Consumer complaint received 2023-08-17
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: IN
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:
XX/XX/XXXX I contaced XXXX to cancel my service as I was moving. I made it clear to the person that I was speaking with that I needed my final bill as I was in the midst of moving ( BUYING ) a home so accurate credit reporting is imperative!! ) and I didn't want to miss anything. I was assured my final bill was {$180.00} and I paid it in full. On XX/XX/XXXX I returned their equipment. And got an email saying thank you for returning your equipment. XXXX XXXX, etc. XX/XX/XXXX I received an alert from the credit bureaus for {$260.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX. It was a collection for XXXX. So I spent a bunch of time on chat ( I am XXXX XXXX so the end of the month is super busy and i was literally losing money dealing with this but my credit is important ) trying to figure out what was going on and the chat rep said it was for unreturned equipment. I have a copy of the chat. I told him I had an email from XXXX saying it was returned someone was supposed to call me back but didnt. On XX/XX/XXXX I spent several hours on the phone with XXXX, after a XXXX minute hold they hung up on me. At one point I was told to go into the XXXX  store and the clearing dept would help me. I went in and guess what? Upon my arrival I was told no such thing as a clearing dept. Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX it was sold to another collection agencey XXXX XXXX  XXXX hits my credit for the same dollar amount. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX and speak to XXXX to see if we can figure out what is going on and to possibly set-up new service. XXXX explains away some story of why they show a {$260.00} balance. The explanation didn't make sense. So she offered to get me to her super, XXXX who also said 6 months or so prior to when i voluntarily had services disconnected and asked for the final bill there was some unpaid bill and with all fees it got up to {$260.00}. She couldnt explain to me why they went from XXXX to XXXX without billing it. Or why when I paid my " final '' bill they didn't include it. Both XXXX and XXXX assure me that if I paid the {$260.00} on the XX/XX/XXXX within XXXX hours both XXXX and XXXX would be removed from my credit and then I could work on setting up new service. XXXX was to call me on the XXXX to establish new service. XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX AGAIN because the bills were on my credit still. I got XXXX on the phone went through all of this again. He did mention on the recorded call that the {$260.00} was from unreturned equipment, again I have the email from them saying thank you for your equipment return. And he told me that it actually takes 7-10 business days so I should see it anyday since I paid the {$260.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. Here we are XX/XX/XXXX and both collections still show. I should have never paid the {$260.00} because I truly didn't owe it. But I need this off my credit! And at some point I need wifi at my house. The worst part is every single time I spoke with a rep about the promises made on the prior call to remove these from my credit I was always assured it would be right away. They would get me over to the sales dept trying to get me to re-establish service prior to taking the non accurate information off of my credit report!

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief