Justin was thankful for helpful, on-the-spot service from American Express when his card was declined while traveling. The replacement card AmEx sent him was less than helpful, however, given its less than adequate limit.

He writes:

We checked into a hotel on a business trip with an Amex Open card that we hadn’t used for a few months. It was declined, and a call to Amex got the response that there was plenty of credit available but the card had been reported stolen a few months ago. Odd, we hadn’t done that, and so we checked to make sure there was no fraudulent activity (none). And being a top-service company, Amex overnighted a replacement card to our hotel so that we could pay our hotel bill. So far, so good.

Imagine our surprise when we were packing our suitcases the next day to get an automated call from Amex letting us know they had slashed our credit limit to the current card balance, leaving us no available credit to pay for our hotel stay. Sure, they sent us a new card, but it was now useless. Amex insists that the account review was not triggered by our request for a replacement, but with only a handful of recurring charges on the account over the past few months, it would be a nearly impossible coincidence. In fact, it would have been better if they had simply not sent us a new card, as we would have had another business card overnighted from our office.

I’ve been a happy Amex card member for more than 20 years, but this one has enraged me. Everyone should take note – do not rely solely on American Express when traveling. They just may leave you stranded.

Poor guy may as well have left home without it.

If you have a tale about a credit card being declined at an inopportune time, please share.

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