HockeyCoachBen

I will expand more on this later, but wanted to quickly post this follow-up to my post (#625 above).

Knowing my bill was cycling soon, I decided to check my account this morning and make payment for the $200 in WN gift cards that were as-yet not reimbursed. Of course, when I logged into my account, still no credits for the cards. So I went ahead and made payment.

A couple of hours later, I received a very cryptic email from "American Express Executive Member Relations". The email basically said someone from AmEx has been monitoring this thread and noticed that my 'airline fees' hadn't been reimbursed yet. She 'ensured' that the fees would be reimbursed immediately and that my payment would be cancelled. Sure enough, when I logged back into my account online, the two $100 credits were there and my online payment had been cancelled.

This leaves a lot of questions in my mind. Very strange experience!

**To be clear - I NEVER contacted American Express about this and was fully prepared to pay the $200 out of pocket. I didn't even know they had an 'Executive Member Relations' department.**

mia

Indeed. If you use HockeyCoachBen as your handle on social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc) it may be straightforward for anyone to figure out your probable identity. However, using that information to contact a cardholder through another channel or tamper with an account transaction would seem to be very poor practice. In this example you may not care that someone cancelled a payment, but I think you can see the potential for abuse.

Stgermainparis

Do your GC entries on Amex have ticket numbers?

HockeyCoachBen

Wow! Good point. That never even crossed my mind. I was able to call the number on the back of my card later in the day and verify the email and person who sent the email were legitimate.

The agent who I spoke to was able to find the person who sent the email in his company directory, find her extension number and offered to transfer me to her. He did also verify there is a "lesser known" 'Executive Member Relations' department but they mostly deal with "high profile and celebrity clients who have issues with their accounts" (his words). I can assure you, I am neither (high profile nor celebrity).

As for the payment being cancelled, I would assume it was an automatic thing? Since the $200 for the gift cards was the only outstanding balance on my account, the payment would leave me with a credit balance. Maybe? I'm not sure. Neither was the rep who spoke with.

The thing that struck me as the strangest part of this whole email was how tongue-in-cheek the references to my "excessive extra airline fees" were. It was almost like there was some joke I wasn't in on. It seemed pretty clear that she knew I didn't spend the $200 on fees and didn't care? Obviously, since she references someone monitoring this thread, there must be some level of knowledge of what the purchases actually were for. And knowing full well that was in violation of the reimbursement terms.

This is what shows up on each of the transactions on my account...
Category: Travel - Airline
Document Type: SPD/Air Freight/Cargo
Ticket Number: xXxXxXxXxXxXx (13-digit number on both transactions)

ZzzzX

Personally, I'd call AMEX and complain about this relations specialist who cancelled your payment. There's no reason for AMEX to cancel a payment unless you ask them to do so. This person interfered with your financial transaction without your authority. I'd assume you were making a payment as planned and this specialist was perhaps "feeling out" how much you monitored your account. If you didn't monitor it, perhaps your account # was a good one to sell to the dark web, setting you up for identity theft. This smells all the way around.

Robl

$100 GC bought on 1/28 reimbursed 2/4. AF posted on the PRG 2/5. Cancelled card.

lew28

I smell BS in these posts. A payment can not be cancelled under Fed Reg Z. There is no executive member relations dept, there is an Executive Consumer Relations area that ONLY handles issues that were addressed to senior management. Lastly, there are fraud monitors on all accounts that look for strange activity, in these cases A/L fees without corresponding tickets are probably hitting a scanner, and eventually the leak will be plugged.

mia

There is no requirement that the American Express card be used to purchase the ticket, only the reimbursable fees.

trouble747

Nah....if I didn't receive a credit, I'd chat in and ask for it to be adjusted manually.

Stgermainparis

FYI. My credit took 9 days. Don't panic if it's taking a bit longer.

ktremor

Bought 2 $100 GCs in separate transactions on 2/2/16, was reimbursed on 2/9/16.

Travellingwithbaby

Mine as well. Bought a $50 gc on 2/3. Just saw that credit posted (2/12) Going to do another one now...

_Square_

Purchased one $100 Southwest GC on 1/28/16. It was reimbursed on 2/4/16.

amdg

Data points: I purchased a $100 Southwest e-gift certificate on 1/26; it was reimbursed on 2/2. I then purchased another on 2/3; it was reimbursed 2/11.

santokiya

Purchased 2x $50 Southwest gift cards on 2/1, got reimbursed 2/9.