Trying to get a large sum international credit card purchase to go through.
As documented in the "Shit I Just Bought" thread, buying a sword from England. Need to put a decently-sized deposit down. AmEx is my card for that, rewards, protection, all that. Other cards are also debit, so no way I'm using those in case things get fucked up and suddenly my account is empty.
I call bank (USAA, so for those in the know, a solid company that isn't trying to fuck you over or ships CS to India) to pre-auth. They say good to go. Card declined. Re-try again with confirming all my info is correct, declined again. Call USAA again, they say the code is saying it was declined before even getting to them, so AmEx must be stopping it somehow. Call AmEx, enter info, it forwards me to USAA. Call back, keep saying "representative" until it finally sends me to one. They say my card doesn't exist to their system, since it is issued by USAA, which is correct and as it should be. Still, I tell them they are fucking it up somehow. Raises to another level, still saying they aren't doing shit with it, call USAA. Call USAA back, tell them all that, they say there is literally nothing they can do because it is throwing the code before it even gets to them, and it is definitely AmEx because the retailer starts with them, but I'm probably shit out of luck finding someone that can track that down and fix it. Also, retailer probably thinks I'm shady as fuck by now.
AmEx is tied to my PayPal. I ask the retailer if he can invoice me that way. He does. Payment goes through literally instantaneously.
WTF American Express?? What good are you?
