Buying a guitar from Canada-WISE money transfer.

[Chewie]

Hello groovers,

I’m buying a guitar from a chap in Canada.

I think I’m going to use WISE for the transfer.

What I don’t want is him getting stung the other end.

Any thoughts welcome, or better ideas…. apart from not buying it….!!

Chewie

 

[Grahambythesea]

Revolut, you both Ned to get a card but then a transfer is free. We send money to our daughter in the USA regularly without problems.

[Chewie]

1 minute ago, Grahambythesea said:

Revolut, you both Ned to get a card but then a transfer is free. We send money to our daughter in the USA regularly without problems.

Ok….. yeah, I’ve got a Revolut thing happening already.  
Cheers Graham….

[fretmeister]

Don't forget that even on used items VAT can be payable on the way in.

[tauzero]

Stung in what way? I've used Wise a couple of times to transfer money, most recently to GR Bass in Italy, with no problems.

[Woodinblack]

Wise is just like transferring money, there is no sting there, other than how you make the payment - if you pay in canadian dollars there is nothing for him to lose, unless his bank take a charge for money.

[Dood]

WISE should be avoided. They authorised a payment to an obviously scam account without my knowledge. I wasn’t hacked, nor was my account compromised. I did eventually get a refund, but no apology or recompense for the hassle my end. 

[Dood]

Just now, Dood said:

WISE should be avoided. They authorised a payment to an obviously scam account without my knowledge. I wasn’t hacked, nor was my account compromised. I did eventually get a refund, but no apology or recompense for the hassle my end. 

Needless to say, I immediately closed my account without them.

[tauzero]

Trustpilot gives them a 4.3 out of 5 rating. @Dood, what do you do to make couriers and financial institutions hate you? 😁

[Dood]

1 hour ago, tauzero said:

Trustpilot gives them a 4.3 out of 5 rating. @Dood, what do you do to make couriers and financial institutions hate you? 😁

There’s a Facebook group for WISE and it doesn’t make for good reading! And stealing money is an instant strike for me. 
 

😂 Generally speaking, considering the amount of gear I’ve shipped over the years (hundreds of pieces) there have only been a few disasters.. including the issues with my beloved vintage P bass going missing at an infamous London courier depot. 
We did get the company CEO and his “major complaints” team involved though. Not sure if working for major bass magazines helped persuade them to dig deep for me! 

[Grooverjr]

It's odd how experiences with what should be the same service differ so wildly. I use Wise all the time and never have an issue. Sent money to loads of places and only ever had one bounce back, which was not thier fault. Rates are very good, money moves quickly. However, I do have a Wise 'bank' account and transfer directly from that so that makes things much easier. Transferring e.g a thousand pounds with Wise compared to HSBC would be roughly 40 quid cheaper overall as FX is better and fees are lower. Again, this may be because I am a customer. Their CS is decent as well. Someone nicked a card on its way to me (my sister foolishly sent it in the normal post to Mexico, with predictable results) and used it at some dodgy retailer and I got an easy refund. I also made a mess of setting up a transfer before I set up the account and they never got the inward transfer but I explained it via email and they didn't enforce the fine I'd agreed to when signing up. 

Anyone who needs to send money overseas reasonably regularly, I'd recommend setting up an account, shoving a tenner in it then having it there ready for when you need to do the transfer. 

Of course, saying this will probably jinx it and the money I'm sending to my mother in law in Boliva will go walkies. 🤞