In March I signed up for an American Express Platinum card with an annual fee of $450. I heard great things about the benefits of this card and the amazing customer service they provide.
For the first month I used the card with no problems, spending a little over $1,500 and paying the bill in full and on time. About halfway through the second month I had about $750 on the card and I attempted to pay my dental bill of $500 to my surprise the charge was declined. Thinking this was a mistake I called the AMEX platinum customer service line to look into it. I was told by someone who clearly spoke English as a secondary language that they required an immediate payment on my account b/c I was over my 12 month average balance (even though it was in the middle of a billing cycle). I explained that it was a new card and I only had for a bit over a month and that I don't pay my bills before they are mailed to me, she agreed to put the charge through so I ended the call. Five minutes later I tried to put the charge through and it was declined again.
I've had the card for 6 months now, spending a bit over $1,000 per month and paying in full every month, on time. During this time I have had about 30% of my transactions of more than $50 declined. There is no rhyme or reason to when they decline the charges. I have been declined at Costco twice when I had a whole cart full of items that took me over an hour to pick out (of course there were about 10 people in line behind me) one time the charge was about $150 the other time closer to $1,000. Every time I call up to complain I am told that there is nothing they can do b/c I'm either above my 6 or 12 month average or b/c the average size of my payments.
I have asked repeatedly to be given a dollar amount that I can spend to no avail, they keep saying there is no pre-set limit. This got so bad that I started calling for permission each time I wanted to use the card. As pathetic as that is, it still didn't solve my problem. I got permission to put through a $1,000 charge yesterday and when I tried to put it through it was declined. I called up to ask why and they said they had no record of ever telling me it was ok to put the charge through. I spoke to a supervisor who told me that there is no way they could increase my limit or even tell me what my limit. I told them I would cancel my account if they didn't do something and they still said it is not possible, I could go ahead and cancel if I want.
It seems that all the hype about the platinum card is just hype. There is nothing exclusive about this card at all, it's just another way for American Express to get more money out of you. I always thought American Express was a great company, this has been a huge disappointment.
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