Consumer complaint received 2025-05-07 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services — Problem canceling credit monitoring or identify theft protection service
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
I signed up for the Experian free XXXX trial. On the 7th day, I tried to log into the Experian app to cancel the membership but I was unable to do so because my payment method did not go through as I keep my XXXX XXXX  locked. Once my card was unlocked the charge went through and I went into the app to try and cancel but it was still requesting a payment. I immediately called Experian to cancel and request a refund since in the app there was no way to cancel the membership without basically paying a 2nd time. I spoke to the representative and he tried to offer me a retention deal with I politely declined as I did not want to spend the extra money. He said he was unable to see the charge I was referring to and I explained I could see the XXXX XXXX transaction and the pending charge in my bank account. He said because he was unable to see it he instructed me to call back the following day to get the refund process started. 

I called today as instructed and to my surprise the free membership only allows you to speak to an XXXX chatbot or an XXXX phone service. The representative did not say this would happen when canceling the paid membership. I tried requesting help through the browser, the app, and two different phone numbers, and NONE of them would get me to a live person to explain what was happening. The bots kept saying " Since you're on the free version there is no way you could request a refund ''. The phone option kept giving me options it could help me with that were completely unrelated to my situation and basically said if they didn't work for me to hang up. 

This is extremely unethical. AI is a robot it is not a human. There should be a way to bypass AI, and put in place a certain number of requests to ask for a human if the AI is not helping you. I had to sign up again for the paid membership to get someone on the phone for them to help me. The woman on the line said well part of the paid membership is you get access to a live agent. SO WHY WOULD YOUR LIVE AGENT TELL ME TO CALL BACK AFTER CANCELING ME IF HE KNEW I WOULD ONLY HAVE ACCESS TO AN AI THAT COULD NOT HELP ME? The woman was kind enough to understand my frustration and said she would pull the recording of the call with her supervisor and put in the request to refund me. I am appreciative of that but it is completely unacceptable to make a live person a luxury when the AI you have in place is subpar at best and there is no bypass, no fail-safe to get to a live person, no matter which method you try. I tried 3 of them and got nowhere until I basically signed myself up all over again. Experian needs to fix this and honestly if I had the time and the money I would sue them. I don't even like to complain about things honestly but this seriously took me out of character I was so upset. It is completely unethical and unacceptable. 

Ref # XXXX for my call today with Experian.

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