AMEX Merchant Services allowed a cardholder to contest a legitimate credit card charge twice. The debited charges were based on testing services which we provided to the cardholder. The contested amount was about $3200.00. The first time, AMEX Merchant decided in our favor; us as the merchant. The second time which was about a year later, AMEX decided in favor of the cardholder on the basis that we did not respond to the complaint in a timely manner. The facts of the case remained the same. AMEX claimed that we, as the merchant, had an obligation to visit their website so that we were up-to-date on any outstanding contested charges. We were never notified by AMEX that this website existed. We responded to the contested charge as soon as AMEX notified us by phone only.
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
I work for a company that sells computer systems. A customer used the system for 1 year before returning it to us, it does not have all the cables, manuals, and drivers. It is not in a usable condition at all, it has excessive wear and tear. It is not worth any money in its current condition. Basically customer has used it and returned and got all his money back. He used this system for free and our company was out all that money, pretty much just giving him the laptop for free.
American express refuses to cooperate with us, making claims that they did not receive all necessary paperwork from us. We submitted all the papers they asked us for on time, they probably lost it or misplaced it. They do not want to reopen the case, talking to any of the managers does not help. Again, the system that was returned to us was abused by a customer and has zero value. All we ask for is to reopen the case and use common sense in resolving this issue.
The computer system is useless and we cannot resell it, so it's lost money. The customer basically used the system for free. Our company policies try to protect us from customers like this, but American Express will not listen.
I was never notified, and I found out during our bank reconcilations that American express adapted a new change where the merchant does not receive a credit for the discount fee if the consumer returned the item. This became effective September 1st as I found out today.
This policy is unethical and unfair to the merchant as now the merchant has lost the discount fee for an item that was returned. This item now is less profitable than the rest of the merchandise. This is unfair to the consumer as well as they will possibly face penalties for returning items purchased with Amex. Therefore the consumer will not have a choice and be forced to pay cash or visa/mastercard. I feel that it is similar to not be refunded the sales tax for the return of merchandise.
American Express already has the highest discount rate but they want more!
