Consumer complaint received 2017-07-26
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with rewards from credit card
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (OK)

American Express. i was approved for a Blue Cash Everyday with a 10 % bonus on restaurant purchases. A {$100.00} statement credit after spending {$1000.00} and 0 % interest for 12 months. The card was opened on XXXX XXXX 2017 I made {$130.00} in restaurant purchases between XX/XX/XXXXand XX/XX/XXXX when my first statement cut. On my second statement I spent {$460.00} on restaurant spending. On my third statement I made {$370.00} in restaurant purchases the statement ending XX/XX/XXXX. In the terms and conditions and other places it says sometimes it takes two billing periods to receive bonus Rewards and on chat I have been told 8 weeks anyway I made my first restaurant purchase around XX/XX/XXXX that 's almost 3 months ago and I have not received one dime of the 10 % I 'm supposed to receive on restaurant purchases. If it takes 2 billing Cycles to receive bonus rewards that I should have received bonus rewards for my first statement or if it 's eight weeks I 've should have received a lot more ... .... my main concern is that there have been several complaints online that have said they have signed up for these 10 % bonuses at XXXX and restaurant purchases and have said that Amex has tried to get out of paying them or never paid them saying they did n't sign up for the offer. I have chatted online 5 times with customer service I have spoken to customer service on the phone once or twice I 've been told this has been escalated in a chat to some special investigation team to find out why I have n't gotten paid for my rewards this was on XX/XX/XXXX I asked why is this taking so long I mean I could figure out how much I 've spent in restaurant purchases in 5 minutes but has been almost 6 weeks since they sent it to this investigation team. I was not going to make a complaint until the last statement posted and it was the third statement that I have received. XXXX statements past the first still no bonus rewards from the first statement. I have had a few credit cards and i have not seen this kind of delay on bonus Rewards being deposited into the account. The latest I 've ever seen is the next billing statement. Due to my observations of investigating online I feel concerned that Amex is delaying and delaying because they want you to spend as much as you can on the car and then tell you you did n't sign up for the bonus I 've read that several times. I made my first restaurant purchase about 3 months ago and have not receive 10 % on rewards on my card yet due to my concern I have stopped spending on this credit card at restaurants for fear that they will never pay me on my 10 % .. I believe Amex does this on purpose if the customer does n't think they 're going to get the 10 % then they stop using the card for the 10 % so then they save money by not having to pay you the 10 % on the restaurant purchases because you stopped doing it. It supposedly takes forever to do an investigation on my restaurant spending when you can see on my statements and online immediately how much I 've spent on restaurant purchases. I just do not trust them they say it could take up to 2 billing Cycles to receive Rewards but now it 's past 2 billing cycles and almost to the Third. I did receive the {$100.00} bonus for spending {$1000.00} in 3 months but that took two months to get paid buy a supervisor. but before I asked about the XXXX dollar bonus the supervisor said he could not do that but then a month later another supervisor did. You In the last 3 months I 've spent a little over {$1000.00} in restaurant spending and have yet to receive one penny from that rewards promotion. Another customer said she spent {$1000.00} at XXXX and Amex told her that she did n't sign up for the bonus when I chat online the customer service representative says they can see the restaurant purchases that I have made but they had to send my account to a special investigation team to figure out my restaurant purchases when a regular customer service representative can see it right on their computer screen I just do n't believe their excuses I believe if I did nothing I would never receive any rewards paid out. I have not received any bonuses on restaurant purchases there 's no reason to believe that they would start paying me on the 10 % now. I know AMEX has been fined by the government in the past for issues such as these.