Consumer complaint received 2026-05-28 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 attempted to book a fully refundable hotel room via XXXX ( a white-label front-end for XXXX ) not disclosed anywhere on the XXXX XXXX website. The merchant 's interface ( online photos for every room showed the rooms were fully refundable until XX/XX/year> ) explicitly advertised the hotel room I was booking as 'Fully Refundable ' up to and including the exact screen where credit card information was entered. However, immediately upon processing my payment, the merchant issued a confirmation stating the booking was now 'Non-Refundable. ' This constitutes an illegal bait-and-switch digital dark pattern under FTC guidelines. When I made this online reservation, I had no idea XXXX was involved but once the booking was converted to non- refundable, I immediately used the XXXX number provided on the confirmation to cancel my reservation, only to hear the customer service agent state I booked a non-refundable room as it states on the booking confirmation. Customer service did not care that on my computer, the hotel room was fully refundable. I only learned my money was going to XXXX when I received my statement from American Express where the charge was listed as XXXX. I promptly disputed the charge with American Express and escalated the matter to their XXXX XXXX, providing live screenshots of the XXXX XXXX rooms with the Fully Refundable disclosure clearly visible. American Express has denied the dispute twice. First they claimed I did not notify XXXX, but I then provided e-mails that I sent to XXXX to cancel my booking. Then AMEX began arbitrarily claiming the refundable rooms currently showing online differ from the room I booked, rather than addressing the core fraud : that the merchant alters contract terms post-billing. The merchant, XXXX, has failed to provide any proof of pre-authorization disclosure stating the room was non-refundable. By forcing me to pay for a contract whose material terms were fraudulently altered at the millisecond of a submit button, American Express is failing to protect the consumer from documented merchant fraud. I request a full chargeback credit. American Express is failing its customers by failing to protect against documented merchant fraud and bait-and-switch billing under the Fair Credit Billing Act. The merchant utilized an illegal 'dark pattern'advertising a 'Fully Refundable ' room up until the moment of billing, then rendering a 'Non-Refundable ' confirmation.. American Express is refusing to honor the dispute despite being provided proof of the merchants systemic, deceptive advertising practices that invalidate the contract. American Express is failing its consumer protection duties under the Fair Credit Billing Act ( FCBA ) regarding " services not received as described. '' AMEX is accepting a post-purchase travel agent document from XXXX as " proof '' of some kind of contract, but I am a Platinum AMEX Cardmember not a travel agency and I have explicitly requested the merchant 's disclosed terms showing a front-end " non-refundable '' warning prior to the charge. Both XXXX and XXXX XXXX have failed to produce any such disclosure.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation