Consumer complaint received 2020-01-21
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:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I was booking a hotel room through XXXX   's website when I arrived at the credit card information section. I input my American Express credit card number and expiration date, as well as the 4-digit security code for my credit card. When I clicked submit, I noticed that I had put in the wrong 4-digit security code ( I had mixed up a couple of the numbers ), so I assumed that the charge for {$570.00} would be declined due to this incorrect security code that I had put into the form by mistake. ( Once I clicked submit, the form becomes inactive, so there was no way to stop it and correct the mistake. ) So because I assumed that this charge would ultimately be declined, I booked another hotel room and then received notification that the first charge that should not have been approved due to incorrect credit card credentials provided in the form got approved (! ). I called XXXX right away and explained everything to them, they advised me to contact American Express and file a dispute, as the charge should not have been approved. I contacted American Express and filed a dispute that day on XX/XX/XXXX and was initially credited for this transaction, as the agent agreed that this was a security error and that the charge should have been prevented from being approved. Then, a little while later on XX/XX/XXXX, I was checking my online account and saw that the charge had been reversed and posted on my account and I had received *no notification* about this, and just happened to come across the charge by chance. I learned when I called that day on XX/XX/XXXX that it was declined due to XXXX XXXX  " no refund '' policy, which is not what I was disputing. I explained that my dispute was that the charge should not have been approved in the first place, as it was a security issue with the incorrect information provided and that I felt reassured they would be able to request what information I provided in XXXX XXXX online form and see that what I was saying was correct. I explained my understanding of online credit card transactions is that the company that is wanting to charge a credit card must send the information provided by the customer to the bank/credit card company and that bank then verifies if the information provided is correct based on their records before approving the charge. American Express stated that XXXX most likely used a prior authorization from a previous transaction to gain approval of this XX/XX/XXXX transaction, even though the information was incorrect on the form. After several months and refiling disputes, today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I called American Express again and was told by American Express that they are not able to request the information that I provided to XXXX and that there is nothing else to do. Now, because of their security failures and shady XXXX practices to gain authorization ( which I was not aware of ), I am out almost {$600.00} and nowhere to turn to for seeking resolution to this charge that should not have been approved in the first place due to the mistakenly incorrect 4-digit credit card security code that was entered into XXXX XXXX online form. I am hoping that this can be resolved in a way that prevents others from having to go through what I am going through, because it is not right.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation