Consumer complaint received 2023-10-19
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit 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/2023, I disputed a charge for the amount of {$8500.00} for the reason that the item I received was defective and was not as described, and that the merchant that sold me the item refused to refund it, despite not having any return policy at all on their website. I sent a letter to Amex a couple days later, attached labeled XXXX, with various screenshots of evidence that the product is severely defective and would be a risk to my vehicle if I were to install it. The merchant got in contact with me via email to request me to send back the item if I was charging back and I responded in early XXXX to the merchant, detailing my grievances with their product and their behavior after the fact, including the fact that the merchant slandered me on social media. I called Amex before this and they told me not to send anything back to the merchant until the dispute is finished, and they requested me to give them all information related to the merchant and the merchant 's behavior afterwards, and I provided the letter I wrote to the merchant to Amex ( attached here under the label XXXX ). 

In late XXXX I received notice that I was rebilled and that the dispute was resolved in the merchant 's favor, for the reason " the merchant has provided us with the documents stating that at no time they were told this kit was defective [ ... ] further, their engineer 's personal phone number was offered for any support however no contact was made. 

Upon looking at the statement -- full of lies, I might add -- from the merchant and the images he provided, including a return policy that was not present on the website at my time of ordering ( I have evidence of this ), I appealed the dispute and attached proof that the merchant was lying on almost every point he brought up in his letter to Amex. I showed evidence of when I told the merchant the kit was defective and asked for a refund. Additionally, the company 's phone number was offered after they rejected my request to refund the item, which is out of line with the California Civil Code section 1723 law that states " If a store violates this law ( California Civil Code section 1723 ) by not clearly displaying their limited or no return policy, you can return the purchased item with proof of purchase for a full refund within 30 days '' ( California Office of the Attorney General ) -- I shouldn't have an obligation to contact them further to beg them for a refund after he denied it already, I spoke with Amex representatives and they told me that they can handle it for me. 

After reappealing the dispute on XX/XX/XXXX and attaching the relevant information and evidence ( attached here in Amex XXXX XXXX ), on XX/XX/XXXX, my dispute was denied yet again because the " [ merchant ] has provided us with the attached supports indicated that member ordered a turbo kit and chose a shop local to him that had never installed their kit before. Further, they have advised that member also chose a tuner that was not on our preferred list of tuners to tune the car. '' Both of these points are things that I brought up in my letter attached here as Amex XXXX XXXX, where I state that " It's inappropriate for XXXX XXXX to insist that I use a specific shop for installation, especially because this wasnt communicated anywhere in the product listing. The parts I purchased are universal for my car model. I elected a reputable shop where the owner has a long-standing experience spanning almost a decade with XXXX  and, specifically, with installing aftermarket parts and turbo kits like this one. The shops owner himself has installed over {$40000.00} in other parts on my car alone and it is unfair to question his capability. '' and that " I find it disheartening that XXXX XXXX is lying to American Express with this fact. At no point before or after my order was I provided with a " preferred list of tuners '' and there were no restrictions communicated to me on who I could have tune my car. In fact, when I mentioned my tuner, Bend Calibration, to XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX acknowledged and endorsed them, saying " Bend is a great tuner BTW '' ( refer to circled text in attached screenshot # XXXX ). This is a tuner who has handled over a dozen of the kits that XXXX XXXX offers and XXXX XXXX is lying when he claims that they lack certain capabilities ; they just advised me against putting this equipment on my car because of the issues in quality specific to my kit. '' It appears that American Express did not fairly evaluate my claim or even read my letter and refer to the attached evidence ( available in the attachment here ) of the fact that the merchant endorsed my tuner and that I have the right to have whichever shop work on my car -- this one in this case had plenty of experience installing this product before ( evidenced by their instagram, @ XXXX ). 

I am filing this CFPB claim in order to get my dispute some fair oversight and consideration because it appears that Amex is either not reading my letters that I am writing them in my dispute, or that they are biased towards the merchant for whatever reason, and that violates my rights to a fair dispute process.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation