Consumer complaint received 2016-08-27
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Rewards

Complaint:
Timeline of events : * On XXXX XXXX, 2016, I applied for the American Express Platinum card and the application was approved. 
* The sign-up included a {$450.00} annual fee to be charged immediate to the account, as well as a XXXX Membership Rewards ( MR ) bonus if the card was charged at least {$3000.00} in the first 3 months of the account opening. 
* On XXXX XXXX, 2016, American Express deposited XXXX MR points to my account after meeting the terms and conditions to receive the bonus points. Noted on the MR account as " Platinum $ XXXX spnd/XXXX MR Pts ''. 
* On XXXX XXXX, 2016 -- 3 months and a few days after opening the account -- American Express deducted XXXX MR points from my account as a " Point Adjustment ''. 
* On XXXX XXXX, 2016, I called American Express customer support and Membership Rewards support, both of whom said the deduction was a result of a return on the account. Upon further review with both sets of representatives and customer support supervisor, they determined the returns still exceeded the {$3000.00} minimum in order to keep the XXXX MR bonus. A MR Inquiry was opened to investigate the cause of the missing points, with agents quoted to saying the {$3000.00} was spent. Agents said I should expect correspondence from American Express within 24-48 hours -- or XXXX XXXX or XXXX. 
* XXXX XXXX, 2016, I called American Express requesting an update to the missing points. Customer support confirmed the ticket was opened and immediately transferred to me XXXX ( spelling? ) at Membership Rewards Support. She confirmed the inquiry was still ongoing and said I will hear back by XXXX XXXX instead of the XXXX XXXX or XXXX as earlier quoted by other representatives. She as well looked through the account and could n't find reason for the deduction as the {$3000.00} was spent in the required time. She apologized for the position American Express has put themselves into, and was confident I would be able to prevail on XXXX XXXX. We also discussed the awkward position American Express has pushed myself -- the consumer -- into, as they have changed their terms/agreement on the account so that the Annual Fee of {$450.00} would be non-refundable if the account was canceled after XXXX XXXX. 
* XXXX XXXX, 2016, American Express called me with an update with the deduction of points. XXXX ( spelling? ), a Membership Rewards Partner Liaison called and informed me that my Membership Rewards account is under review to ensure the returns were calculated correctly, and may take up to 6-8 weeks to complete. I told her it was completely unacceptable that 1 ) this occurred more than 6-8 weeks after the original points were added to the account, 2 ) this is now happening 6-8 weeks after the returns were processed, 3 ) this is happening moments before the new terms for pro-rated annual fee refunds are put into effect by American Express, and 4 ) the lack of written communication of the issue. XXXX offered to have her supervisor contact me in 1-2 business days, and I accepted the invitation ; however, with the severely constrained timeline at hand, this issue needs to be escalated to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to have American Express respond to these ongoing and mysterious process. 

Estimated loss is XXXX MR , with a conservative value of {$0.00} per point ; plus potential pro-rated annual fee while this dispute is ongoing and will likely surpass the XXXX XXXX date of the pro-rated fee terms change, valued at {$300.00}. Total maximum loss estimated of {$1800.00}.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation