OFW chides delay in delivery of remittance

An irate Filipino worker yesterday blamed failure by a Saipan-based company to promptly deliver his remittance to the Philippines that resulted in an unforeseen delay on his wife’s departure from the country to the CNMI.

Rufino Dalawampu said Pinoy Express Saipan Inc. has failed to deliver on time more than $300 cash to his wife Joedy, despite the accurate information he had given that should have made it easier for the company representative to locate his wife in suburb Manila.

Mr. Dalawampu claimed the Pinoy Express representative who should have delivered the money to his wife at No. 204-B Manuel Quezon St. Purok-3 Lower Bicutan, Taguig actually went to house number 204-A.

A copy of the receipt obtained from the complaining customer showed that the correct address and name of the payee were properly supplied and printed on the company’s official delivery correspondence.

The receipt even mentioned that the money should have been delivered the following morning after the transaction has been entered September 22, 2000, since Mr. Dalawampu availed of the center’s 24-hour delivery service.

He said he had to add another $5 to the regular service charge of $4 in order for the money to reach his wife on time, since this would be used in the processing of her paper at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

Mr. Dalawampu’s wife actually received the money three days after she was supposed to have gotten it although the money was not delivered door-to-door, as what Pinoy Express should have done in the first place.

She had to meet the delivery person in a nearby fast-food restaurant because the urgency of her to be able to get the remitted money could not wait another day.

Pinoy Express informed her that there was no way the company can deliver the money on September 24 because all of its delivery personnel had already been dispatched.

Mr. Dalawampu said he could not reconcile how Pinoy Express could not deliver the money door-to-door but was able to send an official representative from its office in Sucat, Paranaque to a fast-food restaurant in Taguig, where his wife had to pick up the remittance.

This, even as the house where the money should have been delivered was only a few minutes jeepney ride from the fast-food restaurant. “They did not even consider the safety of the payee who could have been subjected to a hold-up on her way from the fast-food to the house,” he said.

As a result of the delay in the delivery of the money, Mr. Dalawampu’s wife had to wait another day in Manila before she could fly to Saipan. She was supposed to be here September 27 but actually arrived the following day.

However, Pinoy Express supervisor Clauds Francisco said the company has exerted effort to locate the payee but she was still in the province when the money was first delivered on September 23.

Mr. Francisco pointed out that nobody among the people from house number 204 know Mrs. Dalawampu because she actually does not live there. “She was just staying there for a few days and admitted that she was not there until Sunday [September 24].”

He added that the payee also expressed willingness to pick up the money from a Pinoy Express representative at the fast-food restaurant since the company has informed her that the money cannot be delivered to her until the following day, September 25,

Mr. Francisco also stressed that Pinoy Express tried to call the telephone number supplied by Mr. Dalawampu but the mobile phone was unattended, while nobody was answering on the landline number.

He said Pinoy Express is willing to refund the additional $5 which Mr. Dalawampu had to pay for the 24-hour special service availed by the Filipino worker.