American Express
Reviews and Complaints

American Express contacted me for a fraud alert. After an hour on the phone they said they needed to replace my card. After three transfers internally no one at Amex would live up to their promise of sending me a card the next day. Best they could do was two days even though it was a simple city and request and their people admitted it was doable. Despite traveling for business and being a high volume user, they could have cared less. The business will go to Visa now.

I lost my card and had to call it in lost or stolen earlier this year. Amex (American Express) closed the account, and the representative advised me I would be receiving a new card in 3 business days by Fedex. I never received the card.
I called Amex about 3 times after that incident, asked why the card was not received, received contradictory information several times, and they finally advised me that despite what the other representative said that a new card was not sent; I needed to bring my account under its credit limit by $1000 before they would issue another card. Since I was told wrong information (it is also recorded) I filed reports with the BBB, AG of Kansas, the FTC, the FDIC, The Consumer Protection Agency, and the OCC. Amex followed up with these complaints in writing, stating that the maximum amount of card numbers had been issued on my account, and that in order for the new account to be established I needed to bring my account under its line of credit by $1000. The letter also stated that if I wanted to continue to use the account, my available credit needed to be at least $1000, or I could close the account and apply for a new one. This letter was sent by K. Martin, Customer Advocate, out of Salt Lake City, on 06/14/2011.
As of September 29th of 2011, I brought my account under its credit line by $1000. I called Amex on October 1st to request the new card be sent. I was assured by the representative I spoke with the card would be sent within three business days, by Fedex. The card never came. I called again on Thursday of the following week, asking where my card was, and this time the representative advised me it was going to take 7-10 business days to receive, and that the previous representative misinformed me. I waited another 7-10 days; the card never came. I called back again, and they cancelled the previous card, and sent me a new one by 3 day UPS. I finally received the card on 10/19/2011, and I called in to confirm. I was informed I was given an $1100 credit limit, not my previous $5700 credit limit, which left a previous balance of approximately $4700 on the old account. This was not what was agreed to by Amex, and this can also be confirmed through the letter they sent on June 14th to myself and the FDIC.
I called and spoke to a supervisor named Suzanne at Amex on the evening of October 19th. She stated she could clearly see they promised the account would be reopened as long as it was $1000 under its credit limit, and that they should have issued another card with a $5700 line of credit. Suzanne called the credit dept, and she spoke to a person named Kathy in Phoenix. Kathy refused to honor what I was verbally told and what was written in the letter to myself and the FDIC in June, simply because she couldn’t find the letter in their system. I’m frankly not sure what is going on with Amex these days, specifically when it comes to communication, but I am frankly getting sick of it. My account is paid as agreed, as well as my other creditors, and they should be required to honor what they have said to me verbally and in writing. Also, since this is technically a new account, with a different credit limit, they never sent me my new credit terms, which I know is required by law. In addition, I’ve received recent correspondence from Amex that was unsealed, as well as mislabeled e-mails, and other major communication breakdowns. I know I am not the only one experiencing these issues with Amex, would have preferred to resolve the matters on my own, but they have made it virtually impossible to resolve anything. So I am left to file complaints, yet again, with all of the prior agencies. Plus I am posting my complaint on [redacted]. If you are having the same problems with American Express, or other similar problems, please file reports with the following agencies:
• BBB of El Paso
• Attorney General (your own state)
• FTC (Federal Trade Commission)
• FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
• OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency)
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

I was going to write a review about AMEX violating my FCRA Rights, but it looks like there are so many complaints about AMEX, that one more in a 1, 000, 000 is not going to make a difference. AMEX sent me a survey online and as soon as you answer the first question about AMEX. If it is not a good score for them, the survey terminates. I guess you have to cover up bad customer service any way you can. They need to send those jobs to India, because they do a much better job and for peanuts on top of that!

I took a business trip and booked through the American Express Travel site. I returned from my business trip and needed to expense my trip to the client. In order to do so, I need an itemized receipt (taxs, fees, base rate, etc).

I didn't get one from them, so I called the hotel. They said I booked my trip through Travelocity, so they couldn't help. So I called AMEX Travel and discovered that they use Travelocity as a back-end booking engine. I asked for a receipt and your agent said 'sure! it will be 24 hours.' 24 hours later I received a non-itemized receipt, and so I called and the same thing happened again. And again. I called for the 4th time and was ASSURED that an itemized receipt would be sent to me within 5 business days. A week and a half go by and I call again. I am told they can't provide an itemized receipt. Then someone tells me I can and it will be another couple days. Then someone else puts me on hold for 20 mins and never picks up. And so I call back. Each person I talk to says something different.

And so 7 calls and a month later I have no receipt. And now they are telling me to email.

Let's just say I don't have high hopes for the outcome of this. And it's sad. A large corporation like AMEX has the resources to be good at what it does, but instead it chooses not to be. I will never book through AMEX travel again and encourage all others not to use the service as well.

American Express Bahrain technologies department is very rascist when it comes to treating their employees. That departmnt is more or less managed by a bunch of British guys who love to assert complete UK monopoly. Any meaningful promotions and pay hikes are hard to come by unless one is a British expat. Any attempts at fighting this inequality will result in termination of employment. I would strongly recommend folks from developing world to reconsider any employment offers (in technologies department) from American Express Bahrain.

The worst experience ever using a credit card!
I had my american express card thru macy's for a long time now. On 8/19/11, I paid my balance off. Since I have had my card, I sometimes make large purchases and within a short period, I would pay the balance in full. This past weekend, I had out of town visitors at my home and decided to use my card. I was totally humiliated and embarrassed in front of my guests when attempting to make purchases with a long line of people behind us. On this day; the first time this happened, I called the number on the back of the card. The agent apologizes and authorized my purchased. I informed her that I had other shopping to do and did not want to experience this again. The agent assured me that I would not have any other problems.
The next purchase I tried to make on the same day (Saturday) I had the same problem, after the first agent told me that I would not have this problem again. Again; I called the credit card department. On both calls the agent could not explained to me the issue with my card and was very unhelpful.
Today, I called the credit card department and was informed that my credit limit was decreased from a very high limit to a very low limit. According to the agent I spoke with, this was not due to a decrease in my credit because there was a recent review of my credit and my credit had improved from when I initial received my america express card. Additionally, I never received any notification to the reason for the decrease in my credit limit. Oh! But it is okay to totally make me to look like a fool and a thief. Today, I am going to pay the balance again and this time it will stay a “0” balance. I believe I can get better treatment for being an excellent customer elsewhere.

We've upgraded our Costco membership the EXECUTIVE because the better reward. I did not see the rebate chech until last week and the check was expired at the end of August. I called American Express and the manager told me they would recdite me back to my account 50% of the rebate. Why couldn't they credit me to the account at the beginning? I have to see a line of "reward check included" in the statement and I cannot cash it without my wife. It is ridiculous they could do what they decided to do only.

American Express promotes All Purpose Cheques - "An Offer with a Special Low 1.99% Interest Rate for up to 6 Months".

Don't be fooled by this illusion. It charges you much more than you can image. For example, if you write such a check of $1, 000 and plan to return it after the so called 6-sweet-months, your cost for this $1, 000 will be:
$19.9+$10+$30*6 = $209.9, an annual interest rate as high as over 40%!

Now you could see what does their 1.99% mean!

American Express reduced my credit limit in half. I always pay on time and have always made lump sum payments to reduce the balance. They told me my credit report indicated my outstanding balances were significant and basically I couldn't pay it anymore. My credit score is excellent and they said if I wanted it to go back to where it was, I'd have to give them $1, 000 or provide all my financials as if I'm applying for credit again. This is ridiculous, I'm an excellent customer. This is fraud and robbery! I'm so pissed but as what my financial adviser said, I won't close the account but I'm paying it off and will never use them again. They definitely will not get another penny from me!

I have been a loyal customer of American Express for many years. I have very good credit and I always pay on time. Recently I have decided to restructure my finances by paying off my credit cards. Unfortunately, my American Express Blue has been the most difficult credit card to deal with. Having a lower interest rate would certainly help pay off the balance the quickest. I have been calling and writing to one of the American Express account managers for almost a year now with no avail. Their answer always is "we will review your account and we'll see if we can offer you a lower interest rate", but that lower interest rate never happens. American Express continues to gouge its good customers with high interest rates and refusing to extend a hand to its good customers by reducing their interest rates so that customers can pay off their cards quicker. American Express is taking advantage of its good customers. American Express is showing its ugly, greedy face very clearly, the company is definitely abusing its good customers and acting in bad faith toward its customers. American Express is not a company worth of survival after the dust of the financial crisis settles. So to all of you honest Americans out there who have an American Express credit card, pay it off and never go back, eventually they will get the message.

Don't waste your money on the PLATINUM SERVICE, It isn't worth it!
Worst customer service ever, especially considering that I pay them $450 per year for their card. I booked two tickets through the AMEX travel services online and decided to check on the reservation 1 month after having booked it. I was charged the entire amount for the airline travel and had paid the bill. I pay in full every month. When I check the reservation, they trip ID came back the trip had been cancelled. Never once was i notified, nor were the charges ever reversed. I contacted AMEX travel, they put me on hold for over 1 hour and was somehow connected to their automate survey. They aren't able to refund my money without getting approval from the airline. There is not time frame for this response and now the tickets are no longer available.

American Express harrassed me when I became disabled and was not able to make my monthly payment. The caused my cell phone to ring non stop. They violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act or FDCPA. As a result of the continued harrasment I did some research and found a consumer protection lawyer who works on a contigency fee. I have sucessfully collect $500.00 from each and every creditor who has harrassed me to death. The attorney make between $2500.00 and $4000.00 per complaint. It cost me nothing and has stopped my phone from ringing.

It is now my mission to make everyone I can aware of this little know legal remedy and hopfully bring the banks to thier knees. I am working on a Youtube video and will be flooding Twitter. Please pass this on to everyone. We as consumers could litterally put American Express and these other taxpayer, bailed out banks out of business for good. My goal is 1 million informed consumers who will cost American Express and other greedy bankers 4.5 billion dollars each.

Called to dispute charges by Value Plus, a credit card scam offering a discounting service but never rendered any service or product. Value Plus is mentioned a number of times in the complaint Board and the BBB. My other credit card by CITI, would never had stood for this type scam and offered immediate solution. FIA representative Jason did call the company with me on the line and listened to their lie of offering a refund (they sent a letter stating "not eligible for a refund") but did not clear the matter under consumer protection like CITI.

I have been loyal to american express card and had it since over 10 years now.. recently i was away from country and couldn't pay the balance on time when i did it was couple days late and they charged me $25.00 late fees + interesth later that month, Since i was travelling, I thought of paying this late fees later, also i didn't want to pay get into hassle of paying late fees so i did not use my card while travelling. After travelling for 3 months, i saw my credit card statement it had balance of over $80! just the late fees and interest eevry month of their own late fees?! I called AXP to ask why is this charges, when i had not used my card and there is no balance?. they said they cannot do anything about the late fees which they had charged consecutively overthe last 3 months and I did pay them this fees! ~:|. I think this is a not RIGHT, American express is considering their late fees as BALANCE and charges added late fees charges and interest, this is injustice to consumer, I have no way to fight this alone. SO please beware! what if the doctors office, lawyers, government start charging interest and added late fees for their own late fees?!

When you sign up for a hotel+airline on the Amex flight and you chose Virgin America, you get Opted In for a supershuttle ride to and from your hotel for another $20.30 each way! This is apparently a checked box that is the consumer's responsibility to UNCHECK!
I can't believe that American Express treats their customers in such a slimy way. I pay $450 per year for this?
Agent tried to explain why I was charged and said it should be free if I have a biz class ticket. I only reserved an economy ticket.
On top of everything I would have been required to print out a Super Shuttle Voucher in order to even use the service. I never use vouchers - that's why I have a Platinum card!
I was thinking it might be great to have a Black Card-I can afford it. But if I'm going to get this level of deception I don't think I really want to do business with American Express at All. Other Banks such as WF have concierge services which I believe rival AMEX BLACK.
Oh on top of all of this, there is a $10 cancellation fee on each of the erroneous charge. The refund for all of that will take 5-10 days to process today.

I am a secondary card holder on my grandmothers American Express Account. I have a separate credit card number and card which I registered on line through American express.com. I did this so I could easily access my account for review. Through American Express.com I also enrolled my credit card # in their "Pay by Computer" plan so I could pay my bill through the computer at my convenience at any time. In doing so, I had to register my checking account information to be part of the program. The terms when I signed up clearly stated "You must be an authorized signer on the bank account provided". My grandmother is not an authorized signer on my bank account, nor is she privy to my personal banking information. On, July 19th, 2011 my debit card was declined for insufficient funds when I tried to purchase lunch. The was completely embarrassing especially as I was purchasing lunch with coworkers. I was also completely dumbfounded as to why my account would be in the negative. I very diligent about checking my account daily to ensure I am in good-standing. I checked my statement on line and i saw a ACH debit from American Express in the amount of $833.00. This transaction put my account into the negative by $383, which included my banking institutions insufficient funds fees. In addition to this I had about 7 pending transactions which would now also put my account even further into the negative on top of a $34.00 insufficient funds fee on each transaction. I instantly knew this was an error on the part of American express because I do not owe American Express any monies nor I had I authorized anyone from American express to make a payment using my checking account, either verbally or through the computer. In fact I have not used my card in almost two months. I made a payment for my charges in May in the amount of $1, 688.92 and I have not used the card since. I called American Express and spoke with Fritz (ID # 5806) and asked why they took money out of my account and they told me they did not see any payments on my account. I said I know, so there must be a error because this money came out of my checking account. Then he said "I did not say the primary did not make a payment". The Representative would not even confirm that that the primary made payment or not. Also, even if the primary did make a payment, that does not explain why my account was debited? He refused to speak to me or give me any information because he said "I was not the primary card holder". I told him it was my account that has been depleted and that was now in the negative, not the primary card holders. He rudely refused to give me any information and told me to have the primary card holder call American express. I was appalled at how unhelpful, unconcerned, and downright rude this Representative was. It was clear they had their money and that was the only thing that was important, even though the money had been stolen from me. I called my grandmother who confirmed that she did not authorize this payment from my account and she also called American express. She told me that they were so incredibly rude to her that she could not bare to speak with them and that she would try again when she had her energy back. She said the Representative she spoke to said "what does it matter what account the money came out of". How can a customer service Representative say that when its clearly a gross error on the part of American express? Does it matter that I am left with no money for the week. That is my hard earned money and they are no right to go into my personal banking account without my authorization and take my money. This cannot be legal. I decided to give American express another call later that afternoon in the hopes that I would speak to better trained customer service Representative. To my shock, when I asked to speak to someone they told me that I had to speak to accounting and that the rep in accounting refused to speak to me and would only speak to the primary card holder. American Express went into my personal checking account without my authorization, depleted all the money in my account leaving me with no money until I get paid again, caused me to go into the negative, incur bank fees and then says they refuse to speak to me about the issue. Finally at my insistence, they supposedly put me through to the Accounting Dept (I am not convinced that they actually put me through) and I spoke to Wanda (ID # SGURN07). Wanda tried to redeem the reputation of American Expresses customer service dept but did a very poor job because in the end she did not help me at all. I was black listed from getting any information about my own checking account and why they took money when they were not authroized. Wanda assured me she logged my complaint and someone would be in touch within 24 hours. Well that was 3 days ago and I have heard a thing from American Express. I feel completely violated, American Express has no right to go into my personal checking account and debit funds without my authorization and then refuse to speak to me on the topic. Please help me resolve this issue.

I had travel delay claim # 1531C051464 due to flight delay on 12 November, 2010 and filed the claim with American Express, Saudi Arabia. It has been seven months and the claim is not settled yet. I was advised by American Express (Hatem Al-Hamad) on April 27, 2011 that the claim has been settled and the settlement amount will be deposited in my bank account by Gulf Assist, Bahrain. 75 days have passed and there has been no credit in my bank account. Please help to settle this claim with American Express

Amex was my first credit card I ever qualified for and had it for a number of years -- close to 10. After not using it for a couple of years, I decided to cancel it. My cancellation coincided with a bill stating my 45 dollar membership was coming due. About 3 days before the bill was due I call customer service to cancel it. They informed me that they were unable to do that because the computers were down.

No biggy to me -- I had a few days until the bill was due. On the day the bill was due -- again, just the $45 membership fee. I called again. Once again I was told that the computers were down -- could I call back? I said that my bill was due today and I needed it canceled. They said no problem when the computers are up we can credit your account and get it canceled. I was reassured by the rep. About three days later I called again to cancel.

For the 3rd time I was told that the computers are down and they could not help me. I was starting to get a little nervous now as the bill was past due so I asked to speak with a supervisor. I was transferred. I told him that my bill was past due and needed to get this dealt with. The rep said no problem for some reason his computer was not down and he would credit my account and cancel my card. He also said to ignore my next bill as the changes may not be in effect by the billing cycle.

I was feeling a little more relieved. My next bill arrived it said I still owed the $45 plus a $29 late fee. Did not think much of it as the rep said this may happen. Well a month after that I received another bill saying that my account was 2 months passed due and another $29 late fee was assessed. I got right back on the phone and explained the situation.

The rep says nothing has been noted on my account but she will cancel my account but can not credit my account. I then ask to speak with a supervisor. This was the 6th person and the 2nd supervisor I have spoken to. I explain to her, Miss Perry, a supervisor, what has happened. She says she is personally canceling my account and removing the charges and that I will receive a letter in the next 10 days stating what we discussed. I hung up half way believing that things were taken care of.

The next day I called and asked the status of my account. The rep said the account still held a balance 83 dollars and that my account was closed due to non payment. I ask to talk with a supervisor again and was directed to a Miss Berry. I once again explained my problem and she informed me that she would take care of canceling my account and crediting the charges. I asked that a letter be sent out right away to confirm this. Miss berry said that they don't do that. I need to wait for my next bill.

Not trusting her I asked to talk with her supervisor who is Miss Vestal, the 9th person and the 4th supervisor. Now Miss Vestal said the same as everyone else except the account was now reported as closed by me and that she would credit the account and personally send me a letter of confirmation within 2 working days. That is where it stands now. She said it takes 48 hours to update everything and get my letter out. She also says that this should not be put on my credit report. I still am not very confident that this matter is over and I have started taking names and I have saved all the bills in question.

I do really believe that the excuses I received about computers being down was a lie to keep my account open and if there is anyone else out there who got the same excuses I would love to hear from you.

I believe this is an attempt at shady business dealing. I know other companies who try this too -- like AOL.

A charge for Peru Rail appeared on my bill while I was traveling in India. I did not notice the charge until after returning home, after the 60-day period to appeal charges had passed. I explained to American Express that my delayed response was due to travels in India, so they agreed to investigate the charge. They dropped the investigation twice without showing any evidence or result of inquiry, stating simply that I was responsible for the charge since I did not appeal it within 60 days. I know the charge is not mine, and American Express knows I was in India when the charge was made in Peru, but they deny any responsibility to investigate or show evidence the charge is legitimate.

I had the worst experience with Amex Travellers Cheques! Those damn things are useless! I was in Germany last October and couldn't use them anywhere. Not even in capital city Berlin! I attempted to exchange them at one bank only to be told "No, because you don't have an account here." Well, duh! I'm a TRAVELLER, why would I have an account there? Luckily, my relative had an account at another bank and it was ONLY because of him that they let me cash some of them. I was humiliated. A storekeeper in Berlin looked at the cheques as if they were from another planet and didn't even know what they were. My family even laughed at me saying, "Nobody uses those anymore, and nobody takes them either. We do everything with cash and credit cards." If I had known that, I wouldn't have wasted my time and money buying these things that have the reputation of being 'safe and convenient'. Oh they're safe alright, so safe because you can't bloody well use them anywhere! A thief would have to be a ### to steal those! He wouldn't be able to cash them anywhere!
When I got home, I phoned Amex. I was bounced from one 1-800 number to another. Finally, I speak to a human who said, "Sorry, nothing I can do. Go online and fill out the form." Can you believe this backwards company makes you fill in a hard copy form and SNAIL MAIL it to them? After assembling all my documents (receipts for purchase) and writing out the tale of my ordeal, I get a letter about six weeks later telling me in a rude way to just take them back to the bank and get screwed over twice more. (First time being screwed was buying the crap in the first place. The second is converting the Euro cheques into CAD and then third exchanging them for Euros again.) So I would be losing twice more. What I wanted is compensation. I wanted Euro cash, Euro for Euro.
I'm still waiting to hear from the bank where I purchased the cheques. The manager there couldn't believe that I couldn't cash them anywhere and that the problem must be Germany only. It's not. I had a similar problem, but not as extreme, 10 years ago in Italy (Milan). I had to go to a money exchange place there. She tried calling me a liar, basically saying that I could cash them at any bank and that she's had no problems in Spain and Portugal.
Let my story be a warning to everyone out there: NEVER NEVER NEVER purchase AMEX Travellers Cheques. They are totally, 100% useless everywhere in the world. You will be laughed at, kicked out of banks (unless you have a relative there), and disappointed in stores and anywhere else you try to use them. AMEX sucks, it is the worst company to deal with ever!