Upheld: Service failures generally complaint against AMERICAN EXPRESS SERVICES EUROPE LIMITED

Decision detail

Summary

Miss B submitted identification documents for a Subject Access Request (SAR) to AMEX on 27 March 2025 via a secure link and sent a follow-up email requesting confirmation of receipt. AMEX failed to contact her when they discovered they could not open the files, instead sending a generic closure email on 23 April 2025 stating documents had not been received. On 26 April 2025, AMEX confirmed during a call that Miss B had submitted documents but they were unable to open them. The ombudsman found AMEX treated Miss B unfairly by not contacting her promptly about the technical issue, particularly given her explicit request for confirmation of receipt. The complaint was upheld and AMEX was directed to pay £100 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused, though the ombudsman rejected Miss B's request for a higher amount.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while AMEX was entitled to not fulfil the SAR request until they had usable documents, they failed to treat Miss B fairly by not contacting her promptly when they discovered they could not open the uploaded files. This was particularly unreasonable given that Miss B had explicitly requested confirmation of receipt in her follow-up email on 27 March 2025. Had AMEX contacted her sooner, the subsequent issues would likely have been avoided and Miss B would not have suffered the distress and inconvenience of receiving a closure email without explanation, followed by months of having to prove she had complied with AMEX's instructions.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website