Consumer complaint received 2021-03-10
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: WA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
I have been looking at premium rewards flights on XXXX since XX/XX/XXXX. This is also the first day when flights opened up as transiting restrictions in XXXX are lifted. On XX/XX/XXXX midnight, immediately upon checking availability I initiated a transfer of MR points from my American Express account to XXXX miles. The process is documented to take 2-4 days. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at midnight, after 4 days have passed, the transfer turned out unsuccessful and the points are credited back to my American Express account. In that morning, I called American Express MR department, and speculated that XXXX XXXX rejection of transfer was due to a mismatch in the account holder 's name. 

Later, I called XXXX and obtained a more specific reason of failure : the last name they received from American Express was incomplete. These kinds of things tend to happen to me more frequently than it should when both my last name and first name have a space. In the transfer request that American Express sent to XXXX, my last name did not have the parts before the space. 

In the two calls that morning, the first agent was unable to offer any reasonable help : I was suggested that I could change my name on file, which isn't feasible as that is my legal name written on my passport. I was also suggested I could use the points in a different way that wouldn't have to go through XXXX, which again isn't feasible since the redemption rate is much poorer through other means. After turning down those suggestions, I was about to be sent off, but what XXXX me off the most was, instead of the typical " is there anything I can do for you? '' farewell, she specifically amended it to something like " is there anything within my power that I can do for you? " ; how in the heck would I know? To be honest, there had to be things she could do, but she just didn't seem to want to. 

The second agent that I reached after I gathered more information from XXXX was much more caring and deserved a shoutout. She initiated the transfer for me again and offered to follow up the next day and opened a case with XXXX so that my points can be transferred manually XXXX case the automated process fails again. She did call back the next day on XX/XX/XXXX and promised that she would update me with any news by Tuesday. 

Now on XX/XX/XXXX, it has passed midnight and 4 days have passed since the second initiation of the transfer. The miles aren't showing up on XXXX, the points haven't been refunded back to my American Express account, there was no follow up from the agent, and the worst of all, the award space has disappeared on XXXX XXXX website. That's why I decided to submit this complaint because, even if the miles were to appear in the morning eventually, I wouldn't be able to use them to redeem my flights at least for the time being. 

The agents on the phone may be powerless, but how is it any less so for me? 

First, the transfers take a long time, and they take even longer to fail : the first transfer took a full 4 days. Any attempt to fix a rejection means well another 4 days of time spent, and the result could well be a failure again. This is especially frustrating since the rewards space can become unavailable anytime ; a 2-day wait is already on the verge of not-okay, not to mention a 4-day one, or an 8-day one, or an even longer wait ( since the miles are still not transferred ). 

Second, being suggested another way to use the points instead of my intended way is outrageous. These benefits are being marketed to get people to use the product. It is utterly unacceptable to cease to offer a publicly advertised service because of, effectively, a conveniently broken system. If even this were acceptable, would it be also acceptable to be " unable '' to offer any way to redeem points, just because the whole system is broken?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation