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Have you ever found a transaction on your credit card statement that you didn’t make?
A discovery like this can be unsettling! Thankfully, American Express makes it easy to dispute unfamiliar transactions.
I recently disputed a charge for ~$161 from Care.com I found on my Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express. The process was easy, and my account was reimbursed in just a few weeks!
I’ll show you the easy steps I took to get my issue resolved, and my money back!
Disputing a Credit Card Transaction With American Express
Last July I discovered a transaction I knew I hadn’t made. So I followed the quick instructions on my AMEX web page to fix the matter.
Step 1 – Click “Dispute / Inquire About This Charge”
When logged-in to your AMEX account, view your posted transactions and click on the transaction you’d like to dispute. Click the link at the bottom of the transaction information, called “Dispute / Inquire about this Charge“.
Step 2 – Continue the Inquiry
After initiating the dispute, a box will pop up asking you if you’d like to continue the process. Click “Continue Inquiry”
Step 3 – Verify You Wish to Pursue the Dispute
American Express will give you information on the estimated time it will take them to examine your dispute. Click the “Continue” button.
Step 4 – Answer Questions About Your Dispute
You will see a multiple choice menu. Tell AMEX the nature of your dispute by selecting the appropriate option (i.e. “I do not recognize this transaction“).
Step 5 – Confirm Your Inquiry
AMEX will ask you 1 more time if you really want to submit your inquiry. Click “Yes“.
Your part is finished! American Express will take care of the rest, and will let you know if they need anything else from you. You will see a message giving you the details about your completed inquiry.
AMEX Keeps You in the Loop
I was very impressed with how well American Express updated me with the status of my dispute! They sent several emails, which made me feel really involved.
I soon received an email update telling me they had contacted Care.com
Less than a week later, I received more information. AMEX had requested more information from Care.com, and was waiting on a response.
Less than 2 days later, AMEX sent a 3rd update. They said they would contact me when the investigation was finished. I was relieved that I didn’t have to go through the hassle of providing additional info!
Four days later, AMEX emailed to tell me they were waiting on documentation from the merchant. They would fill me in when they knew more.
The very next day, AMEX informed me that my dispute had been resolved, and my money had credited back to my account!
I was ecstatic! I signed-on to my American Express account, and sure enough, the charge had been refunded a day earlier.
My transaction was reimbursed within 3 weeks of filing my dispute!
Bottom Line
Hopefully y’all will never need to file a dispute with AMEX. But if you do, it’s a painless process. I’m very impressed with American Express customer service!
Filing a dispute was quick and easy. And I love how well they kept me in the loop with my inquiry! The updates weren’t exactly necessary, but it made me feel like I was a part of the action.
No one has kept me in the loop! Is it because the dispute is against the U S Post Office? I have sent all of the extra proof you asked for, i’ve Called 3 Times inquiring about your “investigation” – it has been almost 6 weeks since this dispute was started. I would really like to know what you are waiting on! It has been over 2 weeks since I was told the P O had been asked for their proof. I have rec’d nothing to review!
Royce Weston
I had a problem with an ATM machine not dispensing my cash, but it showed in my account and balance that x- amount of dollars had been deducted from my balance. I was devastated becaused it was a large amount. It happened today and is a new dispute. I need my money and work hard for it.
Ugh. I hate amex for this very reason. I had a dispute that I thought went very well then MONTHS later they reversed it. And we went through the same process again, and again. I finally had to pay myself. They explained to me that if the merchant sends them ANYTHING they don’t actually get involved in the process and they’ll send it back to the consumer to be paid. Sigh. What a hassle. I’ve disputed something with chase and it went wonderfully.
That is interesting, I wonder if this is a process that all credit card companies follow. My sister in law also went through an ordeal with Discover when she tried to dispute a charge. After grocery shopping she noticed she was charged much more than her receipt showed. It turns out that somehow the cashier accidentally combined her groceries with the next customers groceries and both got charged to her credit card. The next customer signed the receipt. She had to talk to Discover and the grocery store multiple times before it was resolved. The first few times Discover just mentioned that they saw a signature, but clearly did not compare it to the one on file because it was from the next woman in line.
Ouch. That sounds like a pain. In my experience, it is fairly easy to dispute transactions with banks. And there are laws with limit consumer’s liability with credit cards.
BTW, I love the focus of your blog and wish you lots of success in educating folks about the “wedding industry!”
Thanks! After reading Million Mile Secrets for so many years and sharing it with friends, it kind of feels like a celebrity answered my post and actually checked out my website. I really appreciate it. By the way, your “mother in law rule” actually inspired our mission at Seize The Aisle. After reading points and miles blogs for a while it became hard to tell which blogs were hiding the best offers to get affiliate commissions. Because I felt like I could trust you I bookmarked your best offers page since you would show better offers even if it loses you income, and used it as my first point of reference when doing apporamas. We want to do the same for our readers where we always give them the best information we can, even if it gains us nothing, as I think blogs that can be trusted are few and far between and are very valuable.
I felt warm and touched as I read your kind words and feedback. Please let me know if I can ever help in any way! 🙂
For me, the only dispute I had with Chase that was over $100 was a disaster. Although I do think that if it is below a certain threshold (somewhere around $20), Chase just credits it back to the card and doesn’t even bother investigating. The couple of times a merchant has double charged around $10.00, Chase immediately credited it and marked the dispute as closed. My guess is it just takes too much manpower to investigate the small disputes.