Consumer complaint received 2019-08-26
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: GA
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 or before XX/XX/2019, I made a reservation for two rooms with a Sea view at the XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX. I prepaid for my rooms at a cost of {$5200.00} via my American Express card that ends in XXXX. Our rooms were supposed to be air conditioned, clean, with a working refrigerator, views of the XXXX, a bidet and executive lounge access. That is not what we got from the XXXX XXXX. I have attached a copy of the letter that I drafted to American Express, when I placed the hotel charges into dispute. The letter clearly outlines the deficient services that we received in addition to deceptive billing practices. 

I contacted Amex on XX/XX/XXXX to place {$7100.00} into dispute from the XXXX XXXX. This amount includes deceptive charges, services that we did not receive and faulty rooms that did not have working air conditioning, power outages, broken refrigerator, laundry charges etc. When I spoke with the representative at Amex, I explained that I had all of the supporting documentation for the aforementioned claims and I asked her, how to send them. She sent me an email link for document uploads and told me to send it after she submitted the dispute. After the call, I went to the link and it would not allow me to upload my documents. It showed that the dispute was closed and settled in my favor with a credit to my account in the amount of {$7100.00}. 

On or after XX/XX/XXXX, I made multiple payments to Amex, in an effort to make sure that my balance stayed at {$0.00}, because I was traveling to XXXX on XX/XX/2019 and I planned on using my card for hotel stays. On XX/XX/XXXX, I paid {$1900.00} and my balance was XXXX. The very next day, my balance increased to nearly {$3600.00}, but there were not any charges to the account. I contacted Amex and a rep told me that they were old charges that finally posted, which was completely inaccurate, but at this point, I am in XXXX checking into the XXXX XXXX and my card is being denied. So I made another payment of {$2900.00}, so that I could use my card. The day after that, my balance increased again to {$7300.00}. 

I contacted Amex and they informed me that all of the charges from the XXXX XXXX were reposted back to my account. I thought that this was egregious and without merit. I did not have any warning and I was never given the opportunity to present my documentation, when the original dispute was filed. So I asked them to place all of the charges back into dispute. The rep assured me that all of charges were in dispute and that I was not responsible for paying anything, while it was in dispute. He went on to state that the disputed charges would not be posted to my credit bureau reports. He said and I quote that the only charges that would report to my credit bureaus is the remaining balance that I owed minus the disputed charges. So I paid an additional {$800.00} to make sure that it reported a XXXX balance. Lastly, I uploaded all of the documentation for my claim, yet Amex keeps asking for me to resubmit the same documentation. 

On of after XX/XX/XXXX, I was alerted by my credit monitoring service that Amex had reported me over the limit with a credit utilization of 254 %. My score literally went from XXXX to XXXX! I am in the middle of purchasing a commercial property for my new XXXX XXXX   and the mortgage lenders are now telling me that if my score doesnt come up to at least XXXX, I will not be able to close on my property. Additionally, I have had this card since XXXX of 2019 and I OVER PAY my bill every month, just to have enough funds to use my card. I have applied multiple times for a limit increase and each time I am DENIED, even though my point score is high, my credit utilization is low, my income is high enough and I have minimum inquires. 

Every time that I ask for a line increase, they send me a denial letter, which states different reasons each time. They alleged that I had a payment returned for Non-Sufficient funds and that is an outright lie. I had a payment that was rejected because my bank thought that it was fraud. They sent Amex a letter, which stated that. Thereafter, they claim that I have too many inquires, or not enough credit, or not enough time with them and the list goes on. I am starting to suspect that there is something on my internal file with them that states to not increase my credit lines on my cards. Its discriminatory and unfair. 

Lastly, when I was in XXXX, the front desk insisted on me signing the credit card charge slips, even though I was disputing the charges. They told me that if I didnt sign, it would be the same as not paying my bill. He went on to say that XXXX has become somewhat of a XXXX country based upon the new president and his policies and that I did not want it to become a police matter. I felt bullied and scared at that moment. My daughters were with me and I just wanted to get back to the states. I have stayed at multiple XXXX XXXX locations and I have never had an experience like I did at the XXXX location.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation