Consumer complaint received 2018-05-30
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
To whom it may concern I would like to file a formal complaint against two entities who I believe have not only treated me unfairly, but have committed fraud and lied to me at every turn. Those companies are American express and XXXX XXXX. It is my belief they are taking advantage of me because of my XXXX heritage. I moved here from XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. I love America and became an American citizen in XX/XX/XXXX. I have adapted well to America but I still struggle with the language. I dont possess the language intricacies necessary to make good arguments for myself. I have been taken advantage of by both companies because of this problem I have enlisted the help of a friend to help with this letter and matter. A while back my father in XXXX was attacked by a XXXX XXXX. I had not been back to XXXX for ten years and needed to go see him in case he did not survive. 

I called XXXX XXXX  to arrange the trip and buy the ticket. It is hard to tell where they are at, but I believe the call center is in XXXX. I purchased the ticket on XX/XX/XXXX. I was suppose to pay XXXX. This included the ticket, financial charges, fees and taxes for round trip.. My budget was {$3000.00}. I was suppose from fly XXXX to XXXX to Alaska to XXXX XXXX. I paid on American express. 
I then started receiving numerous tickets ( 13 or more ) from XXXX XXXX  with open dates and also it was not round trip but one way. Instead of round trip XXXX-XXXX-Alaska and back originally supposed to be {$600.00} they changed ticket to two one way tickets XXXX-XXXX-Alaska and back Alaska-XXXX-XXXX wich leads to unauthotised extra charges of {$670.00}. I was getting to confused as to why this was happening. They also started charging me more fees. They charged my card without permission. ( statements attached ) Then more and more nonstop charges were coming through. I tried to call them and but none of them could speak XXXX and they started transferring me through numerous representatives. I was on the phone for hours. At that point I tried to cancel. That prompted them to hang up on me constantly and I never could cancel the tickets. 
On the second or third of XX/XX/XXXX I called American express to cancel the trip and dispute the charges and stop the constant charges. We were up to {$3400.00}. American express credited all that money back to me and proceeded with dispute. 
On XXXX XXXX XXXX  charged me another {$2600.00}. then XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX they charged another {$1100.00}. By the end of XX/XX/XXXX it was {$4200.00}. Some of these were duplicate charges. For example {$200.00} and {$480.00} plus fees and taxes was charged 3 times!!! American express had failed to block them. So then I called American Express to open a second dispute and asked them why they failed to block this company. American express transferred me for hours also. American express got us together on a recorded conference call with XXXX XXXX. XXXX was the rep at XXXX XXXX. His number is XXXX. XXXX. 
It was decided that XXXX XXXX had made an error and if I agreed to pay {$200.00} for XXXX XXXX and {$480.00} for XXXX cancellation fee then all would be cancelled and all additional charges would be credited back to me. All was recorded and the American express representatives informed me they have those tapes. 
Then the next day XXXX XXXX charged me for {$200.00} and {$480.00} They credited nothing back. I had paid my part as agreed. This caused me to be charged late fees by American Express. My credit card was paid off on starting this mess. I was unable to go see my father who was in hospital. I finally went in XX/XX/XXXX by going through XXXX with no complications. But I had to buy different tickets on another credit card. 
In XX/XX/XXXX I opened a 3rd dispute and in one week American Express refused that dispute even though they had a recorded phone call. I have never received anything from anyone nor did I get any tickets. This all totals {$4500.00} plus interest charges and late fees. I was forced to transfer this to another credit card to stop these absorbent fees and charges. I have been trying to pay this off ever since. 
I am lost as to what to do, I can not afford a lawyer. I did not know what to do. Please help me. 
I have enclosed the statements to verify everything here. American express refused to supply me with the recorded phone call and they told me it was to late. They admitted they have it and I would have to get a court order to obtain the call. I feel they have stolen my money in addition to charging me more after they made an agreement. 

Thank you for your help in this matter.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation