Consumer complaint received 2020-03-16
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I purchased a flight on XXXX XXXX through American Express Travel using my American Express Credit Card. The Flight was scheduled for today, XXXX, XXXX XXXX. I paid in two separated charges, one for {$560.00} and another for {$6.00}, both on the date of XX/XX/XXXX. One to American Express Travel, and the other to AMEXTRAVEL.COM As the COVID-19 pandemic has reached new heights in the past week ( beginning XXXX ), I decided to cancel that flight. American Express represented on their website that they would abide by each airline 's policy when dealing with cancellations or flight changes. XXXX itself required all flight changes for flights booked through third-party to be dealt with through that third party, as per a statement revealed when trying to alter such flights. 

Because of the requirements set forth by XXXX, I attempted to contact American Express a total of six times between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Five of these attempted contacts were made through their Amextravel.com phone number, and once through the chat function in the American Express App for XXXX. 

For each of the phone contacts, I was routed through a series of automated, voice-responsive menus, and then placed on hold. Each time, my call was either disconnected after several minutes, or I remained on hold indefinitely. Never was I actually able to speak to a representative or get to the substance of my issue. The longest of these calls lasted for 3 hours and 17 minutes, at which point I was forced to hang up, as I was called away by the human need to eat more than one meal in a day. At several points on their website, American Express represented that the wait time to talk to a representative was around 2 hours. 

The one attempt I made at contacting American Express through their app occurred on XX/XX/XXXX, and was fruitless, as the representative on the other end informed me that the only way to resolve this issue was via the aforementioned phone number. 

Today, XX/XX/XXXX, after days of attempting to get in contact to cancel or change my flight, I called the general American Express cardmember support line twice. Both times I was able to talk to a representative for approximately five minutes, where they took down information about the flight and amount charged, though the first claimed he was unable to find any information on it. After allegedly taking down this information, I was once again placed on hold, which after the second time I determined to be the same Amextravel.com hold line based on the voice commands and background music loop, which I have become quite familiar with. After several minutes each time, I hung up, and after the second time I came to file this report. 

Based on a brief research session through social media I have found dozens of posts by individuals experiencing this same problem, some having waited on the phone far longer than even I had, and none of which seemed to have had any resolution from American Express

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief