Consumer complaint received 2021-10-01
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: FL
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:
After finding out that someone had got into my XXXX XXXX account. It was suggested by the food folks at XXXX XXXX that I contact the three credit reporting bureaus. Experian was the first logical choice due to their affiliation with XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I attempted to login to my free Experian account. An account that I had opened years ago. On this day I was unable access my account. Given that I rarely if ever used this account, I thought it best to recover my password. To my great dismay, the partial recovery email address was not mine. I reached out to their fraud department, who discovered that the hacker had taken over the account, oddly upgrading it to a paid account on or about XX/XX/XXXX. I imagine it was done because more information could be revealed for them to steal with this paid account. The representative explained to me what a fraud alert and credit freeze would accomplish. I asked her to set them both up. I was asked to provide a 5 digit pin to be used to unfreeze my account. I was told to call back in 72 hours in order to recover my account via random questions pertaining to my credit history. I did this repeatedly after 72 hours, from the XXXX until last night XX/XX/XXXX. I was given various excuses. For example, the basic authentication of my identity failed, because the fraudster changed the answer to the security question regarding what street I was born in. This would always lead, due to my insistence, to escalate the security via those questions randomly chosen by the system pertaining to my credit history. To this day, they are unable to have those questions come up. As if they were locked. In the many many exchanges Ive had with Experian since XX/XX/XXXX, one of the excuse given to me for the lockout was because too many attempts had been made to login. At this point I had only attempted to log in on XX/XX/XXXX, prior to my initial phone call. 
As of XX/XX/XXXX the fraudsters ( XXXX ) XXXX phone number had supplanted mine. While his California had been address was added. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, CA XXXX. That despite my not having any connection to California and a long and insistent credit history. 
This breech has caused me great anguish, pain, lack of sleep, all affecting my health gravely. While having me spend 10s of hours to restore my identity, while one of the primary credit reporting bureaus, having been duped, still had the fraudsters information. XXXX XXXX, who partners with Experian acknowledged that they had the wrong information. Due to this disastrous breach of security, divulging my personal information, I was forced to completely cancel two of my accounts. One, XXXX XXXX, which Ive had since XXXX. 
Regarding my credit freeze that had been allegedly in place from XX/XX/XXXX, along with a pin I was to provide Experian to unlock the freeze. In my subsequent calls I was alternately told that I had no fraud alert or credit freeze. I again enabled a credit freeze, providing them another pin for the purposes of unlocking it. Through the virtually impossible task of getting to an Experian representative, I had an option with the automated system to freeze my account. If it was already frozen, it would had told me so. It did not. I commanded the system to freeze my account once again. It asked my to provide a pin. Once again I gave them a different 5 digit pin. The credit freeze had not been clear until this incident was escalated a day or two ago. The fraud alert had in fact been in place since XX/XX/XXXX. 
In my many unsatisfying calls to Experian, on or about XX/XX/XXXX, after jumping through hoops to speak to a human. The lack of resolution with the poorly trained customer service representative pushed me to please speak to a supervisor. I unfortunately got XXXX. Someone that could best be characterized as the anti-customer relations representative, demonstrated by his curtness and continued talking over me. Providing me no resolution, rather going around in circles with the same process An extremely poor face for Experian. 
A day or two later, still trying to get to the bottom of all of this and wondering what the status of my many freezes was, I was again directed to a supervisor. To my dismay, it was XXXX. He was extremely belligerent, unhelpful and lied to me telling that he had told me that I had to open a new Experian account with a different email address. He nor had any of the representatives told me this. 
As one would expect, two accounts with the same name, social security number and date of birth would not allow for a new account. 
The evidence reveals that Experian was akin to an accomplice to a known criminal who lives on the other side of the country. Thus enabling my bank and XXXX XXXX card be to send him on three separate occasions, as well as a debit card, to my understanding. Thankfully all were invalidated before they were received the criminal fraudster. On balance over the roughly 12 hours of phone calls with Experian, roughly two thirds of my contact with Experians ( so-called ) customer service representatives and the serially failing fraud department ( except for my first contact ) were not only unhelpful and belligerent, but dont right useless.

I would had been much better off without Experian in the way to help turn my world upside down for the last two weeks. Their lack of security rivals their level of gross incompetence. I have tried to have all of my information removed from Experian with no luck whatsoever. 
It boggles the mind that Experian had demonstrated that they are absurdly lacking in keeping data safe from predators. Instead seeming to be complicit with the fraudsters.

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 explanation