Consumer complaint received 2017-12-14
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA
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:
Credit Bureau : Equifax , Inc . 
Product : Equifax Complete Family Plan Amount Paid : {$270.00} Date Annual Subscription Paid : XXXX/XXXX/XXXX Problem : My wife and I had identity theft in XXXX, when a fake tax return was filed to the IRS. The fake return included our social security numbers, birthdates and home address. We purchased the Equifax product listed above, with the primary purpose to get automatic fraud alerts placed every 90 days with the three primary credit bureaus. The service seemed to work fine, and I renewed our annual subscription on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX for the amount of {$270.00}. The products dashboard showed " green '' for " Automatic Fraud Alerts '' being properly set for both myself and my wife. However, last week, on XXXX XXXX, I clicked on the settings for Auto Fraud Alerts, and I was disappointed to learn that Auto Fraud Alerts had an error, and the last fraud alert had been sent on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX for my account, and had expired on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX ( prior to my renewal ). A screenshot is attached. A new fraud alert had never been set with Equifax or with XXXX or XXXX. The same was true for my wife. For all of XXXX, I had the false impression that Automatic Fraud Alert was on, because the dashboard was green. But the screenshot shows the alerts were not set. 

The primary reason I had purchased this product was to get the auto fraud alerts. On XXXX XXXX, I pulled my credit reports for all three bureaus, and confirmed that Fraud Alert had not been set by Equifax on any of the three credit reports. As a result, since this service is not delivering what it promises, I decided to cancel my subscription on XXXX XXXX. Equifax will cancel my subscription starting XXXX XXXX. They will not refund me the total amount. They will only refund me for the 4 unused months between XXXX/XXXX/XXXX - XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. 

MY PROBLEM IS Equifax will not refund me for the full annual subscription amount I paid. I asked Equifax to provide me a full refund, because Equifax failed to deliver the Auto Fraud Alert service since the beginning of my current subscription. Equifax refuses to do so. They will only refund me for the amount of time remaining on my subscription until it expires. Even though they failed to deliver the Fraud Alert setting service since XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, they refuse to refund me for the full amount, claiming " they are unable to do so ''. It is unreasonable for Equifax to keep a portion of my subscription when it failed to deliver the primary service I wanted. 

I sent an email to their customer support on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, and received a reply form Equifax on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX stating they can not refund for past service on my current subscription. The email told me to call an Equifax Customer Service number to discuss this request with customer service. Today, XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, I spoke to an Equifax call center supervisor, and he told me he is unable to provide a refund for the past 8 months even though he acknowledged the product had n't delivered the service I was promised. Unbelievable! 

Bottom line, since Equifax did not deliver the Auto Fraud Alert at the start of the subscription, I want a full refund for the entire subscription, not a partial refund for the remaining unused subscription months. Equifax has failed to provide me the primary service I was seeking -- Automatic Fraud Alerts. Please help me get a full refund of the {$270.00} that I paid. 

Overall, my experience with Equifax has been very disappointing. They have lost me as a customer. My recommendation to consumers is to not waste your money buying their credit monitoring services.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation