Consumer complaint received 2016-11-08
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Advertising and marketing

Complaint:
Dear CFPB, I am writing to ask for your assistance in resolving an issue I currently have with American Express Platinum Credit Card. Please investigate this bank for possible unfair & unethical practices against their consumers. XX/XX/XXXX, I applied for the American Express Platinum Card, which promised a XXXX bonus after spending {$3000.00} in 3 months. This card also carries a {$450.00} annual fee and it only offers the consumer a one-time ability to receive this XXXX bonus. I had successfully met this requirement after the first month and was subsequently awarded XXXX points. I 'm attaching my XX/XX/XXXX statement which will illustrate the spending I had done and the XX/XX/XXXX statement which indicates the bonus I had received. This bonus was consistently reflected in my account for 3 months until my XX/XX/XXXX bill. To my dismay, the XXXX bonus was rescinded by AMEX alleging that I had purchased gift cards to meet my spending requirement. They had stated that gift cards are not considered " purchases '' but their terms only mention " prepaid cards '' and not " gift cards '' I asserted that I was not aware of this stipulation ; otherwise, I would have not used the card to purchase gift cards. I also argued why it took them 3 months to provide me with this critical information, thus completely obliterating my ability to rectify my action by making valid purchases. They reasoned that it took their system 3 months to figure out the nature of my transactions. I deal with numerous banks constantly and this was the first time that I had encountered a bank requiring 3 months to inform their consumers that their spending would not be eligible to receive points. To add insult to injury, American Express did not remove the XXXX bonus on my statements, therefore lending me the impression that I had satisfactorily fulfilled my spending requirement. They only meted out this severe utterly consumer-unfriendly decision after the 3-month period was over, consequently leaving me powerless to do anything and feeling shortchanged and deceived. American Express has taken my {$450.00}. At the very least, they should have demonstrated fair and responsible conduct by being honest and transparent to their consumers. What they displayed in this circumstance was deceitful and fraudulent. They provided me with the pretense that I had adequately completed my spending requirement by furnishing me with statements reflecting the XXXX bonus for three months and then suddenly eradicating this bonus after the time that my ability to amend my purchases has expired. American Express had three months to inform me that my purchase was not eligible, but they unscrupulously elected to wait until after the third month was over so I would not have the opportunity to earn the bonus that they had promised to reward me in the first place. Since American Express took three months to inform me about my eligibility to receive the bonus, thus squandering my opportunity to fulfill my requirements, I am requesting for American Express to give me an additional three months to use my credit card to purchase eligible items so I can receive the XXXX points that I initially received previously, but was unethically clawed back under one of the most unjust banking operations I had ever encountered thus far. 
To summarize, 1 ) Gift Card is not cash equivalent since you can not use it outside US, ca n't not deposit to bank or investment, pay for electric utilities, not everyone accepts it. 
2 ) Gift card and prepaid card are not the same. I attached the article from XXXX below is the link : XXXX 3 ) The way AMEX behaved is not in good faith since they waited until 3 months promotion period over and took it back without any notice and did not give any time to response or fulfill the requirements.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation