Consumer complaint received 2026-03-23 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: FL

Complaint narrative:
I purchased a trip THROUGH AMEX TRAVEL SPECIFICALLY NO OTHER THIRD PARTY for a hotel in XXXX from XXXX worth {$2200.00} In the beginning of XXXX we ran into a personal/family emergency and called the hotel ( XXXX Centric Times Square XXXX XXXX We were considering our options on if we could make the trip or postpone it. We asked the hotel if we could receive a credit for a future stay since we did want to take the trip and didn't know the cancellation policy for emergencies. We then spoke to the sales XXXX XXXX ( something like that ) who said she would actually be able to process a full refund and could code it on her end as a qualifying emergency. We were thrilled and said we would definitely be back, and asked how long the refund would take if we cancelled. She assured us it would only be XXXX business days. [ And here we are in XXXX..... ] I SPECIFICALLY called Amex that SAME DAY and confirmed that this was in line with their Amex XXXX policies. I took absolutely every step to ensure this trip was not cancelled without assurance of a full refund. Amex XXXX assured me 1000 % as soon as the hotel refunded it, it would show up on my account. Nothing after XXXX business days. So I wait about XXXX weeks, it's the holidays so I figure I'll call back up to check on it after New Years if it still hasn't cleared. I call Amex and they ask if I'm sure the hotel refunded the money. I said I can call back and check but they assured me they processed it on the spot when I confirmed the cancellation. I call XXXX and ask for XXXX once again, she once again for the third time tells me she has processed the refund and this is completely on Amex from here on out. I call Amex back, then the Amex agent calls the hotel herself. They once again dispute the charge on my account and tell me it was be a processing issue but several times assure me I am absolutely due my refund of over {$2000.00}. They tell me the investigation should take about 30 days. They just need to figure out what was going on on the backend and said it was an internal error with my card or accounting. Fine. Weeks go by, I even call to check the status and Amex tells me they have fixed the problem they found out what was going on and there would be a credit to my account in XXXX business days. XXXX surprise, no credit comes. I have to call back AGAIN, this must be the XXXX time at this point and we are at the end of XXXX of XXXX. Now the agent tells me whoever initially opened the request/investigation missed something and they had to escalate it to the travel team supervisors. Apparently it had to be processed as a different dispute or follow some other procedure. I finally get on the line with a supervisor of the travel team and all of a sudden, after XXXX months of being owed a refund and relying on this, this agent tells me that apparently my trip was somehow rerouted ( WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT ) to XXXX and I was not even actually booked directly with Amex Travel. At this point this is just illegal, I never consented to do business with XXXX, abide by any of their policies, or have anything to do with them. I specifically booked through Amex Travel so I didn't have to deal with shady travel booking websites ( jokes on me I guess ). On top of this, no one from Amex saw this for XXXX months? This entire transaction now feels fraudulent and completely sketchy. I explained all of this and said you must know this is highly unethical and illegal and I'm ready at this point to call my attorney and haul you to court. They put me on hold to " look into it '' and came back and AGREED that there was never anything sent to me about XXXX and I was legally due a refund. This is now the I don't know tenth time Amex has assured me and acknowledged I am legally owed this money back. They once again open a dispute that " should take 30 days '' but " we assure you it will absolutely be refunded and resolved by the end. '' Well here we are in XXXX. Coincidentally, this dispute was somehow " resolved '' the day of the statement closing and they added the {$2200.00} charge back to my account! No explanation given besides " outside of cancellation policies '' XXXX had nothing to do with this trip, the hotel refunded MY money to ME on MY Amex and some company either XXXX or Amex is illegally holding onto it and refusing to give it back despite Amex literally TELLING me to cancel the trip because the hotel agreed to the refund. And then Amex acknowledging I followed all proper steps for my refund. This is all in their call logs and notes that I am absolutely entitled to this refund and they are trying to steal this money and cover for a mistake on their end. I am absolutely fed up that this has taken 4 months and HOURS of phone calls. You can not tell someone you are refunding them for a trip and tell them to cancel and then refuse to give the money back because you found some random policy XXXX months later. This is insane for Amex to be so brazenly doing this, I literally can not believe it. Where do I begin? Fraudulent inducement, deceptive and unfair practices, conversion. If this is not resolved through me filing complaints I can assure them I will see them in court and I will be seeking interest and attorneys fees and punitive damages.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief