Date Received: 2023-10-13
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Subissue: Overcharged for a purchase or transfer you did make with the card
Consumer Complaint: I went to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX at around XXXX on XXXX for dinner, the bill was about XXXX dollars, then I left about XXXX dollars as the tips, so the amount of money I paid should be about XXXX dollars. I used an American Express gift card, which had XXXX dollars in total inside of it. And today the representative from American Express said I was charged more than XXXX dollars by the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXhat means that restaurant charged me XXXX dollars instead of XXXX dollars as the tips. And the representative from American express said the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX confirmed that transaction was totally right. But it doesn't make sense at all. First, I would not use the gift card with only XXXX dollars to pay a more than XXXX dollars bill. Secondly, I would not choose to give XXXX dollars as tips if the dinner fee was only XXXX dollars. I was not be able to check the balance of that gift card from more than 2 month ago, so I called the number on the back, and a representative from American express said I was charge XXXX dollars more, the bank was investigating that, and I could check the balance one week later. But two month later, another representative told me the transaction was right, more than XXXX dollars was paid to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX The bank didn't even talk to me to ask what happened, and ignored that the XXXX dollars tips for the XXXX dollars dinner fee would not happen at all. I need them to fix this issue and active my gift card again, as I supposed to have some balance inside, but it can not be used anymore.
Company Response:
State: MA
Zip: 02169
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-13
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Subissue: Other problem
Consumer Complaint: I received an email on XXXX XXXX XXXX from AMEX, that I perceive as an attempt at extortion ( asking for money in return for avoiding an adverse action -credit limit reduction ). Please see following, relevant paragraph from email : What this means As a responsible lender, were always monitoring our Card Members accounts. Based on what we know about your payment history and current debt with American Express, as well as your credit scores and other credit bureau information, your account is being reviewed for a possible credit limit reduction. What you can do Make a payment towards your balance to maintain your current limit - we wont take the action stated above if you make a payment of {$950.00} within three days of receiving this email.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: XXXXX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-13
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Subissue: Card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase or transfer
Consumer Complaint: I bought american express gift card, I try to use online buying stuff from XXXX, XXXX. When I try to pay through gift card and couldn't purchase. Though they took XXXX from card just, payment wasn't going through. So now I want my cash back and want to return gift card back need my money back. I save money XXXX for buying stuff online, {$500.00} gift card just buying that card I spend {$7.00}. So XXXX.
Company Response:
State: VA
Zip: 22152
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-14
Issue: Trouble using the card
Subissue: Trouble using the card to spend money in a store or online
Consumer Complaint: I received this gift card a few months ago and just decided to use it for an online purchase. It was declined twice at one store on XX/XX/23 and I tried to use it again at another store on XX/XX/23 where it was declined twice again. I have sufficient funds to make the purchase however now when I check the balance I see every attempted transaction incurred a pending {$0.00} charge. My {$45.00} American Express gift card is not only useless online, it now is only worth {$44.00} despite never using it. I have checked the American Express website to see how to resolve this issue but there is nothing of significance. I am not the only one with this issue as there are entire communities of people saying these cards are declined online and in brick and mortar stores, at restaurants and grocery stores, or XXXX wallet - no one will take these cards. It's entirely unacceptable to advertise these cards as usable everywhere when that couldn't be further from the truth.
Company Response:
State: GA
Zip: 30134
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-13
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem
Subissue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Consumer Complaint: Report XXXX XXXX Date Generated XX/XX/XXXX Account charged off. {$2.00}, XXXX written off. {$1.00}, XXXX past due as of XX/XX/XXXX. Status updated XX/XX/XXXX Balance {$2100.00} Balance updated XX/XX/XXXX Recent payment - Monthly payment - Original balance - Highest balance {$2100.00} Terms - On record until XX/XX/XXXX Dispute hasn't been resolved with no explanation
Company Response:
State: NJ
Zip: 07065
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-13
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Subissue: Other problem
Consumer Complaint: I received a letter from American Express dated XX/XX/XXXX stating, " We wanted to let you know that after a recent review, the credit limit on your account has been reduced to {$1600.00}. The cash advance limit is {$200.00}. '' My credit limit prior to this was {$6000.00}. Their reasoning : " We made this decision for the following reason ( s ) : Your XXXX Score ( see below ) * Based on your credit report, you have too many requests for credit '' The reason for the credit request is because I recently did a cash out refinance on my home and had to do some renovations that included new flooring, a new HVAC system, a new water heater, and painting. For these renovations to be done the companies had to finance the work until the cash out funds were available to be used. So, my credit naturally would decrease due to refinancing and open accounts for the renovations to happen. However, most of the accounts have now been paid off and some that have significant payments being made to pay them off soon. I was confident my credit would be restored quickly. My complaint is that I have never had an issue with Amex or any of my other creditors at all and for Amex to stalk my credit and simply drop my limit is unfair to say the least. I have never been late, never surpassed my limit, and always stayed within 10 % -30 % of my limit to stay in good standing. I have been an excellent consumer and would have at least like to have been contacted about maybe the reason for the new open accounts. Due to American Express dropping my limit they have made my credit score drop even further on top of the temporary drop due to the new accounts. What would have been a temporary drop in credit has now been made even worse by American Express. My score decreased by XXXX points or more. I have proof of this from my credit monitoring platform. I tried working this out with Amex first. I first did a chat on XX/XX/XXXX with American Express and was told the same thing as the letter they sent me and then they tried to do a limit increase request which if course was denied. Then I called on XX/XX/XXXX to speak to a manager and the solution was to send in my bank statements to appeal. That solution was unacceptable! They did not ask for statements when I opened the account and they did not ask for statements when they dropped the limit. I was then told that they have no authority to override the decision. All of this feels like an egregious violation of privacy and consumer discrimination for baseless reasons.
Company Response:
State: GA
Zip: 30238
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-13
Issue: Trouble using the card
Subissue: Trouble using the card to spend money in a store or online
Consumer Complaint: Our business has a longstanding relationship with American Express and we run millions of dollars worth of business through them. For many years I have purchased XXXX XXXX {$50.00} pre-paid gift cards to give to employees as gifts. I usually buy $ XXXX worth at a time. They come in individual sealed envelopes and we give them as gifts in these envelopes. This year we had a number of people tell us that, when they went to use the cards, they had already been used. I can't imagine how many other people were too embarrassed to even tell us they had this problem. After extensive phone conversations with XXXX XXXX it was obvious that they would not rectify the situation. I explained that their computer system must have been compromised as these cards were never out of the envelope before they were gifted. They told me that I should get the cards back from the people and contact the stores where the cards had been fraudulently used. I was incredulous that this was their response. I stated that I wasn't even going to ask them to cover the cost I incurred by having to pay these people with cash when their cards failed to work. All I want them to do is take back the unused cards we have and replace them with new ones that work. They said they would not be willing to do that and would not refer me to anyone else in the company to appeal this decision. They could not have been less interested in our problem. Looking online it is apparent that many others have experienced the same problem.
Company Response:
State: MO
Zip: 631XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-11
Issue: Fees or interest
Subissue: Problem with fees
Consumer Complaint: Good Morning/afternoon to all who will be reading this message I opened my American Express account sometime around XX/XX/2023, at the advice of my mother because an American Express gold card is a good card to hold and no one in my family has one that was my first mistake. Was aware that American Express charges an annual fee of {$250.00} but since I just opened the account I did not expect to have to pay the fee that year I was surprised to see that {$250.00} was charged to my account within a XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX XXXX timeframe. At that point, I was still paying off my student XXXX credit card, and I still am. So paying for two credit cards at the same time was very stressful for me thankfully around XX/XX/XXXX. I finally finished paying off the membership fee only to come to a realization. I am aXX/XX/XXXXXX/XX/XXXXand XX/XX/XXXXXX/XX/XXXXwho gets paid at a weekly timeframe if I'm lucky I make {$150.00} a week but it usually ends up being somewhere between {$110.00} and {$110.00} a week. So when I sat down and thought about it, there is no guarantee that I aXX/XX/XXXXXX/XX/XXXXand aXX/XX/XXXXXX/XX/XXXX can 100 % guarantee I would be able to pay {$250.00} on time each year my work schedule and school schedule can get very disorganized, so there are times where I might be even making less than {$110.00} and still have to pay for school expenses. After I came to that realization, I decided it was best for me to close my American Express Gold card at least for now and hopefully, when I graduate and have a more stable job and less hectic lifestyle, I can re-open the card, so that is what I did on XX/XX/2023, I canceled my American Express Gold card and on that same day I sent in a request to get a refund for my {$250.00} now here comes the confusion I was not aware that you had to cancel your card in a certain timeframe to be able to get a return for your annual fee payment if I had known that from the beginning, I would've not even bother applying for the American Express Gold card I spoke with a kind woman on XX/XX/2023 to request for me to get my annual refund back and she said I would hear back from American Express and the call ended. I did not hear back from them and I had to call I can express customer service myself again on XX/XX/2023 only to find out that my request was denied ( and no one could even give me the common courtesy of notifying me that it was denied ). I ended up having to escalate it and speak with a manager or supervisor. I'm not sure which one that lady was and she made another claim for me and she told me within 10 to 15 days it should be resolved and to look out for an email requesting more information. I called one more time on XX/XX/2023 to once again find out that my request/claim was denied again. I tried to speak with a supervisor/manager but at the time they were all busy so they ended up calling me back hours later and telling me that there was nothing that they could do and in their opinion I should have at least used the benefits, but since I close the card it was too late. Here is my issue with how my claims have been resolved issue number one I did not use that card at all. I didn't even swipe it for five cents so the fact that I had to pay {$250.00} which to me a college student is a lot of money and not even used. It seems extremely unfair to me. Issue number two was that I was not even extended the common courtesy of having someone notify me of the status of my claim/request American Express is a {$100.00} XXXX company so the fact that I can not even get a refund of {$250.00} seems absurd to me I could understand if I am requesting a refund and it's been over a year or if the annual amount is {$50.00} or lower I would just suffer the losses but I did not have a card for that long. I did not use it at all, {$250.00} is a lot at least to need a middle to lower-class person. ( I also tried to get the American Express chat option in the app so overall I contacted American Express customer service four times and all four times. My issue was not resolved in a way that I approve. ) At this point, if this does not work out for me, I have no issues with going to small claims court.
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 11510
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-11
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-12
Issue: Trouble using the card
Subissue: Trouble using the card to spend money in a store or online
Consumer Complaint: I received an AMEX gift card and I am not able to use it anywhere online or in store. These virtual card is declined online ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX to name a few ) and in brick and mortar stores, at restaurants and grocery stores, or XXXXXXXX XXXX - no one will take these cards. I call AMEX customer service and they can not offer me any resolution. They can not tell me where I can use the cards ( their site claims you can use them anywhere that accepts AMEX ). They can not transfer my balances for my usable virtual card to a physical card. They can not offer me a refund. They do not allow you to use the cards for partial payments, nor do they allow you to charge too close to the total card balance. This system seems designed to skim a few dollars from American consumers. They hold our legal tender hostage and tell us there is nothing they can do about it. They falsely advertise that their gift cards can be used anywhere that accepts American Express cards. This is simply not the case. I can not reach a resolution with AMEX customer service nor can the original purchaser. I have been unable to use their card for a few months. My money is inaccessible. All I want is the total balance on my cards in cash/check. Card number : XXXX
Company Response:
State: WA
Zip: 98012
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-12
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-10-12
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Subissue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Consumer Complaint: A charge for {$510.00} was made to our American Express credit card at XXXX on XX/XX/2023. We did not make this charge. It was the day before we left on a big trip, and we are quite confident that we did not visit XXXX on this date, nor did we place any online or phone order with XXXX. We gave this information to American Express, but they refused to credit the charge. No information or documentation was provided for the refusal. Separately, we contacted XXXX 's to ask them for an itemization of what was purchased, and they refused to give us that information.
Company Response:
State: GA
Zip: 30022
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-10-12
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A