Consumer complaint received 2025-02-12 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers — Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NJ

Complaint narrative:
Below " Amex XXXX  '' for merchant XXXXXXXXXXXX  is advertised on my Amex XXXX  XXXX  portal after logging in. This has enticed me to proceed with a purchase on XXXX for {$400.00}. After navigating through the checkout process on the merchant website I used my eligible amex credit card to checkout, but it was declined. Other credit card payment methods offered on the XXXX checkout page includes paypal, which I used to checkout. XXXX confirmed that the merchant is XXXX XXXX. 

Amex customer service denied my purchase as being eligible, stating that the terms were not met. The segment of the terms state : " Offer only valid on purchases made directly with the merchant. Offer not valid on purchases made using third parties, such as resellers, delivery services, or other XXXX. '' It is not clear that the XXXX payment processor is not permissible. I made the purchase directly through XXXX 's checkout page. As the examples suggest, I did not go through any reseller, third party merchant pitching XXXX 's packaged products, I did not go through a delivery service like XXXX eats or instacart, or other intermediary services. I explained that it is not clear when the common consumer looking at these terms that going through paypal to checkout on the payment page of the consumer website would make me ineligible for this amex offer. I remarked that Amex SHOULD specifically state that XXXX  party PAYMENT PROCESSORS like XXXX are ineligible, as the current language suggests that third party resellers would not be eligible. I believe this to be deceptive marketing practices. Amex offered no recourse for this. 

Here are the details for the advertised offer : Earn a one-time {$80.00} statement credit after using your enrolled eligible XXXX to spend a minimum of {$400.00} in XXXX or more purchases online at klook.com by XX/XX/year>. See terms. 

Offer Terms Eligibility and Enrollment Enrollment is limited. Eligible Card Members must first add offer to Card and then use same Card for qualifying spend. Only US-issued American Express XXXX are eligible. 

Limit of XXXX statement credit per eligible Card Member account. If the Card Account is canceled or past due, it may not qualify to receive a statement credit. 

Qualifying Purchases Offer valid online only at US website XXXXXXXXXXXX  or through the XXXX mobile app. Offer valid only on purchases made in US  dollars. 

Offer only valid on purchases made directly with the merchant. Offer not valid on purchases made using XXXX  parties, such as resellers, delivery services, or other intermediaries. 

Statement Credit Please allow XXXX after XX/XX/year> for the statement credit ( s ) to be posted to the Account, provided that American Express receives information from the merchant about your qualifying purchase. 

Participation in Amex XXXX  is subject to Amex XXXX  Program Terms. 

POID : XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation