chickenmittens

LondonElite: Thanks. I do understand. When I got to the counter, Emirates informed me that yes, there was upgrade space available in business class for ~160,000 miles (for two tickets). The upgrade was available for the miles I had (and still have).

LondonElite

Well, that's something to go on. Good luck with Amex!

mia

Had you mentioned this to the American Express agent at the time they authorized you to make the charge? (Was the offer $1800 per person, or $1800 per couple?)

hi55us

ijgordon

Yikes, this is a tough situation.

FWIW, I had an Amex cruise agent once give me bad information (or something, I can't recall the details, it might have been a price she quoted me), and they ended up going back to listen to the tapes and they honored what had been discussed. That said, it was nowhere near $8,000. Probably not even a tenth of that.

I can't imagine Amex has anyway to get Emirates to reverse the charge and retroactively accept the miles (though maybe it does at higher management levels), and the other option is for Amex to just eat the $8,000 (less what they win back by deducting 160k MR points, call it $1600.).

If Amex refuses, I suppose you may still be able to pursue a remedy in small claims court, assuming each upgrade was a separate transaction (you'd have to file separately due to a $5k limit IIRC). That may or may not compel Amex to produce the recordings (which may or may not sway a judge). Of course not sure if Amex would try to force this into arbitration either.

Good luck and keep us posted.

chickenmittens

Mia: Nope. Didn't mention it.

MSPeconomist

tangfish

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.

chickenmittens

I'm in the U.S. As I mentioned, the charge has been disputed, but it's just being disputed via a different avenue at Amex than the normal "disputes with the vendor" route. To Mia's point, the vendor is not really the problem here (other than that it would be nice for them and Amex to do the right thing and work with each other on this to achieve what the transaction was supposed to look like). I appreciate everyone's help here, by the way. Really weird situation. I hope Amex resolves it fairly... despite all of the time I've had to put in on the phone and the associated stress, I still give them credit if they take responsibility for the instructions they gave and make it right.

Kacee

Yes, we do.

But based on the further details provided, these circumstances would not qualify for a chargeback.