Date Received: 2023-12-09
Issue: Trouble using the card
Subissue: Trouble using the card to spend money in a store or online
Consumer Complaint: I received two {$500.00} American Express Gift Cards from my work in XX/XX/. As of writing this, I have been able to use the cards on only two transactions over the course of the past year. One was a XXXX in-store purchase and the other was a XXXX in-store purchase. This gift card no longer works at either of those locations. The second gift card has not worked anywhere. One of them shows a {$500.00} balance on the online balance checker. The other shows a {$410.00} balance ( {$500.00} minus the two transactions that worked ). All other transactions, both in-person and online, are declined. The customer service agents seem to essentially have a script regarding the declines being " for safety reasons '', but the cards have essentially been rendered useless as a result. Furthermore, the website advertises the ability to add cards to digital wallets, use them anywhere Amex is accepted online, etc. All of that is false. They are rejected from all digital wallets, and can not be spent at any online retailer that accepts American Express. Put simply, these can not be spent anywhere reliably, and the high rate of declines leads to a high level of XXXX when attempting to use them to shop in-person.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 92802
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-09
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-09
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem
Subissue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Consumer Complaint: I WANT TO GET ME AND MY CHILD A PLACE TO STAY AND I REALIZED THAT I HAVE DAMAGES ON MY CREDIT REPORT AND ACCORDING TO THE 15 U.S.C 1681 LAW THERE SHOULD NOT BE ANY FDAMAGES ON MY CREDIT REPORT THAT IS A DEFIMATION TO MY CHARACTER
Company Response:
State: GA
Zip: 300XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-09
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-09
Issue: Getting a credit card
Subissue: Application denied
Consumer Complaint: From : XXXX XXXX Attn : American Express RE : ADVERSE ACTION DATED XX/XX/2023 Recently, I, XXXX XXXX, was denied an extension of credit by American Express on XX/XX/2023 and XX/XX/2023, I applied for a credit card with American Express. As you may be aware, it is against federal law in accordance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to proclaim an adverse action against a consumer. Pursuant to 15 U.S Code 1691 ( c ) you assume civil liability pursuant to 15 U.S. Code 1691e ( a ). American Express has violated my federally protected consumer rights : 1. 15 U.S Code 1642 2. 15 U.S Code 1681M 3. 12 CFR 1002 Since the notification was sent to me XX/XX/2023 is both proof and evidence that I have been discriminated against, you are also criminally liable. American Express should resort to reasonable procedures to rectify this affair and compensate me for the use of my securities. Otherwise, this would be considered securities fraud since I have received NO BENEFIT. Following this initial attempt to rectify, I will be sending an invoice to collect actual damages for said violations. Thank you XXXX XXXX Without prejudice, all natural inalienable rights reserved.
Company Response:
State: SC
Zip: 29673
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-09
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-09
Issue: Trouble using the card
Subissue: Trouble using the card to spend money in a store or online
Consumer Complaint: My problem is that American Express did not openly acknowledge that they changed their security features to drastically limit the gift cards usability at online stores this year. We purchased XXXX of dollars in gift cards only to find out they have limited functionality and cant be used at a majority of online retailers. They should have been upfront with these security changes, but sold the cards to us with no warning of these limitations. We would have never purchased them had we known this. Weve purchased many Amex cards in the past without any problems in previous years. Transactions for these valid cards are being declined - yet with each attempt, Amex is happily taking XXXX per attempted transaction, even though the purchase is being declined. Their answer was simply to state that they are protecting my funds.
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 10022
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-10
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-08
Issue: Trouble using your card
Subissue: Can't use card to make purchases
Consumer Complaint: Called AMEX since gift card was not being accepted anywhere even though the {$75.00} balance has not been touched and shows available on the card. Took hours to get through to a rep who hung up on me.
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 11803
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-08
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-08
Issue: Trouble using the card
Subissue: Trouble using the card to spend money in a store or online
Consumer Complaint: I recieved an AMEX prepaid Gift card last year in the XXXX of XXXX as a gift These cards are declined online 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 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 cards for a year. My money is inaccessible. All I want is the total balance on my cards in cash/check.
Company Response:
State: TX
Zip: 76705
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-08
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-09
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: I purchased a set of mugs on the platform XXXX. The mugs arrived with defects and I requested the vendor to allow me to return the mugs for a refund. The vendor never answered back and enabled me to return the merchandise. Opened a dispute with Amex, which informed me that the vendor had provided info stating that they give me the option to return ( which was not true ). Amex sided with the vendor. When I tried to reopen dispute with Amex, Amex told me that the dispute was too old and because of that, they couldn't reconsider it again.
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 10014
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-09
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-09
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: On XX/XX/XXXX I returned a set of items to XXXX XXXX XXXX using the XXXX label provided by them. Fedex label with tracking number XXXX. Tracking shows that merchandise was sucessfully returned on XX/XX/XXXX. Despite me following exactly the steps requested by the merchant, merchant refuses to refund me for merchandise. Amex is also not supporting me despite all the information I've provided.
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 10014
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-09
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-08
Issue: Problem when making payments
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I took a personal loan from American Express. I made additional payments and specified " principal only '' payments. Therefore, just as is the case with my mortgage, the principal should correspondingly reduce by the amount paid to only the principal. However, AMEX failed to apply the funds to only the principal and instead took the funds as an early payment. Having taken the principal only payment as an early payment, they then failed to take out the scheduled monthly auto-payment. The Amex representative has stated they charge interest at the beginning of the month and not on a per diem basis. The monthly interest takes effect as soon as a payment is made ; the loan is then charged interest for the subsequent month. Therefore, it seems that other than paying off the loan in full, there's no way to pay off the loan for less than the total cost, even though AMEX states there is no pre-payment penalty. The penalty is paying the interest regardless of how soon the loan is paid off. That is a penalty. A principal only payment should be a principal only payment. A monthly auto-payment should not change/ be affected just because an additional payment is made prior to the payment due date. Then, instead of applying the auto-payment on the date it should have deducted, AMEX insists the payment can not be entered retroactively.
Company Response:
State: TX
Zip: 77459
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-09
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-12-08
Issue: Trouble using the card
Subissue: Trouble using the card to spend money in a store or online
Consumer Complaint: I received two {$100.00} AMEX Gift Cards. I activated both and each said I have {$100.00} balance. However, I have repeatedly been declined while using these cards for amounts under {$100.00}. I have called and they say they should work and offer no other support.
Company Response:
State: WY
Zip: 831XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-12-12
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A