Date Received: 2021-03-26
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Subissue: Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/2021 I was applied for and was approved for a Platinum Card from American Express after being offered a sign up bonus of XXXX points ( Equivalent to at least {$1500.00} cash ) after spending {$15000.00} in the first three months. In the terms and conditions of this offer American Express specifically indicated certain charges that will not count towards the {$15000.00} spending requirement. The following is the quote from their terms and conditions : " Eligible purchases do NOT include fees or interest charges, purchases of traveler 's checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of any cash equivalents '' On XX/XX/2021 I made a {$6000.00} payment to XXXX XXXX XXXX, and on XX/XX/2021 I made a {$9000.00} payment to The Village Experience both using my American Express Platinum Card. Both of these organizations are registered 501 ( c ) 3 nonprofits doing wildlife conservation work. I additionally made several smaller charges, but would be unable to meet the {$15000.00} requirement without these charges. Upon not receiving the bonus in a timely manner, I contacted Amex first through online chat and then by phone the next day. Several Amex representatives including a manager indicated that charitable donations are considered " Cash Equivalents '' and as per the terms and conditions do not count towards the spending threshold. I explained that no reasonable person would consider a charitable donation to be a cash equivalent, and that I believed American Express was not upholding the terms of their contract. The manager further explained that since a donation was basically just a transfer of cash to me to the charity, that is considered cash equivalent. I explained to here that in that case, anything is a cash equivalent : for example, when I buy groceries with my American Express card, I am simply transferring cash to the grocery store. She was not moved by this argument. My understanding, and I believe the common understanding, of a cash equivalent, is when I receive cash directly - for example, getting cash back at a grocery store or using the card at an ATM. The examples given by Amex in their own terms and conditions ( quoted above ) also indicate that these are the types of transactions they are talking about. Furthermore, I would like to point out that these terms exist to prevent abuse. For example, if I was able to withdraw {$1000.00} in cash from an ATM using my credit card, I could use that to pay off the credit card balance and repeat this process indefinitely. This would allow me to accumulate an unlimited number of rewards points, which American Express is certainly correct to disallow. There is absolutely no possibility of abusive behavior like this when donating to charity. Finally, I would also like to note that I have made many charitable donations using other credit cards from other banks and have never been denied rewards for such. It is common practice in the industry to treat charitable donations as normal spending and not as cash equivalent. A quick XXXX search reveals many articles advising consumers of which credit cards to use for charitable spending to maximize rewards, for example : XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX/ I would like to point out that all three of these articles recommend using American Express cards to make charitable donations XXXX First of all, this clearly attests to the common understanding that credit cards, including American Express cards, earn points on charitable spending. More importantly, all three of these sites receive compensation from card issuers for referring new cardholders, hence they are acting as advertising agents for the card issuers. XXXX in particular states that they receive compensation from American Express for referring customers ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ). Hence the article encouraging consumers to use American Express cards for charitable spending is essentially an advertisement from American Express with fraudulent claims.
Company Response:
State: MA
Zip: 02130
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2021-03-26
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2021-03-26
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 contacted American Express to resolve a disputed charge due to fraudulent activity by the merchant. The merchant appears on my card statement as " XXXX XXXX '' and the merchant purports to provide real estate lead generation services. I was contacted initially by XXXX XXXX by their salesperson XXXX XXXX. XXXX described their service offering as a " referral service '' which purchases bona fide leads from companies like XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, etc., and that this is their primary service offering. The service was described as a new type of program whereby the merchant charges a membership fee of {$1800.00} in exchange for membership in its lead program, and promised to provide bona fide leads which are purchased from the aforementioned providers XXXX XXXX, XXXX, et al ) and funds the purchase of these leads from a " referral commission '' of 20 % of the commission income generated by a member which is charged to its members/customers upon the successful consummation/closing of a real estate transaction. This was described by XXXX XXXX as representative for XXXX XXXX as the general scenario : Their customer, a real estate agent or broker, works with a buyer or seller of real estate referred by XXXX, and upon successful closing of a transaction, the agent/broker pays to XXXX a referral fee, similarly to other referral systems, such as broker-to-broker or relocation company referrals, e.g., a 5.5 % total commission is split between a listing agent and buying agent, so ( 2.75 % ) * ( XXXX purchase price ) would equate to a total commission income of {$5500.00} to a XXXX customer, and the XXXX customer would pay to XXXX a referral fee of {$1100.00}, thus funding the acquisition of the leads as described by XXXX. Unfortunately, I paid this company {$1800.00} for these leads based upon the description by XXXX after speaking with his " data manager '' who also confirmed the description provided by XXXX. After I received an email with login information, I used their portal system, and discovered the following : 1. There are no leads from quality lead vendors like XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, etc. 2. All " leads '' which I contacted had no recollection of providing their information to any real estate-related portals like XXXX, et al., and because these individuals were near-universally on the Do Not Call registry, this was extremely concerning. 3. Because this was within the 3-day cooling-off period under Florida law, I emailed a notice of cancellation to XXXX XXXX and the entire onboarding team at XXXX. I did not receive a reply, but did receive a phone call from an individual who claimed to be the 'head of sales ' who berated me for cancelling, and referred to a contract he called a " MSA '' which I still, to date, have not been provided, and thus have never agreed to. 4. Beyond the fraudulent nature of the service itself, and the service delivered not being even remotely similar to the service which was described, the routing process was also fraudulently described. After trying in good faith for several weeks to effect a cancellation and total or prorated refund from XXXX, I filed a dispute with American Express which documents the above with multiple and exhaustive evidence from email communication with the merchant, which clearly demonstrates that I have received no services that were described to be on the phone. American Express closed the dispute in the favor of the merchant with the explanation of " services were provided '' which is categorically false and contrary to reality by any standard of measurement. I contacted American Express via their online chat and by telephone to demand that they re-open the dispute under the Fair Credit Billing Act 's provisions which require creditors to remove from billing statements charges for services which were not delivered as described by the merchant. American Express has refused to reconsider their incorrect assessment of the dispute, and has refused to provide evidence to the contrary of my claim, and thus has violated multiple provisions of the Fair Credit Billing Act. PDF copies of evidence sent to American Express electronically by me are attached to this complaint.
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 322XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2021-03-26
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2021-03-26
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/2020, I hired a moving company to move my things from my about to close home to storage. I was advertised several things, including that paying extra for more movers would save me time, and so would also be cheaper. So I paid for 2 extra movers. The first issue was the truck needed for the move wasn't available, so they came with one too small. The second issue was of the extra movers, at least one of them was their very first day at the job, and wasted a lot of time learning what to do. In short, this is the second time I used these movers but the move took more time, and costed more to go to a storage facility XXXX miles away, than my multi city move with the same company which was over XXXX miles, and half the amount of movers. It was late, I had to close the home and return the keys to the real estate agent, so at the end I had other things to worry about and paid. Naturally I tried to discuss this with the company, and the same manager who promised me all this cost savings and efficiency refused to make amends, trying to sell me a discount on my next move instead of fixing my current move. At one point I finally just got ignored, email wasn't replied for several days, I even sent a second email that still received no reply. At this point I decided to turn to American Express, as it was their card that I paid the service with. I opened a dispute, no one called me, and shortly it was denied. I never was given an explanation, I never had anyone call me for details as I've had with my Visa credit card in the past so I opened a XXXX complaint. The complaint went nowhere, they reopened the dispute, and shortly denied it once again, someone at corporate called and gave me a lazy answer of something along the lines of " because I received the service, I can't dispute it '' no matter how terrible the service I requested was. I even demanded in email for my legally obligated documentation of why I was denied and a chance to repeal it, and I never got a reply back. I tried to reopen my dispute, and even contacted XXXX again. At that point they seemed done with me so they closed the dispute, charged me for the disputed amount, and closed the XXXX complaint and left it as " customer dissatisfied. This is possibly my last option.
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 34746
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2021-03-26
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2021-03-26
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Subissue: Information belongs to someone else
Consumer Complaint: I did not authorize anyone employed by these companies to make any inquiry and view my credit report. This is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act Section 1681b ( c ) and a serious breach of my privacy rights. Please validate this information with these companies and provide me with copies of any documentation associated with these accounts bearing my signature, authorizing an inquiry. In the absence of any such documentation bearing my signature, I formally request that these fraudulent inquiries be immediately deleted from the credit file that you maintain under my Social Security number. American Express - Inquired on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - Inquired on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX - Inquired on XX/XX/XXXX.
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 33160
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2021-03-26
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2021-03-26
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Subissue: Card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase or transfer
Consumer Complaint: i XXXX XXXX transferred money to my another bank account and on my end it says complete i did the transfer on XX/XX/2021 in the mount of XXXX and in the mount of XXXX the money mioney never was sent to my another bank account and was not put back in my bluebird account and they refused to to give me my money back as of to day its been 4 days the man was supposed to call me back the next day never did and every time i call and get someone on the phone and they look at my account they hang up on me tried 2 time today XX/XX/2021 and both times i got hung up on please i just want my money back that they steal from me its bad when my own bank is stealing my money and they want give it back they said someone will call me today XX/XX/2021 and they never did they want even tell me what is going on it took me 2 day before that to get them to even open a case report and they still act like they ant even doing anything about my money missing out of my account the man said he need 3 day to check eveything out and then they will bee able to help me he was supposed to call me back the next day like said earlier he never called and still has not called me as of todays date XX/XX/2021 my money still is not been put back in my account and still have not heard anything by phone or email and its been 4 days now and now i cant even get my money off my card to close my account i feel they going to try to take even more of my why they want let me get my money out.
Company Response:
State: LA
Zip: 712XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2021-03-26
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2021-03-25
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/21, I learned that a company that I had made a purchase with called XXXX was a fraudulent company and when I contacted the company they refused to provide a refund for items that I never received. I advised that I would reach out to my card company American Express to dispute directly. I spoke with an unprofessional representative, XXXX who had no sympathy and refused to complete the dispute because the company did not have a cancelation policy. I was in disbelief that she would not proceed with the dispute after I clearly explained to her that I was scammed out of $ XXXXI am in disbelief at how this was handled.
Company Response:
State: GA
Zip: 31405
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2021-03-25
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2021-03-25
Issue: Getting a credit card
Subissue: Application denied
Consumer Complaint: I applied for an Amex credit card REF : XXXX and application was denied " Based on your credit report, you have cancelled too many bank card accounts recently. '' This was reported by XXXX, when I called back Amex they would not allow for a manual review of my application by a human stating that's their policy with initial denial. I inquired what time range did they look for with term 'recently ' given I've closed 2 card accounts in total in past 2 years ( One of which was open since XXXX and closed in XXXX, another was opened in XXXX and closed in XXXX ). I could not get a clear answer, and I pointed out that's the reason I'm requesting a human to review my credit worthiness based on full report and history and was denied again. I have a credit score of 800+ and applied for a low end American Express card as my brother had referred me and he'd have gotten a referral bonus. I have not had any Amex cards on history in past 10+ years or history of denials. Amex failed to provide a clear explanation of what they mean by recent, I do have old credit cards I had closed in past but my average length of credit is years and 9 months.
Company Response:
State: IL
Zip: 60101
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2021-03-25
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2021-03-25
Issue: Unexpected or other fees
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I was given two American Express Reward Cards for a retirement gift, one for {$1000.00} ( # XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and one for {$500.00} ( # XXXX XXXX XXXX ). Upon trying to use the cards after the expiration date on the cards American Express told me once the expiration date passes, American Express keeps any unused money as stated in the card agreement. The cards were never used. The cards were given to me as a gift without any paperwork. On the face of the card they are labeled American Express Reward Card and have an expiration date. On the American Express web site there are numerous reward cards listed with their related agreements as follows : American Express Reward Card ( Freedom ) American Express Reward Card ( {$2.00} at 12 Month Fee Down ) American Express Reward Card ( {$2.00} at 6 Month Fee Down ) American Express Reward Card ( {$3.00} at 12 Month Fee Down ) American Express Reward Card ( {$3.00} at 6 Month Fee Down ) American Express Reward Card ( Sweep ) Only the Sweep card expires, all others can be reinstated after the expiration date. There is no way to tell by looking at the physical card given to me that it is a Sweep card. This is very misleading, to be fair to consumers American Express should clearly state on the face of the card the type of card and the fact that it is a use it or lose card. This is especially deceptive given 6 of the 7 Reward Card agreements do not expire.
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 32137
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2021-03-25
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2021-03-25
Issue: Getting a credit card
Subissue: Delay in processing application
Consumer Complaint: Dear American Express : I am writing with an issue with regard to your Delta credit card offer. I applied for the card yesterday in response to an offer at the Delta ticket purchase stage. With the ticket selected and on hold, I filled in the application for the sole purpose of being able to use the card for the ticket purchase. The offer states Id get a temporary American Express number for use of up to {$1000.00} for Delta tickets. I was approved. The only basis for my decision to apply for your card during ticketing was that I promised {$200.00} in statement credit for a purchase within 3 months on my new card. After I was approved, a screen appeared requiring me to confirm my cellphone number to proceed but provided no option to do so. There were only xxxs in place of my cellphone, with no ability to replace them with my number. I called Amex and spoke to 3 agents, including a supervisor. I was told thats just a technical glitch ; youll get your card within 3-5 days after mailing. The agent confirmed that Amex had my correct cellphone. They told me that there was no way to provide the temporary card numbers. I therefore did not buy the ticket. To be clear : the inducement to obtain your card was the ability to use it during the ticket transaction, NOT for use weeks later. It was a classic bait-and-switch. To add to the problem, today I received an email asking me to confirm my cellphone with several correct digits ( showing again that you indeed have the correct number ) and the others replaced by XXs. Yet again, the link didnt work because it merely took me to an account creation page. I can not create an account because I do not have the card numbers. The current situation is that I can not buy Delta tickets. I can not get the promised {$200.00} credit. My credit rating took a hit because of your credit check. And I still can not use the card. The agents appeared familiar with this problem. Was it a glitch or a calculated way to trap consumers into obtaining a card and not providing the statement credit? If it happened to me, it happened to countless others who accepted your offer during the ticketing transaction but were then denied the promised benefit. I am copying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaints as well. I am copying Delta as well. At best, this is not a way to start off a relationship with a card holder or a frequent flier. At worst, its fraud in the inducement. I have screen shots from the aborted transaction showing that there was no way to accomplish the cellphone verification. Your agents verified that they had my correct cellphone number. I would be pleased to provide these documents to you upon request. Note that I used two different browsers and my XXXX with the same result. Sincerely, Name
Company Response:
State: IL
Zip: 60660
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2021-03-25
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2021-03-25
Issue: Trouble using the card
Subissue: Problem using the card to withdraw money from an ATM
Consumer Complaint: My wife and I filed XXXX taxes with XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX the customer representative who had filed our taxes had insisted on us using their XXXX XXXX prepaid American Express serve card to receive our tax refund on and any new stimulus money that the IRS may issue. We chose to use the card for that reason she gave us a temporary card at that time two weeks later we received in the mail a personalized card with my name on it, XXXX XXXX due to the fact I was the main tax filer. On XX/XX/XXXX the IRS had deposited {$3500.00} into the account and I was able to use it right away. I had spent around {$200.00} at XXXX that evening and withdrew {$500.00} at the ATM the next day. I chose to put the rest back in order to save for a vehicle I needed. On XX/XX/XXXX I tried logging into the account on the American Express serve app, it kept coming up with an error message saying it was the incorrect username or password which I knew for sure was not true, so immediately I called the number on the back of the card. After waiting on hold for several hours a customer service rep by the name of XXXX with ID number XXXX had informed me that due to a fraudulent deposit our account had been suspended we explained to her that no one had deposited anything on that account besides the IRS. I asked to speak with a supervisor, she connected us with a representative by the name of XXXX who said he was a supervisor with the fraud department his customer ID rep is XXXX he had informed me that due to the fact the IRS tried to deposit the other half of me and my wives stimulus onto that card in her name and not my name it was considered fraud, we explained to him the situation that we were issued that card from XXXX XXXX and as we filed our taxes jointly and both of our names should be on it because the tax refund and the stimulus is would be coming in both of our names he said there was nothing to worry about and that we should be receiving an email by Tuesday the XXXX stating that our account is unsuspended and we will be able to use our card again and log into our account. On Tuesday we did not receive an email and we were still unable to log into our account or use our card at any store or ATM. We tried contacting customer care again several times each time we were put on hold for several hours and told there was nothing they could do about it and then hang up on me, several times after asking for their name or ID number they would also hang up right away. I started doing some research and found the email to the executive office of American Express I emailed them my situation and what was going on with my account and how it was unfair and unjust for them to just freeze my account and not let us be able to get our money all because the IRS was depositing money onto the account from the stimulus. A day after emailing the executive office of American Express a woman by the name of XXXX XXXX had reached out to us and said she would handle the situation she gave me her phone number extension email and said she would have it figured out by Thursday and that they should have never done that and apologize for the situation. On Wednesday I tried calling Ms XXXX for an update several times she did not answer or respond. I then decided to call the customer service number again to see if maybe they had an update with my account and what was going on. After giving them my card number and social security number to verify my identity they told me that an account didn't exist with that information and then hung up on us. Thursday morning XXXX XXXX had called my personal cell phone just to inform me that she needed more time to look into it and that it could be 30 to 60 days before she had any kind of information on our situation and that basically I am not able to get any money until then and there was nothing that I could do about it. I asked her if she could just close the account and mail me a check for the amount that was already on the card that was deposited in my name because they had already sent back the check to the IRS that was in my wife 's and that I had every right to have access to my money off of that card she told me no.
Company Response:
State: MO
Zip: 63028
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2021-03-25
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A