Consumer complaint received 2018-02-19
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: WI
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services
Sub-issue: Didn't receive services that were advertised

Complaint:
I received a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX notifying me that my information may have been compromised as a result of the XXXX data breach. The letter ended up in a pile of paperwork around the holidays that I wasn't able to catch up on until a week ago. I went to the website, XXXX, and after entering some information, it was confirmed that my information had been compromised. Upon further reading, the site notes that the free 1 year tri-bureau credit monitoring available through TrustedID Premier is no longer available. I find it unbelievable that a company that suffered a breach has the liberty to close this kind of a service to affected customers. I understand that I didn't take action by XX/XX/XXXX, but given it was only 2 weeks after the deadline, I expected, especially given the customer service concerns and repetitional damages, that Equifax would be nothing less than responsive to my request. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I was instead offered their Lock and Alert service, something new that they have in place and are offering as an alternative. The difference is however, that lock and alert only applies to XXXX inquiries, and requires my personal attention and transaction by transaction management, something that was not required of me prior to the breach. Lock and Alert does nothing to help me monitor activity through the other 2 bureaus. I spoke with 2 different individuals at Equifax ( a staff person and supervisor ), and both told me that the only free " answer '' to my problem is the new Lock and Alert, and that they can't allow me access to the Trusted ID Premier tri-bureau monitoring, even though it's also an Equifax Product over which they have control. I am very frustrated, as Lock and Alert is not an adequate replacement, and requires me to be further inconvenienced by their carelessness by having to work independently with each of the bureaus to put in place special monitoring or protections, and then to manage those protections. I don't even know yet the services or costs of the other bureau products, but I find it unacceptable and unbelievable that Equifax can close a tri-bureau credit monitoring offer to customers within even the first 6 mos following a breach, and in fact would expect they'd be obligated to sustain complimentary services much longer, saving customers from the additional hassle of having to take the matter into their own hands with each of the bureaus. What is worse, and something I find to be completely disgusting, is that instead of taking responsibility for the breach and ensuring customers are treated right, they have the opportunity to make money off of the incident by charging for the tri-bureau credit monitoring services they no longer offer for free. as a consumer, I am quite outraged and feel my consumer protection rights are violated by this practice.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation