Consumer complaint received 2016-08-23
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: TX
Product: Credit card
Issue: Advertising and marketing

Complaint:
I recently applied and was instantly approved ( XXXX/XXXX/2016 ) for the American Express Platinum card through an open online application offering XXXX bonus Membership Rewards points after spending {$3000.00} in the first 3 months. Upon receiving the card, I promptly completed the required spend and waited for the bonus to be awarded. When I had not received the bonus, I proactively called in to verify that all requirements had been met, and I was assured by the phone representative that indeed the requirements had been met and that the bonus would be awarded within a few days. So, I waited a few more days and I was awarded the XXXX bonus points exactly as the rep confirmed. However, on XXXX XXXX, 2016 ( exactly 3 months and 1 day after activating the card thereby initiating the 3 month time clock for the required spend ), AMEX quietly removed the XXXX bonus points from my account without any warning whatsoever. After calling the number on the back of the card to inquire about the situation, I quickly realized that the company 's phone representatives were completely clueless as to why the points had been removed from my account. So, after some brief internet searches, I was able to find that this same issue had happened to numerous consumers who like myself had applied for the card under the same offer and also had their bonus award removed. The general consensus seemed to be that AMEX was claiming that myself as well as many others who had signed up for this {$450.00} annual fee card were in violation of the terms and conditions of the offer. It seems that the offer was not meant to be available to the general public, but had been mistakenly put up online and many people had taken advantage of this lucrative offer. I understand that AMEX went to their fine print T & C 's looking for a way out of awarding the bonus and decided that they could retroactively remove the bonus after the 3 month initial spend requirement deadline had passed. 
OK - so AMEX accidentally posts a link to an offer that they never intended to go public, but they go ahead and approve the card application, collect the annual fee, then after the consumer completes the requirements for the bonus they both VERBALLY CONFIRM and go forward with AWARDING the bonus, this seems to be a direct indication to the consumer that ALL REQUIREMENTS HAVE INDEED BEEN MET. Then exactly one day after that period has passed, the company retroactively retracts those points claiming a violation of T & C 's? So should n't I also have the right to retroactively and unilaterally decide to retract my {$450.00} annual fee from the company? My point is not whether on not the T & C 's were violated, but that by VERBALLY CONFIRMING and then AWARDING the points to the consumers accused of T & C violations American Express ACKNOWLEDGED that all requirements had been met. Then by waiting to redact the points from those members ' accounts until after the 3 month initial period had passed, they effectively prevented consumers from being able to meet the said requirements prior to the deadline. I consider this to be highly deceptive marketing practice, and being a long-time AMEX customer, this is a very disappointing response to an error that occurred wholly on their side by inadvertently releasing the offer to the public. If AMEX feels that it is completely within their rights to intentionally wait until the period had passed to do a " chargeback '' on the consumers who bolster their bottom line, it should also be well within our rights as consumers to perform a " chargeback '' on the {$450.00} annual fee we each paid to apply for this card. 
AMEX should be held accountable for this action, and forced to offer consumers either a refund of their annual fee or an additional 3 months to complete the requirements. This is the United States not XXXX, right? Maybe they should rename the company the XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation