I had added my daughter as an authorized user on my AMEX card. She had an insurance claim, and needed a rental car. She used the card as a deposit, she thought, as the insurance company was going to pay the bill.
I wasn't too concerned, because her usage limit was set to $200.00
Its taking forever them to fix her car, parts, etc, and so today I was surprised when there was a charge (never went pending) to my AMEX for $1780.00.
When I called AMEX on how this charge could possibly go through for $1780.00, when her limit was set to $200.00, the CSR rep stated that they assumed it was an EMERGENCY, because the rental company had kept trying different amounts, $300, then $500, then $700, then $900, all which had been rightfully declined, and finally they approved the $1780.00.The funny thing is that I never received the notification of the charge. If I hadn't looked at my account because I had just made a payment I would not have known.
Wow.
Even though I will eventually get my money back from her insurance company (hopefully), it bums me because I try to be careful about how much I have reporting on a given card.
Anyway, just surprised that this occured. Like I said "Lesson Learned".
@mato01 wrote:I had added my daughter as an authorized user on my AMEX card. She had an insurance claim, and needed a rental car. She used the card as a deposit, she thought, as the insurance company was going to pay the bill.
I wasn't too concerned, because her usage limit was set to $200.00
Its taking forever them to fix her car, parts, etc, and so today I was surprised when there was a charge (never went pending) to my AMEX for $1780.00.
When I called AMEX on how this charge could possibly go through for $1780.00, when her limit was set to $200.00, the CSR rep stated that they assumed it was an EMERGENCY, because the rental company had kept trying different amounts, $300, then $500, then $700, then $900, all which had been rightfully declined, and finally they approved the $1780.00.The funny thing is that I never received the notification of the charge. If I hadn't looked at my account because I had just made a payment I would not have known.
Wow.
Even though I will eventually get my money back from her insurance company (hopefully), it bums me because I try to be careful about how much I have reporting on a given card.
Anyway, just surprised that this occured. Like I said "Lesson Learned".
While the rental company activity is clearly wrong (and even goes against 'best practices' for merchants), what really gets my attention with your scenario is that you set a limit of $200... that should have been it - end of story.
If Amex "felt" there was an emergency, they should have contacted you for an override - we're talking about a rental here, not a surgeon delaying operating because the hospital can't run the card. I might be in the minority here, but if it were me I would be raising hell with Amex about that alone. At a minimum, you deserve an explanation in writing of what happened, and what they have done to prevent it from happening on your account in the future.
Now if your daughter called them and used 'social engineering' to have them override her limit, that's a bit different,... but even that isn't excusable if you (the primary card holder, and person responsible for paying) had clearly set a limit beforehand. Using the 'emergency' argument, pretty much anything short of a Macy's spree could be 'forced' though. I have visions of a rogue cab pulling this stunt and Amex thinking, "well, she must really need that cab...".
All that being said, I agree with you that as long as the insurance does their part everything should be fine (and most likely they'll be prompt - I've dealt with this kind of thing before). I just expected more out of Amex. 
Edited to add: that you never got a notification of a 'pending' charge and it just posted indicates that the rental agency might have submitted the charge without an auth code, which is a big no-no. If I'm right, that is grounds for a chargeback if you wanted to pursue it. Of course, the rental company would then turn to your daughter for immediate payment, so that might not be desirable, but you do have options.
