Consumer complaint received 2021-06-22
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NY
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
I decided to purchase this course ( XXXX Winners ) to become a seller on XXXX. 

On the XXXX  call, they ( The merchant ) showed me the results of previous students they claimed to have trained in their course. These students were supposedly successful. I decided that I would pay for the training and was comfortable doing that because of the results that they showed. 

More importantly, I had seven ( 7 ) days to cancel if I found the course unsatisfactory and as agreed in their contract. The {$5000.00} was charged to my credit card on XX/XX/2021. 

I asked the seller in the XXXX call if {$500.00} would be enough to start this business, and they said yes. That was misleading. There are so many product cost, inspection cost, subscription cost, operating cost, and other expenses required to do this business which were not disclosed during their marketing call. While going through their course, I realized that their sales call was extensively misleading. They did not disclose everything that was required to pursue selling on XXXX, which includes capital and the operations that would be required. 

On XX/XX/2021, I reached out to the seller to request a refund five days into the course and was denied even though I was within the agreed-upon time to get a refund seeing that I was not satisfied with what I paid for. 

The seller 's response to my email requesting a refund ; " Thank you for reading the agreement and filling out the form ; it is attached to this email. Unfortunately, as you have not taken any action as you have also provided in the form, this does not qualify for a refund. But as you said, you are not ready at this time ; please come back when you are, and we can continue : ). '' So basically, the seller told me I did not qualify for a refund because I did not take the action they wanted me to take but subsequently told American Express that I did not qualify for a refund because I had watched 86 % of their course. This completely contradicts everything. 

On XX/XX/2021, the seller removed my account from the XXXX group that was a supplement to the training that I paid for. My account 's access to the training was also terminated. 

I do not find the service the seller provided valuable to me, neither do I want to be affiliated with them anymore ; my only request is to receive a refund. 

As of today, XX/XX/2021, I have access to neither their service nor my {$5000.00}. 

I reach out to American Express, who did an investigation and waited a month for the seller 's rebuttal against my refund For which there could not be any because their service was absolutely misleading. The seller failed to respond to American Express 's response, and American Express credited my account on XX/XX/2021 which I rightfully deserved. 

I later checked and realized that I was charged again on XX/XX/2021, for the amount credited. I am very disappointed with the service that American Express provided to me and appalled by everything done to make this right on my behalf the customer. 

This resolution was realized after I got a letter from American Express in the mail a week later stating the evidence used to decide the case evidence that was false. 
American Express did not give me a chance to refute the merchant 's claim that I had watched 86 % of their course. 

From their evidence, if you look at the percentage of the course, you can see ( even with their bad printing ) that the number does not say 86 %. American Express did not give me a chance to refute the merchant 's claim that I had watched 86 % of their course. 

This is also different from the reason the merchant gave in the email why they did not give me a refund when I reached out to them on day five before contacting American Express to do the chargeback on my behalf. 

I do not agree with how this was handled and, as a result, would like for this to be disputed and credited to me. I feel like I have been robbed and have no interest in using the service that the seller has which is of no value to me at all. 
My experience with this has been atrocious and have made me severely anxious, disheartened, and devastated I called American Express again on XX/XX/2021, about another dispute I put in on XX/XX/2021, that was closed on XX/XX/2021. According to customer service, there is no way to speak directly to someone from the dispute department to get a thorough explanation of my case or additional steps that I can take to resolve my issue, and I am only allowed two disputes and can no longer dispute this any further. 

They told me that there is nothing else that they can do, and my only option is to reach out to the merchant. I do not think that enough was done on my behalf by American Express. 

I reached out to the merchant, the owner, and XXXX of XXXX winners, XXXX XXXX, with refund in my email, and the merchant replied, you already did a chargeback to get your {$5000.00}. I have no idea what youre talking about. 

I would greatly appreciate your help in this matter so that I am credited the {$5000.00} back to my credit card and finally be able to put all of this behind me. Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief