I am extremely upset at how my small business has been treated by American Express. We are a group of hardworking people who pride ourselves on conducting business honestly and paying all our bills on time. Recently we processed two transactions through our merchant account which we believe now to have been fraudulent. Our policy is to have the customer complete an authorization form complete with signature which is what occurred in this case. The other transaction was processed through our website. American Express reclaimed all the money from the transactions and our company lost the cost of all goods shipped to these customers around $5000 worth of products. When I called today to find out the status of our account I was told that American Express decided to terminate our merchant account. When I asked for an explanation I was told that American Express's “Policies were confidential” and would not be discussed with me. I could not believe that a company put such little value on your relationship with my company. In addition to the cancellation AMEX did not even have the courtesy to send us a letter notifying us that the account was closed. We found out when customer charges began to be denied for no apparent reason. We did nothing wrong and were taken advantage of by criminals and American Express got all its money back. Yet our companies account has been terminated without even the courtesy of an explanation. The AMEX web site states:

Q: Will American Express cancel a merchant account if it begins to pose a high risk of fraud?

A: We would work diligently with a merchant to try to resolve issues that are causing fraudulent activity first. But there have been cases where we have canceled merchant accounts for excessive fraud problems

Certainly American Express did not work diligently with us to resolve and issues! As a result my partner and I have decided to cancel all our accounts with American Express both business and personal. We do not want to have anything to do with a company that does business the way American Express does. Perhaps Visa or MasterCard will put more value in their relationships with small businesses.

A customer swiped and signed the receipt. Then when their statement came in they didn't recognize the name on the statement because I am a sole proprieter. So the customer filed a fraud complaint. Now I have the receipt  and video recording of this customer standing in my business  but somehow Amex feels it is appropriate for me to work for free and refund the customer who says the charges are valid, all because I was unable to respond to their claim letter within ther allotted time. To bad it doesn't work the same way. Anytime they are late on paying me I should receive some kind of bonus pay. I can not stand doing business with this company. It's bad enough that we the merchant actually pay for reward points out of our pocket and now they steal from my account. Keep your hand in your own pocket Amex. ASAP I will be dropping this account. But in a very professional apologetic way. I learned from them how to be so cunning after spending so much of my time double checking their work. Calling when they got it wrong. Waiting to speak with someone who knows what they are doing. And now being denied a valid charge even myself and the customer agree are valid.