Consumer complaint received 2016-12-28
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NY
Product: Credit card
Issue: Transaction issue

Complaint:
This complaint is about XXXX which recently adopted a poor policy to reduce costs ; a policy which discourages consumers from pursuing their legal rights. 
I have had an XXXX card since XXXX - when I call I am thanked. I have had a XXXX ( XXXX ) card since the program began. I pay $ XXXX/yr for the card. Since XXXX XXXX ( as far as my records go ), total new charges on my personal XXXX card have been {>= $1,000,000} ( attached ). Each month I pay in full and on time. I think I am the perfect card customer but now XXXX has threatened to cancel my card. If this happens, it will cause untold damage to my credit rating and I will lose XXXX XXXX award points. 
Even with thousands of transactions totaling millions of dollars, I am meticulous in checking my statements. Occasionally I dispute a charge. I ONLY dispute transactions which are wrong and IN EVERY CASE for 9 years, the dispute has been resolved in my favor. Now the attached XXXX letter says : '' We discovered the nature and frequency of ( your ) billing disputes is out of the ordinary. We will continue to monitor your account and we reserve the right to cancel your account if we determine that you are not exercising your dispute rights in good faith. If this happens, we will not be able to reinstate your account. '' Complaint. This new " policy '' actively discourages me from pursuing my legal rights. I am not told how the nature of my disputes is " out of the ordinary '', so I ca n't " fix '' it. I am also not told the " ordinary '' frequency of disputes. What I do know is for 9 years, EVERY dispute has been resolved in my favor, which I think clearly shows my good faith. But if XXXX believed this, I would n't have got the letter. Any decision to close my account is without my input and, as the letter states, is not appealable. This puts me in an impossible position. As I do n't know what the issue is, my ONLY option is to dispute fewer wrong items and even then I do n't know if the " nature '' of a dispute will still cause my card to be canceled. I am penalized for the " nature '' and " frequency '' of disputes, even though EVERY one is settled in my favor! This policy is designed only to reduce the number of legitimate disputes. 
2nd complaint. In the letter, XXXX asks me to call a number if I disagree with this evaluation or have questions. On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I spoke with a XXXX supervisor and the recording can easily be reviewed. She told me the dept who sent the letter does n't take incoming calls and even she can only reach them via email. She could n't put me through nor respond to questions. The letter is untruthful and misleading. Those who sent it CAN NOT by design be contacted so it is impossible to understand the exact nature of XXXX 's concerns. 
XXXX complaint. The XXXX policy is flawed. The Supervisor guessed why I had got the letter - she said I was being " warned ''. XXXX deals with disputes in XXXX ways - some go back to merchants but, by its own policy, it " eats '' others. She said XXXX had too many ( small? ) charge-offs from me. She failed to understand that with millions of dollars and thousands of transactions, my account is not " ordinary ''. It would be very surprising if the frequency of my disputes WAS " ordinary ''. She also did n't see that if XXXX returned smaller transactions to the merchant, those would also likely be credited - just as XXXX got credit for 100 % of those it DID return to the merchant! XXXX ca n't choose to eat certain transactions of its own volition - then complain that the frequency of those eaten is too great! 
Final complaint based on facts. In the last 12 months ( attached ) I have had XXXX transactions and charges of {$330000.00}. In the XXXX cases I disputed, EVERY one was settled in my favor.I ca n't tell how much XXXX chooses to " eat '' but I believe it is likely less than 1 % of my charges and is NOT out of the ordinary.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation