Consumer complaint received 2019-10-22
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: TX
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:
Consumer Finance Protection Bureau Complaint filed XX/XX/2019 - I was purchasing airline tickets from XXXX today, XX/XX/XXXX, and in the purchase screen was an option to apply for a Delta Gold Sky Miles AmEx card, which, if approved and used for this purchase, would qualify for a {$250.00} statement credit in 8-12 weeks. 
- I selected the option, which opened a clearly labeled third-party popup screen, through which I read the terms and completed the application. In that popup I quickly received notification that I had been approved, downloaded a PDF with my new card number and temporary CID code, and selected a check box to have my credit card information sent to XXXX to " complete my transaction. '' I have a screenshot of this. 
- The popup timed out and closed and the XXXX   checkout screen refreshed, populated with the new credit card information. 
- I rechecked the info and clicked Process Payment, but got an error message saying that the " credit card ID number '' was invalid. I have a screenshot of this. I re-entered the credit card information, processed again, and got a popup window saying that XXXX did not accept temporary credit card numbers and would deny travel if I showed up at the airport without the physical card used to purchase the tickets and photo ID. 
- I called the AmEx customer service number on the new card PDF and was told that the charge for the tickets had been approved, multiple times, and that I might need to expedite delivery of the card to have it in time for my flight. AmEx agent XXXX told me this was a " known issue '' and to contact XXXX Global Ticketing. She provided a number. 
-I called XXXX global ticketing, held for 30 minutes, spoke with XXXX , who located the attempted transaction with my Sky Miles number, and tried to process it again with the new credit card info. She got the same error message. She then created a new transaction and tried again. Same error, but she saved the record, and told me to contact AmEx to see why it wouldn't go through, and to call back to complete the transaction. 
- I called AmEx customer service again, this time spoke with XXXX, who transferred me to New Accounts. The rep in New Accounts said he was not the right person and transferred me back to Customer Service, where a rep named XXXX eventually said that I would need to have XXXX  contact AmEx to complete the transaction, and he gave me an AmEx number to give XXXX. 
- I called XXXX again, held for 30 minutes again, spoke with XXXX, who said she could not contact AmEx, the problem was a " known issue '' in XXXX   ticketing, and I should call AmEx New Accounts because XXXX had determined that AmEx was issuing erroneous temporary CID codes with these credit cards and that's why the transactions were rejected. 
- I called AmEx New Accounts, spoke with XXXX, waited on hold 10 minutes, got transferred to XXXX, who told me that multiple charges for the tickets had been approved, but that if they weren't going through because XXXX was rejecting the temporary CID, it meant I couldn't make a purchase until I had the physical card in hand. She put me on hold for another 10 minutes, then told me that I could request expedited delivery of the card if I called back tomorrow, but she couldn't enter that request today. She said to call XXXX in the meanwhile to request that they put my transaction on hold until the card arrives " since it's their fault you can't buy the tickets now. '' - I accessed my online AmEx account and discovered that there were 14 pending transactions from XXXX on the new apparently unusable card, all for the same amount. XXXX?! I have a screenshot of this. 
- I called XXXX ticketing, waited on hold for 20 minutes, and was told by XXXX that the pending charges would drop in 1-2 days and that the valid transaction could be put on hold for 6 calendar days to give time for the card to arrive. That's the potential resolution for this situation : hope the purchase can be made with the physical card 's CID number. 
- I am filing a complaint because I applied for this credit card, advertised as usable for a same-day transaction upon approval, and after being approved, it was not usable for the transaction the same day. Worse, it took me 3 hours of calling customer service lines for two companies to get to a potential resolution ( time will be the tell if it works ) despite the fact that my problem with this Delta Gold Sky Miles AmEx card is apparently a " known issue '' at both companies. If it's a " known issue, '' why are XXXX and AmEx still advertising this product as usable for same-day purchases? Do they make extra money off of me spending 3 hours of my day calling their customer service lines? The only reason I applied for this card was to use it for a same-day purchase that would qualify for a statement credit. If I had known what a hassle this would be, I obviously would have found another solution to purchase these tickets. 
- Sidenote : why am I getting these plane tickets? Because I need to attend my grandmother 's funeral a thousand miles away. That reason doesn't make these companies any more culpable, but it contextualizes my level of effort and grievance.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation