Consumer complaint received 2024-04-06 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Unable to get your credit report or credit score — Problem getting your free annual credit report
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: DC

Complaint narrative:
I used XXXX published phone numbers for Experian during business hours on XXXX and XXXX, XX/XX/24 and XX/XX/24, and on XXXX, XX/XX/24, in the early afternoon. I tried to get a live person to assist with my account access problem. 

The problem is that my user account with the company was failing to log in to the company 's website. I reset the password using the website. But after the reset, I still could not access my account. On XXXX occasions on XXXX different days, the website returned a useless screen with XXXX gear icons spinning and mentioning a telephone number to use for help. 

I called that specific telephone number, but I got no help. I found XXXX other published number and likewise got no help. 

Each time using those phone numbers, I was shunted into a phone tree with unhelpful options. The main options given to me were ( XXXX ) go to the website to log in ( but that would not work because the inability to log on was the problem I need help with ) or ( XXXX ) listen to a recorded message to submit something via snail mail to the company. Obviously, I am seeking my online account to be fixed by a technician. This is something that live representatives work on in real time with customers calling in on the phone to obtain help -- it is not something that a snail-mail process works for. 

The phone numbers that I dialed both came from the Experian website. They are XXXX and XXXX. In looking at my outbound calls, I see that I called a total of XXXX  times. In each call I asked the electronic system to be transferred to a live representative, and the system told me each time : " I can't get you to a XXXX right now. '' My reason for needing my account to work is that I want my free annual credit report and I want to pay the upcharge to get my current credit score. This has always required me to have a functioning user account. 

In my calls, the system collected my social security number and number for my home street address, plus my DOB, right at the outset of the call. I provided accurate data, but the system pretended that my data was insufficient for me to get help. In any event, I believe the company has thrown up road blocks for consumers to easily obtain their annual credit reports so I am making this complaint. 

Ultimately, I used www.annualcreditreport.com to navigate to Experian. After Experian again obtained my sensitive personally identifying information, the system again failed to recognize me. It shunted me over to a separate interface at which I uploaded a drivers license and electricity bill. Apparently, those uploads will prompt Experian to snail-mail to me my annual credit report. However, I had done fruitless work on the prior days attempting to do this the easy way, by speaking with a representative to fix my user account. 

Even if I do get a snail-mail copy of my credit report, that still does not assist me in purchasing my credit score. For that, I will need a functioning user account. And the company has stymied me from obtaining that over and over.

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