Consumer complaint received 2025-06-02 00:00:00
Product: Credit 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
State: GA

Complaint narrative:
I have a Platinum American Express Delta Skymiles credit card. Unauthorized charges were processed against the card in error, despite the merchant in question trying to removing the charges. My attempts to have the credit card remove the unauthorized charges were unsuccessful and their lengthy delay is causing me on-going financial harm. On XX/XX/year>, I discovered an unauthorized charge of {$240.00} from XXXX XXXX XXXX on my list of current charges. Because I am enrolled in American Express ' premium rental coverage, this triggered an additional charge of {$19.00}. Charges were dated XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, respectively. Both charges were posted, but the statement had not yet closed. However, these charges had pushed my balance over the limit. I called the company on the same day of my discovery and disputed the charge. I stated that I had already raised the issue with the merchant, and the merchant believed that they had resolved the issue and I had a final receipt showing that another credit card had been charged. I offered to send this proof but was told that it was not necessary. I was told that the charges would be reversed, so that I would have access to this amount as part of my available credit. I was told that I would need to be transferred to a separate department that handled premium rental coverage, so they could reverse the additional charge that was triggered. This department stated that I would need to wait for customer service to reverse the unauthorized charge, and then the {$19.00} charge would automatically be reversed. I was told that if the {$19.00} did not reverse automatically, then I could call back and the department would reverse it manually. However, the process was to wait for the unauthorized charge reversal to trigger the premium rental charge reversal. 

After waiting several days, the unauthorized charges were still showing on my account. I telephoned the company again. This time I was told that the previous representative had not agreed to have the credit made available and I would have to wait for the dispute process. I challenged this change of position and stated again that I had documentation proving that the American Express card was not the card charged for the rental. My American Express card had been previously listed on my XXXX 's profile but was no longer the card used. I had already addressed this with the rental company directly. XXXX indicated that they were not sure why the card was still being processed on future rentals. I was able to show my rental agreement for a XX/XX/year> rental, and it showed the new XXXX  card as the correct card and the card with final charges. When the XXXX system attempted to process the XX/XX/year> charges against my Amex, I raised this with the rental location directly, including the location manager. The issue was addressed and the charges processed against the correct card ; my XXXX card that was now on file. For this rental, I was given a final receipt with the charges showing on the XXXX card. I explained this interaction with the merchant to the Amex representative and again attempted to send in documentation showing this evidence. I requested a manager on this second call and repeated all of the information for a third time to Amex. I stated that allowing a charge that was clearly not authorized to remain on the account was violating the credit card agreement, as well as breaking their promise to me to remove these unauthorized charges in a timely manner and making the funds available. 

I went on to state that I wanted a call back from a US-based supervisor from the companys corporate division. I was told on this call that a request was being submitted to have a supervisor from the corporate division contact me, with an expected return call in one to two business days. Unfortunately, my grandmother passed away XX/XX/year> and I was now in the process of making funeral arrangements. I had very little time to continuing arguing with Amex representatives for something that was easily disputed with merchant provided receipts. I was surprised and very disappointed that when the return call was received on XX/XX/year>, it was neither from the U.S. nor the corporate division. The Amex representative stated that she was a supervisor but not US based or with corporate. I expressed my upset at being given the run around and having to devote so much time to resolving the matter because Amex was not honoring the card agreement or providing basic customer service. The representative stated thats she believed that she could resolve the issue and had me repeat the same information that had already been shared on the previous three calls. I insisted that the current call back was supposed to be from Amexs corporate office in the US and continuing to waste my time was only further extending my account showing over the limit and unauthorized charges remaining. The supervisor then stated that the call could be transferred then to the corporate office. I explained that I stated at the beginning that I only had limited time and she had wasted that time by not complying with another promise from Amex to have someone from the corporate division in the US contact me regarding my complaint of breaching the card agreement. I could not wait to be transferred and start again from the beginning, as I was physically at the cemetery trying to make funeral arrangements. I stated that the original request to have Amex forward the details to their U.S. based corporate division and contact me to honor the card agreement still needed to be honored. As a loyal customer of eight years that never had a late or missed payment, I should not be penalized for poor customer service that was refusing to even receive proof of unauthorized charges and then Amex charges for services not rendered. 

To date, I have still not received any contact to resolve the matter. Not only did the billing cycle for the XXXX billing period close on XX/XX/year> without a resolution, but I allowed for two additional billing cycles and no one from Amex has removed the unauthorized merchant charges, the additional Amex premium rental coverage charge or contacted me regarding the complaint of breaching the card agreement and return call from the corporate division. 

When the unauthorized charges were first left on my account and pushed my balance over the limit, it caused several automated payments to be declined. One of them being my car insurance that I had to have reinstated. However, moving forward, some of the auto payments continued to be processed and paid and others declined, with no rationale. Because I initially believed that the company would correct the issue, I made the monthly payments. This included all amounts for auto payments that were covered, as well as the interest charges being assessed, despite my not being able to use the card. There was also an increased membership fee of {$350.00} applied to the account further pushing it over the limit. 

Each month Amex failed to address breaching the card agreement, I received notifications from credit bureaus that my card was reported over the limit, impacting my XXXX score. Trying to manage the additional strain of the Amex account was overwhelming. As the fourth billing cycle approaches closing, I no longer believe submitting payments will achieve my goal of resolution. I feel that I have no other option but to cease payments and move forward with a formal complaint against American Express. I am utilizing the complaint process through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ), as my second line of recourse and hope the matter can be resolved at this stage. To help support expediting the process, I will be forwarding a copy of this complaint to American Express directly.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief