AA huge refund error
 

Anyone have experience dealing with a refund error in which they give you US$100K+ in incorrect refund due to a currency conversion error? I called up AA they were insisting it's correct, but obviously it's not since the ticket was 100x less than that. After a very long discussion of me convincing them that they refunded me way too much, they said to email [email protected] with what I told them and they have no timeframe as to a result. Anyone know how long this process would take?

I'd love to keep the windfall, but that's clearly not going to happen, and I do not want my AMEX points to go into the negative by 6 figures, or trigger an AMEX shutdown.

ETA: I'm also emailing Robert Isom and Carolyn Truelove to see if that speeds up this process.

lolwut... AA refunded you 100k USD? :eek:

Yes... it was a 100x currency conversion/decimal error from what I can tell.

I mean, good on you for being proactive. But you might as well park it in a HYSA and earn a couple grand while AA realizes its error. (I suppose they could argue that you held it for their benefit but my hunch is they would be grateful to get the money back at all!)

ETA: Never mind. I get it. You didn't get cash, you got an Amex refund. And you don't want to both lose the points (that you shouldn't have to lose anyhow) and somehow be issued a check for the negative balance that you didn't want to have, only to have to pay AA back in cash rather than on your card.

That's actually a pretty wild situation.

What were the exact steps that causes the currency conversion error?

Asking for a friend … :D

I don't know for sure how this happened, but my guess is refunding a ticket originating in a country with a currency that is 100x+ USD conversion (like JPY), which then if cancelled requires a manual refund, and then have the refund department agent fat finger a couple decimals.

You're spot on with the loss of 5x points analysis, but not only that, I don't think my card can handle a 6-figure transaction charge. This is going to have to be a correction coordinated by AA and AMEX. Hoping for insight if anyone has had to do something similar before. The only way this error could have happened is if the refund was a manual process, which means something similar must have happened to someone out there before, perhaps not on such a large scale.

This sounds like one of those Board Games where you have to decide what to do.

« The girl next door finds a €50 note on her drive. Would you let her keep it? »

What you have been refunded beggars belief. You have been scrupulously honest. It is now up to American to deal. You have flagged it, and now it’s up to them. It sounds like too many zeros were added. I think that once you had told them all you should do is let them get on with it. You don’t work there so if they want their money then it’s up to them. Someone will be blamed and probably fired over an error of such magnitude. Clearly their controls are completely deficient that this was not checked.

You have had a really fascinating dilemma and a far lesser,person would have kept silent. Me? I’d not sleep at night and would feel bound to do the same as I may have many defects, but dishonesty is not one of them. I would however get the money of Amex with a refund and park it in a savings account knowing that you were in a position to repay. However I do not know if you can do this, in France we can.

Whatever else you deserve a reward for your honesty.

Just thinking about this as if it were me, I would probably spend an hour or two doing what you're doing. But after that, the heck with AA. They get their money back, but they don't get to impose transaction costs on me. I would call Amex and explain the situation. I would ask Amex to send me a check, which Amex is obligated to do anyhow, but with the understanding that I would have a negative rewards points balance for a little while (assuming you don't have the points to cover it -- although you might just have a 1x hit rather than a 5x hit, no?). And if AA was nonresponsive, I would simply send AA a check with 3% deducted to cover the points (assuming a 1x hit -- or 15% deducted if it's a 5x hit), which is a reasonable deduction based on Amex's fee for buying points.

Interesting thoughts! Unfortunately, it is showing as pending -5x points of the entire 6-figure refund. I'd also like to avoid triggering an AMEX shutdown or financial review.

This seems like a nightmare overall...hopefully when it's all finished AA sends 10-20k miles for your trouble at least. Your time spent worrying or trying to fix their error is worth something.

It seems impossible to resolve this with AA directly as there's no customer service number and it's too bizarre to handle with an average phone agent. Maybe I'd ask the AC for help the next time I'm traveling through one, with the hope they can try to find a real person to escalate it to and the in-person conversation helps convey the issue.

Also, perhaps write a message to AMEX that the refund is incorrect and maybe they can work with AA. I imagine when they see your credit card history it's obvious it's a big error. Would be interesting if they can do like a "chargeback" on it, so at least your points are not unusable until it's fixed.

Yeah that's wild. I would try to escalate with Amex. Good luck! Please report back on the outcome.

I would ditto going the Amex route, I would also guess it will get caught on the Amex side before long, but at the very least get on record with Amex as having reported the issue, in essence much like with a disputed charge you can dispute a refund

This happens in business quite often and if it is a large business that is not materially impacted you just wait for one of the accountants to catch it. In the meantime feel free to earn interest.

Quite frightening that an error can be made like that seemingly with little oversight.