Beware of this hidden Fraud - American Express
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So, I was surprised to see a charge of 1.5k Rs. 1.2k points on my Amex CC bill.
I called the CC and asked the details. To my surprise, he said that its late fee and processing fee for a defaulted payment. I checked my SMS’ once again to find that there were absolutely NO SMS sent by Amex about statement generation/delay in payment even after so many days of a missed payment, although I was getting all the OTPs when I spent money.
As I was counting on these SMS alerts, I never knew about the missed payment.
The CC said that he has “refreshed the system” and now I should get the alerts and refunded 250 Rs. I made full payment with fees and insisted that I should get a full refund of whatever was deducted as Amex has a duty to notify me about the statements and delays and I was counting on the SMSes. To my surprise, the CC turned rude and tried to frame me for their mistake. He disconnected when I asked to speak to his supervisor.
I once also got a call from CC who said that as I have made full payment, nothing can be done now. WHAT?.
I attempted multiple emails and even escalated to RBI, but they now say that they have records of SMSes being sent from their ‘system’ implying that I must be lying.
They seem to not care even if I close the card.
I still wonder, why would the first CC refresh the system if he could see the records?
And why did the second CC say that because the payment is made,, nothing can be done.
One of my friends also faced a similar thing with Citibank, where he didn’t recieve any notification on a payment for months, and then had to pay heavily for the accumulated interest.
Please be very aware of this new kind of fraud and avoid such hassle-prone services and cards. They are just like eagles who want to loot you.
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No notification/alert sent to me, even for statement generation. I was counting on SMS alerts.
Now better move on and recover fees thru utilizing offers
SMS can be missed for many reasons, and depending on them solely is tragic mistake
Its a lesson for all
I get regular emails too about payments/dues so subscribe to emails too
Its is always easy and stress free to have alarms/notification/email reminders and clear dues on time than fight with them and also loose money too for simple mistakes
That’s one of the reason I use cred though sometimes I don’t even pay via CRED but it still keeps all the record of all of my cards in one place and it’s become very easier to track.
I also once paid around 2000rs extra on one card as instead of full payment I mistakenly paid 100rs less, it was a 1lakh or something bill.
Learned my lesson, Now I keep outstanding balance Zero most of the time even after heavy spends.
It’s good that you are sharing your experience too. It will help people who trust these eagles to send them notifications.
And they are legally bound to send alerts before charging any late fees.
+1 
Relying on SMS alerts for payments is not a good thing especially when one has too many cards and other bills.
Set mobile reminders for due dates and also set auto debits for bills to avoid paying fines.
Even if you decide to proceed legally you will dragging Card issuer, Mobile Carrier, Handset Maker, all 3 to the court.
(I have no idea whether sending payment reminders is legally mandatory.)
What is the fraud out here? Am I missing something? It’s a simple thing of missing the due date and hence AMEX levied the charges.. Almost every utility service provider does this… You miss, I hit…. Users are being lazy these days 
… First take money on credit from you and then expect you to remind them to payback the same.
It is regulatory requirement for these companies to notify users before levying an unnecessary charge.
Not following regulations just to get exorbitant fees from user is a fraud.
Followed by nullifying a user’s concern and putting the entire blame on him.
Not everyone has spare time to daily open the app and check if statements are generated or not..
Nobody goes to the Electricity company daily to check if the bill is generated or not. It’s not laziness. It’s common sense
which bank
Amex has one of the most friendly Customer support desks and in most cases they go out of their way to help / please the customers. If you’ve enrolled for email statements, you may have had a wrong spam filter or something in your email as I’ve never missed an email Credit Card statement from any bank so far. I’ve been using credit cards for many years now and from quite a few banks. SMS I’m not sure I receive from all banks reminding me about due date or anything. I think sending the bill copy is their part. Not beyond that..
True that !!! One of the best customer support experiences… Had got my annual fees waived off in one of the years when I was not able to meet the annual milestone…
Few years back I had a similar experience with SCB. I haven’t received the due SMS and got penalty added. I had got on call and explained honestly and accepted my mistake. Never tried to put the blame on them. Charge was reversed, however they couldn’t reverse the taxes.
Few months back I wasn’t getting SMS from Hdfc bank, it took some sweet time and had to get in touch with their technical team to get it rectified. But I always felt that it’s my responsibility to pay back whatever credit I take. Somehow you seem to put it the other way around.
Put reminders, add to your calendar or simply mark whatever calendar you have in your room. Even if you do not get anything from the bank, check account or call to know and pay your dues in time.
Lastly SMS do fail to deliver sometimes, that’s why there is a retry button on OTP pages, I am surprised that people don’t understand this simple logic.
Agreed. But the thing that frustrated me was the high handed attitude of the Cust care. And I don’t think it was a problem with my network/phone. I got each and every OTP on the same number instantly, but somehow missed all the 3 statement alerts? Sounds fishy.
This post was intended towards ppl who trust their banks to send them basic communications(as a fair trade practice). Always be alert and know that companies like Amex will not leave a single chance to screw you badly, even if you are not totally at fault. I also think they might be okay to get rid of customers like me who just have the basic rewards card. I am glad I didn’t upgrade it.
Avoiding trolls henceforth..
Trolls will keep trolling. Misinterpreting and bullying even if you provide clear proofs. Phew..
Amex PR team has done an amazing job..
Repeating my Note to 1000+ readers: Always be alert and know that companies like Amex will not leave a single chance to screw you badly, even if you are not totally at fault. Don’t trust them to send you any notification/alert before screwing up your entire credit score.
1. Pointing your fault is not trolling
2. You haven’t given a single Proof that it was a mistake from Amex. Just showing a grievance category does not mean anything.(plus when you signed up all charges where comminuted to you..in short that have notified you of the charges if you fail to pay on time…terms and condition clearly explain this charges with example.).
3. You are not totally at fault…so U are agreeing that it’s somewhat your fault 😂😂😂…good boy.
Only thing that I agree with you is be alert.
Being alert means..don’t miss your due dates ..keep your financials in check…..if you dont any credit card company will screw your score ..and this is entirely one own fault..
And please stop calling Amex as fraud for charging you late fee for your non payment of dues…yaa..sometimes truth hurts.
He is fighting this fight for a month now….. 
He must be tired and frustrated (with everyone pointing out his mistake and suggesting him to remember his due dates)…
Let him take some rest. He will be back again in a month when he forgets his bill generation date again…..
Great to hear back from a handful of trolls. Couldn’t stop laughing and hence the reply.
Some of you went so far ahead in defending Amex that they claimed what even Amex couldnt claim in my multiple conversations and escalations with them, (that notifications are not mandate from their side). 
Kudos.
In all seriousness, I still stand firmly by my point to the genuine readers of this thread that companies like Amex can’t be trusted with notifying the customer about their monthly statements. So always be alert or switch to someone you can trust with this.
If you have the time and patience to manually track the due dates and statements for all your cards and loans, go ahead. Dont judge others if they want a single simple SMS notification from the bank, they trusted for years..
I hope common sense will prevail..
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why not pay just after statement why delay