Consumer complaint received 2025-07-08 00:00:00
Product: Prepaid card — General-purpose prepaid card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer — Card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase or transfer
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: IN

Complaint narrative:
XX/XX/year> I toured a XXXX XXXX  while in XXXX XXXX XXXX. At the end of the presentation we were presented XXXX American Express gift cards : - XXXX for {$25.00} - XXXX for {$100.00} We went direct from the presentation to lunch and attempted to use the {$100.00} card and it was declined. Our lunch exceeded {$25.00}, so we did not try that one. 

We went straight back to the hotel after lunch and checked the balances of these XXXX cards. There was a system error at AMEX and we had to wait several hours for the system to come back online. 

Once back up we checked both cards : {$25.00} had been used for : - XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX : {$0.00} at XXXX on XX/XX/year> - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  : {$0.00} at XXXX on XX/XX/year> - XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  : {$3.00} at XXXX on XX/XX/year> - XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX {$19.00} at XXXX on XX/XX/year> {$100.00} had been used for : - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX : {$100.00} at XXXX on XX/XX/year> I immediately called the customer care number on the back of the card and explained the above to the rep. The rep saw that all activities were still in " Pending '' status. He said that we had to wait at least XXXX and wait for the transactions to close to call back and file a complaint. From there they would refund or re-issue the cards. 

On the day of the XXXX mark, I called back and explained the above to the rep. The rep took my information and opened the dispute case. 

* * Later, I received a notice : XXXX, This email is to confirm that your signed dispute form was received today by the Disputes XXXX XXXX. Disputes can take up to XXXX days to be completed from the time your signed dispute form was received. 
Contacting us If you have any questions, please contact the Dispute Team at XXXX noting your assigned case number. 
Sincerely, XXXX Dispute Resolution * * Then : Hello, We've completed our investigation of your American Express XXXX XXXX dispute and want to share our findings. 
Your dispute is declined * * I replied with : Support, I do not understand why the dispute has been denied? I did not make those purchases and called into support within XXXX hours of receiving the card while the charges were still in pending status to see if they could be declined. The rep told us that we had to wait XXXX for the charges to actually clear to call back and open the dispute. At that point the rep immediately locked down the card and said that given the circumstances, the amount would be returned to the card, or that we would receive a new card. 
Our cards had fraudulent purchases made as we had just received them from XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX after doing a timeshare presentation. Please continue to investigate as we made no purchases on the cards in question and there should be assurances against that. 

* * Then : Reference : Case Number XXXX Hello, We've completed our investigation of your American Express XXXX XXXX dispute and want to share our findings. 
Your dispute is declined If you provide your card information to a third party by phone, website, email, in person, or by other means, we will treat this as if you have authorized any related use, and you will be liable for all transactions incurred. After a thorough review of your account, we have determined your XXXX information was provided by you to a third party to complete the transactions in question, and therefore, no credit will be issued. 

* * I replied with : XXXX XXXX, I don't understand this line, " after a thorough review of your account, we have determined your XXXX information was provided by you to a third party to complete the transactions in question ''. What did you review to determine this? The only person I gave my card number to was the customer service line to report the erroneous charges. 
Did you see in my last email that I reported the issue as soon as I logged onto XXXX to check my balance and saw the erroneous charge and called support while it was still in Pending status? 
Did you see that I had just received my card as a gift from XXXX XXXX for attending a sales presentation? 
All this happened in a matter of minutes from receiving my card and I gave the information to nobody- hence fraudulent activity... 
I need you to continue your investigation as what you have found is not yet correct. Please escalate this to management for further review. 
Sincerely, XXXX XXXX I have not heard back from AMEX on the dispute with any real information. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation