Consumer complaint received 2018-06-21
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: PA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
Please provide policy guidance regarding the Consumer Review Fairness Act ( https : //www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/consumer-review-fairness-act-what-businesses-need-know ). 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a phone call from the Executive Offices group of American Express, threatening me to delete a meme ( https : XXXX ) I had posted on Twitter, which's my honest review regarding the execrable overseas Customer Care of American Express XXXX which has been, and is expressed by thousands of people on Twitter. 


I also have a recording of that phone call, in which the caller, identifying himself as XXXX ( didn't get his last name ) from the American Express Executive Offices, claimed that the meme I had created, which is based on a popular XXXX XXXX XXXX a famous American comedian ) meme theme ( https : XXXX ), is related to XXXX XXXX, and American Express doesn't want to be associated with violent images, so it won't tolerate such memes. 
American Express ' desire to have that meme deleted seems to stem from the fact ( https : XXXX ) that people are more likely to share memes on social media, than they're to share tweets without images, such as this one ( https : XXXX ). 


In retaliation for posting screenshots of chats that portray one of its overseas XXXX XXXX XXXX being highly unprofessional & XXXX, the XXXX team ( XXXX XXXX ) of American Express has also been denying Customer Service to me since XX/XX/XXXX. Does the right to refuse service hold sway over the Consumer Review Fairness Act if a company 's punitive sanctions against a customer are guided by posting honest reviews online? I hadn't even been remotely rude to the XXXX team since when it has been refusing to serve me. The caller had also lied to me that the XXXX team would resume providing customer service to me after I'd delete those tweets. Since consumers ding their credit for getting credit cards, being denied customer service is a huge issue! I had raised CFPB complaint XXXX in this regard ( denial of customer service ). 


American Express ' punitive sanctions against me go a lot further than this. 
It has frozen my Membership Rewards points, although they're listed as available. 
I've been told by multiple American Express supervisors in no uncertain terms that it'd take 6-10 weeks and no less, for the points to actually be available for redemption, but not a single reason has been provided as to what triggered this action. 
Such actions are usually taken if American Express suspects fraud, but all my transactions are legitimate, and despite my requests, American Express hasn't even deigned to explain which transactions it suspects to be fraudulent. 
From what I gather from the CFPB complaint database, I'm far from the only one to  have faced such an issue with American Express. 
In fact, this practice by American Express satisfies the enforcement-action criteria for FTC Act 's Section 5 ( Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices ), because there's no way customers can avoid freezing of Membership Rewards points without being given as much as an explanation, so I'm not sure why the FTC/CFPB are reluctant to take any action against American Express. I had raised CFPB complaint XXXX & FTC complaint XXXX in this regard. I'll send another email to relevant FTC & CFPB officials regarding how exactly American Express ' practices meet the stated criteria for enforcement-action, quoting other CFPB complaints on this issue, although I do understand that I'm not in any position to call the shots. 


Coming back to the issue raised in this complaint, if the FTC & CFPB determine that American Express is right to force me to delete that meme, I'll delete it. But please also provide policy guidance regarding other issues in the email as well, as they seem to lack any precedent. This complaint will also be emailed to relevant FTC & CFPB officials.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation