Consumer complaint received 2020-01-23
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: VA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Complaint:
I called into Equifax as instructed from Equifax.com website as I tried to login to unfreeze my credit report since I had created at Equifax.com my login credential to establish the freeze of my credit before, and instead of getting access into my Equifax account, I got the screen with the 888 phone number to call in. Thus, I made the call. The phone call was around XXXX PM - XXXX PM on XX/XX/2020, where I provided all requested personal information via the automated system, then got verified again by the Equifax Rep. her name sounded like XXXX, but I could be wrong. She confirmed my identity then asked for the reason of my call, I told her I tried to access my Equifax 's online portal that I created before that I put in the freeze of my credit, but now the website did not let me in, instead, it showed the screen with the phone number to instruct me to call into Equifax Customer Care,  so here I was. She checked then told me : " Because of the information that you provided when you created the Equifax 's online account, now Equifax does not allow for you to access it ''???!!! I told her that's wrong since at the time I created the Equifax 's online account, I provided all requested information following the instructions on the screens that led me through the process, then it authenticated my information in order for me to move forward into the process to freeze my credit at Equifax and plus, since then, there was no notification nor any notice that sent to me via email or by the regular mail to inform me of such issue of my Equifax 's online registration. So why now as I tried to access my Equifax 's online portal then this was a problem? This Rep. could not explain so I asked to speak to her Supervisor. After waiting for 20 minutes, the Supervisor talked to me and she did not identify her name to me. I told her the issue and all I wanted, was to be able to unfreeze my credit so my Bank can conduct the credit check then I would put it back to the freeze status. She told me my credit at Equifax was not frozen but rather locked. I told her I was pretty sure I put it on freeze, not lock, but in any case, how do I go about to unfreeze or unlock it now? She told me she could not do it, she had to transfer me to another Dept. in Equifax to help me on that. Then I was put on-hold to listen to the music for almost 1 hour then no one was answering the call but the automated phone system kicked in asking me 2 survey questions : 1/ How satisfied I am with the call and the assistance today at Equifax ? Answer : NO. 2/ Would I hire the Rep. that assisted me today? Answer : NO. After this, I realized there was no end to this call waiting, so I hanged up. 

I was very disappointed with the way Equifax 's Customer Care Rep. and Supervisor that instead of helping me to fix the issue on the website and to get my credit unfreeze or unlock, they left me hanging on the phone until the automatic survey kicked in to ask me how satisfied I was with their help????!! Very bad even after the data breach incident that happened by Equifax, they surely showed Equifax had learned nothing yet to regain the Consumer 's trust, but further destroying the remain sympathetic and understanding for it via the way of their Customer Care employees that treated the public like in my case here.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation