Complain on BidVest Western Union

Hi,

My colleague sent money to me from USA via Western Union and I went to the BidVest at the Somerset Mall Branch in Cape Town to try to collect the cash yesterday (26 August 2019)

They took my finger prints, proof of address, passport copy and permit copy and the lady told me that the work permit would need to go get verified and the process takes up to 48 hrs.

Fine; I then went to the same branch again today (27 August 2019) to check if the permit was approved only to be told that my valid work permit is a ********** copy. I asked how it is possible and both tellers told me that it was missing security features. I asked which features but they could not answer, they just shouted that it was **** and the paper used is not real. I asked if they had verified it with home affairs but they said they used the UV light which showed that it was missing several security features as well as your head office confirmed that it is a ****.

My permit is real. It was dispensed to me by the SA home affairs. I bought a car on finance with ABSA, opened FNB bank accounts, took loans with Standard bank and even travelled across Africa and overseas several times using that permit without issue.

I don’t understand why a big and reputable company like BidVest cannot carry out basic checks on a work permit. On top of being embarrassed in front of fellow customers that I am using a ********** permit I am also quite disappointed with the way Bidvest has gone around this issue. The customer services agents don’t help, they were hyper active, talked over me and pointed at me rudely while they spoke to me.

I later even phoned Home Affairs in confu*****t who told me that there was no issue with my permit. Please can you tell me how BidVest came to this conclusion? I also still need to collect the money from the branch, so can you please help me do this?

Regards, Brian ***