Consumer complaint received 2022-02-21
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (NJ)

Filing a dispute against American Express, the following occurred : I own and operate an event planning company. 
I had a starting balance on XX/XX/XXXX of {$160000.00}. With all the events planned pre XXXX. Then the lock down happened and we were getting cancellations for these events. 
We were in constant contact with American Express to try to figure out the best way to proceed. Everything was still shut down at this point with no end in sight. We informed Amex we had no cash flow but we were expecting refunds to come in at some point because shows were cancelled but vendors were not refunding yet. Amex then sent our account to a third party collection attorney. We begged them to reconsider as we knew the credits would be coming in and legal action was NOT necessary. They would get their money and our credit would remain in good standing with Amex and we can continue a mutually positive relationship. Amex refused to listen to reason. No matter who I spoke to they all said they couldn't help despite the reassurances that " we were all in this together ''. We also had a lot of points on the card which was lost as well. After a lot of pressure and being served with legal documents stating American Express was taking us to court over the unpaid credit card we finally agreed reluctantly to pay {$20000.00} settlement. {$15000.00} up front and the remaining balance over a period of a few months. This was in XX/XX/XXXX. The balance on the account at this point was down to {$34000.00}. As I had told Amex refunds/credits were coming in and indeed they were. Our initial unpaid balance was cut by more than half, despite this our account was still considered delinquent, we still were told we couldn't use our card and we didn't have access to our points. When I reached the settlement I asked the attorneys what will happen once the credits come in and we already settled. That money should be returned to us as we reached a settlement of {$20000.00} which we paid in good faith. Whatever credits came in from XXXX XXXX of settlement on should have been paid to us. The attorneys agreed it was a unique situation for which they didn't have an answer but they felt confident Amex would work it out with us. As we tried reaching out to Amex about this issue we were given the runaround. We were told they're looking into it. They're not sure. They feel bad but they don't know how to proceed. They finally offered us a settlement in XXXX of XXXX through your office. We rejected that offer on the advice of your office as you felt you could get us more. Since XX/XX/XXXX we received {$30000.00} in refunds from vendors. Amex sent us a couple of checks. XXXX for around {$1000.00} and another for around {$400.00}. Those were credits they issued to us because the account balance was at {$0.00} and therefor they had to send us that money. Despite our pleas with Amex to look at the account as a whole rather than hard and fast rules they chose to pursue legal action and forced us to settle. We lost our ability to do business with Amex which was a major factor in our cash flow and business structure. We lost our good faith standing with them despite doing everything right. We lost our significant amount of points. And now we lost all our refunds. Please assist us in getting the money back that rightfully belongs to us.