Consumer complaint received 2025-09-12 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Other problem
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
For several years, American Express representatives repeatedly provided my supplementary cardholder with incorrect payment information, stating her account was " current '' when it was not. This misinformation, caused by a fundamentally flawed and confusing reporting system, directly led to the accumulation of an erroneous balance now exceeding {$14000.00}. The company 's system is so broken that a manual, multi-statement forensic audit is the only way to determine a true balance for a supplementary cardholder. This forces a key question : Does American Express have a better reporting tool that it withholds from its customers and representatives? If they do not, they are admitting their system is inherently flawed and sets up their representatives to fail. If they do have a better tool, they are admitting their system is confusing by design. In either case, the system is designed for failure. I conducted my own forensic audit proving these errors and compiled a detailed case file, which I submitted to the office of the CEO, XXXX XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXXXXXX. After the assigned Executive Representative failed to engage, I re-escalated. My formal complaint and a subsequent follow-up to the CEO 's office have now been met with a full week of silence. American Express has failed at every level : their representatives provided false information, their systems are inadequate, and their executive office is non-responsive. I am filing this complaint to seek a formal resolution. I have attached detailed documentation to support my case and as well break down a list of actions taken by by American Express, which I believe demonstrate a tacit admission of guilt, bad faith, and broader systemic issues. 

A. Tacit Admission and Bad Faith Action Following the submission of my detailed case file to the CEO 's office, American Express ceased all communication with me. However, during this period of silence, they launched a new " Statements & Activity '' interface. This action, taken without any direct response to me, is a clear attempt to " cover their tracks '' and remedy a systemic flaw only after being formally exposed. This is an admission that the previous system was broken. By silently making these changes, the company is attempting to avoid accountability for the {$14000.00} phantom balance that their flawed system created. 

B. Evidence of Widespread Unfair Business Practices This situation raises serious questions about how many other customers have been financially harmed by these policies. My case proves that without a consumer conducting their own laborious, multi-year forensic audit, American Express 's default position, as demonstrated by their executive representative, XXXX XXXX, is to find in their own favor. This combination of a deliberately confusing system and a flawed resolution process is evidence of potential Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices ( XXXX ). An investigation should be opened on behalf of the many cardholders with multi-user, non-corporate accounts who have raised concerns over balances but were shut down because American Express did not possess the tools to conduct a proper audit. 

C. Uncompensated Use of Proprietary Analysis In my initial complaint, I identified myself as a professional in business process optimization and provided a detailed analysis of the company 's systemic flaws. The company 's subsequent platform update, which attempts to address the exact flaws I documented, strongly suggests they have used my analysis for their own benefit. This is a form of unjust enrichment. This initial analysis was detailed in my formal complaint email to the CEO, XXXX XXXX, and the attached PDF agenda. XXXX XXXX 's office, which was initially responsive, ceased communication once the critical nature of these systemic failures was fully escalated. 

XXXX A Viable Solution vs. an Inadequate 'Fix ' As proof of a comprehensive solution, I am now submitting my proprietary audit model as evidence. This model, attached as XXXX XXXX XXXX, provides a clear, running tally that : Shows what is owed and what was paid for each individual cardholder. 
Clearly identifies where, when, and by whom any discrepancies arise. 
Connects this data back to the overall monthly statement balance. 
Keeps all historical data in a single, filterable report. 

This copyrighted model is marked with a proprietary notice and stands in stark contrast to the poor imitation American Express has implemented.

E. The Catalyst for Change : Executive Unawareness and a Reactive 'Fix ' The timing of the new platform rollout proves that American Express , at an executive level, was entirely unaware of the fundamental flaws in its own consumer reporting system until my case file landed on their desks. Proof of this lies in a simple fact : the company has still not been able to provide the basic, multi-year, per-user audit that I originally requested. They can not provide it because their systems are incapable of it. The new features are a direct but incomplete reaction to my analysis.

This leaves American Express in an untenable position : Either they admit they knew about this systemic flaw for years and willingly let customers be harmed, which suggests willful negligence.

Or they admit to a stunning lack of internal controls and executive oversight, where they were blind to a core failure in their own product until a customer did their work for them. 

If American Express believed there was nothing wrong with their system, it would have remained as is and communication never would have stalled. The silence and the system change are the company 's admission of guilt. 

F. Final Proof of Systemic Failure : The Cosmetic " Fix '' While using the company 's " new '' filtering options, I have discovered that the underlying reporting system and the data it exports are completely unchanged. 
On the website, the ability to combine and filter months up through a capped year, is a new feature that ultimately does not resolve any of the old issues. Evident once the data is exported out with filters ( note PDF is not an option ) and to XXXX. 

As the attached evidence file ( XXXX AMEX INTERNAL REPORTING ( XXXX & XXXX ) Redacted ) proves, a data export from XX/XX/XXXX is structurally identical to one from my hard drive XX/XX/XXXX ( in fact, I resurrected it from the recycling bin and to show proof of date and time of origin including owner, XXXX XXXX XXXX American Express, that side by side is included ). Both are simple transaction logs. Both provide a " Transaction Summary '' that merely totals up charges and credits, failing entirely to provide the necessary reconciliation of payments against specific statement balances for each individual user. 

This proves that the recent platform update was not a systemic improvement, but a superficial, cosmetic change to the front-end interface. American Express has simply put new date filters on the same, fundamentally flawed data system. 

This final action demonstrates one of two things : 1. Incompetence : The company does not understand the root cause of the problem I have documented and believes a simple data filter solves a complex accounting issue.

2. Bad Faith : The company does understand the problem and has knowingly implemented a superficial " fix '' in a bad-faith attempt to appear responsive while avoiding genuine accountability.

This cosmetic change is the final proof that the company can not solve this problem in good faith, which is why the only acceptable outcome is the full waiver of the erroneous $ XXXX balance and all associated interest and fees, the company ensuring no harm has been done to either cardholder 's credit score, and the penalty-free separation of the accounts.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation