Consumer complaint received 2021-10-17
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
American Express has cancelled XXXX of my credit cards. I have received a letter from American Express stating the reason for the cancellation. The reason as stated in that letter " using abusive language over the phone ''. Basically, American Express is stating that I have used abusive language over the phone. 

Let me remind American Express that it takes two hands to clap. 

I don't recall which particular phone conversation Amex is referring to here. When I called American Express executive office, the smart lady asked me to hire an attorney to get a subpoena from the court to get a copy of the call recording. American Express knows from my spending habits that I am financially not in a position to hire an attorney to sue Amex. If I was a customer spending millions and millions of dollars on Amex Cards every month, Amex wouldn't even have taken this step because they would know they would get their XXXX sued pretty bad. But because Amex is aware that I won't be able to sue them, they took such an unethical step. 

Before you point your finger on other people 's house, fix up your own house first. In order to cut business costs, Amex hires cheap labor from XXXX countries which affects customers in countries like USA. The call center operators located in XXXX are not understandable on the phone at most times, it is hard to understand them and they have difficulty in understanding me, because of the language barrier. As a customer I don't expect to deal with this language barrier XXXX  over the phone. ( whoever is reading this, in case you are also from XXXX, just so you know XXXX stands for XXXX ) There have also been instances where call center operators from XXXX have made me wait for over an hour on the phone to let me speak to a manager but even then, the call was never transferred. If I then use any abusive language to that operator, that would be justified because essentially you ( Amex ) asked me to use it. When I called the following day the same operator picked up the call and I hung up on him... so did that operator get fired!? No! the operator didn't get fired, because Amex knows in doing so, the operator would sue them. 

There has been instance when I was overseas and an Amex operator even told me to fly back to USA in order to receive my cash back reward dollars through a physical check, as in I would have to physically fly to USA to receive the $ XXXX cash back reward check. In response to that if I use abusive language, you ( Amex ) essentially asked for it. 

This is a cumulative effect, that's why I dont prefer to speak to operators, that's why I ask for managers directly. If call goes to a XXXX call center I ask them to transfer me to an American call center. There is valid reason why I do this because I am sick and tired of the XXXX  from the Amex Phone operators especially those from XXXX and those who try to act smart unnecessarily. 

Whenever I ask for a manager on the call, Amex call center operators doesn't let me speak to a manager. Let me teach you some basics of customer service. I DO NOT NEED TO INFORM YOU WHY I WANT TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER. You can absolutely ask me why but I am not obligated to answer your " why '', in that case you should simply transfer the call to a manager .... but instead of transferring the call to a manager if you decide to play it smart with me, then of course you would appropriately get it back from me. If I use abusive language in this situation, you ( Amex ) essentially asked for it. 

I am not a crazy man, I don't make the call to your call centers and start abusing people right off the bat. I always believe in treating people " the way they deserve. '' Let me tell you something very frankly, this can occur again, yes it absolutely can! If you would have done or would do anything like I have mentioned above, I think it would be crucially necessary and appropriate for anyone to use strong language to shut you up over the phone. 

On so many occasions recently, Amex " managers '' from their XXXX call center who can not communicate in XXXX properly, have failed to resolve the enquiry because of language barriers. This happened numerous times in the last 3 months. I can not remember the name of that manager but I know I tried to lodge a complaint when I was told their notes state something else from what actually happened in the call. So these manages from XXXX are also crooked, they make all kinds of sketchy notes that doesn't match with what happened in the call. Did that manager get fired!? I doubt, because following that call every single operator and XXXX tried to avoid the complaint, as in every single crook has each other 's back in those call centers. 

Since the time I have recieved my first Amex card years ago, I have made all payments well ahead of time. Possibly that could be an internal reason why Amex cancelled all my cards because Amex is not making any money in interest payments. Using abusive language with a call center operator is not a justified reason to cancel all my cards. The card cancellation reason Amex has stated is not " proportionate '' to the actions they have taken. Canceling all my XXXX cards would have a major negative impact on my credit rating ... ... and comparing the tangible effect of that impact, with just abusive language, it is not proportionate and doesn't match and doesn't justify. 

It is quite obvious Amex is XXXX, whoever in Amex has taken this action he or she is a complete XXXX  and suffering from some serious ego problems. That person didn't have the XXXX  to call me and talk to me... but instead, like a true XXXX  quietly cancelled my cards from the comfort of their call center and then sent a letter by mail. This is nothing but a reflection of XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation