Consumer complaint received 2022-09-02
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Add-on products and services

Complaint:
I filed a purchase protection claim with American Express : The date was XX/XX/2022. I traveled from my home in XXXX, Florida to XXXX, Florida to walk around, explore, and photograph an area called XXXX XXXX. I parked at the XXXX XXXX XXXX, walked to XXXX XXXX, and hung out there for a while. I walked around, used my camera to photograph the cool things in the area, and ate at a restaurant/bowling alley place there. 

After eating, I hung out at XXXX XXXX for a little longer, before deciding to walk around the XXXX  XXXX area for a little. After walking around, I found myself near a park with playgrounds and benches ( looking at the map, that park was XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ). 

I sat on one of the benches for a while, as I was a little tired from walking around. I was on my phone, and saw a man ( the father ) trying to take a photo of his family, approximately 15-20 meters away. Knowing how I would appreciate it if someone offered to take a photo of my own family while we were out and about, I offered to take a photo of all of them together. We chatted for a while before they departed, and once they left, I went back to the bench where I had been sitting. The camera bag was in my view while I was taking a photo and chatting with this family, however when I came back to the bench it was gone. I spent about another hour looking for my camera bag in the park area, asking people if they had seen it, checking everywhere for it, but to no avail. 

I didnt immediately file a police report, because I figured I had lost it. The next day, I filed the claim with American Express that I had lost my camera. 

After being on the phone with an American Express representative today, they mentioned that the claim had been denied, since by my description, the item had most likely been stolen, instead of me losing it. I asked if there was anything I could do, and they mentioned filing a police report and to add it to the claim. I filed a police report with XXXX Police Department, which you can now also find added to the claim. 

I believe that my purchase protection claim was wrongfully denied. After many hours of speaking with customer service representatives, filing police reports, and looking everywhere for my camera, my claim was denied, due to it being not reasonably safeguarded. 

I did everything in my own power to keep the camera reasonably safeguarded, yet it was still stolen from me - whats lost on me is that if any reasonably safeguarded item was stolen, then the thief was able to bypass the safeguards and steal the item. 

I realize that my original filing was under lost item, but as requested by an American Express representative, I filed a police report to claim the item was stolen, as that was what had happened. I was confident in American Express to help me in this matter- why else would I be willing to pay {$690.00} every year? Its very disappointing and quite frustrating, as Ive been an American Express customer since I turned XXXX XXXX XXXX, and have recommended the company to many friends and family due to their excellent customer service and benefits.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation