Consumer complaint received 2020-08-18
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.
State: CA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Unable to get your credit report or credit score
Sub-issue: Problem getting your free annual credit report

Complaint:
Predatory services : I was trying to remove a credit reporting freeze that I have had in place for some time ( related to data breaches at credit reporting firms ). I had a very clear interaction with two of the credit reporting agencies but not the third. I went to the Transunion web site seeking to obtain my credit score as I had done with the other two organizations. I suspect that the other two agencies ' willingness to  supply a credit report for free may have decreased my caution when addressing this third agency. 
On the Transunion web site they have a button that says " Get your credit score '' which is what I wanted. Pressing this led to a webpage requesting information on the top and left side. which included credit card information. I later learned that to the right in small print is a description of the cost associated with a monthly membership of $ XXXX/month with the benefits. I can honestly say that I did not see this at the time and believe that this rather expensive service cost in hidden deliberately in order to entrap consumers. 
I called Transunion at the next opportunity and discussed this with the representative " XXXX ''. He was able to cancel the ongoing monthly charges but expressed it in a way that made me think that all charges were going to be refunded. As he described the two e-mails I was going to receive he indicated that the charges would no longer be made after next month. Stated in such a way that it could be overlooked that we were going to pay for the first month. 
I asked that the charges for the first month be returned as well and that it was deceptive that there were no indications that the credit card would be charged ( This was my understanding at this point in the process ). XXXX indicated that this could not be done and that the charges have already gone through. I began to understand that this was a policy front that was designed to stop consumers, that had been tricked as I had been, from proceeding. I asked to speak to the supervisor and was discouraged. I persisted and XXXX insisted that it is clearly stated on the web site what I was signing up for and the cost. I still believed that this was not the case and postulated that the web site might not be working as designed. At this point XXXX made an exception and refunded the first months fees and gave me a reference number. 
We closed the call in a polite way and I was still slightly concerned that the information I was given on the call was not correct. I went to the website and repeated my previous actions and did not see the price for the service that I had received for free from the other providers. I called Transunion back expecting the likelihood that I would get the same representative remote. I was surprised to get XXXX again and indicated that I was just on a call with him. I explained that I did not see the information on the price and that it was not clear. There are many sites ( XXXX comes to mind ) where the price is not in the small print. XXXX went through the process of showing me where the price was clearly in the small print. He maintained that it was clear and I clearly did not see it twice even when I was looking for it. It is clear to me that they are hiding the price in the hopes that people will signup for something and then making it difficult to cancel and get a refund. I feel that this is unfair and may have trapped many people other than myself.

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