American Express
Reviews and Complaints

I have been with American Express for 14 years and have always been on time with my payments. A few years ago I was offered the extended payment option, so that any charge over $100 would go on the revolving account. In the last couple of years I have had to put some car repair bills on the extended payment. My balance is about $9000. We have limited ourselves with our every day spending on the card so that know we will be able to pay the bill each month. My father passed away a couple of months ago and my husband and I have been traveling back and forth from Texas to Washington state to help my mom move near us in Texas. We did not get the American Express bill paid until Oct 15th. Exactly three days late, I was contacted on Monday Oct 13 at work asking me about the payment and I told them about my father and that I would get the payment to them. They said that was not a problem this time. On Oct 15th I received a letter from them that was dated Oct 3rd (so it took 12 days to get to me) that due to my debt to income ratio from the reporting agency Experian they were suspending my extended plan. Then on Oct 22nd I received my statement for which a $500 payment is due by Nov 11th, and I also received in another separate letter from American Express. It said due to me being a valued customer with American Express they wanted to sign me up for the extended payment plan. Of course I got on the phone to try to understand what was going on with both letters. The first girl I talked to transferred me to that department. Well that department is in India, the connection was so poor and she could not speak English very well that she had to hang up and call me back for a better connection. The connection still was not very good, but she asked me what date was on the letter to sign me up for extended payment plan. I told her there was no date on it just a reply by November 30, 2008. She said it was sent to me in error, even though it said Dear Ms Derby, I was not suppose to receive it, and basically the joke was on me. I asked to speak with a supervisor and held for about 20 minutes and just hung up. Then I called the regular customer service back and asked for a supervisor. A Mr. Robert Carr talked to me I thought we had a rather good talk. He also told me that I received it in error. It seems that it comes from their marketing department and American Express has not informed their marketing department about my account. So once again ha ha the joke is on me. I asked him if he could explain to me why American Express for the last two years has looked at my overall credit every month and sometimes twice a week. He said he did not know the answer but would call me the next night with the answer. Okay, on to the next evening, I get a phone call from American Express about 8pm from a Tamika and she tells me that I have to come up with my minimum payment due of $500 that night or American Express would cut off my account. I explained that I just got my statement the day before and the $500 wasn’t due until Nov 11th. So once again I asked to talk to a supervisor and his name was Chris Ball, and he did not have very good customer service skills to say the least. He told me due to my debt to income ratio I was out of luck and either I pay the $500 then or my account would be cut off. I asked him if I had ever not paid AX and he said that didn’t matter and according to their agreement page they can do whatever they want, whenever they want to me and that I just have to sit back and take everything they dish out to me. I asked him that I wanted it in writing about the $500 payment that night and he refused saying it is all in the agreement and he could send me another copy of the agreement. I just told him to close my account and that due to how they have treated me they just might go to the bottom of my list. They are determined to ruin my credit anyways with suspending my account because I wouldn’t pay them the bill the next day after it arrives. I am just really fed up with AX and after reading all the stories they must be in a world of hurt right now. The supervisor Chris Ball told me that AX was one of the few that was making money. Boy, he sure needs to do some research on his company. Oh, and I could hear the little clicks in the call with him and I told him that I knew they were recording me and he of course denied it. And today in my mail was a offer from American Express for the Black card which carries $450 per year. And another letter stating that because I am such a valued customer with American Express they are offering me a Blue card with 0% interest on balances for 12 months. How many more am I going to receive from their marketing department before they relay the message to them. Thank You for listening and at least I know I’m not in this alone. Loretta Derby.

SCROOGED BY American Express just before XMAS with "There has been a change in your account, please call [protected], your credit limit has been reduced!" But wait there is good news, "you can pay the balance and presto your credit limit will be restored" One hitch, it will take 72 business hours to use the card that means no XMAS PRESENTS until Dec. 23rd.
Let me think, pay off the card or use the cash in the bank to buy XMAS Presents for next 4 days?

American Express knew exactly what they were doing when they raised and changed the interest rates and terms on many accounts in August 4th 2009 mailing.
As I have been told by Amex customer service.
"These changes went into effect before the Law changed on August 20th 2009". This law gives the consumer the right of a 45 day cancellation option.
I would like to put forth this scenario for your speculation: They, being American Express, had advanced notice of the changes that were coming on the 20th. They moved on the changing card members accounts to insure they would entrap the greatest number of account holders they could before the law took effect. All perfectly legal. I guess it was a good move on their part it improved the bottom line in the short run.
I for one will never do business with them again and I will spread the word of their business tactics until my dieing breath.

I was looking on the Internet recently searching: “AWSM Technology” and I found Christopher Bown’s resume. I am a victim of AWSM Technology who was taken for thousands of dollars. Christopher Bown was one of the partners of AWSM Technology. I see now that he’s working for American Express. I wonder if AMEX knows that they have a criminal working for them?

AWSM Technology took millions of dollars from their victims between 2005 – 2007. Christopher Bown was the Chief Technology Officer and Partner in this venture. AWSM took me for almost ten thousand dollars by promising first page ranking on the search engines with their “AWSM technology”. This “technology” was nothing but a simple website.

The scam was they the victims were sold a site for a few hundred dollars. They were then assigned to an Ad Director who was little more than an out of work car salesman. The Ad Director’s job was to obtain more money from the mark by any means necessary. This included lying about the service, browbeating and other forms of abuse.

Not only did the sites never actually work right but they were poorly made too. I waited almost five months for all of my sites to be completed. During that whole time I received countless calls from my Ad Director demanding more money. I spent almost $10, 000.00 on two, poorly built, sites that have never made me a dime.

Mr. Bown has obviously seen how his name comes up on the Internet in association with AWSM Technology. Recently, he has taken measures to disassociate himself from that name. He has removed it from his resume.

This is what Bown did, AWSM Technology used to be named Ad Foresight. He has removed the AWSM name from his resume and now refers to that experience as being from AD Foresight; AWSM’s old name.

AWSM then changed their name again to SearchMarketing. As you can see, Bown has that down as an experience on his resume. AD Foresight/AWSM Technology/SearchMarketing are the SAME company under three different names!

Right now, AWSM Technology is part of a Class Action Lawsuit. Here are some details about that which are public record:

Filed with American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) on behalf of Frank Stokes, but submitted as a potential “class arbitration” (i.e., class action).

• AAA Case No.: [protected]

• Styled as: Stokes v. AWSM Technology, LLC

• Arbitrator: Brendan N. Hare

Details:
**In an Order dated June 22, 2007, the Arbitrator ruled in favor of Frank Stokes on Clause Construction issue. Specifically, the Arbitrator found that “the arbitration clause in question permits the arbitration to proceed on behalf of a class.” A copy of the Order (called a “Clause Construction Award”) can be downloaded by clicking here.**

**Pursuant to AAA rules, the case will now be stayed for 30 days (until July 23, 2007) to allow for any appeal of the Arbitrator’s decision. After that, the case will proceed to the Class Determination Phase.**

Back to my experience with AWSM, in 2007 I was contacted about a seminar at AWSM’s Headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona to teach me to run my sites. I attended this seminar and met Mr. Bown who was introduced to me as one of the owners. This seminar was little more then a clever sales pitch designed to get us all in a room so their Ad Directors could work on us to buy even more worthless services.

Shortly after this, AWSM Technology went out of business; they closed their doors. Soon after, I began getting calls from Searchmarketing saying that they had taken over the AWSM Accounts and would now *finally* show me how to make money with these sites. Of course it cost even more money to get started.

Disgusted, I finally quit AWSM and joined the Class Action Lawsuit. I am wondering if Chris Bown was truthful with American Express when he interviewed with them? Did he tell them that he was on the run from a company that scammed millions out of people? Does American Express know Mr. Bown’s history?

I am posting Bown’s resume below this and below that I am posting some things that other people have written about AWSM Technology. Look at Bown’s resume and see how the words “AWSM Technology” have been removed from it.

Christopher Bown 3117 West Saint Kateri Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85041
Phone: [protected] Email: [protected]@gmail.com
Skills
Programming

• 7 years .Net experience (C#, VB.Net, ASP.Net, XML)

• 9 years database programming, design and administration (SQL 2000, 05, 08)

• 11 years HTML, JavaScript, CSS

• 9 years VB, ASP

• 2 years WMI, ADSI

• 4 years SalesForce.com CRM

• 1 year Java

• 1 year Continuous build systems

• 1 year unit testing (NUnit, MSTest)

Networking/Telecom

• 8 years windows server and workstation, installation and management (IIS, DNS, DHCP, SQL Server)

• 9 years networking design and administration

• 9 years telecom management, traditional PBX systems and VoIP systems.

Management

• 5 years of team building and employee development.

• 5 years managing overseas employees and vendors.

• 8 years brand development and management.

• 6 years project management.

Software Integration

• Developed proprietary blogging service using .Net and SQL server. Integrated the system with SalesForce.com and other third party systems.

• Developed a patent pending website navigation/SEO tool using ASP, VB6 and SQL 2000 initially then converting the system to .Net and SQL 2005.

• Developed multiple custom websites for customers using a variety of technologies including, .Net, ASP.Net, ASP, PHP, SQL, MySQL etc.

Professional Experience
American Express/CDI Phoenix, AZ 2008-Current
Senior .Net Developer

• Integrate .Net into existing continuous build system.

• Testing and contributing to open source project used to integrate into the system.

• Contributed to design and functionality decisions for the project.

• Working on plug-ins for the build system using Java and C#.

• Interfacing .Net systems with Java systems.

• Piloted continuous build system with project teams to determine needs and how the teams would use the system.

• Training and support of project teams using the system in production.

• Piloted Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2005 and 2008.

• Work with different vendors and internal teams to integrate different tools into the system.

Searchmarketing LLC Phoenix, AZ [protected]
Senior Developer/Project Manager

• Designed, programmed and implemented custom blogging and social networking system that hosts more than 5, 000 blogs using:

o .Net application programming

o ASP.Net

o Web Services

o ASDI

o WMI

o SQL 2005

o IIS 6.0

o SalesForce.com API

o XML interface/Web services to integrate third party services

• Managed the production team in office and overseas.

• Installed and managed company network.

• Developed new employees, young programmers.

• Helped with initial branding of the company, managing and maintaining that brand.

• Designed the logo for the company.

Ad Forsight LLC/AWSM Technology LLC Phoenix, AZ [protected]
Senior Developer/Project Manager

• Designed, programmed and maintained a patent pending system to automatically create navigation sitemaps. System consists of:

o Web spiders built initially in VB 6 and rebuilt use .Net,

o HTML processor originally built in VB 6 and rebuilt in .Net,

o Picture taking bot to take screen shots of the web page originally built in VB 6 and rebuilt in .Net,

o FTP bot to FTP the images to the storage server so the website could access the images built in .Net.

o Sitemap webpage originally built in ASP and rebuilt in ASP.Net.

o Database originally in SQL 2000 ported to SQL 2005.

o Web server and storage servers for all the sites and information.

• Developed new employees and young programmers.

• Hired and managed in house and overseas production staff and customer support teams.

• Designed and implemented systems that produced 100 template based websites a week with custom content.

• Installed and maintained 14 production servers including DNS, Databases, IIS and third party CMS software.

• Designed, installed and managed computer network.

• Evaluated and oversaw the implementation of CRM system (Salesforce.com). Managed the conversion from paper based tracking of customers to SalesForce.com.

• Worked with CEO and outside counsel to produce documentation to apply for a patent that is pending.

• Designed and implemented multiple software systems including dynamic e-commerce and online marketing systems.

• Assisted company transition through a buyout and development of the new company and brand; AWSM Technology LLC.

• Built website and integrated the site with internal database systems for US consumer protection organization.

Ad Forsight Inc Phoenix, AZ [protected]
Programmer

• Worked on multiple website/e-commerce development projects for small to fortune 500 companies using a variety of technologies.

o ASP

o HTML

o CSS

o JavaScript

o PHP

o MS-SQL, MySQL, Access and Excel

o .Net

• Helped with customer service issues.

• Evaluated company’s hosting issues and designed and transitioned the hosting to a new solution that increased website availability and customer satisfaction while decreasing hosting costs.

• Helped the design team create and maintain brands for company and customers.

• Helped develop processes to capture accurate and relevant user information from customer websites.

Education
2002 Bachelors of Science in Computer Information Systems. DeVry University, Phoenix, AZ

SEE WHAT OTHERS HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT BOWN’S FORMER COMPANY:

AWSM TECHNOLOGY FINACIALLY RAPPED ME !
AWSM Technology Complaint by Frank26

I need help with anyone that can help me fight AWSM technology. They stole over $30, 000.00 from me ! Is there anyone out there that can talk to me ? I trully need help . I know about the lawsuit with GLOVER / VAN COTT but do not know what this means to me . I do not know how to be a part of this clas action suit.

I would be greatfully thankful if someone can teach me how to fight for my money . I am paying 5 credit cards because AWSM told me i could pay them off in less than 3 months.

I have accumilated alot of information since 2005 when i was rapped by awsm . These people have to be stopped ... they are very evil .

bigfish2003
Junior Member Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 21

-AWSM Technologies, LLC Embezzlement-

I am a novice at affiliate marketing. I am a licensed partner with AWSM Technologies, LLC. The AWSM ad directors are remiss in providing orientation & information on how to collect commissions. I am filing a criminal complaint with the Arizona attorney general regarding AWSM failure to educate AWSM licensed partners about Linkshare, and the fact that AWSM does not list AWSM Technologies, LLC licensed partners code numbers on the products. Instead, AWSM lists AWSM's code numbers on all products only, because AWSM is a proprietary technologies affiliate. Therefore, AWSM collects the commissions, but AWSM fails to pass the commissions on to the AWSM Technologies, LLC licensed partners.

This is exploitation by misusing the resources of licensed partners for personal or monetary benefit (embezzlement).

I inadvertently found out about Linkshare via the AWSM attorney who mentioned Linkshare in his filings with the Arbitrator. AWSM ad directors are too involved in marketing and collecting enrollment fees and investments from their consumers to educate the consumers about Linkshare, merchant sites, and in particular, how to collect commissions. There are thousands of other AWSM licensed partners who don't know what to do next.

P. S.: Send this to other AWSM licensed partners on your email lists, and tell them to file with the AZ attorney general! Use my filing number as a cross reference to beat any "statute of limitations": -case#CIC 06-08929 AWSM Technologies- (http://www.azag.gov/consumer/complaintform.html)

Peon Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 5

Hey Gents,

Heres the low down again...Mr. Questions first of all save your money my friend. When i first joined up i was under the impression that i would be making money say not the first pay check but the second one after christmas. They initially tell you you'll make 300% on your investment. Im not sure if they are still telling you guys that or not who knows. Either way i have been trying to get my money back from these guys and it's like pulling teeth from them. Once i gave them my cc the money was gone the very next day, but god help you if you try to get it back...Anyways i have been talking to a gentelmen by the name of Ron for the past day or so, he's a nice guy i will give em that and i believe his intentions are good but i feel that the company is like no matter what under no circumstances we are not go give a refund. So he tells me to talk to a gentleman by the name of Robert and i'll leave it at that not including his lastname. Anyways the guys is another smooth guy, very nice etc and i initially told him i'd like to try to get a refund. He tells me from his experience of investing the 10K's it's taken like a year and a half to see the return on his money which is about 20k a month. Pretty good money yes...But i didn't invest the 10g's...Anyways he goes into saying i know you need money now we have this new concept which is something like micro sites, i saw the examples, they looked great, great ideas everything...These sites are supposed to immediately bring in money, and im sure they do ok...but then he goes they are like 5K...Im like wtf...Im here to try to get my money back and your upselling me? lol unbelieveable...So while were talking i think he clued in i wasn't gonna do this and he throws out partially through the conversation that im not gonna get my money back, yada, yada, yada...Im like thats not right. We initally talked some more he said i needed to talk to Ron again. I said they directed me to u ..whats up with that? He said he's here to make money for people he doesn't do the refunds etc. Sighhhhhhhhh so i spoke with ron again and now he said he's gonna talk to this one guy who i think is the owner, who knows but he said he can ask him which because they've already done my site map etc the contract is completed. I told them i haven't been in that long and theres been alot of problems it's only fair. I even said i dont expect to get the entire amount back. So he's gonna pass me on to the big wig...whoever that is...Hope this helps...

Those of you who have had problems with awsm please let me know as I have a lawsuite pending against them!
Email me at [protected]@aol.com This is not a scam, they have $20k of mine.

AWSM Is BAD BAD Business
________________________________________
No need to go over their regretful company again...just wanted to throw out one more piece of evidence against them to keep people from signing up.

They are horrible, their ad directors are ruthless and rude. I never received my "ad" and I was told by a manager that she would do whatever she could to help me get a refund because she had never heard of anyone at AWSM being so rude and pushy. Nor had she ever heard of anyone not receiving their ad. hmmm.

Don't throw your money away! AWSM is a terrible company to do business with; even if their "technology" was real. They are just bad, bad business.

Oct 24th 06 It's know over 14 months and made not a penny. I need to hear from you others who have been taken by awsm,
join the names together for email address; fran sue bon at a o l . com I have an ongoing lawsuit against awsm.

The class action lawsuit against awsm is now public news, just waiting to hear from anyone who invested and feel there ROI is not what you where toldemail me and I will forward your info to the [protected]@aol.com

AWSM Technology, LLC is trying to get its, claimed 10, 000 subscribers to divest, and switch over to another web site. This is a scheme to reduce its liabilities because of a potential class-action lawsuit by Frank Stokes (http://glovervancott.com/StatusofCaseAgainstAWSM.htm). All AWSM Technologies, LLC subscribers who have invested and lost money should email ([protected]@glovervancott.com) with how much they invested;how much they lost; their full name and address;and their Social Security number, immediately!

129 days ago by Luzon
0 Votes
Those turd sucking rats are going to get theirs! I pray we all get our money back with interest and punative awards amounting to the lost monies we would have earned IF this pack of homos had been selling a legit business. I will pursue this until justice is served and I do not care who goes down or who gets financially ruined. I want to see the 4 "Horseman" and the real money man who funded this scam to spend a few years behind bars as bubba's ###! See how they like getting it put to them like they did to us!

I have been an American Express customer for 12 years, perfect history, perfect credit and have had almost all of their cards at some point in time. They decided to take upon themselves to reduce my credit to almost nothing and causing me a headache to say the least when trying to make an important purchase for my biz. Their only excuse is they are protecting themselves from risk. BS! They are taking their problems out on good. loyal customers. Now I can't get ANY card from them because I show a "negative" in their system due to credit reduction. I hate AMEX and their poor business practices and will cancel the cards and NEVER accept their card with my merchant services...I SAY CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT!

Jason

We have had a card member with American Express since 1999. We started using their flex pay account and have had this account for a while. I noticed that the payment amount was changing but not for the better. In May 2009, my monthly payment was $198.00 and after paying a little over $400.00 of the account my currecnt monthly payment is $216.00. When I called today to questions the payment amount increase, I was told that they change the way they calculate the payment from 2% of the amount due to 1% plus the interest. When asked if I received a letter concerning the change John placed me on hold and when he came back on the line I noticed he started a recording of our conversation and said, no, I do not see where a letter has been mailed. John also stated that we this information was on the agreement which was on page 2 however, I noted that the agreement we agreed to was the 2% and was not notified.

First, I am outraged that we weren't notified in the first place and secondly this is the second change that American Express has made to our accout with out notification which I guess you could say was the straw to break the camels back.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Martha Cuneo
[protected]
201 Faith Circle
Carlisle, PA 17013

American Express had apparently fallen into tough times and is trying to remedy their situation any way possible. Here is an example that happened to me just last month.

If you do not have a balance or make a purchase in any given month AME X does not send a statement or email about your bill. I have not received a bill in 6 months, I never use my personal Blue AMEX card.

Today I tried to use my AMEX business card which is registered to my company but has my name on it. It was declined after many attempts to use it. I called AMEX as a business owner. It turns out that my wife paid a doctor's bill 5 months ago with our PERSONAL account. I never received a bill or email. They shut off my business account, which is completely unrelated since it "has more activity" than the personal account that was at fault. Again, these two accounts are not attached in any way other than that my SSN shows up on both files. I paid the bill to reactivate my card and was told about all the fees and interest rate changes I was going to incur. I hung up to further investigate what had happened.

I searched all of my files, I am very studious record keeper; I checked my emails since I use Gmail and have never deleted a message in the 6 years I have used it. There were no bills or emails from American Express relating to cancellation, late payment or billing statements for my personal account.

I called back and told the person on the phone that I have not received a bill in 6 months. The service person on the phone answered back that "his records show that I have not received a bill or email for that account in 7 billing cycles" I asked if he could see that information on his screen and he told me that all service personnel can. He then informed me that he would fix all the problems that I incurred.

Turns out that this is normal modis operandi for AMEX. The service person policy is that they will not tell you that it is their fault unless you point it out. They were going to make me suffer for a problem that was obviously their fault.

The second half is that they closed a completely unrelated account. I am checking with a lawyer if this was an illegal action.

I URGE anyone who reads this to PLEASE, please, please cease using any American Express Credit Card. After my personal experiences with them and reading the numerous complaints that sound so simliar to mine, I think that it would be in most peoples' best interest to just avoid this company altogether. You do have choices out there.
Long story short. After 10 years of loyal cardmembership and usage with AMEX Platinum and Gold, NEVER missing or making a late payment, having impeccable credit and a relatively high level of income AMEX cut my credit limit to a laughable line with no notification to me. Instead they waitied for me to be embarrased as I was told in front of a room full of people that my card was declined. After calling to find out what the "mistake" was (of course there had to be a mistake. This is an AMEX Platinum card with no preset limit. I've never had it declined in over 10 years) they told me that there was a limit set on my account due to a "change in my spending habits".
Then about a month later my limit was reduced again to $5, 000. Then my Delta AMEX Platinum card's limit was reduced to $500. (yes, $500).
Remember, my credit has been and still is impeccable.
I came to find out that a family member with whom I own a business applied for a Blue for Business Account for our business. I never called, wrote or authorized any such account, but somehow AMEX decided to make me the "primary cardholder" on this account. I was not aware of this until a little over a year ago. Since being made aware I have spoken to over a dozen Customer Service reps, written letters, sent emails and tried to resolve this any way that I could. It is still unresolved.
Problem is if you have an AMEX business card, they link your personal card decisions to your business account. Because my family member charged up over $25, 000 on this Blue fo Business Account, all of my personal lines were cut. Mysteriously, they left the Blue card with 27% interest open with a $25, 000 credi line.
I've asked over and over again for them to change the primary cardholder's name to the person who actually applied for and solely used the card. At first, they said "no problem". Then, in the process of making the switch, they noticed that they reduced the credit line of my family member's personal AMEX card to $500, so he was now ineligible to become primary cardholder of the Blue for Business Card.
Yes, confusing and stupid logic, but this has become the norm at AMEX. Every day I hear more and more complaints. Many are very similar to mine.
I am interested in some type of mass boycott and/or class action lawsuit (if there are grounds).
Anyone who is serious and has experienced similar problems with AMEX, please comment.

I called American Express to pay off my existing balance on a CLOSED card. When I asked for the
PAYOFF BALANCE (definition-the balance that would lead my account to zero so that I have no outstanding balance) I was told that they could not give me an accurate payoff and there could possibly be some outstanding interest charged on my account due to unaccounted for transactions. Again, my card is closed and I have not used it for five months. It has to be illegal for a financial institution to nickle and dime their customers and quote them ambigious payoff amounts. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Maybe they should spend some of their interest revenue on upgraded computer systems that offer accurate payoffs. My payoff confirmation given to me today was 4284 and it better be correct!

I am currently going through a very frustrating issue with American Express right now. Two weeks ago my dog required emergency surgery that would cost $2, 000.00. I don't make a lot of money and I didn't have it available. When I was paying my AMX bill online I saw an option for pay over time. I have a Gold card, which as I'm sure you know has to be paid off every month. So I called and spoke to a representative and asked her about the program. I told her how much I was going to spend, I asked how much the monthly payments would be and what the percentage rate was. The last thing I said is I need to you to make sure I'm eligible for this. She said yes, Ms. Skoby there is no problem. Go ahead and put the charge on the card then give us a call to set it up on pay over time. I said to her, are you sure? I don't want to call back and find out I'm not eligible. She said, yes everything is fine and it wouldn't be a problem.

So, I got the surgery for my dog and I called AMX. And wouldn't you know it. The person I talked to this time was extremely rude and said that that never invited me to partake in that offer. Which obviously they did or I would have never known about it. I asked to speak to a supervisor and all she would say is I'm sorry the representative told you that but we will not be able to extend that offer to you. I asked to speak to another supervisor and they said they will have someone call me. No one did, I called back, they said it may take awhile and no one was available to talk to me. Every time I call now I get the run around and I don't know who I can talk to about this.

Please help me. Can they do this? I don't have the money and I don't want my credit ruined. I would have never done this if they didn't tell me it was fine. I can't return any item. I wasn't trying to spend money I don't have I just wanted to save my dog and they told me it would be no problem. What can I do here? My bill is due Dec 7th and I have a feeling they will keep evading me until then. Any information you could give me that would help would be greatly appreciated. I hope they aren't doing this to other people. I want people to know so they don't get in the same stressful situation I am in.

We had our american express blue card for 10 years, had a balance that went up and down consistently. Never late, never missed a payment. When we paid it off a couple of months ago, they closed it with no notice. NO NOTICE!

I received the same rate increase letter. I have never paid late or missed a payment. I had all of my higher interest rate balances transferred to American Express Blue. I was lured into a fantastic fixed rate that was supposed to be for the life of the loan! They lied! Capital One also did the same thing to me. Also, I had never missed a payment or paid late. Capital One, at least offered to keep the fixed rate if we cancelled the card. I did that. However, American Express would not do that for me. I called and begged. I was almost in tears. The letter they sent did not even have a phone number to contact them regarding this rate increase. I call this the old bait and switch! False promises and false advertising. I told the credit person at AMEX that she should check out how long I was a customer and see how I NEVER paid let or missed a payment! She said "Oh, we appreciate that." She also said that the government was passing a law that would prevent CC companies from doing this. Then...it clicked! The CC companies are all jacking up the rates before the law is in effect! THANKS A LOT AMERICAN EXPRESS FOR LETTING ME KNOW HOW YOU ARE RIPPING PEOPLE OFF UNFAIRLY BEFORE THE LAW IS PASSED! WHY! I can't take it anymore. I cancelled my Amex card and will now struggle to find a way to get another loan to pay off my balance. A loan that will not offer false promises! Help! Any ideas?

Claudia

Ps - We all need to go on you tube and complain like the woman who was mad at bank of america! They lowered her rate after that!

american express business card that I had was a great card. I wish that I still had it. However, I would submit my payment on time. Then the company would not post my payment and charge me a late fee that I always had to fight to get removed. My last fight with american express was because they said I did not send in a payment. I sent proof that I did. Then the next month, I recieved a call stating that I owed tripled the amount of what they said I previously owed, i.e. $700. I explained that I had sent in proof that I did not owe them the $700. It did no good. Each month they would triple the amount until it reached $2400. I continued to use the card and send in my payments, which I always over paid. However, they still continue to stress that I owed more and more. So, they would not listen to me. I asked them to send me all my bills so I can see if they were posting my payments but they never did. Since then, they sent the bill to a collection agency. I demanded my rights for the bill to be sent back to american express and denied that I owed them the amount. You can do this under the revised credit reporting act. since then, I have not heard from them. I am sure that my crtedit is ruined. However, I will never use them again. I know that I paid them in full.

On April 14, 2008 we went to a time share presentation, it sounded like a good deal they offered many things with the package. We charged $9, 417.00 to Am. Express with a balance of $6, 550.00. When we arrived home I tried to find out what resorts they had availble for our next vacation, I found none of the web sites they had provided us with so I contacted American Express immediately and notified of the suspected fraud then I emailed the time share co. of our cancellation of our contract which we were within our 5 days provided in the contract then I sent a certified letter stating the same thing. But they said I sent the letter to the wrong address. I found many complaints about this Co. and I posted my complaint on the web. I was contacted by many people, two were customers of American Express. One had a large disputed amount since January of "08" that means AM. EXP. were perfectly aware there was a problem with this company. In June another customer was ripped off. AMEX has denied all customer claims.

I recently worked for a company that was decimated by the financial difficulties of the current environment and had to let go 99% of the company (including myself). Needless to say the company has not been able to pay its bills and will inevitable file for bankruptcy.

During my employment I called (I worked in accounting) and set up a CORPORATE account for the company and verbally agreed to be placed as the adminstrator on the account under the verbal understanding from the representative that it was simply to be the contact person.

Upon being let go I inquired w/ AMEX to change the contact person to one of the remaining employees but I was informed the contact person would not be changed until the $100k balance was paid and that I was personally liable for the debt of the company. Needless to say the debt still has not been paid, AMEX and their collection agency is coming after me b/c the company will not return calls and cannot pay yet and the 100k debt of the company is now on my personal credit report!

AMEX's claims by agreeing to be listed as the contact on the account I agreed to be responsible if the company did not pay. The company is a public corp of which I wasn't an owner or officer, why would I knowing accept responsibility for the debts of a corporation?! That's riduculous.

My story is : I have not receive AMEX statement nigher on-line notifications for two month in fall 2008 then they send me a letter stating that that because i did not pay my bill($14.62), they adjusted my credit limit to minimum and they demanded payments right a way. I call them, AMEX Customer Service Representative(CCR) confirmed that they sent my bill, but received it back! She figured out they AMEX sent a bill to wrong address but refused to bring my credit card limit back! I was AMEX card holder for over 10 years, never was late on my payment and always pay my balance in full. Well, as a remedy I closed AMEX account and wont apply for their CC ever again!

P.S> Week latter I received a named mail from AMEX asking to apply for same CC. What an idiots!

This is a misleading promotion. They claim if you have a Platinum American Express Card than you can buy 1 business class airline international ticket and receive 1 companion ticket free.

They have a list of 18 international airlines that participate in this program. You must use one of these carriers.

I tried to do this and found out it is a phony program.

First I got the business fare on two of the approved airlines and I was told that you must book thru American Express Platinum Travel Services. When I called them I was told that my fares were not valid because they were not unrestricted. American Express told me that the fare for the flights I wanted would cost me more than the airline price for two Business Class tickets.

I went back to the airlines and priced the cost of unrestricted airfare. The new higher price was $8, 434.56 for Swiss Air. When I re contacted American Express they advised me that they did not have any seats in Business Class for my travel dates. There were seats available in Business class but not American Express seats.

I went to Lufthansa and found good flights for a new higher fare of $8744.68. The flights were Lufthansa 463 connecting with Lufthansa 2954. The return was Lufthansa 2941 connecting with Lufthansa 462. This price was for unrestricted business fare. I contacted American Express again, only to be told no good, because Lufthansa flight number 2954 was a code share flight with South African Airways and not eligible.

I tried South African Airways from Washington DC. I got a price of $8424.26. I would have to get my own airfare to and from Washington, but I would be flying only South African Airways which is American Express Approved. This fare is also unrestricted.

Once more I was turned down by American Express. They would book me on the same flights but for a fare in excess of $13, 000.00. When I questioned why, American Express said you have to use their own special prices.

In other words you can buy one and get one free, but only at a price created by American Express and costing in some cases more than double the airline price.

I am sure this is not only misleading, but a case of fraud.

I will try to summarize a very disturbing action that was taken by American Express with my AMEX credit cards. For the past 23 years, My wife and I have had AMEX credit cards. In particular, My wife and I had a Platinum card and a "Blue" card. A few years ago, I applied for an AMEX business card to be used by myself and my administrator for business expenses. Everything went fine.

In late April, on a weeked, my platinum card was denied at a local restaurant. This had occasionally happened in the past and it was always due to a potential security break and AMEX would contact me to check on a questionable charge. This is obviously a good thing and I was always impressed.

This time I never received a call so on Monday morning, May 4, I called the AMEX Platinum number and was told that my Platinum card had been cancelled. Not only had my and my wife’s Platinum card been cancelled, but they also cancelled our Blue cards and my business card!

It took the better part of the week and a total of 8 hours and three days on the phone to find someone who could tell me why they cancelled all of my cards. It turns out that my company business has its own merchant account and during the previous week, my secretary had reason to believe that there was a problem with our merchant account and used my business card to do a test of the system. Apparently, using my business card on our merchant account was in violation of AMEX policies and they automatically cancelled all of my cards. I was told that I should have known this since it is part of the 10 page, number 2 font, terms of agreement that I received with the issueing of the card. I never received any call or notification from them that this was going to happen or that it already happened! They told me on the phone that a first class letter was mailed to me informing me of the situation. To this day I have not received any formal, written notification. I proceeded to request that my annual Platinum fee be returned since I paid that in March leaving me with less than a month of account use. Platinum card fees are $425 for my card and approximately $200 for my wife's.

As of June 18th, I have not received even a prorated refund, and trying to communicate with AMEX results in me wasting my time for at least 2 hours with every call. I mentioned to an account representative from North Carolina that every communication I have with AMEX seems to disappear into a great big black hole. He assured me that he would personally take care of the matter and call me back before the end of the day. He has never called back and it has now been almost 2 weeks. I asked him for a telephone number to contact him and he graciously gave me his “direct” line. That number turns out to be their direct line to their “big black hole”. It is answered by a machine!

Four weeks ago I wrote a letter to a VP who's name I was given, to explain the situation. I have yet to hear from her or even receive an acknowledgement! I would really appreciate your help in this matter. I don't know who else to turn to. It is extremely frustrating. By the way in case you are wondering, they have confirmed that my credit history has been fine and has nothing to do with this whole bizarre episode.