Before you undertake a bunch of possibly-unnecessary headaches, call up the Amex Executive Office:

1-800-297-6197

I've had great luck resolving various snafus going this route. It's pretty much set up to handle things that are above the pay grade of the CS folks staffing the 800 number.

Since this was a Gold card, and it would have taken a fair amount of spending to rack up that many points, I'd say you have a (much) better than even chance of getting this resolved without having to hire lawyers.