Amex Credit Card Complaint

Amex Credit card department,

Credit card protection / Debt protection New York

American Express is attempting to hold me liable for an unauthorized charge of $2400.00. Despite my best efforts to communicate with them, the situation has dragged on for almost five months. On -/-/16 I was in a car accident in -, -. The rental was protected by Amex - - ( hereafter - ), as it was paid with my Amex Gold Card ending --. I immediately notified both the rental company, - - - ( hereafter the merchant ) and -. I obtained a claim number from - : -. The following day, on -/-/-, I stopped at merchant office to return the car keys. I gave them the claim number and instructed them to direct all damage information to -. The merchant would not hear it. Upon attempting to close my contract, the merchant insisted that I authorize $50000.00


out of sight for a long time. Upon leaving their office, I called American Express Customer Service ( hereafter AE-P ) and told them what happened. I canceled the card ending -- and instructed them not block any charges from the merchant. The representative assured me, on a recorded line, that the card was canceled and that no charges from the merchant or anyone else would be authorized. I traveled back to New York that day, feeling confident that I was protected. On -/-/-, I saw a charge from the merchant for $2400.00. I called AE-P to dispute this charge and demand an explanation. They could not explain how this happened. I said I was not - on this date, reiterated I had blocked this merchant, and that the card had been canceled. AE-P assures me that the dispute will be resolved in my favor. On -/-/- I successfully dispute this charge, but on -/-/16 this charge is reapplied to my account. I contact AE-P again. They inform me that the merchant has provided documentation to validate the charge. I request to see this documentation. Upon inspection of the documents, I discover that the merchant has forged my signature on the rental contract. I reopen this dispute and indicate that there has been forgery. Separately, I contact -. They inform me that they have contacted the merchant many times but that the merchant has not provided the requested evidence to substantiate the claim. - says they will be in contact with AE-P to obtain the documents in question. Once again I am assured that the dispute will be resolved in my favor. As of today, this dispute has not been resolved. I have been in constant communication with both AE-P and -, to no avail. In my research, I reviewed FDIC Section 226.12 - Special Credit Card Provisions. In these provisions, I am protected from unauthorized use due to these facts : 1 ) the card was not present at the point of sale on -/-/- ; and 2 ) the card ending -- was canceled on -/-/2016. After my phone call with AE-P on -, they should have unequivocally precluded use of the canceled card, especially after they were warned that the merchant had behaved nefariously. This responsibility falls completely on them, so any charges on card ending - should have been automatically denied. As per - - - b ) ( - ) ( iii -, if the card issuer seeks to impose liability for this unauthorized charge, the maximum it could impose is $50.00. But as the card was not present, they do not meet the conditions for imposing liability. At this point I think I have cooperated fully and provided more than sufficient evidence for them to reverse this unauthorized charge but, inexplicably, they have not done so. My only resort is to sue them in - - court, but I would prefer to avoid this. I ask for your assistance resolving this matter.