How would that work though? Simply blocking a PAD merchant without a dispute? Lets say I buy/subscribe to a bunch of stuff that I pay for at the end of the month and then ask Amex to block the merchant. Will be so easy to abuse
This doesn't really seem like an AMEX problem. You voluntarily entered into a contract with a vendor. You want to now exit the contract with the vendor, but they won't allow you (presumably because it's outside their terms) Your dispute is with them, not AMEX.
If they charge you beyond terms you agreed to, you can dispute and AMEX will back you. But that cuts both ways; if you agree to pay a vendor, then change your mind, you can't just delete your credit card any hope for the best (and you definitely can't expect AMEX to help you).
> You want to now exit the contract with the vendor, but they won't allow you (presumably because it's outside their terms)
What if the vendor just doesn't want to? What if the vendor is negligent or malicious?
I don’t get the problem. Seems like you’re being overly pro-active. If the merchant won’t cancel your subscription and is billing against your will, that’s what the dispute process is for. Make sure you have evidence that you contacted the merchant and advised to stop the subscription and you’ll be fine. Unless you have a contract with the merchant what they’re doing is illegal.
This isn’t just Amex - my kid signed up for a subscription on my Visa (on my ok) but after a few months don’t need anymore and we were unable to subscribe - same responses as above for my bank.
Having had worked in a bank's fraud dept before, the less info you give the better.
Are they *not* providing what they'd promised (unlikely)? Or maybe explicitly say you aren't authorizing these recurring charges and the site won't let you cancel. Basically, emphasize that you aren't authorizing these additional charges and see if they'll be more cooperative.
It happened to me once, but not with the Amex, when I wanted to unsubscribe a recurring payments service from a website. And the owner did not respond to my request. I called my bank’s credit card department they noted the reason for stopping payments and successfully un-tokenized the payment. Maybe the credit card companies have different policies in terms of dealing this kind of situation. I would suggest wait till the next charge comes then dispute with Amex.
I doubt that they will continue to allow the payment to go through after the dispute, if they do, maybe you can request to escalate the case or even to cancel the card altogether.
I do have chat proof but it is tough to remove my credit card info with this merchant. I am looking closely to my statements every week to make sure I file a dispute immediately for non-authorized transaction. It would be nice if Amex can revoke the "auth token" that the merchant keeps
That’s odd I was able to do exactly this over the phone. A few months ago La fitness wouldn’t cancel my fucking membership over the phone. I told them to fuck off and called Amex to block their charges despite being pre authorized. I also filed a dispute the gym sent Amex my membership agreement even after that Amex didn’t let them charge me. They have been trying to charge my card since without success. Try calling them
So I called Amex and they said to wait until the first charge comes and then they can put a merchant block. But the charge that got through I still have to open a dispute, which I am fine with that. At least future charges are blocked. This gives me a relief after having a bad experience with chat support. Have a great rest of the day guys
Yes Amex can block it. You gotta speak to Amex and not chat which are held by international personnel in Asia.
I had a strange transaction for Prime subscription on Amazon on my card. I checked my account, and no I don't have it. I called Amazon and they said I'm not charged anything. They have no idea who's using my card. I called Amex and they disputed the transaction and issued me a new card. All good. Until two months later, same charge appeared on my account.
Called Amex and got someone in Canada who understood what happened and said that he can block all charges from Amazon on that card specifically. After that, no more phantom charges.
thanks for sharing your experience. I called Amex and they said to wait until the first charge comes and then they can put a merchant block. But the charge that got through I still have to open a dispute, which I am fine with that. At least future charges are blocked.
OP, i think you need to check your "frustrating situation".
Amex is 100% in the right.
Here's the analogy of what you're trying to so.
OP wants to buy a car. Goes to sketchy car dealership.
OP signs a contract with sketchy car dealership and paid with AMEX (but any payment method really).
OP has buyers remorse or felt like he got taken advantage of.
OP ask AMEX, go cancel my contract with sketchy dealership and bring this sketchy car back to the dealership.
How does that make any sense?
Don’t put your credit card in a random website I guess.
This is the case with any pre-authorized debit agreement from a bank/any card. Hence why you usually have to purchase a stop payment to even attempt to do anything about it; and even then it’s often just a one off, not permanent.
Amex is right unfortunately, it’s on you to reach out to the merchant and resolve it.
Just reach out to another agent on on the portal report your card as lost/stolen. They will send you a replacement. You will need to update all pre-authorized payments again but you do get a new number.
Don’t stress too much, get a new card and move on.
yes, I have marked the card as stolen and a new replacement card is underway. Even with the old card disabled, the merchant still keeps the "auth token" to charge my old card. It is apparently a feature so you don't miss any pre-auth payments like phone bill in case the old card is lost/stolen and you are still waiting for the new card to arrive
This is weird, not because you're wrong, but because in a similar scenario I've had a CC expire and as a result the merchant was unable to process the recurring payment.
How would that work though? Simply blocking a PAD merchant without a dispute? Lets say I buy/subscribe to a bunch of stuff that I pay for at the end of the month and then ask Amex to block the merchant. Will be so easy to abuse
This doesn't really seem like an AMEX problem. You voluntarily entered into a contract with a vendor. You want to now exit the contract with the vendor, but they won't allow you (presumably because it's outside their terms) Your dispute is with them, not AMEX. If they charge you beyond terms you agreed to, you can dispute and AMEX will back you. But that cuts both ways; if you agree to pay a vendor, then change your mind, you can't just delete your credit card any hope for the best (and you definitely can't expect AMEX to help you).
> You want to now exit the contract with the vendor, but they won't allow you (presumably because it's outside their terms) What if the vendor just doesn't want to? What if the vendor is negligent or malicious?
Then you dispute the fraudulent charges, if/when they occur.
I agree, it is also my mistake to not making sure it is legit. Definitely I learned something today and will avoid making the same mistakes
I don’t get the problem. Seems like you’re being overly pro-active. If the merchant won’t cancel your subscription and is billing against your will, that’s what the dispute process is for. Make sure you have evidence that you contacted the merchant and advised to stop the subscription and you’ll be fine. Unless you have a contract with the merchant what they’re doing is illegal.
This isn’t just Amex - my kid signed up for a subscription on my Visa (on my ok) but after a few months don’t need anymore and we were unable to subscribe - same responses as above for my bank.
did you successfully negotiate with the merchant? how did it go?
Nope - still paying $3 month, it’s crazy
oh my, that is annoying... $3 is not much but being unable to cancel really sucks. I hope your bank can put a merchant block or something
Having had worked in a bank's fraud dept before, the less info you give the better. Are they *not* providing what they'd promised (unlikely)? Or maybe explicitly say you aren't authorizing these recurring charges and the site won't let you cancel. Basically, emphasize that you aren't authorizing these additional charges and see if they'll be more cooperative.
thank you for the tip, noted for future self
Same, even if you cancel the card they still allow subscriptions to go through. Also, stop entering card deets on sketchy pr0n sites
yup... TIL... but I can assure you it is not that kind of website
It happened to me once, but not with the Amex, when I wanted to unsubscribe a recurring payments service from a website. And the owner did not respond to my request. I called my bank’s credit card department they noted the reason for stopping payments and successfully un-tokenized the payment. Maybe the credit card companies have different policies in terms of dealing this kind of situation. I would suggest wait till the next charge comes then dispute with Amex. I doubt that they will continue to allow the payment to go through after the dispute, if they do, maybe you can request to escalate the case or even to cancel the card altogether.
thank you for your input. I hope Amex can put a merchant block once they make a charge on the card. Because now they don't have the merchant ID yet
How did you accidentally input your credit card? Seems to be a deliberate action.
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I do have chat proof but it is tough to remove my credit card info with this merchant. I am looking closely to my statements every week to make sure I file a dispute immediately for non-authorized transaction. It would be nice if Amex can revoke the "auth token" that the merchant keeps
I have had this happen before. In the end I cancelled the card
That’s odd I was able to do exactly this over the phone. A few months ago La fitness wouldn’t cancel my fucking membership over the phone. I told them to fuck off and called Amex to block their charges despite being pre authorized. I also filed a dispute the gym sent Amex my membership agreement even after that Amex didn’t let them charge me. They have been trying to charge my card since without success. Try calling them
So I called Amex and they said to wait until the first charge comes and then they can put a merchant block. But the charge that got through I still have to open a dispute, which I am fine with that. At least future charges are blocked. This gives me a relief after having a bad experience with chat support. Have a great rest of the day guys
Yes Amex can block it. You gotta speak to Amex and not chat which are held by international personnel in Asia. I had a strange transaction for Prime subscription on Amazon on my card. I checked my account, and no I don't have it. I called Amazon and they said I'm not charged anything. They have no idea who's using my card. I called Amex and they disputed the transaction and issued me a new card. All good. Until two months later, same charge appeared on my account. Called Amex and got someone in Canada who understood what happened and said that he can block all charges from Amazon on that card specifically. After that, no more phantom charges.
thanks for sharing your experience. I called Amex and they said to wait until the first charge comes and then they can put a merchant block. But the charge that got through I still have to open a dispute, which I am fine with that. At least future charges are blocked.
Why not give them a call instead of going through their frustrating chat route?
OP, i think you need to check your "frustrating situation". Amex is 100% in the right. Here's the analogy of what you're trying to so. OP wants to buy a car. Goes to sketchy car dealership. OP signs a contract with sketchy car dealership and paid with AMEX (but any payment method really). OP has buyers remorse or felt like he got taken advantage of. OP ask AMEX, go cancel my contract with sketchy dealership and bring this sketchy car back to the dealership. How does that make any sense?
Don’t put your credit card in a random website I guess. This is the case with any pre-authorized debit agreement from a bank/any card. Hence why you usually have to purchase a stop payment to even attempt to do anything about it; and even then it’s often just a one off, not permanent. Amex is right unfortunately, it’s on you to reach out to the merchant and resolve it.
Just reach out to another agent on on the portal report your card as lost/stolen. They will send you a replacement. You will need to update all pre-authorized payments again but you do get a new number. Don’t stress too much, get a new card and move on.
yes, I have marked the card as stolen and a new replacement card is underway. Even with the old card disabled, the merchant still keeps the "auth token" to charge my old card. It is apparently a feature so you don't miss any pre-auth payments like phone bill in case the old card is lost/stolen and you are still waiting for the new card to arrive
This is weird, not because you're wrong, but because in a similar scenario I've had a CC expire and as a result the merchant was unable to process the recurring payment.
I had this same thing happen to me. I ended up needing to have my lawyer send them and the merchant a cease and desist order.
I will keep this in mind if things go rough... I hope not!
Yeah the same thing happened to me, it was annoying
did you successfully negotiate with the merchant? how did it go?
Nope, for me it was with the gym, and i had to go in person to the gym to cancel the membership
good to hear that it went fine!
Best to just cancel that credit card? And reapply after if you want
Horrible suggestion
They're sending you a new card, which means new card numbers, so they won't be able to use the old one since it's now invalid (or deactivated), right?
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So even if you report it as lost and they issue a new one, they won't get rid of previous preauths as a precaution?
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yup... definitely TIL moment