Consumer complaint received 2024-02-06
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments — You never received your bill or did not know a payment was due
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (MA)

American Express has been very difficult to deal with in regards to paying my bills on time. I have been a cardholder with them for 10 years and up until the last year, I have had no issues paying my bills on time. 

The issues I am dealing with relate to their website and customer service. Simply stated, I am unable to pay my bills as I am constantly dealing with login issues despite using my correct username and password. 

Across several browsers ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and even incognito mode ), I have dealt with a failed sign in message and occasionally a lock out on my account even though I am entering my username and password correctly ( and in some cases, I have them stored under a password manager in my browser or computer ). It takes multiple attempts to log in to my account and doing so correctly is cumbersome and aggravating. 

I have already escalated this issue before and even requested to an agent over the phone to have automatic payments set up so that my bills are paid ( without having to sign in and pay them myself as annoying as it is to be told to change my password even though my password isn't the issue, the website is ). I didn't even mention that the security XXXX  will sometimes not work even with my correct password used, forcing me to refresh the page to get the XXXX  to work! I can't even get a precise screenshot of the XXXX  issue because the checkmarks disappear before I can grab them when clicking on a grid in solving the security question. 

As for the request to have automatic payments set up? The agent did not act upon my request and any other attempts to escalate this issue were unheard. This is unacceptable! 

The company also FAILS to notify me when payments are due ( by email and by text ) until AFTER a payment is due, not BEFORE. Why they fail to disclose this is very obvious : it is to profit off of cardholders like myself. I am extremely disgusted at this practice. 

Right now, there is a late fee on my account due to the aforementioned issue of not being able to sign in to pay my bills at all. For {$29.00}. Not the first time either. The fact that I requested an AUTOMATIC PAYMENT to be set up to avoid this from happening again ( over the phone, as opposed to by chat ) and was still not set up apparently means that this credit card company does not have my back 100 %. I have been with them for XXXX loyal years- why am I dealing with this horrible service??? 

The fact that I am also dealing with a loss in my family and severe health issues which is busying my life and causing stress makes is more difficult to stay on top of my finances so it REALLY angers me how Amex decides to notify me about my bills AFTER the due date not BEFORE to reiterate. 

I am very adamant about my stance in that Amex has been unfair and unreasonable in how they choose to deal with this perennial issue and hope my complaints lead to my ideal resolution. Even then, I am less likely to continue using my Amex card ( s ) given how much of a mess I have been though in the last year with them. This complaint is the final straw.