American Express fined for sending unsolicited emails

American Express has been fined £90,000 – which hardly seems a deterrent – for sending over 4 million unsolicited emails to cardholders who had specifically asked not to receive them.

In a statement, the Information Commissioners Office said:

“This is a clear example of a company getting it wrong and now facing the reputational consequences of that error.

“The emails in question all clearly contained marketing material, as they sought to persuade and encourage customers to use their card to make purchases. Amex’s arguments, which included, that customers would be disadvantaged if they weren’t aware of campaigns, and that the emails were a requirement of its Credit Agreements with customers, were groundless.

“Our investigation was initiated from just a handful of complaints from customers, tired of being interrupted with emails they did not want to receive. I would encourage all companies to revisit their procedures and familiarise themselves with the differences between a service email and a marketing email, and ensure their email communications with customers are compliant with the law.”

The emails were promoting a ‘spend £500, get £50 cashback’ offer. Amex claimed that these were ‘service messages’ which it was entitled to send regardless of opt-in permissions, although these are meant to cover core card changes such as interest rate movements.

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