Consumer complaint received 2022-12-19
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NC
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card

Complaint:
I received an offer from American Express to open a " Blue Cash Preferred Card '' with a bonus if you spend {$3000.00} within the first 6 months, you earn a {$370.00} statement credit - which I did. About 11 months in, I paid off the card and, since it was going to cost me an annual fee of {$95.00}, I decided to call up and cancel the card. The Amex CSR who took the call said she was sad that I was canceling the card but would I be interested in the regular Blue Cash card that had no annual fee? I said as long as that's not a problem, I would do that. So she read me the terms and I said yes and they sent me the new card. 

About a month later, I get a letter from Amex saying that because I closed the account before 1 year, the {$370.00} statement credit I got back earlier in the year was going to be charged back to me ( this was not disclosed to me when I downgraded or I obviously wouldn't have downgraded ). I called up Amex and spoke to a " XXXX '' in customer service and explained the situation to him. He said that the CSR should have appraised me of that fact and I agreed. He said he would escalate this to whoever that department that listens to the tapes is for resolution. I waited about a week and received no word from Amex. 

I call again and repeat the story and I am told that they " closed '' the matter ( without the courtesy of telling me ) as the clawback was " disclosed in the terms and conditions of the card when I received it ''. I reviewed all the terms and conditions I received when I opened the card. The ONLY thing that even mentions the statement credit is a sales brochure that only says what I wrote about it above ( copy attached ) - nothing about it being clawed back if the card is downgraded or canceled. 

I called again today and repeated the story and asked ger for a supervisor to show me where this clawback feature is mentioned. I also SPECIFICALLY asked her to make sure that the supervisor is using disclosures written as of XX/XX/2022 which is when I received the first card. She puts me on with " XXXX '', a customer service manager who " has been with Amex for 15 years '' and knows all about the disclosures. I told him what I have and asked him where it is and he goes on to read me a " bulleted disclosure that I should have received '' when I opened the account - which I did not. He then goes on to ask me what my email is because it was sent to me when I opened my account. I told him and asked him to hold on and let me pull that up. I open it and there is no mention of it and I offer to send it to him and he then says " I didn't say it was in that email '' (?? ) I said then why did you ask what my email was and he says he didn't say that (?? According to their automated recording when you call in, these calls are all recorded so you can see what I am saying is true ). I said I received no " bulleted disclosure '' and I have all the terms and conditions ( sections XXXX and XXXX of XXXX - attached ) that mentioned nothing of the clawback. XXXX then goes on to say that it's on the Amex website. I say just because it's on the website NOW doesn't mean it was there in XXXX. He reiterates that " he's been here 15 years and it's always been there ''. He goes on to say that when I signed up for the card online, I checked a box that says I agree about the clawback feature. I said " Really? Well that's great. Can you email me that form that shows I did that and we can end this whole disagreement? '' And he says " No, I can't email it unless I get a subpoena to do so. '' I said " What? You can't send your customer a copy of something I supposedly signed without a subpoena? '' And he said that's right. 

There was no disclosure whatsoever in the paperwork included - nor the paperwork or advertising about this credit other than what I received. I paid this {$370.00} fee to them because I didn't want to get a negative mark on my credit but I want them to refund this fee immediately.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation