American Express Gift Cards Reviews

After 15+ calls, 50 days passed, I was told that they would have to give me a new claim number, the old one ws not good anymore. The new one would start with a new date. now, I was back on square one again. the whole process started again. next day, nest week, 10-15 days, longer than that...When I want to speak to a supervisor, I was told that no supervisors would be available. When I want to talk to customer complain dept, the reps who answered the call cannot transfer me. They can file a complain for me, but nothing i can use to track the complain. next time i called, the new rep never saw the complaint...Now they deduct $2.00 every month, but I cannot use it.

As I started making purchases I got very confused very fast. Cashiers wanted to know my balance and if I didn't know, they would not ring me through. One place, where I got my nails done, did not even accept American Express. The machine that checks the balance for you in the mall was broken. I just wasn't aware that I needed to bring a pad of paper, my pencil, and a calculator with me!

I also experienced the joy of returning something that was paid with the gift card. I made a purchase at Target and used the remaining balance on my gift card and then put the rest on my Visa. When I went to return a few things, they wanted to put half back on the gift card and half on my visa. I don't think many people keep the gift cards after they are spent? Not to mention, I didn't want the money put back on that card because I didn't want to deal with it anymore.

I checked the card two weeks ago, went to use it and it was rejected. It seems that Amex has been deducting $2 a month from the card for the last several months. I called and complained and they put $8 back on the card, but the following week they deducted $2 more.

It is almost impossible to use the card, because you have to know how much you have on the card and then pay the balance first and then swipe the card. Amex is hoping that you will just get so frustrated that you will throw away the card and they keep all the money.

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The vendor has no way of telling you what the balance is on your card. You have to guess what the balance is, then the vendor tries it for you. If it doesn't go through, you try another one. You can see the cashier's faces drop when you hand them the card...they're so tired of the extra work involved.

It was only 17.00 dollars but a gift to me.

Guess what??? It's been almost 3 weeks and no card. I just called the customer service number back and another bewildered rep. was on the phone. I asked to speak to the supervisor and was placed on hold twice for a total of 10 minutes. That was it. I'm trying to find a customer service e-mail at American Express' site and there's no such thing. You just get caught in a loop of misleading information. This is my first and last experience with American Express.

I will write a letter to American Express if I can even figure out where to write to. I just hope to recover the $200.

I had a National City Bank gift card and the American Express Gift Card. We had a bill of $32.00. Olive Garden took the NCB gift card, and American Express declined the rest of the bill. I told the server that there was $20.00 left on the card to put that thru and then I would pay the difference. He tried to put it thru again and it would not take it. I paid the rest of the bill with my personal credit card.

I called American Express and they confirmed I had $20.00 on the card. I asked why they did not take the card and the representative said, they should have put 1st gift card thru, then MY CREDIT CARD, then American Express. This made no sense.

I called the Olive Garden back and they said they took the Amer Express Gift Card but the employee may have put it thru wrong, and if I would like to drive back to Olive Garden, the manager would put the bill thru again. Gee only 8 miles back to the restaurant to correct the error. As I have read other complaints, everyone is having the same problem.

My son who gave me the first card, said he had never had any problem with the card.

My husband has gotten the same song and dance from Amex as well as my mother who purchased these gift cards. We have gone to the Winn Dixie store that she purchased the cards from, they in turn have called Amex and have benn told that they could not give them any information. I have been told by Amex customer service (what a joke)that they will activate my card in 24 hours and they do not. I have been told on numerous occasions that a customer service rep would return my call, that has not happened. Every time I call them, I have to repeatedly give my name, address, telephone number, as well as my date of birth. I have been pursuing this for several days and have gotten absolutely no help or information from Amex.

I am very angry with the fact that they have basically, taken my mother's money ($200)and in return, have provided no product or service. This seems to be a frequent consumer complaint with these gift cards. I am not going to let this robbery by amex go. I plan on writing my story for the local news as well as national news, somebody may eventually listen and stop this company from fraudulent business practices. My goal is to alert others about this and hopefully prevent other people from being taken advantage of by American Express!

This is an outright rip-off, I feel I was ***** royally. I will not do business ever with such a greedy company. You will never see or hear from me again.

Realizing that AMEX would start charging a $2.00 monthly service fee soon, I wanted to use the card several times lately. However, I discovered that the cardholder must call an 800 number to ACTIVATE the card prior to use. Since I was already in line waiting to check out merchandise when I realized this and my cell phone was in the car, activation was not an option. So I used another form of payment.

I finally ACTIVATED the card last week so that I'd be free to use it anytime anywhere (HA!) I just placed an online order with a well-known nationwide retailer. Most retailers typically have a field where you enter the form of payment, i.e. credit, debit, etc. There was no option for a gift card. In order to complete my order, I entered the AMEX card info in the credit card field, since that was the closest choice. The total balance of my order exceeded the value of the card by @ $15, so I submitted my order and immediately called the merchant to confirm everything and arrange for another form of payment for the difference. I was informed that AMEX had rejected payment. It appears that AMEX will only pay either the exact amount or a lesser portion thereof.

Since many merchants do not accept multiple forms of payment, this card is useless for purchase amounts exceeding the balance on the card. The only way I can use this card is to purchase something for exactly $100 with a merchant that is willing to accept the card. Or, I could purchase something for say $90, and leave a $10 balance on the card, than hope that I can make another purchase for exactly $10 and be done. But that's not what American Express expects will happen. In addition to the initial $5.95 card fee, they have fees for everything imaginable.

According to applicable law, the following fees are automatically deducted from your GIFT card: A $2.00 monthly service fee (starting on the 13th month after purchase), a $5.95 replacement card fee (if your card is lost or stolen and you have documented the original card number), and a check issuance fee of $10.00 if you request a refund of any remaining funds on the card, but only after the "valid thru" date on the front of the card (not sooner). Since the "valid thru" date is usually three and one-half years from the date of purchase, you can easily see that by that date, the $2.00 monthly service fees will absorb $30 of your card balance.

It's very easy to see that American Express is a profitable business because they can legally rip-off consumers by expertly using applicable law to their financial advantage. As for clueless Melissa of Phoenix, AZ who posted here on 3/25/06, she must either work for Amex or has been duped into believing that these cards provide some protection from fraud.

THIS CARD DOES NOT PROTECT CONSUMERS. Instead, it legally sabotages and extorts funds from unwitting consumers by American Express. I for one prefer to give any excess cash to a good charitable cause than line the golden pockets of already filthy rich and greedy corporations. THE MORAL OF THIS STORY: Do Not Purchase any "gift card" that comes with an arms-length (literally and figuratively) list of instructions and restrictions.

This has caused a lot of embarrassment and aggravation.

Note: It is YOUR job to understand what you are buying and what you will be paying for BEFORE you agree with payment. Some of the complaints specifically state they are upset by being charged a service charge or shipping fees for something ordered on the internet? My response: have you ever ordered anything from the internet? helllooo.....companies don't ship things for free usually and if they do it's because you are ordering during a specific promotional opportunity or a good customer.

One more thing....perhaps they should all read the additional articles relative to credit cards on this site. If they do, they might start thinking that the fees and some otherwise nuisance issues due to their own ignorance are better than the alternative of other large banks who deliver services for visa/mastercard that compromise consumer data by security breaches, loss of company equipment with cardmember data on it and have less than adequate security in place on the whole.

Ya, I would really rather do business with American Express and pay a few extra bucks knowing that I will never be the victim of identity theft because American Express is acutally looking out for my safety. Get a grip people! Read the facts before you buy......and don't complain when you are unaware and just plain ignorant.

Later when I talked to American Express Customer Service repersentive they told me there was nothing the could do because I had purchased at a store and should take back to that store. There was nothing they could do. The lady with AMX was very convencing that I could still use them my self or sell them to another person on my own but they were not able to redeem my money, turn into Gift Checks or help in any way. What a racket.

So now I'm out $600.00 and have these gift cards that are useless for the purpose I purchased them for. Nowhere on the outside packageing does it say they can not be used at Airlines, Hotels, Rental Cars, Gas Stations nor can they be used outside the U.S. Another hitch is you have to use for the exact amount of the card, and can not make up the difference, example: if you purchase something for $101. then it will be rejected and you will be billed $2.00 by AMX for going over the card limit.

Equally if you had $1.25 left on the card it would be almost impossible to ever use that remaining balance. Just think if they hook 25 million people like me and every card is left with a balance how much they pocket. I'm frustrated, feel cheated and can't believe what a scam, what I thought was a top notch company is running. They have lost me as a customer forever.

I called American Express and asked for my money to be refunded that I was embarrassed by the incident and the gentleman at the restaurant told me that he knew of no place that would accept such a card. American Express told me that if they refunded a $50.00 gift card, I would have to PAY a $10.00 fee. They sold a card that is not valid where American Express is accepted and now they want to keep 20% of the value because I can't use the card.

I think they took the money for the card under false pretense that the card is as respected as their traveler's checks and their credit card and this is not true.

Each time I speak with a "manager" I am told it will be resolved, it however NEVER is. Here we are on 12/21/04 and still no credit. Boy they can take money very quickly..try to get them to give it back...Good luck.