American Express Bluebird is a rip off and I will see my state Attorney General's Office. I loaded money on their card and attempted to get gasoline from a merchant. The Company authorized a higher amount on my card. I was not able to get my gasoline because of their practices. I called and told them I was stranded and needed gas, and they would not reverse the authorization so that I could get my $75.75 off of the pre-card to get the gasoline. I am upset because I loaded my money, and could not get gasoline and I was stranded from home.
#2Author of original report
Wed, August 19, 2015
I did not get gasoline! So why would an authorization be needed on zero gas! This company is holding my loaded money! The 8 days waiting period is for zero dollars of gas? I did not pump any amount yet! It said see cashier ! American Express Bluebird is lying and will not release my loaded money!
Robert
Irvine,#3Consumer Comment
Wed, August 19, 2015
First of all American Express did not place the hold on your card. The Gas Station did when YOU attempted to purchase gas. Since you did not have enough available for their authorized amount you were declined. Unfortunatly, once you have a hold on the account by a merchant the merchant(gas station) is the only one that can remove it early. As they have said that they want the card company(American Express) to reserve a certain amount. So the company you need to be talking to is the Gas Station.
Now, if the hold is not released after a certain amount of time American Express will release the hold automatically. This is not an instant thing. I don't know how long it is for American Express, but it could be anywhere between 1 and 14 days. Most banks though will release them within 3-7 days.
As a side note, EVERY gas station does this when you pay at the pump. The reason is that they have no idea how much you are going to pump so the authorize a higher amount. This amount can be anywhere from about $75-$150 dollars depending on the station. If your card was approved and you actually pumped that amount you would have seen it stop at the authorized amount. If you want to avoid this in the future, just go inside the station and request a specific amount.