Consumer complaint received 2015-10-09
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Prepaid card
Sub-product: Gift or merchant card
Issue: Managing, opening, or closing account

Complaint:
I was given a American Express egift card XX/XX/XXXX. When I tried to use the remaining balance on the card in XXXX this year, I could no longer retrieve the card number from the initial link sent from American Express in an email. So I called the American Express gift card customer services, and below is what happened : On XX/XX/XXXX, I called customer services, was told my egift card was replaced with a new card and I should receive in XXXX hours in an emailOn XX/XX/XXXX, I called again since I did n't receive the email. I was told the replacement did n't happen last time, but now it was really replaced, and I should receive 24-36 hoursOn XX/XX/XXXX I called again since I still did n't receive the email. I requested to talk to a supervisor, named XXXX, and he said they needed to try again, and I should receive in XXXX hours. XXXX also said if still not working, they would expedite a physical cardOn XX/XX/XXXX, I had to call again because I still received nothing. I talked to another supervisor, XXXX. She said to she would n't send a physical card and needed to try a different email address. I gave a different email, and was told that I should receive in XXXX hours. By the way, all my email IDs are working fine receiving all legit emails, including those emails from Amex on other business. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I had to call again, I talked to agent XXXX, and he told me that XXXX hours waiting was not enough, needed to wait for XXXX hours then call backOn XX/XX/XXXX, I called again. Another agent XXXX told me they could not issue a physical card. But he sent an email to their Concerns team for approval of physical card, and I needed to call back in 3-5 business days to see if Concerns department would approve the physical card. also XXXX agreed to ask XXXX to give me a call back in an hour, but no one ever called me back. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called again. Got to connect to the supervisor XXXX, he did n't seem to remember anything about this and he was still asking me if I preferred ecard or physical card, and I had to explain the ecard not working and the whole history. Then he checked with their Concerns department. After I was put on hold for XXXX minutes, he still insisted they could only do an ecard, and what to do the same thing as they did and failed for XXXX times already, even wanted to ask me for yet another email address. I then told him that he was just trying to get me dealt with without resolving the issue and I would definitely make the whole experiences known to others if they didb't resolve it in a satisfactory way. Then he put me on hold and then told me he would escalate me to the Concern department to issue a physical card. When I questioned him what about the outcome of last time they sent my case to the Concerns department, he just dodged my question and put me on hold again. Then came back and told me that he saw the last escalation to Concerns department, but they had not responded, and he just re-escalated again. He also confirmed my mailing address again where the card should be sent. He asked me to wait for XXXX business days to receive the physical card. 

It has since been a month, and I never received any physical or ecard, no one at American Express attempted to contact me at all. I have no way to access my remaining balance on my egift card. Now I believe no one at American Express has the true interest to solve the problem for me and let me to use my money. 

I am not sure if CFPB can help me, but I believe I need to make the extremely poor customer experiences known to other consumers and to American Express. To say the least I will NOT use any American Express for my gift card needs for a long long time.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief