Consumer complaint received 2016-08-16
Product: Credit card — 
Issue: Customer service / Customer relations — 
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (CT)

The following letter was sent to American Express : American Express XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, NY XXXX To whom it may concern, I am writing to express my concern with how American Express has treated card holders of 19 years. 

On XXXX XXXX we called to ask that our American Express XXXX account be put on hold. We were in XXXX XXXX had misplaced our card ( with our second card being left at home ). We thought we knew its location, but wanted to put a hold on it in case it was lost. We were told that you ca n't put a card on hold, so they would cancel it and issue a new one. We asked that they do n't cancel it since we were on vacation and thought we knew the location. The agent apologized, explaining it was already cancelled even though we did not ask for this. The agent had us hold for a supervisor who explained that the agent was accurate in stating it ca n't be put on hold, but assured us it was reactivated. 

The next day, XXXX XXXX, the card was declined. We made other arrangements to pay the bill presented to us and called American Express again. XXXX, the supervisor we were directed to, was wonderful ; she understood the problem, took ownership for the mistake ( questioning why the original request for hold was n't handled by simply lowering our credit to {$1.00} ), and credited us XXXX XXXX points for our time, embarrassment and your error. She also assured us she took the necessary steps to ensure that the card worked. Our trust in American Express was restored. 

It would be nice if this was the end of the story, but it is not. The card did not work. Over the next week we figured out that the slide option on the card worked, but chip function did not work. Whenever we tried to use the chip we would get the message, " not accepted. '' With more businesses taking the chip than the swipe, this was a huge problem. Over the next week ( mostly on vacation ) we called REPEATEDLY. Each time we were assured that the chip worked and there was no record of any denials. We assured them that this was not the case and even took a video of an attempt to use the chip at XXXX, but there is according to repeated agents it is not for an agent, supervisor or manager to receive an email or text message. We were also told that a manager would have to call us to work on this issue. Beginning XXXX XXXX, we were promised a manager would call within 24 hours. In total we were promised four times a manager would call ( after no one called with XXXX hours - we were promised a manager would call by XXXX, so XXXX waited away from the family for the call ; a third time we were told to wait for a call from a manager named XXXX, and finally I was given the option of leaving a voicemail for a XXXX named XXXX XXXX ). NONE of these managers EVER called back. The only manager we ever spoke with ( see the call prior to a conversation with an agent named XXXX ) happened when we refused to hang up until we spoke with a manager. After a long hold of about twenty minutes we were " disconnected '' and she did not call us back. XXXX explained that there was record of a call but no notes recorded at all. The ironic thing is : if any of the agents understood the issue, all they would have had to do was overnight a new card to a hotel we were to be staying at. Instead, each time a promise of a solution was made. 

We felt we were treated fairly up the point where XXXX worked with us. With the XXXX points ( the value of one nice hotel room ) being a fair compensation for the genuine mistakes on day one, we feel that a similar value should be placed on each of the different errors, lies, lack of trust, broken promises and poorly handled situations. In other word, an additional credit of XXXX XXXX points would be less per mistake than the XXXX that XXXX thought fit for the