Consumer complaint received 2025-09-09 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: NJ

Complaint narrative:
We received a follow-up phone call with XXXX from American Express ( that may not be the correct spelling ) last week, and once again we are completely unsatisfied and confused as to how your company 's employees can continue to avoid taking responsibility for their blatant incompetence and lack of transparency. 

We pay for and use our American Express XXXX XXXX for the so-called benefits. When we decided as a family we wanted to again stay at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX for XXXX XXXX stay in a XXXX view XXXX XXXX we contacted American Express Travel to XXXX XXXX XXXX journey with exclusive American Express Platinum Card travel benefits, '' and to " Enjoy premium lounge access, luxury hotel perks, and more. '' We did not get any of this. 

Unbeknownst to us, the AmEX XXXX XXXX XXXX representative that was booking our trip for us was not using Fine Hotels & Resorts, as advertised all over American Express XXXX : " Benefits While On the Trip '' Be Among the Few With Access to Fine Hotels + Resorts With Platinum Membership, you can also enjoy access to Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection ( XXXX & XXXX ) " Enjoy competitive rates and complimentary benefits that offer an average total value of XXXX {$550.00} at over XXXX extraordinary properties worldwide when you book Fine Hotels + Resorts through the XXXX XXXX XXXX '' " Enjoy competitive rates and complimentary benefits at over XXXX extraordinary properties worldwide when you book FINE HOTELS & RESORTS '' ( all quotes, which were just a few taken of many, above were simply found online on Americanexpress.com via travel benefits, platinum card benefits, etc ). 

Rather, the AmEx XXXX representative who was helping us book our family vacation, used XXXX to book our trip. So, even though AmEx advertises everywhere that Platinum Card members get all of these special benefits & perks when using Fine Hotels & Resorts, the representative decided to take a different route, not tell us which the not only excluded us from the many benefits AmEx 's XXXX & XXXX provides, but also excluded us from the special deals & offers that were advertised by the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, which included 30 % off suites ( and we got a XXXX XXXX XXXX nights ). 

This is false advertising. American Express platinum card members travel benefits advertises all of these benefits, and we got XXXX. 

XXXX had the nerve to blame all of these flaws performed by AmEx on XXXX - because when asked if we would pay upfront, we said yes. Apparently, per XXXX, the AmEx travel representative got a small discount on XXXX if we paid upfront. We had no indication XXXX was being used, nor did we know that the AmEx representative 's decision to use XXXX XXXX have us pay upfront would " disqualify '' us from XXXX XXXX XXXX. How can we be blamed on actions we were kept in the dark, especially when American Express XXXX advertises XXXX & XXXX is used??? 

As AmEx was " investigating '' our situation prior to our trip, we spoke to the XXXX at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, who informed us that if AmEx travel booked our trip using XXXX & XXXX, we would have received that 30 % savings. 

We do not accept, nor agree to XXXX 's findings, and we expect AmEx to deliver what is advertised. We should not be held responsible, especially not financially as we PAY for these services, for the total incompetence & false advertising of American Express XXXX. 

We want this escalated and resolved to our satisfaction.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief