I recently bought a $200 "eGift card" from Amex at their portal amexgiftcard.com. Turns out, it's not accepted by like any vendor. I've tried using my eGift card multiple times (rejected every time, and in amounts well below the $200 threshold):

• In-store at Publix (rejected)

• In-store at Blaze Pizza (rejected)

• Online at Amazon (rejected 4 times)

Doesn't work on PayPal. Doesn't work on Venmo. The card is in fact verified and has been checked by support multiple times.

I've talked to customer support for hours (including a manager) and they refuse to give me a refund even though I've technically spent $0 on the gift card.

At this point, I'm inclined to cancel my relationship completely with Amex (I have multiple credit cards with them) because the support is just so bad and they refuse to budge on something that seems so trivial, giving me the same responses like "try a different location" and refusing to tell me actual stores and companies that the cards work at. It's a joke, and I'm not really sure what they've done here is legal.

Wanted to spread the word that their support is unwilling (and likely incapable) of helping. I would argue the gift cards are a literal scam, as they don't work anywhere I've tried. They don't seem to be practically useful anywhere.

Edit: this was eventually resolved by disputing the credit card charge (used an Amex credit card to pay for the gift card). It was ultimately accepted. Keep note that these gift cards are handled by a separate company associated with Amex and fall out of the direct umbrella of the credit card team.

Please help! I got this email yesterday and as far as I can tell it's a completely legit Amex e-gift card, but I have no idea who it's from. Normally I don't even bother to second-guess emails like this before moving them to junk but the sender appears to be legit (screenshots included), the phone number in the email is also legit (I tried calling it, it takes you to an automated phone line so I can't talk to a real person and verify that it's correct but American Express runs a notoriously poor customer service department, so that tracks), and when you click "view and print this card" it takes you to a legit Amex site where you can see the gift card's card numbers and everything.

By all accounts, this seems to be a real gift card. Everything adds up. And I can't find anything on google about this being part of a known scam setup either, but I'm scared to try and use it in case I'm somehow walking directly into some sort of identity theft trap without realizing it.

For context, April is my birth month and my bday is in a few weeks but there's no note or anything with the card and no one I know has told me anything like "hey be on the look out, I'm sending you an eGift card for your birthday!" So I am completely stumped. Should I try using it and see what happens or are there any potential downsides I'm not anticipating here? Let me know your thoughts.

EDIT: I have already contacted my employer, it is not from them. The URL for the website is legitimate as if you google "where do I go to buy an amex gift card" and click the first www.americanexpress.com link you see, it will list americanexpress.com/gift as the place to go, which redirects you to amexgiftcard.com.

Hello! I need to buy about 100 Amex gift cards. I've purchased through the Amex gift cards site in the past, but not for a while. Today I went to check out and was asked to enter my full SSN. Is this normal for this site? I'd like to move forward with my order, but am wary about entering this info. Thanks!