Consumer complaint received 2022-11-18
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card

Complaint:
I am writing to seek full restitution and to document a complaint about deceptive advertising and possibly other consumer protection law violations by American Express. My complaint is related to what I believe to be an unfair and erroneous charge for a {$220.00} promotional credit reversal that appears on my XX/XX/XXXX billing statement for my American ExpressXXXX XXXX account. 

The grounds for my complaint are outlined in detail in a letter and accompanying attachments I mailed to Amex on XX/XX/XXXX. The letter was sent to document my complaint and earlier phone conversations with Amex customer service reps on XXXX XXXX and XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Since then I have used the Amex website onIine chat capability on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX to further inquire into the " investigation '' they said they would conduct and finish within 30 days of my XXXX XXXX complaint. I will attach transcripts of all my online chats with Amex, starting with the anodyne conversation that took place during what I thought was a routine account cancellation process on XXXX XXXX for your review. 

As stated in my XXXX XXXX letter that I will attach, here 's s the background : In XX/XX/XXXX, American Express solicited my application for a credit card using aggressive direct mail advertising ( Attachment A ) that I consider to be unfairly deceptive and lacking critical information related to its major selling proposition a {$220.00} statement credit if I spent {$1000.00} in the first 3 months. 
I applied for and received the card in XXXX of XXXX, completed the requirements to receive the {$220.00} credit, and had it posted to my account on XX/XX/XXXX. After then I continued to flawlessly manage the account without incurring any late fees or finance charges. 
I decided to cancel the card online through the Amex website on XX/XX/XXXX because the card was not as useful as I had hoped. The account had a {$0.00} balance and cancellation was smooth and uneventful until XX/XX/XXXX. Thats when I received an almost apologetic email ( Attachment B ) informing me that that the {$220.00} credit had been rescinded and charged back to my account. 
I had to call Amex customer service to find out that Amex ( according to them at least ) had stated a requirement to keep the account open for 12 months in the mailing not anywhere in the glossy, colorful marketing letter and accompanying application, but instead no doubt buried deep in the fine print within a much more prosaic insert ( which I admittedly must have thrown out ). 

It was only during the online chat today, several days after the 30-day investigation period promise that Amex quoted for me the fine print that they are trying to use to justify their arbitrary and unfair decision to reverse a legitimately earned credit that had appeared on my account nearly 8 months prior. 

But today finally getting to read the fine print wording on which Amex admits their actions have been taken, only strengthens my contention that Amex has been deceptive and unclear in their advertising and marketing. It also highlights the bad faith they are showing customers, even ones of long standing like me and my husband. 

Per the highlighted wording on Page 5 of the online transcript I will attach, they are hanging their hat on sketchy wording such as " ... if you cancel or downgrade your account within 12 months after acquiring it... we may not credit statement credit to, we may freeze statement credit credited to, or we may take away statement credit from your account. '' How is the average consumer to conclude from that wording, if he or she could find it in the first place, that " take away '' would be used to justify rescinding a credit that had been issued and used more than a half-year earlier and had not appeared on any statements for at least six months? More confusingly, Amex uses the word " forfeit '' in referring to similar reward promotions on Page 3 of the Cardmember Agreement I will attach and have highlighted for your reference. How is the average consumer expected to interpret such wording, especially when Amex is trying to use it as justification for penalizing me {$220.00} without a clear warning that the action I was about to take would be not just illogical but self-harming? 

In addition, the fears that I expressed in my XXXX XXXX letter related to Amex 's lack of responsiveness to my complaint have been realized. While their phone reps refused to escalate or expedite my case in any way -- indeed taking a '' we're not going to call you, you call us '' attitude -- they have continued to assess my cancelled account additional late fees and interest charges. My balance is now up to {$250.00}, all of which has been assessed after my account was cancelled with a {$0.00} balance. 

All the while Amex has not allowed me to lodge my complaint through their online dispute process, because my complaint centers solely on the fees they've decided to assess me, not on any actual merchandise I actually purchased on the card. Thus, I've always had to go through their oppressive phone queues and chat processes, continually restating my complaint from the beginning every time. I would suggest that Amex knows this in cases like mine and hopes that people give up their legitimate grievances.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation