Consumer complaint received 2017-07-01
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: AZ
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card
Sub-issue: Can't use card to make purchases

Complaint:
The issue occurred in two phases : The both concern American Express. <P/>Phase I which was submitted to the BBB in New York : reference to old card ends in XXXX new card ends in XXXX, The issues commenced in mid XX/XX/XXXX. I had a Platinum Card ending in XXXX ( old card ). It was compromised by fraud. I called amex and they advised that they would issue a replacement card. I did n't understand it at the time, but they advised that they would have to issue what is technically a new card rather than a replacement card because amex had run out of new number sequences, so they had to get a new sequence. They assured me that it was a mere technicality. They would not be doing a new credit review and nothing at all would change on my end i.e. I would have the same credit limit, and all other things would be the same. However, nothing was the same. By doing this, amex did in fact, treat me as a brand new customer. I had a credit limit of approximately {$15000.00}, built up over time. I was given a " new limit '' of {$1500.00}. I have since built it to {$2500.00}. That is not what I bargained for and not what I received. I have placed around 15 customer service calls to amex. Sometimes, the rep says that amex had a " glitch ''. Sometimes, they just say that there is nothing that they can do. Sometimes they have said that as I pay down my old card, and the credit limit will automatically increase on the new account. This latter statement has proved to be completely false. The above is very significant. Specifically, the way that amex works is that I have to pay off the full amount each month. So, with the credit that I had built, I would pay down my amex, and at the same time, get new credit with which to spend. I use this a great deal in my business. My average pay is more than {$1000.00} per weekday. However, now, when I make pay-downs on the old card, I get no credit at all on the new card. So, to keep my business going, I have to be making the payments on the new card, in order to have credit available. At the same time, I have to pay on the old card, as it has to be fully paid off within a month. Sometimes, the amex people have tried to be nice. Sometimes, they have made no such effort and have been very rude. However, this is 100 pct an Amex mistake, about which, they do, intermittently acknowledge that fact. Each of the above calls have lasted an average of an hour. So, I have had around 15 hours of my time wasted in the past few weeks. Further, as above stated, quite often, they have been very rude. And, most important, I have gotten nowhere. Given the above statements and assurances that amex made, the amex statements constitute a material misrepresentations, which have greatly harmed me and caused me lost time and financial strain. In order to try to resolve this issue, on XX/XX/XXXX, I sent an email to XXXX XXXX, CEO of Amex. It outlined the issues as set forth herein. The most honest and productive of statements made occurred just today with an amex rep, who did understand the problem and issues. Her suggestion was to go to another company and switch my balance over. I do n't want to do that. I paid {$450.00} in annual fees to get the benefits of this card, which amex has deprived me of by virtue of their ineptitude. <P/>During the ensuring couple of months, I was faced with retiring one credit card while making use and paying off the other credit card. Putting me in such position was not fair and not consistent with what American Express represented it was doing. To the contrary, I received a letter from Amex explaining that I had misunderstood the issue. Rather, as I paid down one card, more credit was issued on the new card. That was n't, however, accurate. I was n't provided a nickel 's worth of additional credit as I had the burden of paying the first card and using the second one. I did return a certain number of checks in attempting in good faith to accomplish the above. One recent check was an auto pay in the approximate amount of {$340.00}. There were two other payments made thru XXXX XXXX of XXXX and XXXX, respectively. I called Amex, who advised me of the above. I told them that there was an error with XXXX as I had money in the bank. I asked to call XXXX. The rep, named XXXX, declined and did so in the most offensive of fashions. She clearly did n't believe me. She stated that they would only accept a letter from XXXX. I then called XXXX who advised that I was correct, however, they did not issue such letters. They did, however, offer to be patched in with Amex. I tied XXXX in with Amex and spoke to XXXX. She was verbally abusive to myself and the rep at XXXX. I asked for the opportunity to have the XXXX rep speak to her. She declined and said that she would only accept a letter. The XXXX rep and I both told her that XXXX would n't write such a letter but that XXXX would speak to them. She hung up without saying a word. Both the XXXX rep and I were taken aback. i called Amex back and explained that XXXX would speak to them but would n't write a letter. The rep apologized, but advised that per the advice provided by rep XXXX, a letter would be required. This was of extreme import to me because in response to the above returned items, Amex cancelled my account. <P/>I find their course of dealings to be both dishonest, condescending and unfair. Many of their reps are now very challenged in terms of speaking and understanding English. I have nothing against people who speak a foreign language first. My wife is XXXX, and English is her second language. However, the first issue is that the above has brought down the customer service of amex, which, at one point in time, was good. Second, as can be heard if they recorded the latter calls to which I referred, their reps are rude and condescending. Rep XXXX came just short of insinuading that I was lying when speaking of the XXXX issue -- I was n't. <P/>I have paid Amex a lot of money -- much more than had my cards been correctly merged in the first instance. I do n't deny being strained at times in doing so -- but I made the payments, nevertheless. However, the returned items of today were not of my doing. they were on XXXX for the reason that follows : what occurred was that I made a deposit into XXXX from another XXXX account. XXXX agreed at the time of the deposit that there would be no hold on the account, as it was from another XXXX account, and it had a lot of money in it. Inadvertently, XXXX did put a hold on the account. That resulted in the return items. Had Rep XXXX been a tad less rude and agreed to tie in XXXX, she would have learned that the above was the truth.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation