Originally Posted by
anamaniac
Out of all the experiences (very few) disputes I have had, Amex has been the best relatively speaking. I have been very satisfied with the overall process so far.
My last experience with a dispute was last year when we rented a car in a foreign country for a day. Within minutes of driving off the lot, the front tire lost all pressure. We drove the car back instantly and were given a new car which worked fine. However, when we came back to return the new car, the clerk informed us that it was our fault for "damaging" the tire. To make a long story short, we only ended up paying for the rental itself and the clerk said the owner of the rental place would call our hotel the next day which he never did. About a month later, I saw a charge of $150 on the Amex bill... I called up Amex and asked them to look into it... and got back the money after a few weeks (no further questions asked... no back and forth... etc.).
As a contrast, I got a flat tire on a car while in Europe, a police man helped me change the tire. The major rental car company, not saying which one but it starts with a H----, charged me over 700.00USD for "damage" to the car. I disputed it twice with AMEX and they ruled against me! It really seems to me that AMEX is more interested in protecting major merchant partners than the consumer. Something similar happed to me years ago with the same company and a citi card MC and MC ruled in my favor. I may dislike Citibank, but I have to hand it to them they were much better than my experience with AMEX. I have stoped using AMEX.