Big thumbs up for Amex Plat

Just a little tale from the last trip to Orlando with a happy ending.

Only used my Amex Plat twice (once in Calvin Klein and once at Abercrombie) as well as when checking in at the Hilton and then Disney, but when I went to pay the bill last week noticed there was 4 strange transactions from petrol stations in Georgia over 2 days - all around $99.

Phoned Amex straight away, and within seconds they had agreed that there were suspicious transactions on the card. The new card arrived within 4 days (2 of them being Sat/Sun) and the transactions reversed after new card had arrived.

No hastle [y]

Thanks Amex - well done [y][y]

David

(now who the h*ll stole my details ....[:?])

[buns]

That is ace

I only hope that if that happens to me that my card issuer is so understanding.

buns

[mcmbenjamin]

Glad all worked out BUT AmEx should have thought that you tend not to buy gas in the Peachtree State (Georgia) and you did not had a pre-auth for a rental car on your card and not approved the third and fourth charges. The first and second COULD have been for friend gas but the rest are odd.

I wish AmEx was more proactive sometimes. Logic like: Customer did not charge plane tickets recently to South Africa to his or her card; Why is there a $5000.00 pending charge for a hotel? And other random charges in South Africa? Could end this before it is an issue.

Originally posted by mcmbenjamin
Glad all worked out BUT AmEx should have thought that you tend not to buy gas in the Peachtree State (Georgia) and you did not had a pre-auth for a rental car on your card and not approved the third and fourth charges. The first and second COULD have been for friend gas but the rest are odd.

I wish AmEx was more proactive sometimes. Logic like: Customer did not charge plane tickets recently to South Africa to his or her card; Why is there a $5000.00 pending charge for a hotel? And other random charges in South Africa? Could end this before it is an issue.

I have to say I'm glad that Amex dont stop my hotel payments overseaes just because I havent charged plane tickets or stop fuel because I havent charged a car rental ! or they would stop a lot of my transactions ...... I think the fraud detection systems are at times a little more sophisticated ... although there are always exceptions to the rule.

I have always found Amex to be on the ball compared to most and more importantly very good at sorting things out when it goes wrong.

Just my 2c worth

Mark [:D]

Well done Amex (my VS Amex US card requires paperwork and days and days to challenge a fee) but...increasingly many US petrol station chains charge $100 or $99 dollars pending as a hold til the charge is cleared. Don't know why but eventually it comes back to the actual charge for what you consumed.

Now maybe someone can explain to me how I charged a purhase at Gatwick Duty Free the day after I left the country via Heathrow?

cheers,
RR[:?]

Originally posted by roadrunner
Well done Amex (my VS Amex US card requires paperwork and days and days to challenge a fee) but...increasingly many US petrol station chains charge $100 or $99 dollars pending as a hold til the charge is cleared. Don't know why but eventually it comes back to the actual charge for what you consumed.

Now maybe someone can explain to me how I charged a purhase at Gatwick Duty Free the day after I left the country via Heathrow?

cheers,
RR[:?]

I had exactly the same happen to me at Gatwick and then again 6 months later![V]

[RichardMannion]

They can be good at times, and poor at others.

They suspected that my card number had been compromised so cancelled my primary card and issued a new one. Would have been nice if they had called me instead of sending it out via a letter.... no big drama as I have my AC card and the replacements do turn up quickly.

Now buying a £9.99 DVD is de rigeur for me, but when I bought one at LGW a few years ago after dropping my sibling off was a nightmare - had to go through to some fraud team in KL to authenticate it was me actually using the card. But then when someone managed to use one of the supp cards on my account to withdraw £5500 in the space of 2 mins from 3 cashpoints in Spain that are at least 5km apart, and even after I had told AmEx to switch off the cash withdraw feature is just a poor showing on their fraud algorithm. I had to fill out a form to state that the transactions weren't mine, but all money was credited back.

Originally posted by mcmbenjamin

I wish AmEx was more proactive sometimes. Logic like: Customer did not charge plane tickets recently to South Africa to his or her card; Why is there a $5000.00 pending charge for a hotel? And other random charges in South Africa? Could end this before it is an issue.

I do understand the general idea of what you are getting at, but this particular example doesn't work. Many companies book and pay for airline tickets for employees, but then the employee must pay the rest of their expenses, including the hotel, and get reimbursed when they return from the trip. So the above scenario probably would not be a flag for that reason.

I've just cancelled my black VS Amex having suffered 2 ATM withdrawals in Florida - I used to work in Credit Cards and hence am really careful so I'm amazed I've been burnt and have no idea how it could've happened since no-one other than me knows my PIN. So far so good from MBNA and they tell me all will be made right.

[mitchja]

One thing I did read about ATM's the other week is to always cover the keypad as you enter your PIN as there are an increasing number of criminals sticking tiny cameras to the underside of the ATMs above the keypad area (often out of site).

I avoid all outdoor ATM's now if possible, as the number of ATM's having skimming equipment attached to them is ever increasing.

Regards

I agree they are mostly ahead of the game regards fraud, but in my instance i always phone ahead to let them know where im going, but the first or perhaps the second transaction which catches me out often then means i have to phone back to amex to get the block lifted which always takes me atleast 30-40 minutes in store to rectify - really annoying and embarrasing.

cheers
alex

Originally posted by mitchja
One thing I did read about ATM's the other week is to always cover the keypad as you enter your PIN as there are an increasing number of criminals sticking tiny cameras to the underside of the ATMs above the keypad area (often out of site).

I avoid all outdoor ATM's now if possible, as the number of ATM's having skimming equipment attached to them is ever increasing.

Regards

Totally agree however the chances of me having used an Amex card in an ATM are nil. I'm guessing it was perhaps a restaurant where someone caught me entering my number despite me attempting to hide it.

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by mitchja
One thing I did read about ATM's the other week is to always cover the keypad as you enter your PIN as there are an increasing number of criminals sticking tiny cameras to the underside of the ATMs above the keypad area (often out of site).

Regards

I cannot get how stupid people are with regard to entering a PIN at an ATM. I was once waiting at an ATM standing some distance away from the person there. I was standing 'sideways on' so as not to to be watching her but keeping an eye out for any queue-jumpers when I suddenly realised I knew her PIN and had unwittingly seen her enter it. Another one was the mother who called out the numbers to her toddler so that he could press the buttons for her! [:0]