Consumer complaint received 2017-12-06
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: CA
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:
Disputes : $ XXXXLaw Firm {$10000.00} CPA Firm Excerpt from letter to XXXX . 
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS : -My wife and I filed a dissolution of marriage petition on XX/XX/XXXX. Family Law Restraining Orders ( page 2 ) revoke her ability to make charges on my card, even if she is a card holder. The civil lawsuit is already filed. 
-My to be x-wife, knowing she does not have charging privileges, charged her legal fees intentionally on the business card on XX/XX/XXXX. She was not authorized to make non-business charges on that card, ever, and none at all post XX/XX/XXXX. I noticed the charges on XX/XX/XXXX, and immediately called to dispute the charges and ensure her authorized signer card was terminated. I have uploaded every pertinent document countless times. I have also demonstrated via legal disclosure the money was unused in an escrow account, needed to be charged back prior to being spent, and that I would not have the money to settle balances not mine ( especially when my cash assets were concurrently seized ). 
-Since then, I have disputed the {$40000.00} charge 6 times and the {$10000.00} charge 4 times. 
-On every occasion, your customer service representatives, 100 % of the time, have assured me the charges would be reversed. And the credits issued were assured to be final. 
-On every call to you after I noticed a cancelled by customer dispute reversal, I have called and been assure it was cardholder requested. I never requested a cancellation and my wife was no longer authorized ( I was assured this too ). I updated security information nearly each time. Your representatives suggested my wife may be impersonating me and encouraged I file a police report. As a result, a XXXX private investigator is now investing this case. She should be named as assailant in your system. 
-Again, on every occasion, I was assured the credits were permanent. 
-Once confirmed disputes were settled, I closed the card as 1. the business was dissolving and 2. my wife was impersonating me, per your representatives, and the account was compromised. It was only then the account was turned over to the fraud division, for the false impersonation, a criminal violation of penal code 597, under identity theft. 
-Not ONCE did I receive proactive communication from you. Via email, phone call, or through the online interface. I verified the mailing address on multiple occasions. I have never received communication. If it was sent to the billing address, my wife, whom Ive temporality allowed to live at the former family home, would destroy the notices intentionally. This was shared also. -The day prior to the close of the last statement cycle, I was again assured the statement would close with credits finalized. I woke up the next morning and the balance again included the charges. 
-I spoke to XXXX in XXXX, although exceptionally nice, simply stated your fraud policy. I know your fraud policy and I did not refer to this grievance as fraud. Only the false impersonation accusation, again made by your representatives, triggered them to transfer this to fraud. I can not accept that the fraud department solely and unilaterally makes these decisions. Who is in charge go business ethics or customer retention? 
-XXXX , in short, advised I needed to address it in court ( I am concurrently doing this anyway ). There was absolutely ZERO consideration - your representatives had assured me each time, over a dozen or more phone calls, the credits would NOT be reversed. AND it took 3 months for 1 person to tell me otherwise. This is both ridiculous, devastating, and an embarrassment for a company with the scale and reputation American Express has. 
-Your only remedy to your failure has been a credit suspension and threat of reporting to the credit agencies. 
Please consider I did not file this dispute on XX/XX/XXXX as advised by the phone representative today. Your business processes are exceptionally confusing and non-transparent. The representative could not tell me how it could have been filed otherwise. Again, a demonstration of your inability to communicate, rightly, and timely. I decided to use the opportunity for a last attempt at relief. You must understand with all this, I dont have the means to make a full payment. You have essentially assigned liability to me that is not mine, then used your failure to remedy to further penalize me. 
It is unjust. It is unfair. And it is very ( un ) American Express. 

Below is a summary of the devastating consequences you have inflicted on me. I will summarize the Schedule of Events thereafter. 
-American Express funded an attorney and forensic CPA ( not mine ) {$50000.00} ( 2 charges ; 1 for {$40000.00} and 1 for {$10000.00} ), to launch an unethical divorce campaign against me, with my own money that I dont have. Aware of the possibility of chargeback, the unscrupulous firm over- lawyered and aggressively spent the funds. It took you over three months to make a decision you said was final. Each and every time until the last, I was assured with 100 % confidence I would not be liable for these charges. The extensive logs on record will verify this. I will explain this in more detail in the below Schedule of Events. 
-The American Express unauthorized charges bankrupted the business, as the assailant ( my to be x-wife ) also seized {$94000.00} in business cash assets. With assets seized, and liabilities charged, the business failed and filed for dissolution status with the state of CA. The business generated my sole income. The business credit card was then cancelled. I cant make money ; my income opportunity was destroyed, partly due to your inability to do the right thing, or at least communicate that you wouldnt in under 3 months. 
-After American Express removed the credits to my account that you issued multiple times and I was assured via your customer service team were final, my profile was suspended due to the high balance. This compromised my ability to now use you for credit for my only remaining business. I used American Express exclusively for this business. I now have business interruptions and you will partly be responsibly for the business damages caused. 
-After funding a {$50000.00} legal campaign against me, contributing to destroying one business, now threatening to do the same to another, participating in my inability to make a living, and the waste of time and energy I have invested in amicable resolving this with you, you have now also unilaterally threatened to to destroy my perfect credit rating. 

I have all legal letters, lawsuit petitions, evidence of cash seizures, and so on. The file is too large for upload but available for review in its entirety upon request. 

Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation