Consumer complaint received 2022-01-14
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: TN
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms

Complaint:
During a XX/XX/2021 stay at a Hilton XXXX, I received an advertisement for a Hilton Honors American Express card while connecting to the hotel 's WiFi. The advertisement offered a {$300.00} statement credit upon approval for the card and my paying for a Hilton stay using the card. 

The promotion 's " Offer Terms '' included the following clause - in bold : " If you apply and are approved for this Card during your stay at a property within the Hilton  portfolio, you may use the Card during your stay by adding the Card to your digital wallet and then paying with the Card through digital wallet at checkout. '' I fully relied on this clause when deciding to apply for the card, because I was, in fact, in the middle of a stay at a Hilton portfolio property and did, in fact, intend to pay for that stay with the new card upon approval. I would not have applied for the card if I was not going to be able to pay for that stay with the card. 

I was approved for the card, but when I went to check out, I was unable to add the new card to my digital wallet. I called American Express customer service, and was told I would not be able to add the card to my digital wallet until i received the physical card in the mail. I would need the four-digit " card ID '' number from the front of the physical card before I could add the card to my digital wallet. The card would not be delivered - to my home address- for well over a week, long after I was checked out from the hotel. Because I obviously could not check out without paying for my stay, I paid with another card. American Express provided no way for me to pay for the stay with my new card, despite the terms of the offer I had just accepted. 

Subsequent calls to American Express customer service in the weeks since have proved fruitless. Two different cases were created to review the situation ( XXXX XXXX. XXXX and XXXX ), but the supervisory representatives I spoke with assured me that I ultimately would not receive the {$300.00} statement credit or any sort of promotion, compensation, or recompense from them, as I had not paid for my Hilton stay with the newly issued card. They were unconcerned with, and wholly unmoved by, the fact that I had attempted in good faith to abide by the terms of the offer provided, but was frustrated in that attempt because they provided me no means by which to add the new card to my digital wallet, as I had previously been instructed to do. I asked them what I was supposed to have done differently, and never received an adequate response. They just repeated the assertion that there was nothing they would/could do because there was no payment to a Hilton  property made from my card. 

I believe American Express is acting in bad faith. I was baited into applying for the card by the promotional offer, which appeared to provide a clear means for me to pay for my current stay using the new card. They then prevented me from doing so, contrary to that offer 's terms. I now have a card that I otherwise would not have applied for, my credit rating took a hit as a result of the inquiry AmEx put on it when I submitted my application, and I have received no satisfaction or service from American Express at any point during my time as a client. American Express set the terms of its promotional offer. I should not be penalized because they subsequently failed to abide by those terms.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief