did write up a poorly written letter explaining that the money was not given due to the recipient (my friend) not knowing the answer to the test question. Unable to get the money and still being almost out of cash, my friend ended his vacation early shortly after that and flew back to Korea.

Unfortunately, that letter has done nothing to help my friend. The Western Union center in Korea is insisting that he has received his money even after he showed them the letter from the bank in Cambodia.

So, I would strongly discourage any of you who find yourselves without cash in Cambodia or in Siem Reap specifically, from having a friend send you money via Western Union. Admittedly, the probability of something like this happening might be small. Nonetheless, this whole incident has made me highly distrustful of Western Union.

[Konglishman]

Also, if any of you have any suggestions for how my friend might resolve his situation, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Konglishman]

Well, the good news is that my friend was finally able to get money returned to his friend, but according to him, he had to fight with Western Union for about a week in order to get this done.

[wintermute]

The Cambodian word for "thief" is "jiao". (not to be used lightly in a country where thieves are regularly beaten to death by mobs - literally a deadly insult).

Screaming this repeatedly at the Western Union manager would have been entirely unproductive, but deeply satisfying (just for future reference!)

I have used the Western Union in Phnom Penh a fair bit with no problems. It would be a safer bet than the one in Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) or Sihanoukvile (the beach).

[jonbowman88]

Wow a truly awful story, I can relate to this because I too ran out of money in Cambodia. Luckily western union didn't try to steal from me.

Be careful when you go to countries like this. Almost no one takes credit cards, a lot of people don't even know what a credit card is. And since theft is high, I though it would be a good idea not to take too many cards along with us. The one bank card that we had along had plenty of money in it, that is until the automatic credit card payment sucked it clean. (my wife handles our finances and she failed to mention she had the credit card payment attached to this bank account)

Anyways, it is not cool being in the middle of Cambodia with $20 in your pocket, while trying to track down a friend half way around the world to wire you some money so you can pay for your hotel and get out. Don't let it happen to you.

[deessell]