Last month I used my Platinum card for FHR booking through Amex Travel portal. I was making this booking in my phone while commuting. My booking amount was INR 143000, and accidentally "Pay with Points" option got selected with 36,800 points (equivalent to INR 9200) for redemption.
The booking was done on Aug 14 around 1 AM. Now here are my problems:
1. After realizing the "Pay with Points" error (I noticed that MR points decreased in the app), I searched on the internet if reversal is possible. I got the following reference on Reddit where people were able to rectify this by calling Amex, especially if the payment was done to Amex (travel portal) and not a third party merchant. Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/amex/s/BitNgB5ryy
2. I called Amex on Aug 15 night, and I received a positive response like "Sure, this can be done. Let me place the request."
Hearing this I was positive that the issue will be taken care. However, after checking the statement generated on Sep 14, I see that nothing changed.
3. I called Amex support, and this time there response was completely opposite and non-supportive, "This is an online transaction, and not a POS where the merchant selects Pay with Points without customer's consent. So we cannot revert this at all". When I contested them by giving the reference of my communication on Aug 15, they said that the representative gave a wrong information to me. Also, they were hesitant to listen to my points and tried their best to wrap up and close the call. The lady on the call even went on to say that "it cannot be accidental, since there is a disclaimer and confirmation before the payment." And when I tried to present my side of the arguement that why will I redeem random 36,800 points for the payment of INR 143000, she said that "we are not here to take arguments, sir". I kinda lost it there, but still kept my cool and continued to argue, but in vain. I also requested to share or verify the call recording of Aug 15 to which she was hesitant (even though another representative in the chat communication, that I started with before the call, wrote that "I will raise a request for call listen"). When I gave the reference of the chat, the lady on the call replied that I cannot check that because it is by the messaging team. Though she started the call by saying that "I read your previous conversation the chat...". This was really a very different Amex customer care call I ever made, with the representative being quite rude, interruptive and trying to wrap up the call.
4. More details: As I said the transaction was made on Aug 14 1 AM. After looking at my Aug and Sep statements in detail (post arguments in the call), I see that the "Pay with Points" statement credit was made on "Aug 13" as the transaction date and it is included in my Aug 14 statement. Isn't this wrong, since the transaction date is Aug 14? Whereas the amount of INR 143000 is charged in my Sep 14 statement with the correct transaction date of "Aug 14". I do not get this, is this anyway connected to the denial of my MR points reversal request?
Given all this, what are my options to take this forward and get the MR points back? As I have shared above, there are references of people getting their MR points back if the merchant is Amex and not another third party. I really don't want to loose my 36,800 points for a statement credit of INR 9200. I am ready to patiently take this to any level in the rightful manner, please help and guide me.
The booking was done on Aug 14 around 1 AM. Now here are my problems:
1. After realizing the "Pay with Points" error (I noticed that MR points decreased in the app), I searched on the internet if reversal is possible. I got the following reference on Reddit where people were able to rectify this by calling Amex, especially if the payment was done to Amex (travel portal) and not a third party merchant. Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/amex/s/BitNgB5ryy
2. I called Amex on Aug 15 night, and I received a positive response like "Sure, this can be done. Let me place the request."
Hearing this I was positive that the issue will be taken care. However, after checking the statement generated on Sep 14, I see that nothing changed.
3. I called Amex support, and this time there response was completely opposite and non-supportive, "This is an online transaction, and not a POS where the merchant selects Pay with Points without customer's consent. So we cannot revert this at all". When I contested them by giving the reference of my communication on Aug 15, they said that the representative gave a wrong information to me. Also, they were hesitant to listen to my points and tried their best to wrap up and close the call. The lady on the call even went on to say that "it cannot be accidental, since there is a disclaimer and confirmation before the payment." And when I tried to present my side of the arguement that why will I redeem random 36,800 points for the payment of INR 143000, she said that "we are not here to take arguments, sir". I kinda lost it there, but still kept my cool and continued to argue, but in vain. I also requested to share or verify the call recording of Aug 15 to which she was hesitant (even though another representative in the chat communication, that I started with before the call, wrote that "I will raise a request for call listen"). When I gave the reference of the chat, the lady on the call replied that I cannot check that because it is by the messaging team. Though she started the call by saying that "I read your previous conversation the chat...". This was really a very different Amex customer care call I ever made, with the representative being quite rude, interruptive and trying to wrap up the call.
4. More details: As I said the transaction was made on Aug 14 1 AM. After looking at my Aug and Sep statements in detail (post arguments in the call), I see that the "Pay with Points" statement credit was made on "Aug 13" as the transaction date and it is included in my Aug 14 statement. Isn't this wrong, since the transaction date is Aug 14? Whereas the amount of INR 143000 is charged in my Sep 14 statement with the correct transaction date of "Aug 14". I do not get this, is this anyway connected to the denial of my MR points reversal request?
Given all this, what are my options to take this forward and get the MR points back? As I have shared above, there are references of people getting their MR points back if the merchant is Amex and not another third party. I really don't want to loose my 36,800 points for a statement credit of INR 9200. I am ready to patiently take this to any level in the rightful manner, please help and guide me.
