Consumer complaint received 2016-01-21
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Credit card
Issue: Billing statement

Complaint:
Earlier today I had an extended conversation with someone at American Express who identified himself, I believe, as, " XXXX. '' We were discussing several issues with my latest bill. The closing date for this bill was XXXX XXXX, 2016, or four days ago. There was a faint periodic beeping sound in the background which makes me assume that the conversation was recorded. Previously, I have been told by AMEX that conversations I 've had with it are recorded. 

I asked XXXX to have AMEX print and identify an actual statement date on the bills it sends to me for my account with it. He claimed that the closing date was ( and is always ) the statement date, although nowhere on the bill does it state that the closing date is the actual date on which the bill is printed. At minimum, it is confusing not to have a statement date clearly and unequivocally identified as the actual date that the bill was printed. It is not necessarily the case that a billing closing date is identical with the date on which a credit card bill is printed, for each and every bill. Yet XXXX indicated that, at AMEX, the closing date identified on bills is identical with the print date of any particular bill, despite what is clearly shown and clearly lacking on the bill itself. 

Later on in the conversation, we discussed a part of the bill that is unfair, deceptive and/or abusive. This seems true as much as, or more than, AMEX 's intentional omission of the print date on the bill. Specifically, on page XXXX of this bill, appeared a purported tally of cash back rewards. XXXX pointed out that rewards earned during the period covered by this bill are not actually granted until after payment is received, although he did not indicate just when or how long after payment is received, the reward points are, in fact, granted. This is confusing in itself, given the presentation of the {$45.00} displayed on page XXXX of this bill that was earned during this billing cycle. Yet more telling, however, is the fact that once the cash back that was used during the period of this bill ( {$25.00} ) is subtracted from the amount of cash back that unequivocally had been granted previously, prior to this billing period ( {$60.00} ), I should be left with {$35.00} in cash back rewards. Of this, I should, according to AMEX 's own advertised rules, be allowed to claim another {$25.00} of the {$35.00} as credit on my account. Yet, to the point of the unfairness, deception and abuse that I assert, I can not do so. 

Today when I checked my " Rewards Dollars '' on AMEX 's website, both before and after I spoke to XXXX, it displays only {$10.00} rather than {$35.00} for my reward dollars. If we take XXXX 's claims at face value, that this bill was in fact printed on XXXX XXXX, 2016, only four days ago, as of XXXX XXXX, I should have had {$35.00} in the rewards account, as represented on the statement. Given that I have not claimed a {$25.00} credit during the four days since then, I should still, as of today, not have so few rewards dollars that I could not even make the {$25.00} minimum that AMEX requires for me to claim any credits to my account at all. 

Regrettably, the unfairness, deception and abuse did not end there, however. As I made this very point to XXXX, that, even if we took the last reward earnings of {$45.00} indicated on page XXXX of the last bill out of the discussion, I should still have {$35.00} reward dollars left over, the recorded line on which I was speaking to XXXX was suddenly disconnected. Neither have I heard from AMEX since this happened an hour or more ago. XXXX did not call me back or explain the discrepancies I 've indicated between what AMEX states and what it credits. 

I am attaching PDFs of the last bill from AMEX ( 1 ), as well as XXXX screen shots ( 2 ) printed from AMEX 's website today, XXXX XXXX, 2016, that show only {$10.00} in my rewards account.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation