Consumer complaint received 2018-04-20
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: PA
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: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
A couple months ago, in early XX/XX/XXXX, my husband and I began planning for a trip through XXXX. We were traveling most of the time with friends and chose accommodations according to our group itinerary. The group decided that post-tour plans would be up to each couple so we began researching several different possibilities. 

Using the American Express Travel site, we attempted to book our post-trip accomodations in XXXX. We saw a few hotels that were to our liking, available for the selected dates, and what we thought were good prices. We attempted to use the online booking and the system crashed. This behavior happened a number of times that evening so we called the helpline. We tried to reach the Platinum Travel Helpline but discovered, after a 20 minute wait for a representative, that we despite calling the number identified on the site as the Platinum Travel Help number, we were directed to the the Book A Trip agent who was unable to see the prices / packages that we were looking at on the AmEx travel portal. 

Over the course of our evening, we spoke to multiple representatives over a series of phone calls, had several mis-directed forwardings to representatives that could not help us, and frustrating holds 20 - 40 minute. We invested this time because we wanted to book online but the AmEx system was not working. In our final conversation we ended up to someone we believe worked more in technical support and he assured us that he would report the problem and to try to book again at a later date based on what we had shared and he had recorded. This did not happen on the first night, nor on the nights following. All of the conversations were labeled by American Express as recorded, so a record of the multiple calls and conversations should be available to American Express. At no time did we receive a confirmation of what was discussed in these conversations, despite our request that American Express document and share the documentation with us. 

In an effort to take advantage of the AmEx benefits we pay for, we continued to try to book through the travel portal and continued to talk to AmEx representatives for several days. 

On what I believe is/was the 5th day of this effort, we spoke with another customer service person late in the evening and at this point was quite frustrated. He assured us that he would book the Hotel ( XXXX XXXX ) for the dates we requested. By this time we were very upset with the service that American Express Platinum was ( not ) delivering. Again, as stated earlier, at no time did we receive a confirmation of what was discussed in these conversations, despite our request that American Express document and share the documentation with us. 

When we still did not see the hotel reservation show up the next morning, we decided to give up on trying to use the AmEx service and instead, pursue a hotel directly. But instead of booking s hotel available through the non-functioning American Express portal, we booked, directly with a different hotel reservation for the same dates. Later that week, the XXXX XXXX American Express reservation showed up. 

We then opened up a dispute and are so disappointed and angry to receive today in the mail, notification that the disputed charge/reservation was denied. This charge is not fair, we were never able to confirm either online or to an agent. All previous request were not acted upon, and that is why we refuse this charge. 

During the period of time that we have requested dispute of this charge, American Express has never contacted us, either by phone or email.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation