Consumer complaint received 2019-03-20
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: AZ
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:
In XXXX of XXXX purchases on our American Express card totaled {$2000.00} that bill was paid in full by the due date of XX/XX/XXXX. In XXXX of XXXX, American Express took charges totaling {$900.00} from previous bills and placed them in what is known as a pay over time account despite the bills already being paid in full. They did not receive authorization to place these particular charges in a pay over time account seemingly because the bills were already paid in full. When looking at the accounting statement it can been seen where American Express issued credits to the bill in order to take the same charges and place in pay over time in which they began immediately charging interest for. A complaint was made and they were suppose to move the charges and close the pay over time account. That did not happen. In XXXX of XXXX, I called American Express because the bill seemed higher than usual. I was informed by a representative that it was because we still had pay over time charges and there was a payment that was return from XX/XX/XXXX that did not get posted to the account in the amount of {$1000.00}. The payment was originally returned however when American Express presented the payment again to my bank, it was paid on about XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke to several representatives and managers during this time who stated that the payment was " missing. '' A dispute was filed for this amount and statements were sent in from my bank to show that the payment had actually been made. American Express did not find the payment until XXXX of XXXX. While in dispute, we continued to pay our bill and in XXXX we paid the bill to a XXXX balance however were never credited for the {$1000.00} that American Express said was originally missing. Now American Express claims that the payment was already applied to the account and all of the previous representative " made a mistake. '' This issue has continued to be a problem and when we received the year end statement, I added up the total amount of charges that were made on the card and subtracted the amount of payments. I called because there was still a discrepancy with the account despite them saying that the {$1000.00} payment had already been posted. When I explained the discrepancy in the year-end-report, I was told that I can't do it that way I have to go by each statement or use the reconciliation report. I filed a complaint with their Ombudsman department in late XXXX early XXXX of XXXX about the same issue, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received and email stating that my complaint was received and they would be contacting the company regarding my concerns. We received a call from one case manager who worked on the case for two days and then left on " leave. '' In early XXXX of XXXX, we received another call from the executive office and worked with XXXX who admitted that American Express made a mistake in saying the payment was missing and that it already posted to the account. However I still disagree, because if something was missing and you find it then we should not owe you money because it was never accounted for in the payments and credits. When I asked her about the accounting, year-end -statement and the online account that still shows the payment as being returned, she continually said well in " our system '' it shows something different. I asked how can you give a customer an online account and send year-end-statements and when they use them to question a discrepancy you tell them that your system is different. How is that fair? XXXX agreed and sent me a reconciliation report that was suppose to show all of the billing from XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX and it does not. She also explained that I needed to use the reconciliation report to do the calculation so that we can have the same information however again, shouldn't the year-end-report that Amex sent or the website be the same information? She told me to call her after I reviewed it if I had a particular amount that was of concern. She also credited my account {$200.00} as she stated was for the misinformation and for my card being locked over the weekend when she stated it would not be. I explained to her that {$200.00} is not nearly enough for the amount of time I have spent on the phone and for a mistake that American Express made and that I in no way agree with what she is saying. Once I received the reconciliation report I call XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX only to get a voicemail that states she is on extended leave and to call the number on the back of the card. This has been a nightmare and here are my concerns : -Since XXXX of XXXX, I have spent over 2 hours on the phone each time I call regarding this issue and have retold the story way too many times to count. I am being transferred at least 2-3 times talking to representatives and managers who tell me different information about the same issue. 
-The issue is still not resolved. 
-American Express has acknowledged that the tools they give consumers to keep track of their account is ineffective because their internal system seems to be different and they can not see what the customer sees. 
-Different parts of the company such as the customer service department and the credit department can not see each others notes so it makes it impossible for them to understand what is going on particularly when there is an issue. 
- You have to file a complaint with a company in a different country for them to actually have a case manager work on your dispute otherwise it just gets kicked back into the system and no one does anything.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief