American Express Company


Country United States
State New York
City New York
Address 200 Vesey Street, 50th Floor
Phone 1-800-208-1223
Website https://www.americanexpress.com

American Express Company Reviews

  • Dec 31, 2014

I opened a small mortgage brokerage in 2002 and as an existing AMEX customer, I decided I needed an AMEX business card. I applied for and received an AMEX Open business credit card. I used the card to purchase equipment and supplies for my new mortgage office and I also cashed a $750 cash advance check. In 2008, I, along with many other small mortgage companies had to close my doors as a result of the implosion of the mortgage market. I struggled to manage my personal and business debt for for the next four years and finally in 2012 I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. One day, I was updating my household budget and forecasting payoff of a few more bilsl when I noticed that according to my monthly statement, my total outstanding cash advance amount was just over $7000. I immediately jumped on the phone to AMEX to have the error corrected and wondered how far back the error went and how long I'd been paying 21.24% on $7000 instead of $750 without catching the error. To my dismay, the customer service agent explained as I made payments on my Open account over the past six years or so, the entire amount of ALL payments was going to the outstanding purchases balance on the card since that rate was considerably lower. One would think that the interest due on each balance each month would be paid first and then anything remaining would go to one or both of the principle balances but of course that makes too much sense to the common person. By posting all of my payments to the lower interest rate balance and zero to the $750 cash advance balance, my cash advance balance negatively amortized and over the course of six years had mushroomed to $7000. I have been working hard to pay this card off and had made considerable leeway but it is not paid off as yet. When I looked at my statement this month, I just about had a heart attack when I saw that this thief of a company had increased my interest rate from 21.24% to 25.24% just because they wanted to do so. According to the customer service agent I spoke to this was an across the board rate hike for business accountholders with OPEN cards. I've been paying on time and paying more than my minimum in an effort to pay this thing off but they raised my rate! Interest rates are low, their cost of funds is low but they raised my rate. I am in total disgust. I cannot even begin to understand how the decision makers at this company sleep at night. I have to admit that I have a banking background and this one got by me. I take full responsibility for not looking closer at my monthly statements to understand how payments were being posted. I have no excuse for that BUT my lack of attention to detail in no way makes what this company has done ok.

What makes this so unconscionable is the fact that the CARD Act makes this behavior illegal on consumer accounts but business accounts are not protected by this legislation. Given the fact that this behavior is illegal for consumer cards, it stands to reason that the behavior is less than honest even when a business card is involved. I certainly hope regulators stand up and pay attention because while they are working hard to protect consumers, they have left small business account holders to be prey to the companies who simply don't give a damn and will make a dollar any way they can.

  • Dec 19, 2014

I purchased a gift card via american express as a gift. The recipient said she could not use the card. When I called customer service they said the clerk at the store did not process the card properly. I have bought gift cards throughout the years and have never encountered this problem where you had to fax in a receipt before they could activitate the card. They said it was on hold.

This is ridiculous. I feel this is just a way for them to rip off monies from consumers.

  • Oct 4, 2014

American Express's credit card agreement, as stated on the second page of my statement, states that the company will not charge customer's interest if he or she pays off the "New Balance" by the due date each month (see page 2 of 9, "Paying Interest"). Despite what their contractual agreement states, they have charged me interest on several occasions when I have paid the balance in full.

The most recent example occurred on my last billing statement. American Express sent me a bill reflecting a "New Balance" of $3634.06 due by 09/12/2014. By 09/11/2014, my total payments were $3911.31. When I received by recent statement on 09/18/2014, American Express charged me $32.82 in interest.

When I called American Express, I spoke to a representative named Carolyn. I advised her of the $32.82 in interest, showed her that the complete balance had been paid off by the due date, and referred her to page 2 of 9 on my credit card statement. Although the contractual agreement is clearly expressed in writing, Carolyn argued with me and told me that this is not how American Express charges interest; moreover, she claimed I was not interpreting the language on my statement correctly. I'd like to state that I have worked in lending in the past, spent over 4 years in credit card lending, and I am thoroughly familiar with how to interpret contractual agreements.

In addition, I have an undergraduate in English, have taken prior Business Law coursework, and I know for certain that they are violating the terms and conditions of the contract. Please refer to page 2 of 9 on my statements for how they charge interest, and page 1 of my statement that clearly states the "New Balance" to be paid. When I threatened to report American Express to the CFPB, Carolyn stated she would look into having the finance charges removed. Prior to telling me if they would refund the charges, she purposely aborted the phone call. All I heard was a rapid busy tone.

So I called back and requested to speak to a supervisor. This time, I spoke to a supervisor named Matt. I complained about Carolyn's handling of my phone call, and I again explained the problem that my account was billed interest when I paid the balance off prior to the due date. Matt again reflected Carolyn's statement that this is not how American Express bills interest, and again I had to refer him to the terms and conditions on page 2 of 9 on my statement, as well as the "New Balance" that was clearly reflected on page 1. Matt paused, and then he stated he would refund my interest. When he looked into the refunding the interest, he found that Carolyn indeed had already refunded my interest, although she rudely hung up on me.

Although this matter is resolved, I do not have confidence that this will not occur in the future or that this violation of the terms and conditions of American Express's contract is not happening to other customers as well. I specifically believe this because I have had to complain about this issue in the past, requesting each time to have interest refunded. Therefore, I have reported American Express to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (online report) and the Attorney General of New York (online report as well because all of the payments were made online). It is also important to note that the account is an American Express Costco Rewards Account (I don't know if all of their cards have the same terms and conditions listed on the statement, so this might just apply to the Costco cards). I'd suggest that if you have experienced a similiar problem with American Express that you report them as well, because these offices need to establish a pattern of behavior.

  • Sep 12, 2014

I have been a card member over 50 years since 1964 and used AMEX Travel Agency for a 28 Day Princess Cruise. The booking was made and I turned it over to AMEX Travel.Princess quoted $300 for insurance and when the confirmation was emailed with an AMEX payment, AMEX quoted $550 with no air. The Travel Agent assured me that the coverage was better so I cancelled my coverage to meet the Princess insurance cost, and unfortunitely my wife got needed medical care and we cancelled the cruise. Since it was within 2 weeks of leaving, we forefitted all $4800.CSA, AMEX 3rd Party Insurance Company only paid back 1/2 or $2400 and I lost $2089. Princess said they would apply the balance toward a future cruise. AMEX would not and I disputed the amount.

Robert Palm Desert. CA

  • Jul 26, 2014

If you are a parent who is interested in introducing your child or children to saving money or the principles associated with financial "freedom", I would consider any other pre-paid card besides the American Express Pass Card. I was at my wits end today and finally cancelled the card 9/5/2013. Primarily because the customer service sucks and the online account access has proven to be one huge maze. It's just not worth the headache!

I'll start by saying that I believe I signed up for this card for my daughter maybe less than a year ago. Above anything else, I personally feel debit/prepaid cards are very convenient to access funds that you are responsible for loading yourself. Sounds easy? Keep reading...

I should have cancelled this card in April 2013. My daughter received a small refund from the IRS from a part time job that she held during Christmas of 2012. I set up e-file and thought it would be a great idea to have her refund post to her PASS card for some accessible cash for her. After several weeks, the refund never posted to her PASS card. I called customer service and was told "we do not accept government checks for direct deposit so the check was sent back to the IRS." Huh? I could very well see a personal check from MICKEY MOUSE not being deposited but we are talking about Good Old Uncle Sam here! Nonetheless, weeks later I received a letter from the IRS confirming the deposit was not made and that a paper check would be sent within eight weeks. GREAT! Luckily, the check was received the following week and right on time for Senior Prom.

The fact that there is an online parent log-in and a separate teen log-in for the PASS account further complicates things because it's pretty obvous that these pieces of information will be different. On 9/5/13 when I logged in as a PARENT just to view the status of my daughter's account due to inactivity for quite sometime, the screen prompted me to verify my name, birthdate, my social security number and the child's name. Ok. No problem so far. The next screen basically linked me to a verification screen which showed my daughter's first and last name along with the last four digits of her pass card. So far so good. When I hit SUBMIT, the next screen displayed an error message: The information you entered cannot be verified. For assistance, call customer service at 1-877-405-7277.

I called this customer service number a total of THREE times. The first two times, the automated greeting indicated there was a high volume of calls and to please expect wait times of up to 2-4 minutes. Pretty typical recording these days when you call for any type of customer service. No big deal. In less than one minute, a human being answers but then the call is immediately disconnected. Call #2: Same greeting is played. No one picks up and the call is disconnected again.

Call #3 resulted in a representative answering with a real heavy foreign accent so unfortunately, I did not catch his name. The turn off for me was each and every question I asked was responded to with, "May I place you on hold?" Even after of verification throught the IVR system of the AMEX PASS #, the four digit security code on the front of the card and the date of birth (still assuming this meant my daughter's and not mine since it is her card), I am then bombarded with questions of my name, my date of birth, my social and my daughter's name. Pretty redundant but at this point, I wasn't expecting anything different.

I explained to the representative the error message on the screen which I received after attempting to log in three times before finally seeking out help by calling customer service. He implied that maybe I was doing something wrong and to attempt to log in again by clearing my history and logging in as the TEEN. Wait fool! I am the parent! He stated as the PARENT, I am able to see the transaction history, etc. When I repeated to him the only thing that I could see was the error message, suggesting that I call customer service. I felt like the call was going nowhere and along with the fake "scripted empathy" and the thick accent, the end result was my request to cancel the card. "May I place you on hold to cancel the card?" Hey, why not? At this point, I was already on the line for approximately 12 minutes anyway. What's another five minutes?? Before placing me on hold I made it clear that I need him to provide a cancellation # to confirm the transaction. When he returned to the line he simply stated the card had been cancelled. I asked about the confirmation # and this doe doe egg replied, "You may go online and check the status to see the card has been cancelled." WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS?

The next question must have stumped this genius: I asked if I could have the mailing address for AMERICAN EXPRESS. HIM: "May I know why?" I simply told him NO. I just need the mailing address. HIM: "Is this for feedback?" Me: NO. HIM: "I am asking so that I can provide the correct mailing address." Me: "I need the mailing address so that I can send back this card." And wouldn't you know it! I was placed on hold again so he could get the mailing address. When he returned to the line, I asked him if this was the same mailing address that I would be able to forward a complaint to his response was YES.

Prior to disconnecting the call, I felt I had to make the following feelings known to the representative that I was speaking to. Here goes: "There are way to many cards out there for me to have to put up with this ridiculous customer service each time that I call to inquire about something regarding this account." I ended the call telling him to have a nice day.

AMERICAN EXPRESS should really be concerned about the lackluster, less than stellar customer service that is provided to debit/prepaid customers. It's clear that the employment opportunities that exist in their call centers have clearly been shifted over to those individuals who don't speak English as their first language and don't mind making $5 per hour either. It's frustrating to deal with this type of service on the other end of the line as a customer. Customers are smart. I know when I am being bullsh*tted versus when someone is genuinely concerned about the issues that I am calling about. There is no way I would ever refer anyone with children to consider the AMERICAN EXPRESS PASS CARD account. And at this point, I wouldn't even consider purchasing an AMERICAN EXPRESS GIFT CARD!

To all these large billion dollar corporations (AMEX this includes you): You can have the most amazing product which may appeal to the same billion consumers. Hands down! When you couple that amazing product with poor unacceptable customer service which usually is a result of poor unacceptable customer service training word does TRAVEL. I wonder if those customers who have the highest of the high limit AMEX products have to deal with this same type of customer service? I doubt it. It's easier for them to have their foreign accountants, maids, butlers or nannies make these phone calls on their behalf so they are completely oblivious to this world.

In the end it's still no excuse. And as I stated before, there are way too many other cards out there that I can introduce my daughter too. Soon enough she'll be able to see for herself when she is the one making the calls. Soon enough she will be able to discern the difference between the companies that value her business versus hearing it repetitively from someone who could give two f*!!!

  • Jul 2, 2014

I had a business partner who was given an American Express Black Card, he insisted on paying obligations and purchases on the card and I reimbursed him for the amounts which were intended to pay the credit card bill. six months after we separated our business interests, he had American Express reverse all of the charges as fraud, that he did not make the charges, and that he was not the person who authorized the charges. American Express reversed them all.

I contacted American Express fraud investigation; I provided written and recorded transactions of his purchase and his signatures etc. I also provided copies of checks. I provided contact numbers for the companies that had the reversals. American Express refused to accept that the Black Card holder was committing fraud by selling his credit card use and accepting money from others for the charges he made; it was a classic money float similar to people selling their food stamps for cash.

American Express refused to assist; currently the guy is under Federal Indictment in San Diego County for insurance fraud. His name is Kristian Giordano fbi.gov/sandiego/press-releases/2013/insurance-agents-and-attorneys-charged-in-50-million-insurance-fraud-scheme.

American Express was a willing participant of the Fraud against me; I ended up paying all of the bills to avoid collection from the other victims of American Express and their customer. My view is that American Express is a common facilitator of fraud using their special cards.

  • Jun 27, 2014

This card is crap The representatives are not in the least helpfull, hell they barely speak englis. I do not think they know what they are doing ay all. I have spent three days trying to get them to put the money back on my card that was released tree days ago. I keep getting the run around and told different times that it will be returned to my card I am fed up and pissed off. They sound learn what their job is and how to do it. When I asked to speak to a supervisor I was put on hold and no supervisor ever picked up, I wated on hold ten minutes and called back and still was not alowed to talk to a supervisor, do they even have one?????. Well I'm over this b******* card and as soon as my money is back on I am closing it. I did not have this trouble in the beginning only the last few months. Guess thats how they sucker you in.

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