Consumer complaint received 2017-05-26
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: SC
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: Difficulty submitting a dispute or getting information about a dispute over the phone

Complaint:
I did not see the exact option for my problem so I clicked on what matches the most. However my actual problem is a dispute that I have and Equifax online dispute website does not work fully. I was a victim of identity theft and it is taking me almost a year to get my credit fixed. Equifax is  one  of the hardest companies to deal with when it comes down to helping a customer that was a victim. I was finally able to get my annual credit report online ( as I have tried several times and due to identity theft I was unsuccessful ) but in  XXXX  I was able to get it, I noticed that there were some inquires that still remained on my credit report and I contacted the creditor and they stated they were mailing a letter to all  XXXX  credit bureaus to have them removed and it would take  90 days. I also have the letter they mailed me. 90 days past and it was still on my credit report, so I decided to  call Equifax thinking it was an error on their end. The first representative told me no its not Equifax and I need to get back in touch with the creditor so that 's what I did. They assured me it was mailed and handle and that Equifax probably has it noted but it takes time to remove it. Me not knowing the process went with it and called Equifax back again to be told no that 's not true the we do not note and the creditor can either electronically send the letter to them or mail it and then they will delete it. After the back and forth I finally got a supervisor with the creditor and they apologized and  stated they will take care of it an of course she stated it could take 4-6 weeks up to 90 days, that did n't sit well with me but anyway okay. I received a letter from the creditor stating they mailed the letter to my creditors to have the inquiries removed. At that time I reviewed my Equifax credit report and on page 2 it states the options I have and if I have additional informatio n or documents ( such as an identity theft report or a letter from the reporting company ) about your dispute to help us resolve it by visiting our website https : //www.ai.equifax.com/CreditInvestigation/home.action. After that it states I can mail or call. I am  XXXX  and just recently in a   XXXX   XXXX   so mailing or faxing is not an option for me, but online is a wonderful option. I went to put in the website that is listed by Equifax on pag e 2 of my report and the website would route to the Equifax main page not what was in the actual website address I tried it several times and after that I decided to just file a dispute on the main Equifax page. When you click file a dispute another page opens and there is 5 steps Step 1 enter your personal information Step 2 dispute information Step 3 upload documents Step 4 Review & Submit Step 5 Confirmation. All steps work with the exception of Step 3 the most important upload documents. I would be on step 2 place the item I need disputed hit submit and it would skip to step 4. I know websites have glitches and some work better on google chrome vs internet explorer and vice versa so I tried it again on my laptop, again on my desktop, again on my cellphone and then again on tablet all would get to step 2 skip step 3 and go straight to step 4. I even tried d eleting cookies, allowing pop ups and all and I restarted my computer several times. Still nothing at this time its late and Equifax is closed. So today I called and the first representative I got told me there is no w ay to upload documents online that the only way is by mailing or faxing. I advised her that on my credit report page 2 it clearly gives a website and online it states the steps with Step 3 being upload a document. She kept telling me there is no  way and I must mail or fax. We went back and forth a few times and I said so you are telling me Equifax is giving customers falsified information? She got extremely quiet and did n't say anything I was like hello, hello, are you there after a few seconds she said something so I asked again is Equifax providing customers falsified information? She stated no and then she said the website could be having problems and since its not working I need to mail or fax it in. I explained to her that I am unable to do that and of course she said sorry a  million  times and told me there is nothing else that can be done. So I asked her your company does n't have a tech support or online website assistance and she stated she needed to check with her supervisor and I stated to transfer me to her supervisor. The supervisor answered  XXXX  was her name and of course I had to explain all over and the supervisor stated the only way to dispute with documents is by mail or fax no other way. At that point I was past upset so at this point my voice was louder and I am reading to her exactly what I read to the other representative and of course she apologized and stated that I can do it only however the website is strict and with it being strict its best for me to mail or fax it in. I was like strict what does that mean? The actual site works it just skips fro m 2-4 and 3 is  what I really need. She kept saying to me I need to mail and fax even after I told her 3 times I am  XXXX  and can not mail or fax. I told her this is discrimination and that I 'm filling a complaint because clearly you are not hearing me I can not mail or fax but I can and want to upload my document online if I just submit it without any documentation then your company will say the same thing get with my creditor and I do not want to go through that again. I ask what about a technical support or online support person, she did n't know of any such thing so since I stated I wanted to file a complain she transferred me to this con sumer department I was on hold for an additional 15 minutes and the call routed me back to the main prompts  and brought me right back to the dispute department where I got another representative and I explained everything above to him, of course here come the apologies and he stated that the same thing mail or fax even after I told him I was  XXXX  and could n't. I told him this is discrimination and that if your company could n't provide the service why advertise it as the first thing to do. He had no answer. I also stated how could Equifax not have an IT department or tech support, online support department? That 's crazy that no one can submit a ticket to let the website p eople know that a consumer is having a problem with step 3 on the website. He then stated he will submit a ticket to the IT guys and I asked him has he done this before and he told me yes all the time, however I do n't believe him and I do n't believe he submitted any ticket he wanted to do whatever he had to do to get me off the phone with him. I was on the phone for almost an hour 2 representatives and 1 supervisor and no one could help me and  no one took any initiative to provide me any customer service, they kept providing me information that made me feel like they did n't care that I have a  XXXX  by saying you just need to mail it or fax it. And the guy was like if you fax it I will get a response in  48 ho urs. What part of being  XXXX  (   XXXX   XXXX    XXXX  recent   XXXX   XXXX   do you, and the previous  XXXX  people NOT UNDERSTAND!!!! All I want to do is get this FRAUDELENT INQUIRY OFF MY CREDIT REPORT!!! That 's it!!! Why is it so hard to find good help these days and times they  all 3 so unded like a robot no one showed any empathy at all. When was the last time someone from Equifax reviewed all the options they say that are available to the customer to see if its still current and working? Yes a lot of people do n't take the time to read the report thoroughly but when they do it should be current and correct. Try typing in this address https : //www.ai.equifax.com/CreditInvestigation/home.action and go through the steps and see what happens. Now since I 've tried it so many times I can no longer access it even though I was told to keep trying and keep trying. I ended up having to send a web email which still did n't let me upload my document. All I wanted was for someone to help me and not tell me to mail it or fax it. I would n't had called if the only options where to mail or fax. And the sad part is I was victim of identity thef t 4 times last year and its taking everything in me to fix my credit. Maybe its my fault that I did n't have an alert on my credit or may be its my fault that I 'm just now checking my credit information. But it was only thanks to  XXXX   XXXX  that I was able to ca tch 3 of the 4 times. All I am asking for is some help I have the letter right here I do n't mine 3 way conference call with the creditor I just want this off my credit report this is not mine. And to think I have 2 other things that I am waiting to get from th e creditor to send to your company if this is any indication of what I will have to go through for the othe r two  I do n't know what I am going to do. I 'm upset very upset so there is a possibility that my wording could be off, punctuation wrong and some misspelled words.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief