Wish I had the option of 0 stars.
I was just at both ABC locations in which my mother and I were treated like felons.
Previously, we have used ABC Money Exchange once before and had an easy and comfortable experience, 2 months ago in May.
So my mother and I returned expecting the same hassle-free experience.
My mother goes in first with her cash to change. I wait in the car. She comes back out nodding her head. Apparently, she had a "large amount of money to change" (given that it was still in the hundreds, not even close to the thousands) and therefore they asked her to give them her Social Security Number. She asked the lady why, since last time we weren't asked for such identifiable information.
The lady replied that she was just randomly selected. For security and privacy reasons, she refused to do so and came out.
I decided to go in to exchange my cash, which was much less than my mother had. I stand in line and wait my turn. Finally, my turn comes up.
The lady greets me and I hand her my cash I wish to exchange to Mexican Pesos. She asks for ID which I quickly provided her with.
Then she asks, "are you registered in our system?" To which I say no, because...why would I be? And she says "Okay, well I'll need you to provide me with your information. Your full name, full address, drivers license, and your full social security."
I was bothered to be asked all this information when the people who had gone before me, people going with me, and even after me were just breezing through with no questions asked. I don't think this selection was random.
Just as my mother, I'm weary of freely handing out my Social Security Number unless it's to a bank, or a governmental institution.
I refuse and walk out with my money that she handed back to me.
My mom and I needed to exchange before heading to Mexico so we drove around looking for other no commission places. And we only found the other ABC location which we decided to stop at to try our luck.
I gave my mom my portion of the money and she went in. I told her to divide it so it didn't look like "too much money" as they had said.
While the cash was being exchanged with no problem at all, she hears the guard's Walkie Talkie go off and someone from the other location was saying "there's two women, an older woman with a white shirt and a younger one with blonde hair are trying to exchange currency, be careful of them".
Luckily my mom had already exchanged the money but the lady was giving her looks.
All that we needed was our money exchanged fairly just like everyone else. Being treated like criminals and even being talked about and told to "be careful" of is extremely rude and unnecessary.
Terrible and humiliating experience. read more