Consumer complaint received 2023-11-28
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: MA
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
Hello- I received an american express prepaid gift card worth {$400.00} as a gift. On XX/XX/2023, I placed two orders on XXXX within minutes if each other and used this gift card as the payment method.

1st order : single item for {$20.00} - payment for this went through and I received the item already 2nd order : 5 items ordered together for total of {$280.00} - Payment was declined. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I reached out to XXXX customer service and they said its an issue with the bank. I reached out to Amex gift card customer service same day and was told that they could put in a request to lift restrictions on this card. I was also told that the compliance team will lift the restrictions in 24 hours after which I could use the card for the same purchase without any issue. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I updated the XXXX order to use this gift card and the payment was still declined. I contacted Amex customer service and was told that I could not use the card for that order and that I could use it in physical stores. When I specifically asked the agent about the compliance team lifting or clearing the restrictions, she did not have an answer or response for me. I requested to speak with their manager and have been on hold for greater than an hour now. 

When every other person relies heavily on online shopping, it is shocking that a big company like American Express would prevent their customers from using the gift card on online stores. I do not shop at physical stores for the bulk of household items we purchase and would like Amex to issue me a check of the remaining balance on the gift card ASAP. The {$400.00} gift card was a generous baby shower gift from my co-workers and being heavily pregnant at the moment in my last trimester, I prefer to use this at online stores so I can shop from home for convenience. Amex customer service has made baby shopping a very painful experience for me and I am afraid I won't really be able to use the money on this card if my purchases are randomly declined and randomly accepted. Finally, there's a good chance XXXX won't honor the reduced prices of XXXXXXXX XXXX which is when I placed the order. 

While having restrictions in place to identify and stop suspicious charges is appreciated, making customers life difficult by not providing us a means to get around this even when we contact your representative is pretty shabby customer service and a product that doesn't help us in any way when almost everyone relies heavily on online shopping. Meanwhile I have never had any such issues with visa gift cards in the past. I will make it a point to let everyone in my family, friends and co-workers know about this issue with amex gift cards, more so as a public service announcement from my end. 

All said and done, I am writing this complaint here so Amex can atleast send me a check for the remaining balance available on my card of about {$370.00}. This is the least they could do if they can not work to fix their algorithms for fraud detection or get around them with human interference. Hoping this will go to the right person/team who can work with me on this.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief