Consumer complaint received 2018-03-11
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 (TN)

We initially filed a dispute with American Express in XXXX of last year, less than two weeks after returning from a trip where we had major issues with the online travel agency we had booked through, XXXX XXXX XXXX. In short, the agency, whom we had also purchased travel insurance through, under a separate name, XXXX XXXX, made our flight reservations, sent us the itinerary, then with no notification changed our return flight resulting in us missing our flight home and being delayed 36 hours and having considerable additional expense for hotel, food and incidentals. The agency of course refused to rectify anything, attempting to blame XXXX for the change, this went on for several months when we were finally able to obtain written proof from XXXX that the change was made by XXXX XXXX XXXX and not the airline. Proof was provided to American Express and the charges for the travel agency 's fee of {$780.00} were reversed with the agency not disputing the reversal. Clearly they couldn't as XXXX had in writing refuted their bogus claim and provided a copy of the change made by them. Yet the cost of the insurance purchase through XXXX XXXX XXXX ( see attached receipt for {$390.00} ) which was billed separately by them under the name of XXXX XXXX was denied for 'untimely filing ' and 'no response from the merchant '. Since when can a merchant ignore a claim and come out on top of the dispute process??? Multiple calls have been made to American Express explaining this is from the same original dispute, is the same company with an alias name, and proof has been provided of the insurance charge as well as the expenses that resulted in {$630.00} out of pocket due to the blatant negligence of the agency changing our flight with no notification and then attempting to lie their way out of any responsibility. In speaking with an American Express supervisor, XXXX, after the XXXX denial of the XXXX XXXX charge, she assured me that she fully understood the situation, that notes were made to the account and that we should submit an additional letter clarifying the situation, once again, to American Express so they could " resolve things in our favor ''. On XX/XX/2018 yet another letter detailing the specifics was sent to American Express and yet again we received an almost exact duplicate of the XX/XX/XXXX letter from them on XX/XX/XXXX claiming we were past the 60 day dispute window and the merchant had not responded so the charge was reapplied to our account, AGAIN. No amount of calls, letters, documentation, etc seems to reach the ears of these people. It has been explained over and over that the original dispute was filed almost immediately, but that it was the delay of American Express, XXXX, and the agency that led to the delay in us finally getting confirmation needed to prove that the agency was outright lying and had pocketed a fee for insurance as well as a service fee for booking our flight and then changing it with no notice resulting in considerable expense and inconvenience for us. Because the charges were billed separately American Express can not seem to understand this. It is obvious the disputes department ignores all proof, and finds it easiest to simply send out form letters over and over rather than doing the right thing. In truth, because we purchased these tickets/insurance/ and services through American Express XXXX American Express travel insurance should be responsible as well, which we have noted in several conversations, yet we are encouraged to pursue the dispute process and then wrongly denied. It appears American Express is gaining quite a reputation for this very type of action, and is no longer the 'advocate ' for their cardholders that they claim to be.