Have been denied AMEX gift card purchase for months, any suggestion?
May 13, 2011, 5:49 pm
#17
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Quit yer complaining! The good folks over there have always told me what they thought I wanted to hear! It just don't get better than that. Yep, it sure don't.
Quote:
Originally Posted by barristan
Many, many calls to their abysmal customer service have brought me to the edge of declaring jihad on all of India.
Quote:
Originally Posted by barristan
Many, many calls to their abysmal customer service have brought me to the edge of declaring jihad on all of India.
May 13, 2011, 8:37 pm
#18
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Zantaine:
Ya got it all wrong - its not hearsay it is heresy and the good folks at AMEX with the red clothes (and the red flags) and tall pointed hats are recreating The Spainish Inquisition. And, as we all know, nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition!
The blocks come from the annotations placed on your account, if I understand the good Cardinal Fang.
So best appear to be what AMEX wants you to appear to be or they will haul out the dish rack and the comfy chair.
Your SO is in finance and I am technically a cardinal so we have a pretty good idea what is happening here. And I poked my inquisitor a bit with the dish rack myself to find out more.
Ya got it all wrong - its not hearsay it is heresy and the good folks at AMEX with the red clothes (and the red flags) and tall pointed hats are recreating The Spainish Inquisition. And, as we all know, nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition!
The blocks come from the annotations placed on your account, if I understand the good Cardinal Fang.
So best appear to be what AMEX wants you to appear to be or they will haul out the dish rack and the comfy chair.
Your SO is in finance and I am technically a cardinal so we have a pretty good idea what is happening here. And I poked my inquisitor a bit with the dish rack myself to find out more.
Feel free to call this heresay/speculative etc. but my personal experiences/opinion on this one is they are cracking down hard. My SO who works in finance and called AMEX GC (after calling each CC that was declined) and was transferred to a supervisor. My SO explained there are certain "things" you cannot blatantly tell customers in the finance world. She explained this guy went around in circles with her telling her in not so many words that both her and I are banned from buying AMEX GC's. (Both Business and Personal) Neither of us went over any limits or broke any "rules". As a merchant, they can choose who they sell their product to. My SO also said once he used the term "red flag", she knew where it was going. My feeling is that they are looking for very specific types of activity and when that pops up, they're not taking chances and are preventing people from ordering. I tried to order without logging in and was still denied. (So they're tracking by either our names, CC #'s or address.) I haven't pinpointed which one(s) yet. We get the same error you do. (Before this call to AMEX GC yesterday I called our CC companies who confirmed it's not their end and they were right) I honestly wish I had a better answer. The supervisor advised my SO to try the "corporate website" but my SO said she doubts that it would work. I'm also unsure if any "blocks" will be lifted in X time or not. Hopefully you have better luck than we did!
May 13, 2011, 8:44 pm
#19
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Again, nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition! The element of surprize is half the fun for the good cardinals! The other half is wearing those spiffy red robes and hoods with the eyeholes cut out.
May 13, 2011, 10:51 pm
#21
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Stockholm, Sweden + Austin, Tx
Programs: "But, I'm a GLOBALIST guest...."
Posts: 2,848
That's a pretty ignorant response.
How is purchasing amex GCs, within their $5000/14 day limit, with BC cashback and utilizing them for everyday use taking advantage of their system?
If they wanted to crush the usefulness of using amex GCs they should just end their relationship with BC. They shouldn't punish me for ordering and using their GCs.
How is purchasing amex GCs, within their $5000/14 day limit, with BC cashback and utilizing them for everyday use taking advantage of their system?
If they wanted to crush the usefulness of using amex GCs they should just end their relationship with BC. They shouldn't punish me for ordering and using their GCs.
If you were just interested in buying GCs to spend places - you could just use your amex card directly for these "every day purchases."
Anyhow. Clearly a difference in opinion. There'll be other cards people can churn... its nice that AMEX is cracking down a bit on people inflating their spending.
May 14, 2011, 6:51 am
#22
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 222
Zantaine:
Ya got it all wrong - its not hearsay it is heresy and the good folks at AMEX with the red clothes (and the red flags) and tall pointed hats are recreating The Spainish Inquisition. And, as we all know, nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition!
The blocks come from the annotations placed on your account, if I understand the good Cardinal Fang.
So best appear to be what AMEX wants you to appear to be or they will haul out the dish rack and the comfy chair.
Your SO is in finance and I am technically a cardinal so we have a pretty good idea what is happening here. And I poked my inquisitor a bit with the dish rack myself to find out more.
Ya got it all wrong - its not hearsay it is heresy and the good folks at AMEX with the red clothes (and the red flags) and tall pointed hats are recreating The Spainish Inquisition. And, as we all know, nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition!
The blocks come from the annotations placed on your account, if I understand the good Cardinal Fang.
So best appear to be what AMEX wants you to appear to be or they will haul out the dish rack and the comfy chair.
Your SO is in finance and I am technically a cardinal so we have a pretty good idea what is happening here. And I poked my inquisitor a bit with the dish rack myself to find out more.
May 14, 2011, 7:37 am
#23
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: MSP
Programs: DL-Polished Aluminum, Air Mobility Command-Chartreuse
Posts: 394
The longer the value stays on the card, unused, the better it is for them. Ideally (for them) each card purchased will sit in a sock drawer forever.
May 15, 2011, 9:03 am
#24
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 222
+1. Here's a hypothesis: Amex likely tracks the time interval from purchase to full redemption for each card, and if you fall below a certain threshold, you're banned from future purchases.
The longer the value stays on the card, unused, the better it is for them. Ideally (for them) each card purchased will sit in a sock drawer forever.
The longer the value stays on the card, unused, the better it is for them. Ideally (for them) each card purchased will sit in a sock drawer forever.
May 15, 2011, 9:23 am
#25
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
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Posts: 19,719
Originally Posted by barristan
I've never had such a terrible customer service experience... I've heard only good things about american express. I've experienced only bad. Their financial review team is akin to the spanish inquisition and their gift card site is horribly broken and secretly bans you. Not to mention the customer service is manned by idiots.
I understand that what you guys are doing is technically within the letter of Amex law, and I understand that Amex doesn't want it done, but don't be so naive as to believe you'll be able to "beat Amex" on stuff like this. Amex will find ways to hurt you.
May 15, 2011, 10:31 am
#27
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: A whole lot of places . . .
Posts: 104
What're they gonna do? Send Guido 'round?
May 15, 2011, 10:52 am
#28
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,719
What they do routinely is suspend card privileges while you're on the road, demand immediate payments in between statements, set a credit limit for you but refuse to tell you what it is, etc. What they're doing to you guys is invalidate all the gift cards you bought without warning, embarrassing you in the eyes of recipients, and in some cases suspending your ability to buy more while refusing to explain themselves or discuss. Glad you find it funny.
May 15, 2011, 10:55 am
#29
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: A whole lot of places . . .
Posts: 104
What they do routinely is suspend card privileges while you're on the road, demand immediate payments in between statements, set a credit limit for you but refuse to tell you what it is, etc. What they're doing to you guys is invalidate all the gift cards you bought without warning, embarrassing you in the eyes of recipients, and in some cases suspending your ability to buy more. Glad you find it funny.
I do find it funny that they lack the guts to simply tell me to FOAD. And I find it funnier that you're so scared of them.
May 15, 2011, 10:58 am
#30
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,719
You think I sound scared? Wrong. I'm just realistic. I gave up most of my dealings with Amex years ago. What I find funny is misplaced bravado on the part of consumers who bring the outrage at the drop of a hat, but have no real idea what forces they're dealing with.