This is quite a brutal story. I guess the resolution should rest upon the contents of the recorded conversation in question (that is, if the rep did indeed instruct the OP to make the charge and promised it would be reversed then I think Amex should honor those instructions and commitments). I wonder if they are stonewalling OP on that front. I mean, why are the calls recorded if not to be used later to resolve issues such as this? It would seem quite nefarious if Amex doesn't produce that recording and I can't imagine why that wouldn't be possible with how cheap data storage is these days.