American Express
reviews and complaints

My recommendation - Do not EVER apply for an American Express Card. I had a credit card with them for almost 10 years, never a single payment late, always paid in FULL every month and with no explanation, with a perfect credit, they said their system prompt them for an 'audit'. After 10 years of relationship, It is sufficient for a Financial Institution to know the difference between a good, loyal client and a responsible borrower from another.

They simply canceled my account for NO REASON. When asking the representative, her answer was, 'we don't care, we close card from clients here who had accounts for 20 years".

Would you ever tell that to a client? If you value their loyalty, and they don't value yours - Don't fall into their prey. They don't care about their Clients. Best Banks to Bank with - RBC and TD - They have the BEST Customer service and they will truly appreciate you as a customer. Trust me!
I am going to tell my connections at Linked in - over 2000 across Canada, Europe and the U.S and FaceBook -

Sincerely, DO NOT Bank, nor ever open a Credit Card account with AMEX. Give honor to those who will honor you, anything outside that, it means you are just a number.

You could be easily traveling, and you won't have any resources if you are traveling abroad.

Consumers, Be Aware of AMEX's Unfair and Deceptive Business Practices

I have had my American Express Card for nearly twenty years, have used it for close to a half million in purchases and have never so much as been late on a payment. Several months ago there was a small, unauthorized charge on my card -- I advised it was not my charge and it was removed. Simple, right? However, the story only BEGINS there. The "new" Amex fraud department had people calling me to discuss the matter who could barely speak English and who could not answer any questions - just repeatedly reiterate a canned list of statements. They appeared to be "asking" me to cancel the account I had for so many years with the number of such account tied into countless auto-payments and court filing systems for my business. Since the false charge was small and whoever tried it did not have all of the necessary card information, I told them I did not want to cancel the 20 year old account. They continued to keep me on the phone stating emphatically "but we really, really, really recommend that you cancel this card" over and over until I began to wonder whether they were even truly American Express. Concerned, I hung up and called the number on the back of my card. Shockingly, every call I made to American Express from that point on (and this is MONTHS ago) was routed directly to the fraud department and the same, non-english-primary speaking personnel reading from the same script "we really, really, really recommend, blah blah blah." After about 15 phone calls over 3 days with HOURS spent on the phone to no avail I finally determined (after being lied to by several personnel AND supervisors in the fraud dept) that they had already cancelled my account WITHOUT my permission and BEFORE ever even reaching me. I was FURIOUS and spent the next 3 days on the phone trying to call other Amex numbers found online to have a new card issued. I was finally successful. The card arrived about 6 weeks ago with my same number and new expiration date and security code. I called and had it activated and figured - problem solved. However, out of no where this past my card has suddenly been declined at restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations (yes, incredibly embarrassing). I again tried to call the number on the back of my card and lo and behold, I was again, automatically rerouted to the "fraud" department, put on a recorded line and spoken to by a heavily accented person who was clearly reading from the same script. Everywhere I call now to try and resolve the problem gets me routed back to this inept fraud department speaking with people who have no authority or inclination to resolve this very simple issue. I want my account back with the new card they have already sent to me and activated and I don't want to have to EVER speak with the fraud dept again. Apparently, after 20 years and half a million in expenditures, I'm not going to be able to get that. It is honestly like a credit card twilight zone. I am an attorney and I am debating whether to pursue dtpa/breach of contract allegations against Amex. It has honestly left me with a sick feeling. This was my go-to card for all my travel, business and online shopping. I trusted them implicitly. Now, I can't even find a real person with authority to speak with about this issue. I'm posting here hoping that I will get a call from someone with the authority to do something about this and the sense to understand this is NOT how you treat valued customers of 20 years. One week from today, if this matter is still not resolved, I will proceed with my claim. So very, very sad. Amex, the last true bastion of true customer service -- gone. I mean it, I am truly sick about this.

We rented a car in Rome and paid $25.00 for collision insurance. Because we had this insurance, we told AutoEurope at the airport that we did not need any other insurance. On returning the car, they found a small dent and we said we are covered. We then heard from AMEX that they do not cover Italy and we are responsible for the damage. When they accepted the premium for the insurance, they sent no contract saying that Italy was not covered. In fact, we paid for the insurance 3 weeks before we picked up the car in Rome so there was plenty of time to inform us that Italy was not covered. We have had AMEX for over 40years and this is the first time we have made a claim. We are very angry that neither at the time of the rental in Rome or at the time that we sent in the premium we were not notified that Italy was not covered. We have discussed this widely and found that like us, people are not aware of this lack of coverage. This appears to be a scam on the part of AMEX who is happy to accept a premium when they are aware that their client is renting in a country that they do not cover.

On Tuesday, July 11th I approved a charge of $1436.46 for an upcoming flight via the Japanese Travel Bureau. As of Friday, July 14th (3 days later) only the $35 merchant fee was actually charged to my account, the other balance has not shown up as yet. That seems an excessive delay.

When I called the merchant today, they said everything was in order. When I called American Express, the CSR would only say "you have to wait another day or so" before the charge shows up with NO EXPLANATION for the delay, other than "that is the way we do things" and shut me down as a customer. I also spoke with the merchant involved and they are "dong nothing further" now to expedite this transaction - it is fully complete from their perspective. Somehow we have a break down in communication here!

That is very poor customer service...not willing to investigate further and determine why - in today's world of electronic transactions - is should take that long - 3 days - to reflect the charge.

I would like an more in-depth explanation of (1) Why this transaction was divided up into two elements - $35 and the other; and (2) Why it takes so long for the ENTIRE transaction to show up on my on-line billing statement?

Please provide that in-depth explanation as soon as possible.

Thank you

Dale F. Weeks
American Express Customer for 40+ years
[protected]
Minneapolis, MN USA 55432

My father passed away at the end of March. Per legal advice, we cancelled his two credit cards - one of which was an American Express. His American Express bills were paid each month for years by automatic withdrawal from his checking account and American Express would mail a copy of the monthly statement to his mailing address.

They did not send the final bill on his account to his mailing address, they just turned the account over to DCM Services (a collection agency). If the statement had been sent to his mailing address, it would have been paid promptly.

I find this a disgrace on my deceased father who was always meticulous with his finances. He had had an American Express account for years.

Shame on American Express and it would have saved them money not sending it immediately to a collection agency versus just sending out the monthly March statement which would have been paid immediately.

My Delta American Express was paid by phone on 4/22, 4 days late as for some reason my one line payment did not go through. I always pay by bills in full and never carry a balance. Also twice in the last year I never received my bill and ended up paying late for that reason and this is the reason they gave for the representative and his supervisor for not being able to eliminate the $27 late fee, plus the interest charge of$143.72 for the 4 days. As we all know nothing is carved in stone and rules can be changed if there is a desire to, but then they would lose $170.00. Yes, I will be cancelling this card.

4/3/2017 amex was sent overpayment thousands more than we owed them

4/20/2017 they refuse to help return the funds, have removed it from the card account (credit) and refusing to return us these funds.

I have called 25 times -- different response each time, different person. They have no email.

They claim they sent it back, then they say they sent an etf, then they say they mailed a check, then they say they dont have it anymore.

I was in the process of booking a domestic flight (Delta Airlines) and tried to find the airfare rules. Are you kidding me? On the phone for 30 minutes and 4 agents. No one could show me where to find this information on the AmEx Travel site. Ridiculous! And they want a fee as a travel agent? So disappointing. Asked to speak with a manager...45 minutes, they said. I left my name and phone number. Any bets that someone will call me back? Won't hold my breath.

Date: 04/14/2017
Complaint: I made a mistake in my booking with AMEX Travel immediately, after I clicked the submit button. I called AMEX Travel and they called the hotel, then to return to say it could not be changed and it was final. I talked to the rep and told her that I was viewing several sites and I've booked at the hotel and vacancies were showing and requested to speak to AMEX Travel supervisor. (I was put on hold at least 25 minutes, no one returned).
-- I called hotel back and was told that the reservation was made through ORBITZ and they could not make the change and there were hotel rooms at the time with double beds.
--I called AMEX back (Tim) and then transferred to AMEX Travel (Terri). She was very understanding, and talk to hotel. I was told that because of the contract with ORBITZ and hotel, they could not cancel the booking.
-- I then went to hotel website and attempted to book reservation and booking window (ironically was down).
--Had I know that American Express Travel now uses 3rd party entities with "unknown" contracts that are not clearly being expressed to customers, I would not used American Express Travel. I am disturbed at your practices of obtaining "watered" services as a result to using 3rd party business entities.

Get an offer for 60, 000 miles from AMEX for Delta? Don't count on it. After spending hours on multiple calls and being told various deadlines ranging from 2 days to 8 weeks. I was finally told by American express that they would not honor the 60, 000 mile promotional that they sent me. Not only have I received one but two of these promotionals and they are only giving me 30, 000 miles. I went as far as contacting the executives at AMEX and they refuse to fulfill the promotion even after they required me to fax a copy of the promotional that I received. American Express needs to do something about this issue or I will be done after completing my $1000 spending. There are many other credit cards that offer good rewards, have good customer service, and do not charge a membership fee. Why stay with them and pay a membership fee when their customer service is unprofessional and their promotions have no integrity. There needs to be a zero star rating so it can be applied to AMEX's customer support..

I needed to talk to a supervisor about adjusting my hotel reservation (something that can't be done online according to Amex-I have to speak with someone)and they put me on hold twice for 16 minutes and then 18 minutes and the second person I spoke with told me it could be hours before a supervisor would answer (which was never told to me before being put on hold)-really!? They also said they can't take a message nor can you e-mail a message/complaint. I have been a cardholder for 26 years and am a platinum cardholder, but obviously that doesn't matter. I also take American express cards at my business. All that will be changing now, although I don't think American Express cares and I am sure no one will answer this e-mail.

I was recently in miami, florida on vacation for christmas. While at the beach, someone broke into our rental car and stole my drivers license, bluebird card, suntrust debit visa and my merrick bank visa as well as two of my boyfriend's credit/debit cards.

So while our family was at the beach playing in the ocean and having a blast, some *** (S) was in fort lauderdale at the dillard's fraudulently charging merchandise on all of our cards. They were able to push through more than $500 on my suntrust card. My bluebird card, which I use for a small weekly direct deposit of $100 was also used. They made a transaction of $89.03.

The transaction that was made on the merrick bank card was unsuccessful. My love's cards were also charged for undisclosed amounts. We realized the theft when we were back in the car and headed for our accommodations. I checked my bank balanced and noticed the discrepancy immediately.

When I looked in my pocketbook, I noticed that not only were my cards missing, but so was my driver's license. Needless to say, I was pissed. I noticed that I was getting repeated calls from several 800 numbers. These were my concerned banks and credit card companies calling because of the unusual behavior on my cards.

I spoke to merrick bank who told me about the transactions that were declined. I spoke to suntrust bank who immediately escalated the fraudulent charges to the claims department. I called amex bluebird and told them what happened. Immediately, I was issued a new card by them and I was told to call back after the transaction had posted to the account because they couldnt do anything about it until it actually posted.

We returned home and I waited until the transaction posted to the account to call again to report the stolen card and start what I though would be a relatively short process of returning my money from this fraudulent transaction. One thing I must note about even calling in to report a card stolen is that their system is automated initially, so I continues to ask for your card number and will end the call if you don't have it. I was extremely frustrated when the incident initially occurred because I was unable to get through twice because I did not have the card with me to punch in the numbers. That is an obvious and ironic flaw in their system... (It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that having your card numbers in front of you is highly unlikely if someone has stolen your physical card. ) perhaps having an option for stolen or lost cards would make sense to expedite the process of restricting the use of the card as well as protecting the customer, which, as I learned, is not the priority of amex bluebird.

Anyhow, I did escalate the issue as a claim on january 1st. I was told that it would take 7-10 days to resolve the investigation at which time, they would credit the money back to my account. I thought that the time frame was just okay compared to my other accounts that took action immediately and credited my money back within 3 days of the incident.In fact, my suntrust money was back in my account and all associated fees were resolved before I concluded my vacation which ended on december 30th, 2016.

Nevertheless, I figured, that bluebird would be the last to return my money and I would be fine within a week and a half at most. I called 3 times between january 1st and january 16th to check on the status of the credit to my account and each time I was told that they were "investigating" the incident. I was told that they were communicating with the merchant. As a business owner, myself, I accept credit cards and have dealt with chargebacks.

A simple form is sent to the vendor to explain the details of the transaction and include receipts, whether the merchandise was delivered... Etc. This in no way constitutes a fraud investigation. Finally, on january 17, 2016, I received an email from amex bluebird: we received your recent inquiry about the following transaction: we have completed our review and have determined that no credit is due. The transaction will remain on your account because: transaction details: date 12/27/2016 amount $89.03 from/to dillards 252 broward valid documents received from merchant with the valid signed receipts.

If you would like to receive a copy of the documents that we used while making our decision, please contact us at [protected]. Questions? Call us at [protected]) —we’re available 24/7. Thanks, the bluebird team really?

Does bluebird amex believe that since a thief signed a credit card receipt that it's not a fraudulent charge? What kind of investigation actually took place? Why call it customer protection when I was never even listened to as a customer? I made a police report due to my drivers license having been stolen along with the credit cards.

Did amex bluebird ever inquire about that information? No! They took the word of a merchant trying to cover the rest of their losses. What this incident tells me and what it should tell anyone else is that your money is not protected when using a bluebird card.

My hope is that no one in their right mind who receives a tax refund or regular direct deposit on this card is in need of their money because in the case that you become a victim of a thief, you will also become a victim of bluebird's hemming and hawing for 2 or 3 weeks to find out that they do not care about their customers and you will not get your hard earned money back. You will get the run around and you will not hear from them until you get the fateful email that your luck has run out. Unlike other fdic insured institutions, they seem to be okay with allowing fraudulent activity on their cards with no recourse for the customer who then becomes a victim twice. (I should say three times because the hassle of waiting forever just to find out that you're not getting your funds returned is not only frustrating, stressful and irritating, but it speaks to something more awful.

The fact that your voice is unheard an these big multi-billion dollar companies can hold your money away from you while they continue to make money is completely absurd and disgusting. ) I would not recommend this card ever again. If they cannot be trusted to protect my $89.03 or even care about such an awful situation for their customers, I fear deeply for anyone who trust them to guard their whole paycheck or their tax return. God forbid anyone get their hands on your card. They can sign on the dotted line and claim your money.

It's laughable that they gave me the option of seeing the forged signature document from dillard's, I guess that was meant as evidence that I should be okay with bluebird, dillard's and the thieves stealing my money. Thanks, but no thanks bluebird.

You will never make another dollar off of me or my family and friends... And hopefully anyone who is able to read this information before putting one dime onto another bluebird account. Buyer beware.

In November 2016 I received a letter from American Express with an attached check for $603.77.
I do not know what this is for and do not know whether to cash the check or not.
The AMEX account is now closed. It was connected to Costco and last year Citibank took over the Costco credit cards.
I have spoken to both AMEX and Citibank several times and no-one can help me. All they keep saying is that the account is closed. AMEX says to call Citibank and Citibank says to call AMEX. I also wrote a letter to AMEX but they have not responded.
The letter says "Because of a technical error we were unable to open a Billing Inquiry on your account at the time you requested it. To correct this error we have enclosed this check to refund you for the disputed amount".

At the bottom of the letter is says "This program is managed by American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc with assistance from RUST Consulting, Inc."

Is this a legitimate check?

Hi,
I had a american express Corporate Card for 5 years and i had paid a yearly fee of $90 every year to enroll in their membership points as my company did not participate in membership points. When i left my company, my company cancelled the credit card. After a month, when i logged into my american express account, i was shocked to know that my membership point which was around 50, 000. When i called the american express customer care, they informed me that i had 1 month to use my points once my card was cancelled, but they never communicated this to me in a email or a mail. When i requested the manager to help me, they out rightly rejected this and they informed me that this was documented in the Terms and Conditions document (Which is around 20 pages) when i signed up for membership rewards points.
Now i have lost almost $400 in fees and 50, 000 points. This is nothing but cheating tand I am really disappointed with the AMEX customer care.

I just wanted to say how HUGE a disappointment your department has been. We had to pay twice for plane tickets from Europe to New York. Apparently in the eyes of Amex it is ok to assume that we understand the in's and out's of travel but NOT ok to assume that we don't know what you're talking about. We left Morocco early to go to Spain. We were told that our flights there would not be covered. We were ok with having to pay for those by ourselves. What we WERE NOT told was that it negated our whole trip home from Spain. We had to pay for those tickets a second time. It is incomprehensible that we are to know every detail of traveling, how airlines work, etc. We RELY on you when we are traveling to guide us through our vacation and HOME. You have failed. If I knew how to do all of this I would not have used your service to begin with. Then to be abruptly asked "what do you want from us" is pretty ridiculous. What do you think I want? NOT to pay for plane tickets twice! I was directed to you because I heard you were good with this, and good with customer service. Obviously I should have done some searching, because you rank a 1.5 out of 5 stars, almost across the board. I know it means nothing to you that you will lose a customer from this, because I only spend a few hundred thousand dollars a year with you and not millions, but that is a lot of money and a lot of business for the normal person. I will now go through and post this to as many sites as I can so that it does not happen to any one else, and so that no one else has to deal with getting burned, and the frustration and stress that come along with it.

Re: bluebird account [removed]
$212.43 in stolen credit card charges

I am writing to you for your assistance to settle a dispute with a stolen america express bluebird credit card. On 11/21/2016 i received a text message from american express bluebird that my account is now at $0.00. I had $212.74 balance on the card prior to this email that i received at 9:02am. There were 3 charges made on 11/21/2016 at the safeway morgan hill stores by san francisco, california. I live in los angeles and upon receipt of the email from amex i logged on to my amex account i went online and saw the three charges that were made between 8:47am-9:01am. I received the email at 9:00am, i called from my house in los angeles and called amex and called your payment processing center. I told them not to pay since these were fraudlent charges. They said it was pending and i had to wait until it was posted.

I had called american express bluebird to request a new card since my card strip was worn from using it frequently. I never received that replacement card. Amex called me on 11/29/2016 and said they contacted safeway morgan hill stores and said the charges were valid. There is no way i can travel from morgan hill to los angeles in 1 minute. I asked for someone to pull the tapes and i can send my photo to prove that was not me making the purchases. I also said when i was calling amex they can call me back at work to prove i was in los angeles at 9:05am on 11/21/2016.

Amex said that based on safeway notification, they denied the dispute of my charges and closed my account. They said there was nothing they can do since safeway said the charges were valid. I wanted to explain my case i wanted to safeway to have someone just pull the tapes so i can verify that was not me making those purchases. The total of the 3 charges total $212.43. I have already filed a police report with the city of morgan hill and the usps both reports are attached to this letter. American express bluebird did nothing after i immediately notified them of the fraud charges. Since this was a prepaid account they are not out the money but the consumer me is out $212.43. American express bluebird has a obligation to the consumer when properly notified to reverse the charges and to fight for the cardholders funds back which they failed to do.

Regards,

Christopher saenz, mba
1623
[removed]
[number removed]
[protected]@hotmail.com

Never and I mean never use Leap Payments contractors, we are a contractor and got screwed over big time. Bogus chargeback dispute started by American Express and sent to Leap Payments our card processor soon to be exprocessor and defendant in a lawsuit along with American Express. Amex started a bogus dispute making it look like our customer did it after our customer used his prepaid Amex cars to pay us for work we did. Amex tried to call the customer since it thinks everyone is a criminal so they could verify the charge of $772.50 he paid us with, but when they didn't reach him after calling what looks like once and they didn't even leave a voicemail and then they tried calling us but also didn't leave a voicemail, Amex's employee just opened a bogus dispute and put in reason as work not completed to customers satisfaction or not completed at all. Which is a completely made up lie by Amex. Our customer three way called us and Amex where Amex said what dispute we don't show anything and said they would as a precaution send an email up to their chargeback department telling them the customer called in and said pay that charge and nothing is in dispute and that he didn't dispute anything about that charge ever. Still Amex or Leap Payments pulled all the money out of our business Checking and over drew the acct forcing me to have to scrap money out of thin air to put our business acct back in the green. On top of that Amex slandered our business by making up the bogus dispute by putting reason as work not done or not completed to customers satisfaction. Our customer proved to us that he never even called them by the three way call we listened in on with him after he had called them once before earlier that morning. We are taking legal action against Leap Payments for refusing to even investigate the fraud by Amex we reported to them about this bogus dispute they opened and suing Amex for making up the fake dispute in the first place. Our relationship with our customer is damaged by these actions, our bank acct history and banking relationship with our bank has been damaged and we spent many hours on phone calls and emails and filing out the chargeback paperwork that Leap Payments demands be filled out to get our money back with in a week and a half during Thanksgiving week. Time that should have been spent enjoying the holiday with family that is visiting was instead spent scrambling to move money around to cover our over drawn acct at our bank and on the phone and on emails and getting the run around by Leap Payments and Amex. These companies pitch so much about consumer fraud and threaten you about the risk of being hacked and keeping customer card numbers or personal info, yet when you report fraud by one of their own they refuse to lift a finger, just shows you what you really mean to them as a merchant

My friend bought at Wal-Mart a pre-paid gift card for the amount of $500 for me.. The next day went back to cash the gift card and Wal- mart did not gave the money because they can't find it. The receipt was issued of the purchased.The manager fax all the receipt and information. The people who answered the phone for American express is from India with heavy accents. The case file reference number is 738302.This is terrible. All the paper works fax to [protected]. Today a letter arrived stating that they are unable to read the information you have fax/mailed to us. Please resend the information by either fax or mail.This look like they are trying to get away from paying the mistakes they made. It was so clear the papers where send correctly because it was fax at the Wal-mart by manager.This is not acceptable. I hope to file a complain by consumer affair if this is not setteld now.

On 11/22/2016 I made a couple of call to AMEX Because charges were denied due to fraud alert. I made the calls after following instructions from a text recieved from AMEX. I called to different numbers

[protected], 8:57 AM EASTER TIME: 30 Minutes wating
[protected], 833 am 19 minutes. call was terminated by representative had to call again.

I was not able to purchase the item because to many denials ( special purchase for employees of my company with Microsoft- code for the discount is locked out) due to the incompetence or failures by AMEX.

I am not a big spender with AMEX, on my Platinum I spend an average of 3, 500 dollars on small business and small purchases in my community.

the way I was treated today by the representatives and their ability to insinuate someone is lying on contradicting the costumer; my inability to make my purchase and the overall lousy, horrible and or incompetent costumer staff has motivated me to return to my DISCOVER and VISA card. I will be closing both of my accounts and will be closing my business accounts with AMEX. Truly disappointed with the service.

identity problems as far back as 2001 and beyond chargeback letter was 2014-15, my identity problems are augmented by the the fact that my spouse has been missing since 1997 her name is Shery R. Grant. I have already filed identity theft complaints with social security and the federal trade commission. I am seeking the return of any and all monies owed to me and the prosecution of any and all persons who bear any culpability whatsoever with respect to the issues I've complained about.