Consumer complaint received 2019-01-08
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NY
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:
XXXX XXXX Re : CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU COMPLAINT LETTER Dear Consumer Financial Protection Bureau : I am hereby filing a complaint against American Express and how the use of its credit card by one of its merchants, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX has allow it to carry out misrepresentations and fraud in marketing its so called club membership without any impunity. Our case, lodging this complaint, is laid out below. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( aka XXXX XXXX XXXX, a.k.a. XXXX  ) engaged in a Bait and Switch marketing tactic when my wife and I were offered an opportunity buy membership into its club. The first misrepresentation that its sales force made was that XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX is a club. It is a not a club but a timesharing entity that operates in conjunction its parent entity XXXX. The next misrepresentation that its sale representatives made was that through its membership privileges, members could secure a vacation time for accommodations in any part of the World that prospective members sign up for ( junior suite , presidential suite or 3, 4, 5, and 6- bedroom villas under the VIP membership ). This misrepresentation has been well documented by the number of complaint made by people who signed up to become members only find out this offer was a part of the deceptive practices XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX employs to get people to sign up. I have attached complaints from people who were deceived by XXXX XXXX XXXX   XXXX. There are countless complaints against XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and you access them online. These complaints include money people lost when they attempted to cancel their contract with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX because it failed to deliver on its promises. Further, the enormity of these complaints against XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX have grown to class action suits. I have attached a class action suit that is currently underway. 
One of the interesting points to this scam is that XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) only uses credit cards to signed up members. This is an important point in that XXXX is in possession of a lot of personal information Social Security # credit file, Drivers License # etc. Complaints report that XXXX have opened up credit card accounts and charged various items and services that the cardholder did not authorize. I am concern about this because XXXX has all of our personal information. That being said, we have in place XXXX  XXXX XXXX that reports any suspicious activities. They have been alerted about XXXX  ( a.k.a. XXXX XXXX XXXX, a.k.a. XXXX  ). 
Based on the background I have provided, I turn and focus on the complaint I am lodging against American Express for restitution to remove charges totaling {$17000.00} from our credit cards ( My wife- {$9000.00} and Me- {$8000.00} ). American Express is a global company, operating globally and participating with international merchants such as XXXX ( a.k.a. XXXX, a.k.a. XXXX  ) being one of them. I have attached a copy of the letter we sent XXXX which chronicled complaints, misrepresentations, and a broken agreement to buy our existing timeshare in the XXXX. For this reason, the membership agreement is null and void which led us to canceling our membership at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
We notified American Express and sent them supporting documentation notifying our intent to cancel our membership and to remove the charges from our credit cards. American Express advised us that a dispute would be filed on our behalf. In the first dispute we filed, American Express sided with XXXX without investigating why XXXX failed to buy our existing timeshare as agreed. We continued to file subsequent dispute claims with American Express which ended with the same outcome. 
One of the scams that XXXX perpetrates is Bait and Switch tactics in which it promises to buy existing timeshare in exchange for buying membership in XXXX resorts but they have no intention of buying existing timeshares. This seems to be the theme in the complaints that have been lodged against XXXX. What is disturbing is that American Express is in the middle of all of this. For example, most if not all of the disputes lodged against XXXX, American Express ruled in its favor-something is awfullyawfullyawfully wrong. This truly needs to be investigated. 
Another deception XXXX perpetrated on my wife and I was that they used our personal information to open up accounts with XXXX  XXXX XXXX and charge amounts of {$4700.00} and {$5700.00} on new XXXX  XXXX XXXX signature. First, I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX to lodge a complaint against XXXX ( aka XXXX XXXX ; aka XXXX ). XXXX XXXX XXXX open up a fraud investigation. They eventually removed the charges from these accounts and close the credit card account. Knowing that XXXX  ( aka XXXX XXXX  ; aka XXXX ) is in possession of our personal information, I have alerted XXXX  of the potential fraud and unauthorized use of our personal information to open retail charge cards and accounts. I have identity fraud protection with XXXX. 
My question is why couldnt American Express use their fraud investigation resources to do the same and investigate the deceptive practices of XXXX  ( aka XXXX XXXX ; aka XXXX  ) and their bait and switch tactics that have been perpetrated on trusting consumers? The answer is that individuals at American Express are either unwitting or witting participants in this Scam. It is hard to believe that social actors that work for American Express are unwitting participants and unaware that XXXX  ( aka XXXX XXXX ; aka XXXX  ) continues to engage in deceptive practices, specifically bait and switch tactics which are illegal. There are hundreds and perhaps thousands of complaints have been lodged on XXXX ( aka XXXX XXXX ; aka XXXX ), including a class action suit that I have included as documentation. 
What makes American Express credit cardholders so vulnerable is that American Express has no pre-set limits which opens up potential breeding grounds for deceptive practices that is currently being perpetrated by XXXX ( aka XXXX XXXX ; aka XXXX ). Also, as a Global company, American Express failed to vet Merchants they do business with. 
American Express is no stranger to unethical charges on credit cards. A published case from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of the Federal Trade Commission found in favor of the consumers in an aggregate amount of a XXXX XXXX dollars in damages for unfair or unethical charges to credit cards. In our case, American Express has seemly found a way to use it, unwittingly or wittingly, to allow XXXX ( aka XXXX XXXX ; aka XXXX   ) .carry out these deceptive practices. 
All we want from American Express to is to acknowledge that XXXX  ( aka XXXX XXXX ; aka XXXX ) engaged in bait and switch and failed to live up to the agreement to buy our existing timeshare as a requirement to buying into a membership at XXXX ( aka XXXX XXXX ; aka XXXX ). 
We sent a complaint leter along with supporting documentation to XXXX XXXX, Chairman and CEO of American See attached-Exhibit H ). Also, we sent the same documentation to American Express Credit Department in XXXX XXXX, Texas ( See cover letter dated XX/XX/2018 and supporting documentation ). 
Mr. XXXX 's office did not respond to our complaint. Further as of the writing of the CFPB complaint, American Express Credit Department has not responded the complaint letter and supporting documentation we sent on XX/XX/2018. 
American Express behavior on this matter is something I did not expect. Something is not right. American often prides itself on protecting its cardmembers and investigating any misrepresentations and fraudulent practices. In our case, it failed to do this. 
We respectfully hope that you investigate this matter. There is something going on with American Express and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( aka XXXX XXXX XXXX, a.k.a. XXXX  ). 


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Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation