Consumer complaint received 2020-12-06
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers — Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (CA)

Complaint:
I was approved for the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire credit card on XX/XX/2020. At the time I signed up, the card had a welcome offer whereby if I spent {$4000.00} on the card within 3 months ( i.e., before XX/XX/2020 ), I would receive XXXX Hilton Honors points. 

My spend ( excluding the annual fee of {$450.00} ) in my first statement period ending XX/XX/XXXX was {$3600.00}, and my spend in my second statement period ending XX/XX/XXXX was {$640.00}. Therefore, my total spend excluding the annual fee by XX/XX/2020 ( one month before the cut-off date for the welcome bonus ) was {$4200.00}. In other words, I had satisfied the conditions and was eligible to receive the welcome bonus of XXXX Hilton Honors points. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I followed up with American Express via online chat as I had not received the welcome bonus. The agent I spoke to confirmed that I had made eligible spend of over {$4000.00}, and submitted a review to determine why I had not received the bonus. I followed up again on XX/XX/XXXX asking about the status of my review, and was told that I had not received the welcome bonus because the welcome offer was not loaded onto my account. I queried this, and American Express agreed to submit this again for another review. Given I was told the review could take up to two months, I made it clear as part of this conversation with American Express that, as it was XX/XX/XXXX and the last day for me to satisfy the minimum spend of {$4000.00} was XX/XX/XXXX, and as I had previously been told by American Express that I had spent more than the {$4000.00} needed to qualify for the bonus, that I was reserving my rights in the event the review determined that I had not satisfied the minimum spend by this deadline. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I followed up with American Express again. The representative I spoke to, XXXX, told me I had made {$4200.00} of qualifying spend, and confirmed that " offer is in your account and you have reached the required spend, so 100 % you should get the credit after the given timeframe [ 8-12 weeks after meeting the minimum spend requirement ''. I followed up again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with a representative named XX/XX/XXXX, who told me I had satisfied the minimum spending requirement on XX/XX/2020, and that the bonus will " surely be posted to your Hilton Honors account 8-12 weeks after meeting the spend requirement ''. 

I have just followed up again today, XX/XX/XXXX. This time, I spoke to a representative named XXXX, who told me that American Express had reviewed my account and determined that my eligible spend prior to XX/XX/XXXX was only {$3300.00}, which meant I was ineligible to receive the welcome bonus. I queried how this could be the case given the amount I had spent on my card prior to my XX/XX/XXXX statement being issued, and he was unable to answer this question. 

This is extremely disappointing, both because I did meet - and was told I had met - the minimum spending threshold as early as XX/XX/XXXX, and because I flagged for American Express the issue of not having received the welcome bonus on that date - had they simply told me then that I had not spent enough, I would have had an additional 3 weeks to put {$700.00} of additional spend on the card and satisfy the {$4000.00} threshold. However, because they did not do so, and instead told me I had not received the bonus because the offer was not coded to my card at all, it is now too late for me to spend the extra amount on my card to earn the welcome bonus. 

All correspondence with American Express on this issue has been via online chat, and I can supply transcripts if required.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief