Dear American Express: WTF!?
I received ANOTHER fraudulent charge on my CANCELED American Express card.
Oh yes I did! Remember when I blogged about this exact thing happening FIVE SEPARATE TIMES THIS YEAR!?
Well, it happened again and I am beyond pissed.
Last week while on vacation, I received an e-mail invoice from American Express, saying that I had a balance owing for the December billing cycle. Weird. So I logged into my online account and saw that there was a $29.99 charge that I clearly didn’t make.
So yesterday I called to dispute the charge, and the customer service rep wasn’t helpful at all. He couldn’t tell me why I kept getting charges on a canceled card – in fact, he didn’t even know my card was canceled! I had to explain that it’s been happening over and over again, but he actually didn’t really seem to care. He also said that it would take 6-8 weeks to resolve the dispute, even though all of the past disputes were either solved immediately, or within a few business days. And once this new dispute finally gets resolved, I will receive correspondence by mail. I asked if there was a way to get e-mail correspondence, as I would be living in Germany by then, but apparently it’s not possible.
It’s incredibly frustrating. All I want is for someone to tell me what I need to do to stop this from happening again. I am so sick and tired of having to call in and dispute charges on cards that I have already cancelled. I am willing to do whatever it takes, but someone needs to tell me what I’m doing wrong. How do I stop charges from happening on cancelled cards? What does cancelling a card actually mean, if charges can still go through on it? Why can’t anyone at Amex give me a straight answer?!
The last time this happened, I spoke with someone from Amex who said that it was my responsibility to periodically check my account to ensure that all charges I don’t recognize are being flagged. Then, it is my responsibility to call in to lodge a dispute. That made me angry. How is it my responsibility to check my CANCELLED credit card accounts for fraudulent charges, when these charges shouldn’t even be happening in the first place!? Shouldn’t it be the responsibility of Amex to make sure that this kind of thing doesn’t happen?
Please. Somebody make this American Express nightmare end.
57 Responses to “Dear American Express: WTF!?”
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Hey Krystal,
Is this new fraudulent charge the same merchant that was billing you before? I work for a credit card Company and I found some customers have better luck corresponding with the merchant directly. If its the same merchant, and it’s preauthorized (even fraudulently) tht would be the reason the charge is approved on a cancelled account.
Nope, this is a brand new charge from a different company than before.
What I want to know is, even if they have a pre-authorized to charge my card automatically, once the card is cancelled, that charge shouldn’t be able to go through anymore because the account and card numbers shouldn’t be valid. It doesn’t make sense.
Wow I can’t believe this keeps happening to you. I have NEVER had any experience like yours (and I do have a corporate AMEX). Did you ask to speak with anyone higher up than the rep you were talking to yesterday? His response seems ridiculous-I have twice disputed credit card charges when I had my PC Financial card and both times they resolved it quickly (within a few days). As I have recently cancelled the card (my first time cancelling a card) after hearing your story I’m a little wary that I should keep checking the balance to make sure it’s truly cancelled.
AMD @ amomsdime´s latest post —> My Travel Bucket List
@AMD @ amomsdime: Speaking with a higher level usually is not useful at all, as most agents are empowered to handle requests.
Time to pull out the big guns – email Ellen Roseman.
Wow that stinks! What a hassle
Michelle´s latest post —> How we’re saving money this winter with our heat
That is BEYOND ridiculous. WHY on earth would you be expected to be responsible for checking your balance when the card is CANCELLED??!!
I say, pass straight over the customer service reps, who clearly don’t know what they are doing, and speak to a higher up. THEY should be contacting the merchant making the fradulent charge, or at the very least investigating it. That’s THEIR job, not yours!
This makes no sense to me at all. How can someone even use a canceled credit card? I don’t get how charges even go on there. It only makes sense that the card be deactivated immediately by AMEX.
It seems like there should be somewhere else to lodge you complaint, although I’m not sure where. If you haven’t already done it, speaking to someone higher up might be your best bet as x_ine says.
Jeffrey´s latest post —> Help! I’m Not Investing For Retirement!
This whole saga seems completely ridiculous to me. Once you cancel a credit card….that should be it. No more charges should be able to be charged to the card. I can’t believe they are not helping you figure out how to make this stop for once and for all!
This is freaking lame – i’ve had a few fraud charges on old cards before, but they’ve always been dealt with quickly.
Jeff @ Sustainable Life Blog´s latest post —> Frugal and Less Gross?
When you cancelled your card, did you receive a letter saying as much? Have you checked your credit report to make sure that it does indeed say the account is closed? I can’t believe they would allow charges to go through on a cancelled card, and the rep’s response makes me think the card is still active. I would double-check that.
Lea´s latest post —> Hawaiian Honeymoon
I did pull my credit report back in October and all looked fine. I’ll have to check it again after this latest fraud charge gets reversed though!
@Krystal Yee:
Did you ever get a letter in the mail saying that the card was cancelled “at consumer request”? Not sure if this HAS to be done, but of the cards I’ve cancelled in the past with BMO, TD, HSBC, etc. have all sent me mail to confirm the account was closed.
Also, when periodically checking my credit report online, I double check that all the cancelled cards say “closed at consumer request” in the comment line….just a couple of ideas/points to possibly look in to…
I find it funny that there is an American Express advertisement on the right hand side of this blog post! :D
But seriously, I would recommend to take it higher up and e-mail a corporate head type of person.
Or why not use some of your existing contacts at one of the print media firm to get the word out? :D
I actually did speak with someone in their PR department a few months ago when I received the last fraud charge, and wrote 2 articles for Moneyville/Toronto Star about it. Their PR department still couldn’t give me a straight answer. :|
a popular radio PF personality always says “you can tell they’re lying if their lips are moving”. He says it about AMEX and all the others.
Diedra B´s latest post —> Thankful Thursday–New Year’s Week 2012
Have you considered sending a mass email to all of AmEx’s executives? I had problems with a certain cable company a while back and sent a “carpet bomb” email to them. Within minutes my phone rang with someone who could help.
Here’s a comment with some links to “carpet bomb” FAQs and email address for AmEx’s executives:
http://ask.metafilter.com/178472/Help-American-Express-Never-Cancelled-My-Card-and-Now-a-Collections-Agency-Is-After-Me#2572722
Hope it helps!
Lindsay @ LindsayInNYC´s latest post —> Things to Ponder
I’ve never heard of such a thing before. And as far as Amex goes, I’ve had nothing but good experiences with them and their customer service reps.
I know of some people who had similar experiences with both Netflix and Comcast, where the bill pay was set up, and the billing company never made the adjustment in their records so money was deducted from bank accounts erroneously. In those cases, it was easily noticeable since the accounts were active, but I would have just expected the charges to be returned to the billing company as rejected since the account is closed.
Eric J. Nisall – DollarVersity´s latest post —> Don’t Wait For Your Tax Refund – Increase Your Take Home Pay Today
SEriously this is BUNK. I agree with others that you need this to get up to the big shots. Email everyone, tweet everyone, write about it.
Maybe you could do a blog and ask your readers to tweet at American Express? We need to get a huge group of people tweeting them!! I would be so mad if this happened! This is seriously scary and not just something minor.
I am mad, as you can tell. :)
Amber, Blonde & Balanced´s latest post —> 2012 Goals: Prayer & Marriage
Hi Krystal. Do you think this is a recurring charge for like a membership of some sort? I know I had a recurring charge that I canceled but they kept charging me. But you’re right though. If the card is canceled, there should be no more charges on it. That’s the whole point! Hope everything works out for you.
Charles´s latest post —> MoneyFail #2 – Dumb With Coffee
I mentioned it the other night, but I’ll say it again for everyone: Based on your experience with AmEx, I will NEVER get an AmEx card. One fraudulent charge? Ok. Things happen. But 5?? Totally unacceptable. That’s a company not doing their part. I have been very happy with Visa (granted, they are through my home bank so that helps) and will stick with what works.
D´s latest post —> Changing my eating habits
Oh my gosh. Just got an amex card last month. Was so pleased. Now im thinking that if i wait too long to cancel it, i may end up having these same problems. How is it possible that the company is allowing ANY charges to go through on a cancelled card? Amex, you blow.
That’s just ridiculous! I never even heard of cancelled cards still being charged. You need to talk to a manager – or his manager – until you get someone who actually knows what the hell they’re doing. That’s a horrible experience!
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I have had an AMEX card for more than 20 years and I have say I have never had any trouble with either my account or the reps who answer the phone. I can’t imagine what is going on with your account. Could this possibly be the Canadian version of the company that isn’t doing its job?
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So if I’m understanding this correctly, you cancelled the card but still have an account. This is why the charges are still going through, because it’s still the same line of credit, you still have that account just now with different numbers to access it. I’m not sure why companies do this but I believe it’s pretty common practice with credit cards. It’s a really dumb practice though and very frustrating I’m sure.
What a bloody nightmare. I have never thought about looking at cancelled cards to see if there are any new charges on them. What a waste of time. I hope this gets resolved for you soon.
Sunny´s latest post —> N(L)S Challenge – Wk 1
Executive email carpet bomb! And CC The Consumerist!
Little Miss Moneybags´s latest post —> Weekly Money Checkup: Home Edition
I had a $2000 fraudulent transaction with them a few weeks back. They flagged it and contacted me immediately and were very helpful! So strange that this keep happening, I thought of your post when mine went through and am very worried now about another one.
Seriously, what is wrong with their account management?
Sad.
Sorry to hear about your pain Krystal.
Time to national with your issue: Globe and Mail, Moneyville, magazines and many more!
My Own Advisor´s latest post —> Our Ambitious 2012 Personal Finance and Investing Goals
This is definitely bizarre. One thing that should be clarified though is that any monthly recurring charges (based on a contract, ie. a gym membership) still go through, EVEN ON A CANCELLED CARD.
I believe this is the only thing that can continue going on a cancelled card – this is so that people don’t sign up for contracts (ie. a gym membership for min. 1 year or a cell phone contract) and then just cancel the credit card to get out of them. I think credit cards are legally obligated to continue charging these kinds of monthly charges even to cancelled cards.
That being said, if it was a totally new charge you haven’t seen yet, that is quite unacceptable!
I read in Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s Debt-Free Forever that a cancelled card isn’t really cancelled… It must be reported as stolen (or maybe lost).
Each time I called in to report a fraudulent charge, I expect that the customer service rep to know exactly what to do to ensure I’m being protected. Whether it’s canceling my card, and/or reporting it as lost/stolen – I don’t know what buttons they’re clicking on their computer screen. I never called in just to cancel my card – I called in to report that someone stole my card number.
Just a thought, try calling them and saying your card was stolen and they will send you another card, a card that no one will have the numbers for(well no one will have the security code on the back). Then if you get any charges then it obviously amex stealing from you. A new card will make everyone who was charging it before obsolete, I’ve had that happen before. I got a new card and right after that someone sent me an email saying my subscription wasn’t renewed(which I didn’t agree to in the first place) So it saved me a lot of headaches.
Well I don’t actually use my Amex card anymore because of all these fraud charges, so I don’t need another card from them.
These charges are occurring on the very first card I had with them (which was reported lost/stolen earlier this year and canceled, got a new card to replace it – that one was also reported lost/stolen, and also canceled). So a new card won’t really do anything for me, as the charges are going through on a cancelled card.
@Krystal Yee: There are a couple good comments here.
The main point:
– If you’re not using the card and your leaving the country for an extended period why not just cancel the account officially? With a formal letter requesting the cancellation of the account you will no longer be responsible for any transactions that could occur on the account.
Do you really want to have to be concerned about a fraudulent transaction on an used card and having to “deal” with it from abroad? I agree Amex isn’t doing something right here so cancel Amex outright and forget about it. When you return to Canada full time and if you choose to get an Amex card again they will be lining up at the door to get your business.
I know there have been comments about legal action but in reality Amex is loosing money on everyone one of these fraudulent charges so it’s in their own best interest to fix it. I don’t really know what “legal” stand you have here. Other then time and frustration the are no “costs” or “financial” impact to you personally. Had they destroyed your credit rating and put you in undo financial hardship as a result of a fraudulent transaction on the cancelled card this would then be justifiable cause for legal recourse.
When my parents were victims of credit card fraud, I believe they dealt with Equifax Canada. The company name came into my head when I read your post, but I’m not sure what they do… Might be worth looking into though? I think they had to get a lawyer too :S
SA´s latest post —> Last post for 2011
Time to effing SUE man, seriously. This is ridiculous!!!
Rina´s latest post —> Beef and Broccoli
It’s ridiculous and irresponsible of AMEX to continue this sad saga. You’ve given them 5 times to correct this issue, and it keeps recurring. Stop playing nice with them, as they are obviously not reciprocating: Make contact with the Consumerist.com, your local TV affiliate, national news personality who reports on bad business practices (John Stossel here in the States), and any other person who can spread some bad PR to get AMEX’s attention on this issue. Rinse-Repeat if it happens again.
Is your account closed? There’s a difference between a cancelled card and a closed account.
Michelle´s latest post —> 2012: The Year I Kick it in its Teeth
I would consider contacting the Better Bussiness and file a complaint.
I have never liked AMEX. I am a past banker and always had nothing but problems with them.
Have you tried to contact the AMEX ombudsman? http://www.americanexpress.ca/ombudsman – Step 3
I would suggest thatyou write to the President or Ombudsman of Amex. I have been having similar issues and once they received my letter, the issues were correct in a matter of 24 hours.
Go and Get….´s latest post —> 2012 Budget – Better Late than Never
Last time I explained that unlike a visa card an Amex card has nothing to do with the card its the account. That means your account is still open. An open account means that a charge can still be put though on a CX card because it is still attached to the open account. As demonstrated by the fact that you could log in and see the charge. You need to call them and CX your Amex account not the card. According to them you are an Amex customer and thus have an active account.
CommonCents´s latest post —> Bi-Weekly Spending Recap December 26- January 8
This is beyond horrible! I can only suggest that you submit your dispute in writing, in preparation for future course of action, say legal. I know this will take up too much time and effort, but this may spur the higher ups to do some quick action. All the other suggestions of media hype and volleys should be considered, too. Kind of drastic, but if these will produce results, who can complain, except Amex for the bad publicity they will get.
Amy Turner @ Credit Donkey´s latest post —> Credit Check: Review Your Credit Report
[...] gotta feel for Krystal Yee at GMBMFB. Krystal recently received another fraudulent charge on her CANCELLED American Express card. That’s right, CANCELLED card. Bad enough if this was the first time but similar transactions [...]
[...] Krystal Yee received another fraudulent charge on her cancelled Amex card [...]
I am not surprised at the level of service at Amex. I got a guy who’s accent was so thick I could not understand him and then one time I phoned twice to confirm a balance tranfer would not cost me 18% plus. A month later I got a bill for the 18% on new purchase charges. Amex did not reverse the charges and I moved to a new company. I refuse to do business with them.
PC credit card is even worst for me on the service side.
Why get angry, let your feet do the talking…
What site do you use for the credit reports? I don’t know who to trust???
I can’t speak for American websites, but Canadians can use both the Equifax and Transunion websites.
Try this:
1. Go to a shop you know
2. Manually pre-auth your old AmEx with expiry date through the machine.
If it goes through, your account was not closed. My friend works at credit card centre, and his guess was this account was not closed.
[...] my bill for any surprises. Krystal, who btw double checks her statements (smart cookie) caught American Express with another fraudulent charge on her credit card. Here is the kicker though: the credit card is canceled. So, [...]
I am going through the same thing with Chase, it’s not just AMEX. And unfortunately, it’s not my credit card it’s my debit card. The debit card was closed / canceled / whatever on November 7, 2011 and I have had to fill out at least 6 claims with at least 4 transactions each. Some railway system in Norway (NSB TOG) has been getting a ton of small transcations from my CANCELLED debit card. If you ever figure out a solution to this, please email me ianclain @ gmail . com.
The only thing that worked for me (and that really has yet to be fully tested) is cancelling my entire account. Not just the card, but the WHOLE account. Shut the entire thing down, and everything within it. It’d be a huge pain in the butt with a debit card, but it seems to be the only way that it works – and that makes me angry. :|
This same thing happened to me with Amex. I canceled my card and them they allowed charges to go through. When I called to figure out what was going on. They said that they have contracts with certain merchants that say even if a card was canceled if the card is used on a website that you’ve ever used your card on it will still go through even when the card is canceled.
Wow I can’t believe this keeps happening to you. I have NEVER had any experience like yours (and I do have a corporate AMEX). Did you ask to speak with anyone higher up than the rep you were talking to yesterday? His response seems ridiculous-I have twice disputed credit card charges when I had my PC Financial card and both times they resolved it quickly (within a few days). As I have recently cancelled the card (my first time cancelling a card) after hearing your story I’m a little wary that I should keep checking the balance to make sure it’s truly cancelled.
When your card is cancelled and a new one is issued with a shiny new number on it, the idea is to stop fraud from continuing. Charges from companies that you have done business with before, especially the ones you had an auto-pay deal set up with, are almost promised to keep getting approved.
What does that mean to you? If the jerkwad who stole your info in the first place decided to test it months in advance by setting up a monthly subscription for something you’d never read, and you never noticed it, after two months it has a documented and unchallenged history. Now it can get approved even on the cancelled card number no matter which company runs that credit card account.
This is why we tell everyone to watch their statements C-L-O-S-E-L-Y.
I’ve investigated fraud for three different financial institutions now, and I hear stories like this one all the time. Here’s one thing you need to understand: a dispute is not the same as fraud. If you call customer service and tell them you need to dispute a charge, they’ll dispute it – they’re trained to dispute. They’re good at it. When you dispute a charge, you’re telling your bank (or AmEx, not a real bank IMO) that you gave that company your info and authorized them to make that charge, but they didn’t deliver on their promise and you want your money back.
Fraud is it’s own entity. Fraud means, “I never did business with that company, someone else stole my numbers and made those charges illegally.”
Very few customer service people really understand fraud. They can transfer you to the fraud department, where there are people who do fraud all day every day, and they can send you a new card with a new number, but they aren’t schooled in the ways of fraud cases. They only think in terms of disputes. Unless you specifically use the word FRAUD, they will automatically think DISPUTE.
Even when you haven’t had fraud on your account, you should be poring over every statement as soon as you get it and calling your bank on any charge that you haven’t made. Once they’ve replaced your card, there is ALWAYS the chance that fraud already committed can still show up on your statement. They are rarely new charges. 89% of the time they are charges that were already attempted and hadn’t posted to your account yet, and they can’t be removed until they DO post to your account. So, when they show up, call the company, tell them a FRAUD charge has appeared on your statement, and they’ll get rid of it.
Hope this helps.
Da Fraudigator´s latest post —> The Magical Manager
I almost forgot…when you do file a dispute on a charge the merchant is going to fight it. They will pony up everything they have to prove that they didn’t fail to deliver on whatever agreement was made with them. Once they’ve proven that, your credit card company will re-bill you for that charge.
When it’s fraud the onus is now on that merchant to prove that they did enough to make sure a fraudster wasn’t trying to pull one over on them. (That’s why it’s stupid to go out and buy a new theater system on your credit card and later claim fraud to avoid paying it…that store will pull every single camera angle they have on you to prove they did everything right.)
Da Fraudigator´s latest post —> The Magical Manager