Consumer complaint received 2023-05-09
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: AZ
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
I have had one singular derogatory collections claim that is a continuous blight and negatively impacts my life financially on a regular and continual basis. Several years ago my wife and ice landlord informed us that we would need to leave the house we were renting because he had decided that he wanted the house as his vacation home and he gave us very little time with which to get our affairs and finances prepared for a move which can be not only expensive but time consuming. We live in the state of Arizona where unlike most states it is the landlords and property owners that have all rights and privileges with few restrictions on what they can do to people who are there. Renters and tenants have almost no recourse or legal rights whatsoever. When we had finally moved from the property. I contacted by the phone the power company and informed them of the last day that I would be occupying the property and to cancel my account until I was at another residence. I can not recall exact dates because it has been several years though. To the best of my knowledge, it was. Several months later I received a bill from the electric company showing extra charges for dates that I did not occupy the property. So I contacted the power company and told them that if someone was using the electricity there then it was my landlord and he should have transferred the count into his name and I am not liable for charges incurred by him. Now laying sister that because of the usage plan I was on that makes adjustments for peak times of kilowatts hours etc. And some other jargon that this added up to the bill that I received which was a little over {$200.00}. I told them that this was incorrect but of course they disagreed and since they would not listen to reason it eventually went into collections. I had always wondered where that number had been concocted and what they had based. That amount on was always a mystery to me until I received a letter that for the very first time actually showed me what the large extra expense I was charged for that no one had ever disclosed to me up into that point which was more than 2 years. This letter from the electric company now claims that the charges were due to a service charge that was billed to me after I had already moved because apparently a service worker with the power company had to lock up or otherwise reseal the meter for the electricity, in other words someone had opened up the meter to either stop it tamper with it or otherwise manipulate it. But regardless somebody had obviously opened it when it was not supposed to be accessible. Of course they didn't offer to take off the charge nor did they even ask me if it was me that had done it. Since I obviously know that neither I nor my wife it did this then obviously that would leave my landlord whom I had taken to court around the same time to dispute our quick eviction without cause which by the way we lost without good reason because of the Arizona laws and the non-existence of tenant rights in this state. The reason I am writing this complaint is because I have asked each one of the credit reporting agencies to investigate this issue and all three have come back telling me that following their investigation they find that there is no discrepancy or mistake in the power companies report and all of their assertions were factual and nothing will be changed. I suspect the outcome will be similar after submitting this request to you since no one either wants to bother to investigate properly or it's easier to disregard or claim that they can not help other than suggesting that I just pay the extortion money or credit score ransom payment since it is only a little over {$200.00} and just get it over with. Which honestly I would do if I was fortunate enough to have an income that was above the poverty level in the United States each year. However, my reality is that my income is closer to {$15000.00} a year and having an extra {$200.00} to pay a blackmailer to improve my credit score is a hard pill to swallow. 
Thank you for your consideration Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief