Consumer complaint received 2023-01-11
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX : Opening this new case as a continuation of XXXX The response I received from Amex response indicated : " Third Party Disclosure Laws and American Express privacy policy prohibit sharing certain types of information with unauthorized accountholders ''. They were not able to reach my wife 's mobile number and so the complaint was Closed. They redirected me back to XXXX XXXX services to address the issue. I just spoke with a Manager ( XXXX ) from that team who updated my wife 's account with a new mobile contact number. He advised that opening a new issue with CFPB was only way to establish contact with the " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX '' that are are responsible for handling this complaint. 

The submission details here and below are then the same as for the prior complaint ( ending XXXX ). 

<From complaint submission from XX/XX/XXXX below> [ Apologies for the formatting should this submission be successful. This is my fifth attempt, including one by postal mail as well, but all have been unsuccessful and the CFPB telephone team has not been able to assist. ] Summary Amex failing for an extended period to process a promised Annual Fee refund. ( There is a minor complication in that the card in question belongs to my wife and the linked bank checking account is mine. ) Amex at no stage has denied responsibility for their error. I worked as a Management Consultant in USA for 10+ years and so should qualify as a valued customer. Both Amex Customer Support teams, online XXXX XXXX and XXXX, were unprofessional, purely reactionary and on multiple occasions lied ( knowingly provided false information ) in order to evade taking responsibility. ( Note : I am now located in XXXX ( XXXX ) but this issue is with a card that was opened while US resident and all Customer Support interactions are with the Amex US team. ) TIMELINE Engagements with Amex XXXX XXXX Chat Support Team ( XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX I was told the refund coming to the linked checking account. Everything after this was like XXXX XXXX! The XXXX XXXX team never had an update on their most recent failed approach and were never doing anything about it until I re-established contact. The Managers and Senior Managers here were unable/unwilling to take any ownership either. They were not even aware that the authorization call that XXXX team had requested be made to the Amex XXXX team had occurred 3 months prior. This all came to a head after 9 months when a Senior Manager ( XXXX ) commented that Amex were sorry if I should feel this matter was not being dealt with satisfactorily. I was subsequently referred ( offloaded ) to the Amex XXXX XXXX team on the basis that they had more authority. I then moved over to Telephone Support exclusively after one more XXXX XXXX Senior Manager ( XXXX ) failed to take the action promised XXXX promised. XXXX Included also is a fragment from my wifes chat sessions with Amex XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX team to prove these interactions. Amex Customer Support steadfastly refused to provide this necessary case history to the Amex Telephone Support team. I believe that Amex Chat team are deleting these records in order to save themselves embarrassment in front of their colleagues. Engagements with Amex XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with Associate ( XXXX XXXX and Manager XXXX XXXX XXXX who confirmed that Telephone team has no access to the XXXX Chat team chat logs and that it would take XXXX weeks to have them sent over - yes, XXXX weeks!! XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with XXXX ( XXXX ) who confirmed the request had been made but no chat scripts had been received. I was promised a XXXX callback on the same day but did not receive ( missing call # XXXX ). XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with XXXX ( XXXX ). Re-iterated a request for a XXXX callback but did not receive ( missing call # XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX : Call XXXX : Spoke with XXXX (?? ). Escalated to XXXX ( XXXX XXXX who apparently disconnected the call and made no attempt to call me back ( missing call # XXXX ) and so... Call XXXX : Spoke with XXXX (?? ) who indicated to me that XXXX ( XXXX XXXX would call me back in XXXX minutes. Did not receive a call ( missing call # XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with XXXX (?? ) and then XXXX ( XXXX XXXX. XXXX was helpful and surprised by the level of service I was witnessing. We discussed internal Amex XXXX processes and that this issue was heading towards the Ombudsman if things did not get better. We agreed that next step was [ XXXX ] to retrieve the chat logs from the XXXX XXXX team so that the case history could properly be addressed and [ XXXX ] to get a XXXX XXXX to review and provide next steps for resolution. I was to call back in XXXX weeks for this update. XX/XX/XXXX : Call XXXX : Spoke with XXXX ( XXXX XXXX, call dropped and I received no callback ( missing call # XXXX ). Call XXXX : Spoke with XXXX ( XXXX ) and requested the update. The only note on my account they could see was XX/XX/XXXX, case resolved! I was then put on-hold by XXXX for XXXX XXXX mins ( first XXXX mins and then XXXX mins ) before I hung up. Call XXXX : Spoke with XXXX ( XXXX ) who helpfully added the notes from my call with XXXX to my account ( actions [ XXXX ] & [ XXXX ] above ). I requested a callback from a XXXX. Call XXXX : XXXX ( XXXX XXXX called me back soon after : - ) On hearing the case history XXXX immediately, in fact rather summarily, directed me to escalate to the Amex Consumer Affairs XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ). This was to be via a slow postal mail process and was quite different advice to what I had heard from XXXX ( XXXX ). As a result I requested to get a confirming opinion from a XXXX XXXX and XXXX said he would make that request for me. ( Of course, I never received that XXXX XXXX ( missing call # XXXX ) ) XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with Associate ( XXXX XXXX who confirmed that XXXX ( XXXX XXXX had not left any notes on my account for a XXXX XXXX. I requested a XXXX level callback to discuss this incompetence and how to move on. No callback received ( missing call # XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with XXXX ( XXXX ) and requested a XXXX callback. No callback received ( missing call # XXXX ) XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with XXXX ( XXXX XXXX who indicated they could escalate directly to a Senior XXXX! Of course no callback received ( missing call # XXXX ). When I XXXX the matter of external escalations this Associate mentioned going to the police and my getting an attorney to sue Amex XXXX : - ) XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with Associate ( XXXX ) and XXXX ( XXXX ). XXXX appeared attentive and so I, yet again, went through the entire case history. They helpfully provided the email address for escalation to the XXXX XXXX. XXXX informed me Id hear back from a XXXX XXXX in the next couple of days or at least get an email update. Of course nothing of the sort happened ( missing call # XXXX ). XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with XXXX ( XXXX ) and XXXX ( XXXX ) but it was same Amex merry-go-round. I re-confirmed the email address for the Amex escalation point of the XXXX XXXX. ( XXXX made an attempt to redirect any external complaints to bbb.org ) Engagements with Amex XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ) At this ultimate escalation point within American Express I was met by an XXXX Assistant who defines incompetence. They arbitrarily decided to ignore a call with me that theyd arranged, did not know how to set an Out-of-Office message and did not understand timezones ( they kept calling me at XXXX and XXXX even though I explicitly identified my profile shows me in XXXX ). This was the final insult. On XX/XX/XXXX I provided FINAL written email notice of XXXX weeks to Amex XXXX XXXX ( including CEO and group president of XXXX XXXX XXXX ) that my case required immediate XXXX attention or I would be taking up this matter externally. I have not received any response. ( Note : I returned to XXXX from abroad in XXXX and found a refund cheque from Amex dated XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. So obviously good news. All emails from the XXXX XXXX showed no awareness that the refund had finally been successfully issued and they had no no comment on this after the fact. )

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation