Consumer complaint received 2019-05-17
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
I am disputing the annual fee refund of {$87.00} dated XX/XX/XXXX against an annual fee of {$95.00} assessed on XX/XX/XXXX for my Amex Blue Cash Preferred credit card account. 

On my billing statement with closing date XX/XX/XXXX, I was assessed an annual fee of {$95.00}, with the charge posting on the same date. At the time that the fee was assessed, I had not made any new charges on the account since XX/XX/XXXX, so I considered whether I wanted to keep the card account and pay the annual fee or close the card for an annual fee refund. 

In my decision-making process, I relied on the following language in my cardholder agreement : You may close your Account by calling us or writing to us. 
If an Annual Membership fee applies, we will refund this fee if you notify us that you are voluntarily closing your Account within 30 days of the Closing Date of the billing statement on which that fee appears. For cancellations after this 30 day period, the Annual Membership fee is non-refundable. If an Annual Membership fee applies to your Account, it is shown on page 1 and page 2 of Part 1 of the Cardmember Agreement. 

Ultimately, I decided to close my credit card account. On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted customer service via the telephone number listed on the back of my Amex Blue Cash Preferred credit card with the intention of cancelling the account. This contact was within the 30-day period allowed in the cardmember agreement for closing the card for a full annual fee refund. 

When I reached a customer service representative and communicated my intention to close my account because I did not want to pay the annual fee, the representative offered to downgrade my Blue Cash Preferred account to the Blue Cash Everyday product. 

In my communications with the representative, I understood the offer to mean that upon the completion of the downgrade process, I would be able to keep the credit card account open and have my annual fee refunded. I had not made use of the card since XX/XX/XXXX and this appeared to be a logical and reasonable retention offer from Amex. 

I accepted the offer given by the representative. My online account reflected the change in card product, and I later received updated cards and documents reflecting the change. However, sometime later, I checked the card account activity online and noticed that the " ADJUST MEMBERSHIP FEE '' transaction was a credit only in the amount of {$87.00}, rather than the full {$95.00} I was expecting. 

On the afternoon of XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted customer service again via telephone to inquire about the discrepancy. The representative I spoke to mentioned something about the amount being a result of annual fee proration, but offered to submit a dispute inquiry for the discrepancy in what I was expecting. I was placed on a hold for several minutes, but the representative never returned back to the line and it appeared that the call was ultimately dropped. 

Later in the day, I contacted customer service again to inquire again about my issue, as I did not believe I had concluded my business in the previous call. This time, the representative I spoke to said something to the effect that my reduced refund was a result of my card having been open at the time the fee was assessed, and that my request to adjust the amount of the annual fee would not be considered. 

Assuming that what the representative stated was accurate, I am troubled for several reasons. The first is that, assuming that I have characterized the policy correctly, the proration of annual fees even for downgrade requests within 30 days after the assessment of the annual fee was not clearly communicated to me. I do not recall the representative with whom I requested account closure say that the annual fee assessed would not be refunded to me in full. If I had been aware of this fact, I would have chosen to close the card account instead. 

The second reason is that the annual fee refund posted past the 30-day period mentioned in the cardholder agreement in which I would be entitled to a full annual fee refund if I closed the account. If this had happened earlier within the cancellation window, I could have had the opportunity to change my mind and decide to close the account instead. At this point in time, I am outside the stated period, so a request to close the account now would not have any effect on the annual fee refund. 

In addition, this proration policy was unexpected to me, having dealt with annual fee refunds from account downgrades and closures with other issuers before ( e.g., XXXX and XXXX XXXX ). In those situations, I have received full annual fee refunds whenever they were requested within the stated annual fee refund period. Amex 's policy does not seem to be in line with the practices of other credit card issuers. 

I will also observe that, as I had not used my card for purchases since XX/XX/XXXX, I could hardly be claimed to be taking advantage of Amex 's annual fee refund policy by making use of card benefits just before requesting an annual fee refund by account closure. If I had requested full account closure in my original contact with customer service, I don't believe I would be in this situation now. 

To date, I have had mostly positive interactions with Amex, and I have other card accounts with Amex. I feel that on this issue, however, I have been misled by Amex customer service, preventing me from attaining the full annual fee refund by account closure that I originally intended. My customer service experience makes me reconsider whether I should continue to keep my card accounts open and use them for purchases in the future.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation