I've heard of terrible delays with Western Union and MoneyGram once almost drove me to despair when I was trying to deal with a family emergency, They added to what was already severe stress.

I'm afraid my transfers have to go outside Europe. The banks charge large amounts and sometimes take a l-o-n-g time. They routinely blame their overseas correspondent banks but when I ask why in that case don't they change their correspondents, I am met with a blank stare. Basically, they don't care. It isn't core business, few private customers do it regularly, so it doesn't matter. They can charge what they want and take as long as they want. Just another example of the way they are.