AmEx Frustrations, Just Needed to Vent

[MarkintheHV]

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

[JoeRockhead]

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

[JR_TX]

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.

[MarkintheHV]

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

[Rogue46]

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.

[MarkintheHV]

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

[SouthJamaica]

---

@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.

[MarkintheHV]

---

@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.

---

---

@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. 

[MarkintheHV]

---

@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

[Kforce]

---

@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.