Consumer complaint received 2024-09-18
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Problem with fees
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (CA)

I downgraded my Delta SkyMiles Gold Card to a Blue card late beyond the stipulated period, because I had just moved house then. That was right about the time my Delta SkyMiles Gold Card renewed and so my annual fees became automatically due, but I was not made aware of this development because my address was not updated in Amexs system and no letters or emails were sent to me to notify me about the automatic imposition of the membership fee for my Delta SkyMiles Gold Card. 

I only discovered this later in XXXX when charges were suddenly levied on my card and I got the payment reminder, and so I immediately called Amex to resolve the situation. They offered me to waive my card fees ( i.e. get a refund of the membership charges ) if I downgraded to the Delta SkyMiles Blue Card, rather than cancel the card outright which would not allow me to enjoy any waiver / refund at all from the charge levied by the Gold Card ( the first year was free and so I didnt even realize this renewal would suddenly cost me so much fees ). So based on that information I agreed to downgrade my Gold card to the SkyMiles Blue Card, and the agent on the phone then was not able to determinatively say how much of the pro rated membership fee I still needed to pay - he even mentioned the possibility that I would not have to pay any membership fee ( as I had expressly told him about my home address / moving situation and pleaded with him to allow me to completely waive any pro-rated membership fee ). 

Anyway, I found out in the following week that the refund of the pro rated membership fee was quite away from the full amount, and I ended up having to pay almost {$17.00} even though this entire problem was not caused by me- I had recently moved homes ( I can provide documentation of my change of address and new lease documents ) at just around the time Amex decided to automatically renew my card for another year while massively bumping up the annual fee from the previously $ XXXX  year prior where nothing was charged. The worst part is I was not even informed of this development at all, whether by mail or email, and this is certainly predatory and misleading behavior by a big bank against the average consumer. 

I also have an outstanding investigation case pending with Amex and they promised to get back within 10 business days with the outcome of my pleading appeal to waive the outstanding pro-rated membership fees from my Gold card, but they breached this deadline as well and nobody informed me through any more of communication - it was only when I called in again today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) that I realized they had rejected my appeal escalation, but yet nobody informed me of this outcome and continued to leave me in the lurch, maybe hoping that I would incur further late fees and interest. 

This is all extremely unprofessional and frowned upon behavior against the values of consumer protection, not to mention predatory pricing and borderline fraudulent behavior. Amex should refund me the rest of my membership fees ASAP, not to mention further costs of all my lost time and mental suffering and stress having to deal with this issue.