Consumer complaint received 2021-12-24
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: PA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
To whom it may concern, I am an American Express credit cards customer, and my membership rewards account has been disabled to use. When I try to transfer points to airlines ( for a holiday ticket ) it failed and shows This action will not be completed at this time because your account is currently being reviewed to make sure all eligible purchases meet qualifying criteria. 

I have contacted Amex customer service and got replied with the following info : XXXX. No specific reason for this review was provided. 
XXXX. No specific finishing time was provided, only to be told that the review process will be XXXX weeks from the day I get the most recent welcome bonus XXXX XXXX XXXX 
XXXX. I can not use my rewards points until they finish the review process. 

I think their reply and solution are unreasonable and irresponsible. 
I applied for American Express XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and got approved the same day. In the package of my physical card, the term says I will get a XXXX membership reward as a welcome bonus if I spend {$6000.00} in the first XXXX months ( which is from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, currently still within the time period ). I have attached my transaction history and it can clearly show how much I spend from the day I opened the account to now, which exceeds {$6000.00}. And I believe none of my transactions is violating American Express terms. 

According to my membership rewards history, XXXX points were added to my account on XX/XX/XXXX, which I DID NOT meet the minimum spending yet at that time. American Express MISTAKENLY issued the welcome bonus points to my account at that time. My transaction history shows I AM eligible for the XXXX welcome bonus, just American Express issued it to me at the WRONG time point. Im not sure if this is the reason that my account gets reviewed, but I believe this is totally not my fault, and I shouldnt have been losing my right to use my legitimate points due to American Expresss mistake. 

Besides, my questions and doubts for American Express are as follow : XXXX. I havent received any kind of notification ( email or paper mail ) about the review of my membership reward account. My card is not disabled and can be used without any problem. As a customer, I believed I have the right to know whether my account is available to use or not, and I should be notified if theres any problem happen. 
XXXX. According to the customer services reply, the review process began at the time I received the bonus, which is XX/XX/XXXX, and will last XXXX weeks. Today is XX/XX/XXXX, which is XXXX weeks from XX/XX/XXXX, far beyond XXXX weeks, and my account is still in review. I wonder how long it will actually take for the review process. 
XXXX. Even if theres some problem you need to review for the new bonus points ( which I believe I dont have any ), my existing points should not be affected to use. You can just put a pending status on the points with problem, instead of unable my whole account and dont let me use my past legitimate points. 

I have been an American Express customer since XXXX, and I am really disappointed with this problem.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief