Consumer complaint received 2024-01-31
Product: Prepaid card — Gift card
Issue: Trouble using the card — Trouble using the card to spend money in a store or online
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (NY)

My dad received the cards at work, then gifted them to me. I forgot about them, then I tried using them online a few times without success and would try again on & off over time. 

For example, on XX/XX/XXXX, I tried paying for a successful bid on XXXX using one of the {$100.00} Amex Gift cards I had. It was denied and given a pending charge that disappeared after about a week. I had to use my credit card to pay XXXX instead. 

During the end-of-year holiday season of XXXX, I tried to top off my XXXX gift reward balance using 5 of the cards ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX ) for 5 gift card orders. They were each given XXXX pending transaction for adding the card to my XXXX account and another XXXX for placing a gift card order. With another 5 cards ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX ), I tried to add them to my account just like any other credit card. Amex Gift Card support states to use them like you would with any credit card. After about 2 weeks, the pending charges cleared on all of them, but when I tried using the first set of 5 cards, they were immediately denied instead with no more pending charges. When I used the XXXX card to try an XXXX XXXX, I was given a {$.00} pending charge, that would go away after about a week ( before and after images included in my documents ). I could not complete any orders on XXXX with these cards even after the waiting period. 

I've attached a PDF I made where page XXXX & XXXX are a before & after example of what I generally see when I try to use the cards and fail ( pending, then disappears as if nothing happened ) ; I've never had success anywhere. 

I tried paying for XXXX XXXX using one of the gift cards and it was denied immediately. This would've been a fantastic way to purchase a XXXX, with a gift card being second to cash. 

I could not add the gift cards to my XXXX or XXXX. 

I checked on internet forums such as XXXX and websites like XXXX XXXX. Many people suggested what was already tried above. 

Whenever I called Amex Gift Card support, it was very difficult to navigate their system to reach human support. When I did manage to reach someone, it was as if they were reading a script. For example, they suggested using it in person, even though I stated my attempts to use it either in-person or online through a variety of different vendors. 

The product claims it " can be used virtually anywhere American Express Cards are accepted in the U.S. '' I can not use an American Express Gift Card anywhere American Express cards are accepted. I just want to be able to completely use up the balance on each of the cards completely, but I can't use a dollar off any of the cards. Please, I just want to use my gift cards to buy things simply as advertised by the company.

I think a fair resolution would be a check for {$950.00} that I can deposit at a bank.

After using CFPB, I was contacted by American Express to resolve the situation. I was called on XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX at XXXXXXXX XXXX  Below is a transcript of the voicemail message left on my phone : Hello, good afternoon. My name is XXXX, Customer Advocacy Analyst calling from American Express. Regarding your business matter, your reference number here is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Please return my call at XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX. My extension here is XXXX. My hours are Monday through Friday between XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Thank you and have a good evening. Bye bye. 

To sum up the information from the first call : XXXX, a Customer Advocacy Analyst from American Express, left a voice message stating my reference number XXXX and to call back at XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX with the extension XXXX. 

I called back on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. The voice recording states : " Thank you for calling American Express Customer Advocate Service team. This call may be monitored, recorded, and analyzed for quality improvement and fraud prevention. If you know the XXXXdigit extension of the person you wish to reach, please dial it now. If you were given a XXXX-digit extension, enter XXXX, XXXX, followed by the XXXX extension number. If you do not have an extension number, please call the number on the back of your card for immediate assistance. '' There is a pause to enter the phone number with keypad. I enter XXXX. The voice recording says : " You have reached an invalid extension; please wait. '' The initial message above repeats, and when prompted, I enter XXXX. This time a robotic voice says : If you do not have an extension number, please call the number on the back of your card for immediate assistance. 
And the call immediately ends. 

On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX I used the help phone numbers on the American Express website to call several times over a period of XXXX hours between XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX The list of phone numbers I dialed were : XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX, Customer Advocate Service Team XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX, Personal Cards XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX, Gift Card Help Center However, I do not know all of the phone numbers I was redirected to by the operators of the calls I engaged in, but I assume some are the above On the last call I attempted, the operator did several helpful things I appreciated : 1 ) She called XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX, entered the extension number I was given, was prompted again, entered the number again, then was disconnected. She came back and validated my experience of not being able to connect to the number. 
2 ) She called the Gift Card Help center and tried to use my reference number, customer service phone number and extension, but they did not understand what to do with it, further validating my inability to reach someone who could help me.

3 ) stated that the department I was trying to connect to is not in their directory of information, therefore I could not access who I needed to reach. She has no access to the contact information required for me to reach anyone who can help me with my specific needs. 
Although she ultimately solved nothing and cemented that I could not reach anyone, she had a very helpful demeanor and tried her best. 

On the previous calls, the lack of support and listening skills were appalling : - I was asked for my social security number, login information, etc. that I do NOT have registered to Amex because I have gift cards. The website help requires login and most of the phone numbers REQUIRES INFORMATION I DONT HAVE, and they dont recognize my Customer Advocacy reference number, the only piece I do have besides the invalid extension and unusable contact number.

- I was redirected to the phone number I told them specifically did not work and they did NOT try following the steps I took to recreate the problem- I was redirected to departments, including tech, who did not know what to do with my reference number or extension - If I mentioned customer service card help, I was get asked for personal info as stated above - If I ever mentioned gift cards, the employees would get tunnel vision and I would get pressured severely to call the gift cards number, who I have no business with and they have nothing to do with the Customer Advocacy group from the times I tried calling. 

I was called on XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX at XXXXXXXX XXXX from XXXX. This time the voice message transcript is : Hello, good day. This message is for XXXX XXXX. My name is XXXX with Customer Advocacy calling regarding a business matter. Your reference number is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Please return my call at XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX. My hours of operation are Monday through Friday between XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. 
Please note that this time she did NOT leave an extension number which means calling ( XXXX ) XXXX to get any resolution with my reference number XXXX has 100 % success at failure. There is nothing you can do when you call that number if you dont have a working extension number. 

There was no possible means for me to reach this person and department through the help phone numbers listed on the website and the AMEX gift cards. When you inevitably get sent from phone call to phone call to reach the help phone lines, you get passed around. The call center employees can not do anything with a reference number and invalid extension and theres no direct number in their directory to reach the Customer Advocate Service team.

I dont understand why there was no attempt to email me about the situation especially after the phone calls didnt work or contact me through Consumer Finance Protection Bureau website . I dont understand why my case was closed after 2 phone calls, without any attempt at reaching me through email or the CFPB website. Thank you for the letter ( titled XXXX, XXXX Response ) letting me know that you need the full American Express Gift Card numbers to continue the resolution process, but I dont appreciate how Im being requested to physically mail full gift cards numbers to an address in Florida , which could easily get stolen on the way.

There's no phone number in the letter for me to reach instead for an XXXX XXXX of the Customer Advocate Services Team and no sign of reaching an employee named XXXX. How am I supposed to verify that physical mail reached the address in the letter if I tried? In fact, if you look up the address from the letter on XXXX for that American Express building, you can see numerous XXXX reviews for the facility, so I don't trust that my mail will be received if I tried, considering the horrible experience I had with American Express resources such as phone and website. 

I've also read from people in a situation like mine that a company called XXXX XXXX  handles Amex gift cards and the customer service, but I'm not sure because I can't find it on https : //www.amexgiftcard.comXXXX I assume since the card says American Express on it, that is who I should file the complaint with. Please advise if I am wrong. 

I feel like Im being given the runaround and I dont know how many hours Ive spent stressing on something I cant do anything about to resolve the situation.