Consumer complaint received 2016-12-09
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: UT
Product: Credit card
Issue: Rewards

Complaint:
I have been with AMEX for many years. In XXXX, I received a American Express Platinum credit card with a promotional offer to receive XXXX Rewards points after spending {$3000.00} in 3 months. I met this requirement in XXXX, on XXXX XXXX XXXX points were awarded to me. On XXXX XXXX I noticed that on XXXX XXXX American Express took back the points without any notice or explanation. XXXX XXXX I called to ask why the points had been removed 3 months after posting. The rep I spoke with said it was due to returned merchandise. They went thru my transactions and concurred that there was nothing that seemed inappropriate and that a partial return of a purchase may have been the problem but was n't a violation. After reviewing the total amount of dollars spent including the partial return of a defective item to a store, I had spent more than the required {$3000.00}. So the rep said they would open a case to review this and I would hear back in a couple of days. 
On XXXX XXXX I still had n't heard back so I chatted. The rep looked at my account and again concurred there did n't seem to be anything wrong and asked if I had purchased any American express gift card. This was confusing since the previous rep stated that it was due to a return. I had not purchased any American express gift card. The rep assured me everything looked fine and that they would escalate the case about getting the points returned. I was contacted on the XXXX XXXX Again, rep stated that it seemed to be due to a return. I verified that after the review I should n't be concerned about not getting the points back since there was nothing inappropriate. During this week I received a letter dated XXXX/XXXX/2016 stating that my points had been removed due to " activity '' - " that indicates an effort to obtain and use points in a manner that is not appropriate '' ( I guessed the returned item ). However, I disregarded this letter since it was dated before the date of XXXX/XXXX/16 when I had spoken to this rep for further review. 
XXXX XXXX She contacted us again, she also asked about XXXX checks which I did not purchase either. I had purchased a couple gift cards, a variety that are n't " re-loadable ''. She did n't think this was the problem. She would escalate and they would be in contact again. 
After a week I still had n't heard anything or received notification so we contacted member rewards services. I was informed that it was still being reviewed and that I should know by XXXX to which I protested since I was planning some travel and had anticipated using some of my points. They said I would just need to wait for the results. 
After completing my travel and returning in XXXX, we called about the results.We were told that the investigation had been finished and that I was sent a letter on XX/XX/XXXX16? with the results stating that the reason was due to purchase of gift cards and furthermore there was nothing else to be done.? 
In the terms and conditions on American Expresses very own website it states " The following transactions are n't eligible purchases and you wo n't earn points for them : '' " Purchases of American Express XXXX or American Express XXXX Gift XXXX '' Purchases and loads of reloadable prepaid cards '', '' American Express Gift Cards purchased online. '' There is no mention of non-reloadable gift cards and if there had been, I would not have purchased them, if this was the problem. 
These are efforts by American Express to arbitrarily back out of this promotional agreement. This was not in good faith, American express awarded me these points and then waited until my time period to fulfill the requirements had expired to take away the points and tell me I had not met the requirements. And on each occasion they indicated to me a different reason of why they had removed the points, they were simply looking for any excuse to not fulfill this promotion.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation