At the end of my tether with Amex - what can I do?

eve824

I will keep this short, but basically on the 1st September I requested a credit balance I had with Amex (£500) be transferred to my bank account and my card closed down. The amount was a deposit refund from our cancelled holiday.

Since then, I have been promised 5 or 6 times that the payment will arrive in a set time period. Initially 48 hours then when I chased that 5-7 days and eventually 7-10 days. 

10 days ago I threw my toys out of the pram a bit and the person said there was a problem that is now fixed and I would get my refund in (another) 10 days.

Today is the 10 days and guess what - no refund 

Got in touch, oh there was a problem (not my end) and I will need to re-request it, another 10 days.

Now at this point I am losing faith that they are actually planning on returning my funds.

Where can I go from here? Is there anyone I can contact to raise a dispute over this? I thought about threatening small claims court but not sure if that's the right route.

So angry and upset about all this 

[Deleted User]

eve824 said:

 I thought about threatening small claims court but not sure if that's the right route.

Definitely not.

Escalate a formal complaint. It'll be resolved with no need for court appearances.

WillPS

Did you wait 10 working days or 10 days?

I believe it's the former, which does seem to be an extremely long time but not much you can do.

I expect your money will appear at some point next week, but I'd be putting in a complaint either way for the inconvenience.

[Deleted User]

I'd suggesting using multiple points of 'attack' - phone, e-mail, twitter/social media and even old fashioned letter 

P3

When I asked for fund to be return to my bank account , it was very straight forward, on the app, I chat to them, after some security question, there is a pop up where you type in you sort code and account detail and tick summit. Few days later my pro rata annual fee was there.

Jasonh2015

You're best off logging an FOS complaint, they need to reply within 3 business days or let you know if they have to investigate further. If it went to the FOS they'll get charged £550 regardless of the outcome.

eskbanker

Jasonh2015 said:

You're best off logging an FOS complaint, they need to reply within 3 business days or let you know if they have to investigate further. If it went to the FOS they'll get charged £550 regardless of the outcome.

OP needs to go through Amex's formal complaint process before escalating to FOS - it's unclear if they've even started that.

Incidentally, the FOS case fee is now £750, once a case is actually opened for investigation.

Jasonh2015

eskbanker said:

Jasonh2015 said:

You're best off logging an FOS complaint, they need to reply within 3 business days or let you know if they have to investigate further. If it went to the FOS they'll get charged £550 regardless of the outcome.

OP needs to go through Amex's formal complaint process before escalating to FOS - it's unclear if they've even started that.

Incidentally, the FOS case fee is now £750, once a case is actually opened for investigation.

Yeah, log an FOS complaint with Amex is what i meant  

Wasn't aware it's gone to £750 now, thanks 

born_again

Jasonh2015 said:

eskbanker said:

Jasonh2015 said:

You're best off logging an FOS complaint, they need to reply within 3 business days or let you know if they have to investigate further. If it went to the FOS they'll get charged £550 regardless of the outcome.

OP needs to go through Amex's formal complaint process before escalating to FOS - it's unclear if they've even started that.

Incidentally, the FOS case fee is now £750, once a case is actually opened for investigation.

Yeah, log an FOS complaint with Amex is what i meant  

Wasn't aware it's gone to £750 now, thanks 

As far as any complaint goes in finance sector. You do not need to mention FOS. ALL complaints have to be logged & if not resolved in 8 weeks, or sooner if deadlock letter issued. The customer has the right to go to FOS.

Failure to log a complaint is a serious matter and calls are checked. 

Thrugelmir

Why not simply use up the credit balance? 

kaMelo

Thrugelmir said:

Why not simply use up the credit balance? 

Seconded, that was my initial thought when I saw it was in the hundreds rather than thousands.
Is there any reason you can't just spend the money and save yourself the hassle and then close the account?