Consumer complaint received 2018-06-28
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms

Complaint:
American Express ( Amex ) has a credit card ( CC ) product called Blue for Business.  Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, they had a publicly available ( not targeted ) promotion on the card : on top of the standard offer of XXXX Membership Rewards points for the first purchase and 1pt/ $ on regular purchases, you would also receive 10x points/ $ on the first $ XXXX spent on restaurants in the first 6 months and 2x points/ $ on the first $ XXXX spent in the first year. Both the regular offer and the temporary promotional offer also promised a 30 % bonus on the base points earned during the year. 

This promotion was public ( meaning, anyone could sign up for it, not just individuals who were specifically targeted for the promotion ) and heavily discussed on the many CC and points & airline miles blogs and message boards online. Most of these sites are full businesses that have been operating for years and are recognized as reputable journalistic outlets in the CC and airline industry, with their representatives attending press releases and reporting on industry matters as experts for the mainstream media. Indeed, searching for " blue for business 10x '' on XXXX brings up an entire page of articles on many respected and established sources discussing this promotion. This offer was highly popularized and American Express even extended the promotion to run through XX/XX/XXXX, and later on in XX/XX/XXXX introduced a new CC product ( Blue for Business Plus ) for which this was the standard sign-up offer rather than a temporary promotional one. 

I successfully signed up for the promotion on XX/XX/XXXX on Amex 's website. I took a screenshot of the offer, as well as my application ; I received a confirmation email minutes later. I used the card actively for all of XX/XX/XXXX, spending over the amount specified to max out all of the aforementioned categories ( > $ XXXX on restaurants in the first 6 months, > $ XXXX total spending in the first year ). 

However, when this XX/XX/XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX ) came around, I did not receive the points of the promotional offer, only the standard offer. Specifically, I received the XXXX points signup bonus, the 30 % year-end bonus, and 1pt/ $ spent on all purchases. I did not receive the 2nd point on the first $ XXXX nor the XXXX points for spending $ XXXX on restaurants. I was shorted by XXXX points. 

I called in to Amex in XX/XX/XXXX and explained the situation. I was told that no such offer was tied to my account and was told to fax in the screenshots I had to a fax number I was given. I did so on XX/XX/XXXX ; I received no reply. I called in again early XX/XX/XXXX and was told that nothing was received. A new issue was opened, with the person I spoke to telling me that he could find no information in their system about such a promotion having even existed. I was given a different number to fax in my documents, to which I faxed my screenshots, as well as a screenshot of XXXX search results showing numerous sites that had discussed this very popular promotion for close to four months. 

I received word this week that the issue was closed and I would not be receiving my missing XXXX points. I called in again and spoke to several people and was told that Amex did their research and could find no record in their system of such a promotion. The fact that every respected CC news site and message board had discussed this promotion for months was dismissed with the explanation that anything can be found on the Internet and that nothing there is credible -- these are well-known journalistic sites that frequently work with the CC and airline industry. This sounds very XXXX, as they are basically saying that their systems do not have this promotion listed so it must never have existed, despite any evidence to the contrary. Any references I made to the screenshots I took of my application clearly showing the offer were ignored with the reps reiterating that Amex did their research and could not find the promotion. The rep further told me that the screenshot I'd sent listed the promotion ( which they could not find ) was good through XX/XX/XXXX, and their system lists me as having signed up for the card on XX/XX/XXXX so I would not be eligible. This further illustrates the unreliability of their systems as I have a confirmation email from them that was sent on XX/XX/XXXX. I was told that this matter was researched by the marketing team but that I could not speak to anyone in that department. 

Since then, I've searched online and found other people complaining of Amex refusing to honor this exact promotion as early as last spring, only weeks after the ( extended ) promotion itself ended. In essence, Amex is refusing to credit me with XXXX MR points. They are claiming that their research did not find any mention of this promotion and as such refuse to honor it, despite the fact that the entire CC internet community was discussing this promotion for 1/3 of a year and that I have screenshots showing the promotion terms. They refuse to acknowledge the possibility that their systems are in error or that they erased the promotion from their systems ( which would preclude it as showing up under my account or being found through their research -- you can't find that which was erased ), and just repeat the line that their research did not find this promotion so the terms will not be honored.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation