topic Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent in Credit Cards

AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

MarkintheHV — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 17:19:42 GMT

Amex has really frustrated me this week. Long story short, we are vacationing in Hawaii and I provided travel dates and locations for every credit card that was going to make the trip. Amex doesnt allow that, so I called them and was told that Amex has "world class" fraud controls in place and not to worry all my charges will be approved. Woke up yesterday morning to a bunch emails that Amex BCP card was suspended for fraud and to call them (4 Uber charges were declined because of this). So I call, and am told that its all taken care of the the freeze is lifted. Well, guess what? Breakfast charge was declined. At this point, I am getting very angry because to me a credit card decline is an embarassment. So, I switch to my NFCU Flagship, and everything goes great as I had entered all my vacation dates and locations on their website before leaving. Back at the room, I call Amex again to see whats up, and go another rep to remove the block, and was assured this time it was removed. I have removed my Amex BCP from saved payments on Uber, and not going to use my BCP anymore on this trip.

So much for their "world class" fraud detection

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

JoeRockhead — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 17:24:41 GMT

That's a bummer.... But, you're in Hawaii, hopefully having a great time!

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

JR_TX — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 17:36:26 GMT

Sorry to hear about that horrible experience!

Must've been frustrating and embarassing!!

On the side note, have you had your Amex cards for over a year? From what I'm seeing and based as well on DW's past experience with Amex, their fraud and security algo takes at least a year to stabilize after it has established a more predictive spend pattern.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

MarkintheHV — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 18:11:19 GMT

This amex is about 18 months old.

This is exactly why I carry Mastercard and Visa from different financial institutions. NFCU Flagship to the rescue

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

Rogue46 — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 18:19:20 GMT

That's just ridiculous especially after you notified them ahead of time. It's a good thing you had backup cards, That would have been a nightmare.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

MarkintheHV — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 18:25:25 GMT

Wife gets frustrated with me. But I made sure that neither one of us carried cards from the same issuer. I always said to her I don't want to get in a bind because we relied on one cc issuer

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

SouthJamaica — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 18:29:09 GMT

@MarkintheHV wrote:
Amex has really frustrated me this week. Long story short, we are vacationing in Hawaii and I provided travel dates and locations for every credit card that was going to make the trip. Amex doesnt allow that, so I called them and was told that Amex has "world class" fraud controls in place and not to worry all my charges will be approved. Woke up yesterday morning to a bunch emails that Amex BCP card was suspended for fraud and to call them (4 Uber charges were declined because of this). So I call, and am told that its all taken care of the the freeze is lifted. Well, guess what? Breakfast charge was declined. At this point, I am getting very angry because to me a credit card decline is an embarassment. So, I switch to my NFCU Flagship, and everything goes great as I had entered all my vacation dates and locations on their website before leaving. Back at the room, I call Amex again to see whats up, and go another rep to remove the block, and was assured this time it was removed. I have removed my Amex BCP from saved payments on Uber, and not going to use my BCP anymore on this trip.
So much for their "world class" fraud detection

I haven't found them to be world class at all. I remember the first time they did it to me; I was in the oral surgeon's chair in excruciating pain from an abscess, and had to pull out another credit card for the surgeon's office to pull.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

MarkintheHV — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 18:55:52 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@MarkintheHV wrote:
Amex has really frustrated me this week. Long story short, we are vacationing in Hawaii and I provided travel dates and locations for every credit card that was going to make the trip. Amex doesnt allow that, so I called them and was told that Amex has "world class" fraud controls in place and not to worry all my charges will be approved. Woke up yesterday morning to a bunch emails that Amex BCP card was suspended for fraud and to call them (4 Uber charges were declined because of this). So I call, and am told that its all taken care of the the freeze is lifted. Well, guess what? Breakfast charge was declined. At this point, I am getting very angry because to me a credit card decline is an embarassment. So, I switch to my NFCU Flagship, and everything goes great as I had entered all my vacation dates and locations on their website before leaving. Back at the room, I call Amex again to see whats up, and go another rep to remove the block, and was assured this time it was removed. I have removed my Amex BCP from saved payments on Uber, and not going to use my BCP anymore on this trip.
So much for their "world class" fraud detection

I haven't found them to be world class at all. I remember the first time they did it to me; I was in the oral surgeon's chair in excruciating pain from an abscess, and had to pull out another credit card for the surgeon's office to pull.

I got to agree with you, definitely not world class. I guess this seals the deal on me closing my platinum card.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

MarkintheHV — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 18:56:39 GMT

@JoeRockhead wrote:
That's a bummer.... But, you're in Hawaii, hopefully having a great time!

@JoeRockhead having an awesome time. Today its off to the underwater scooters

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

Kforce — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 19:08:16 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
I haven't found them to be world class at all. I remember the first time they did it to me; I was in the oral surgeon's chair in excruciating pain from an abscess, and had to pull out another credit card for the surgeon's office to pull.

As @SouthJamaica

Had more than a few issues with AmEx.

Won't find me suggesting them as an issuer for any of my friends.

Not at the bottom of my list but very close.

That said, many have them at the top of the list.

Depends on your personal experiences.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

MarkintheHV — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 19:26:11 GMT

Everything from amex I have, except for bcp is on the chopping block. I know I will never use then for travel again

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

BuckyB — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:14:44 GMT

@JR_TX wrote:
On the side note, have you had your Amex cards for over a year? From what I'm seeing and based as well on DW's past experience with Amex, their fraud and security algo takes at least a year to stabilize after it has established a more predictive spend pattern.

Props to you for this data point but.. honestly?? Customers get screwed by the Amex fraud department for the first 12 months they use the card? And that's normal? How is that a good user experience? What a disaster.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

BuckyB — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:19:11 GMT

@MarkintheHV wrote:
At this point, I am getting very angry because to me a credit card decline is an embarassment.

I have an Amex gold card and my motto is: "Never leave home without an alternative card," because it can be declined anywhere, at any time.

If I have to make a large purchase in front of a bunch of people, it's not going to be on an Amex card. Been there.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

redpat — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 11:49:56 GMT

Could the issue be from you past w/ Amex having you on a short leash?

Sometimes it may come back to haunt you.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 16:30:40 GMT

Personally, when I design a world-class algorithm, I at least consider allowing optional user inputs. So if there was a mechanism for a user to say "I will be in country X from date A-B" a sophisticated algorithm could use it as one of the inputs or, if that requires too much modification, a less sophisticated one could have a wrapper "If I am about to decline a charge based partly on an unexpected location, then check to see if there is an active travel notification" (In neither case is it an automatic approval, just an additional factor to consider)

Basically, if you remove the ability for the user to provide the info, make sure the algorithm is sufficiently robust to work without it!

About to try with SoFI who doesn't take them either.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

Lou-natic — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 16:59:54 GMT

@BuckyB wrote:
@JR_TX wrote:
On the side note, have you had your Amex cards for over a year? From what I'm seeing and based as well on DW's past experience with Amex, their fraud and security algo takes at least a year to stabilize after it has established a more predictive spend pattern.
Props to you for this data point but.. honestly?? Customers get screwed by the Amex fraud department for the first 12 months they use the card? And that's normal? How is that a good user experience? What a disaster.

Haven't had any issues with the AMEX fraud department. Just saying "Customers get screwed by the Amex fraud department for the first 12 months they use the card?" out loud makes it sound so ridiculous I don't even know where to start. Of course that's not how it works.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

NAVYCHOP — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 23:47:18 GMT

I've had an AMEX card for nearly 40 yrs. They have a very robust fraud system that is built over time with them. The charges turned down on my account have all been real fraud with one exception. About fifteen years ago when I lived in Eastern Europe I flew back to the East Coast for a friends birthday with a one day turnaround. The first attempted charge was for rental car gas at a pump in New Jersey which was turned down for potential fraud. I found that quite reasonable at the time as my spend pattern was all in Europe and we know gas stations are prevalent with fraud.

Regarding comments on cards to impress-- surprisingly many years ago the one card where I received a consistent comment from merchants and waiters was the White House Federal Credit Union debit card which was all white and had an etched view of the White House on the card. I didn't use it much as I don't like debit cards and the WHFCU has since merged with the Department of Commerce credit union so the card is no more but it brought back a chuckle thinking about that debit card..

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

isik — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 18:41:21 GMT

I try to use my card at the airport when traveling, usually just buying a bottle of water. I feel like a transaction at an airport might signal to the algorithm that I'm traveling.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

Creditwiser — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 19:49:51 GMT

I have the opposite dealings with my Amex Delta Gold. Never been declined for possible fraud stateside or when out of the country. I do have alerts set up on the account so perhaps that makes a difference? I don't know. From time to time I would get a text asking if I made the purchase.This over and above the text for the actual purchase.

Re: AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

BuckyB — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 21:57:12 GMT

@redpat wrote:
Could the issue be from you past w/ Amex having you on a short leash?

Sometimes it may come back to haunt you.

I generally believe what posters say. I don't really understand the mentality of responses that blame the poster for some unseen transgression.

Poster: I have a problem with X bank because they did Y to me.

Response: Well YOU must be the problem (implying that banks are perfect) and you're not telling us about it (implying the poster is a liar).