Consumer complaint received 2026-05-19 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: CO

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint against American Express regarding their repeated failure to properly investigate a billing dispute under the Fair Credit Billing Act. Reference Number : XXXX Transaction Amount : {$2200.00} Merchant : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : XX/XX/2026 Account Ending : XXXX On XX/XX/2026, I attempted to book replacement flights through XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX authorized booking agent after my XXXX XXXX flight was cancelled due to weather. XXXX XXXX payment system repeatedly failed with a documented 3-D Secure Provider Error ( REFID : XXXX ) a merchant-side payment processing failure. After remaining on hold for an extended period while their system failed repeatedly, I terminated the call and withdrew my authorization. At no point was a successful payment authorization completed. No e-ticket was ever issued. No service was ever delivered. Despite this, XXXX XXXX charged my American Express XXXX card {$2200.00}. I disputed this charge and American Express has now denied my dispute XXXX times, each time accepting XXXX XXXX form letter response without properly investigating the following documented facts that XXXX has never addressed : XXXXXXXX XXXX own booking log shows the cancellation was processed by " WebAnonymous '' their own automated system not by me. XXXX has repeatedly claimed I cancelled via their website. This is false and contradicted by their own records already submitted to American Express. No e-ticket was ever issued against XXXX XXXX. Without an e-ticket there is no confirmed booking. XXXX 's cancellation policy can not apply to a transaction that never successfully completed. XXXX XXXX own booking log shows the post-call itinerary was emailed to XXXX not my email address ( XXXX ). I never received it. XXXX 's claim that I was fully aware of the booking details and cancellation policy is therefore false. Cancel fees for all five passengers in XXXX 's own booking log were {$0.00} consistent with a booking that was never properly ticketed. XXXXXXXX XXXX authorized booking agent XXXX ' own Terms & Conditions ( Sections XXXX and XXXX ) state that no binding contract is formed until a booking confirmation is issued and payment authorization is successfully received. Neither condition was met. American Express has categorized this as a cancellation dispute rather than an unauthorized charge or services not rendered dispute the correct categorization given that payment authorization never successfully completed. This miscategorization has allowed XXXX to repeatedly respond with boilerplate cancellation policy language without ever addressing the documented payment system failure. I have filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Transportation ( XXXX XXXX. XXXX ) and the Federal Trade Commission XXXX XXXX responded to the DOT complaint on XX/XX/2026 and continued to assert the same false statements while refusing a cash refund. I am requesting that the CFPB require American Express to recategorize this dispute as an unauthorized charge or services not rendered, conduct a proper investigation of the documented facts, and issue a full chargeback of {$2200.00} to my account.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation