Complain about a product or service

American Express

Gift Cards

Bonita of Detroit, MI February 5, 2010

I bought a 100 dollar gift card and tried to book a hotel in las vegas and couldn't use it. i tried using it for an online game and it didn't work and i finally used it to pay for taxes on taxact.com and it didn't work. i called the company and they d=said it wouldn't work out of the country and i attempted to make a purchase outside of the u.s. i said no. they said the only solution they had was to reboot the card but i wanted my money back because after all i had been through i knew it would never work. they said i had to wait 20 business days for a refund which equals 40 days. its is terrible\.

Michael of Sterling Heights, MI February 3, 2010

I received a 100 American Express gift card and I'm unable to spend it anywhere. The first time I used it, it went fine. But I have tried to use it three more times and it has been declined every time. I called the gift card hotline and this is what they said to me.

The first time it was declined was at Microcenter. They don't have a good excuse for this one. She just said "Amex didn't respond to the request fast enough so the vendor canceled the transaction". Why didn't Amex authorize fast enough? Who know, it's a mystery. Will it happen again? Sure, why not. Apparently that first denial caused them to "lock" the money in the account for 2 weeks. So when I tried to use it again a few days later, it was declined again.

After checking online and verifying the balance, I attempted to purchase a game off of Steam. The card was declined again. This time they claim the "Geographic Code" returned from the website shows it as outside the US. Which is bull because everyone knows Valve is a US company.

Leonard of San Diego Ca, CA February 2, 2010

Used 25 gift card to make purchase at Sears. Found out card was only worh 17--I was told to complain to Westfield concierge. He, in turn referred me to American Express. Card was given to me as a gift in a westfield folder with no caveat about service charge. You can bet my purchases or those 0f my colleagues at Westfield North County Fair will be few; ditto for Amex--what a ripoff!

lucy of New York, NY January 27, 2010

I found out there is charge on my American Express gift card because i had not used it for over 12 months. I understand this charge was eliminated on recent gift cards purchased due to significant customer complaints, obvious due to the dishonest nature of this product was recognized and rejected by the consumers. I was not given the same recognition from AMEX that they made a dishonest product, I don't care about the 10 but the big name institution would not own up to all its consumers. They made a bad product and retracted some terms but should own up to all its users, not just the ones who called them on it.

wanda of laurel, MS January 23, 2010

Right now, I am really mad!!! I don't have a credit cardit, so when I want to order something off the internet I by gift cards. This time I choose "THE GREAT" AMERICAN EXPRESS GIFT CARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a 100 card. I got 10 in gas at the punp and tried to make a 4 purchase at Wal-mart. It was declined!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cheked my balance on the enternet and they had taken 100 for a 10 purchase!!!!!!!!!! I called their 800# and THEY told me that they took the 100 because they wanted to make sure that the money would be there when the 10 transaction gets there, but I will get my 90 back in 7, did you read that, 7 days. How stupd is that? Then sad, "I am so sorry for the inconvience." Am I sorry? If I cussed, I believe the words would be much stronger than sorry. Now I will always use MASTER CARD. No problems with them.

Phyllis of Richmond, CA January 22, 2010

My son purchased two gifts cards on December 19, 2009, as Christmas presents. One gift was in the amount of 50.00 and the other gift card was in the amount of 100.00, the gift card for 50.00 went thru, but the 100 gift card did not. I've called and faxed all the information that was required as of today, nothing is on the card, and it's been a month plus six days. Can't used the Christmas Gift plus 100.00 is lost. We want the money back

lisa of Newark, NJ January 15, 2010

I purchased two amex gift cards from walgreens in Newark on Dec.23 and sent them to a friend in Georgia ,they never arrived. I tried calling walgreens and amex to see what I could do to get my money back or be issued new cards. There was nothing they could do to help me. It turns out that amex is saying that I should have opened the gift cards and taken the numbers off of them. This is the only way to track them. Gift cards are just like money they told me and should be sent via UPS or insured. I will say this to amex, that with all the money they make from the consumers who purchase their gift cards, they should have a better way of tracking them. They rip people off with the extra 4.95 that they charge per card and no one in their company is held liable for anything. Iam telling all my family and friends and co-workers not to purchase these gift cards.

Dan of Rancho Cucamonga, CA January 10, 2010

I just found a few gift cars in the bottom of a drawer at my house, one was an unactivated 100 gift card from American Express. I just tried checking to see what the balance was and was told by the customer service representative that if that type of card isn't activated within 6 months of purchase it has no value. Then she thanked me for my call and asked if there was anything else she could do for me. The other cards I found for other retailers were all still good.

mark of San Diego, CA January 6, 2010

I bought an American Express Gift Card. I tried to buy a greyhound bus ticket with it; Greyhound clearly accepts AMEX cards, as indicated by the option on their on-line payment website. They did not accept my Amex gift card, even though Amex acknowledged that the card was correctly registered with my name and address, and had a sufficient balance. (The exterior packaging acknowledges that the card is not to be used for international cruises, casinos, or ATM transactions, but a domestic bus trip from Tacoma to Anaheim hardly falls into those categories.) Greyhound reports that Amex is declining the purchase, Amex claims that everything is good on their end, "unless the merchant refuses to accept gift cards." After four hours on the phone, I put it strongly to "jeff," the Amex CSR. "Essentially, then, an AMEX gift card is an inferior card, and doesn't offer the same services as the regular AMEX card?" Knowing the situation, "jeff" said, "I have nothing to say."

SO: Let the record show that the AMEX gift card offers an inferior level of service; you'll be lucky to get any functionality out of it at all. Polite requests for a refund were rebuffed: "That would be very difficult for us to do." The conference in Anaheim is my maiden speech before the American Philological Association, and I have used my rehearse-and-polish time to deal with the "simple" issue of buying a bus ticket. I will not encourage other people to use AMEX, of gift cards. In fact, I will encourage them in strong terms to stay away.

Tali of new york, NY January 5, 2010

I am a young teacher who received 325 in American Express Gift Cards. I was given 3 cards. One 200 card, another 100 card, and a 25 card. The 25 card was the only one that worked. I was left with cards valued at 300 but had ZERO balance. I called American Express and they said the only way they can resolve the issue is if I have a gift receipt.

I received these cards as a gift weeks ago and did not receive a gift receipt. Now I'm stuck with worthless cards and this is simply a SCAM by AMEX there are numerous complaints on this site that have the same issues. AMEX must figure out a better resolution to these issues. Consumers should not be held responsible for clerical errors made by the distributor of these cards. 300 dollars of worthless cards and hours on the phone with unhelpful AMEX reps

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