rives21

a bit of follow up to my previous post.

After four or five calls to AMEX about this, they were able to audit all of my overseas charges for the past few years on the two AMEX cards which I used. In the end, they are refunding me approximately $25. I worked with a very helpful and pleasant Rep in the FT. Lauderdale office. I would be happy to refer her, if someone is going through the same trouble - simply send me a PM.

On the other question of "how the heck can this be happening?". i was told that my concerns would be passed on to the appropriate consumer affairs department. i don't expect a reply.

i have still not learned of any movement for litigation, but someone does hear of a case against amex regarding this issue, please post here.

Thank you.

DelrayChris

$25? I understand there is "principle" involved, but all of the headache and work for a $25 refund?

Of course, if AMEX is doing this over the course of a year or time, times a few hundred thousand people, it is indeed significant.

However, one has to argue what, if anything, will be done about it without the threat of a class action lawsuit.

rives21

yes, indeed.
all the headache for $25. and you're right it is the principle involved. also, the fact that this could be happening across the board to many thousands, if not millions of customers.

and that's why i'm going through trouble of writing this up and posting here on flyertalk. i'm trying to get the word out about this theft.

SFO_FT

HKG_Flyer (or others): Could you provide an actual example (date charged, amount in local curr, US$ rate Amex charged you ,etc.)? I've made monthly (large) charges to my AX SPG card for the past 3 years and can't find any case where I was charges more than the OANADA rate + 2%. thanks.

stimpy

I pay very close attention to this as I charge several thousand dollars worth of foreign items per month to my Centurion card. I always find the largest item and work out the exchange rate from that for my expense reports. I've been doing this for several years and the last time I saw a significant error was back during the Asian currency crisis when prices were severely fluctuating.

Xyzzy

That's what I've done. I feel a lot better about voting with my wallet. It's easier than trying to audit their mistakes.

Ex Amex Card

Here's a randomly selected charge from one of my old statements.

On September 19th 2002 I made a 110 Euro charge on my card. This was converted to GBP as 72.44 which means that I brought Euros at a rate of 0.6585 GBP to the Euro.

According to Oanda.com, the GBP to EUR rates on the 19 Sept 2002 were:

Rate and Amex Loading
Average: 0.63120 4.33%
High: 0.63300 4.03%
Low: 0.62950 4.61%

Euros seem to be the worst for this loading. Other transactions are not so bad.

JohnAx

But if principle is the key, why are you bothering with Amex at all? There are plenty of banks offering Visa/Mc that still do forex at 1%.

Ex Amex Card

I don't use Amex abroad anymore but we are angry because we were mislead about this for some time. American Express was widely touted in the media as the card which didn't "load" foreign exchange rates and the T&Cs that came with the card made no mention of any loading. That's why I (and many others) used it for foreign charges.

It's interesting to see that there are American card issuers who only charge 1% loading. In the UK, almost every Visa and MasterCard adds 2.75% to the interbank rate when making foreign currency transactions. The only exception to this that I know of is the Nationwide Visa which gives the interbank rate with no loading.

zeikka

Anyone care to share what you said/ whom you asked to talk with when you called Amex? Did you give them specific examples before asking to audit everything?

I have spent maybe $15-$20K on my SPG Amex overseas in the past two years and obviously would like to see if there are some costs to recoupe?

Unfortunately I am not that organised that I could easily to go back all my statements.

zeikka

rives21

here's an example from the Sheraton Hotel in Munich Germany on 25 April 2004. The Euro charge was 93.20. Which appeared on my bill as $113.35. When the math is done, it is evident that AMEX overcharged me by $0.95 on this one particular charge. Due to my request, they have since refunded it.

To the poster who asked what to say, I simply called 1-800-AXP-1000 and I explained the situation. I asked for a name and extension number of the individual with whom I spoke and was able to call her back. I had to call her approximately 3 times to resolve this, but in the end it worked.

zeikka

Do you mean that I would have to speficy every single charge that I want them to investigate? I don't have the patience or energy (exactly what they seem to count on) to go over hundreds of transactions that can be anywhere from few pound charges at London Starbucks to $1000+ for longer hotel stays in Australia.

Since I am lazy, I am hoping that there is some place just to call and have them "investigate" all my overseas charges for the past few years.

--zeikka--

rives21

yes, of course no one wants to go over every single charge. and i certainly did not. i instructed the AMEX rep to pull all of my statements and for them to do the math on every overseas charge. they did this and called me back. i suppose, if i was really the suspicious type i would re-check their math, but again, it's too much work for me at this moment.
Why don't you give them a call and see what they say?

Makatikid

This thread prompted me to look again at my latest conversion rates. For several transactions in Hong Kong in early May, the Amex rate was about 2% worse than the central rate.

For my World Perks Visa card the rate was 2.85-3.02% worse. Which MC/Visa cards charge only 1%?

The shocker was that using a Chase bank card in a HSBC ATM to withdraw funds from a checking account, I was hit for 3.4%. Chase tells me that they didn't charge me anything but I doubt that HSBC was responsible for the entire difference.

All cards were US based.

I think that this issue is a more general one than just for Amex and relates to all kinds of FX conversions. Perhaps it warrants a discussion on a more general board.

Ex Amex Card

Lots of cards charge a percentage commission when you take out a cash advance with the card. You need to check the Terms & Conditions of your card very carefully. It does sound like you have been hit with the exchange rate scam too though.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!