Consumer complaint received 2019-02-21
Company: Experian Information Solutions 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: Billing dispute for services

Complaint:
Experian membership ID - XXXX A credit monitoring account was established with Experian on XX/XX/XXXX. This account was opened with the basic membership and was supposedly a free service. Since establishing this account I have been charged repeatedly each month for {$21.00}. I contacted Experian in XXXX of XXXX and brought the issue to the attention of the customer service rep that i spoke to. She informed me that I needed to change a setting on the account to insure i had the basic membership. Everything on the account said " Basic '' but I went in and went through the motions anyway which yielded no results. I reached out again XXXX, XXXX via phone and via their XXXX profile. I was insured again that this had been corrected and it wasn't. I reached out agin in XXXX XXXX via phone and XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX, and again today, XXXX XXXX, XXXX via XXXX. I have been charged monthly for a service I did not want or agree to having. I have made several attempts to clear this up and to date that has not happened. Contacting Experian via phone can take anywhere form 1 to 2 hours to get anyone on the line and each time I've taken the time to do it has has done nothing to fix this. Response on XXXX usually leads to a " please call our customer service line '' which is useless. Reaching out over XXXX is the only written form of communication that provides any basis for documentation/history since you can't email them. I have been trying to fix this for over a year. I can't block the service through my bank account because it would require that I close my current account and open a new one. That is not an option due to the fact that I pay ALL of my bills from this account and canceling it would likely cause all kinds of other unforeseen issues. If i do the math correctly, i have been completely inconvenienced and am due {$500.00} since the service i agreed to was supposed to be a free service. 

I previously filed the above complain with Experian and they advised in their response that the paid subscriptions were discontinued on XX/XX/XXXX & XX/XX/XXXX and my account had not been charged since XXXX. Below is the exact response Experian gave concerning this matter. Please note that i have uploaded my account history to evidence that they have CONTINUED to charge me, even up to yesterday XX/XX/XXXX. 

Company 's Response " Thank you for writing and expressing your concerns. We reviewed and considered the information you have supplied through the CFPB portal and directly to Experian. In your complaint you indicated that you did not authorize the referenced charges. As an initial matter, please note that XXXX.XXXX, XXXX. ( XXXX ), and its products Experian XXXX   XXXX, Experian XXXX and Experian XXXX XXXX,  are an affiliated company of Experian, the credit reporting agency. XXXX offers a variety of credit monitoring products that include online access to consumers personal credit reports and scores. Our records indicate that on XX/XX/XXXX, you enrolled in Experian XXXX XXXX. The membership benefits at that time included access to your Experian report once every 30 days, free of charge. On that same date, you upgraded to a paid membership in Experian XXXX  on a one-dollar trial basis. The membership was not cancelled within the trial period ; consequently, in accordance with the published terms of our offer, the credit card provided was billed our monthly membership fee of {$21.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, and on or about the XXXX of each following month. On XX/XX/XXXX, the Experian XXXX membership was upgraded to Experian XXXX XXXX and the monthly price increased to {$24.00}. You contacted us by phone on XX/XX/XXXX, at which time your paid membership benefits were discontinued. Effective XX/XX/XXXX, your membership benefits have included access to your Experian report and FICO Score once every 30 days, free of charge. No further membership fees have been billed to you since XX/XX/XXXX. Our records further indicate that on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX also enrolled in a paid membership with Experian XXXX on a one-dollar trial basis. This membership was not cancelled within the trial period ; consequently, in accordance with the published terms of our offer, the credit card provided was billed our monthly membership fee of {$21.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, and on or about the XXXX of each following month. On XX/XX/XXXX, the Experian XXXX membership was upgraded to Experian XXXX XXXX and the monthly price increased to {$24.00}. We show that XXXX discontinued her paid membership benefits on XX/XX/XXXX. Effective XX/XX/XXXX, the membership benefits have included access to her Experian report and FICO Score once every 30 days, free of charge. No further fees have been billed on this membership since XX/XX/XXXX. Our website describes the offer and the order form details the terms and conditions of the offer, including billing at the end of the trial and monthly thereafter unless and until the customer notifies us of their wish to cancel. The customer agrees to these terms when submitting their order. Your concerns are very important to us. In response to your CFPB complaint, both of your memberships were immediately cancelled on XX/XX/XXXX. Additionally, as the fees were billed in accordance with the terms and conditions of the membership, we must respectfully decline your request for a refund of the membership fees at this time. We appreciate the time you took to send us feedback regarding our website. We value the input from our customers, and assure you we will give serious consideration to the issues you presented to us. It is through information provided by customers such as you that we are able to improve our products and memberships. We understand and acknowledge your frustration and we trust that this explanation has gone some way to clarifying our standpoint on this matter. '' so, they fully admit that they have not been charging my account erroneously and further, try to cover themselves. however.

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 monetary relief