Consumer complaint received 2024-10-14 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Unable to get your credit report or credit score — Other problem getting your report or credit score
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: NV

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>, at XXXX hours, after trying to combine my and my wife 's Experian monitoring services for upwards of a year, I spoke with XXXX, an Experian representative in the XXXX. I advised XXXX that I was recording the call. The conversation lasted XXXX minutes, including XXXX ( also located in the XXXX ), who disconnected the call without calling back. Experian indicates they record calls for " training purposes '' and can verify my recap, provided they don't claim they didn't record this call, as I suspect they might. 

In our conversation, I asked XXXX if she could combine my wife 's and my accounts, reducing our monthly cost of {$49.00}. I mention this because I asked many Experian [ XXXX ] workers a dozen or more times, but none ever understood what I wanted. XXXX understood my requests. She said she would combine the XXXX accounts, and I would pay the {$29.00} XXXX XXXX price instead of {$49.00}. I directly asked XXXX about continuing to receive " XXXX '' updates from XXXX and XXXX, and XXXX said there would be no change. Her words were " correct '' and " that's correct '' in the context of my questions. Throughout the call, I reiterated my concerns regarding " changes '' to the XXXX XXXX account. XXXX repeatedly said there would be no changes except to billing and loss of benefits for my wife. XXXX added that all logins, credentials, and reports would remain as they were before upgrading to the XXXX XXXX. XXXX understood all my questions and was responsive and definitive with her answers, as you or anyone else can hear in my Experian recordings. 

My wife and I had Experian memberships that cost {$24.00} monthly. I also pay for my son 's membership. All accounts have daily Experian reporting with XXXX score updatesand XXXX reports with FICO score updates from XXXX and XXXX. I have paid my wife 's account for nearly XXXX years, mine for over XXXX years, and my son 's account for about XXXX years. I have spent approximately {$5500.00} to {$6000.00} with Experian. It is paramount to note that my wife, son, and I have had agreements with Experian for years, and no one has modified or altered them. After combining the XXXX ( mine and my wife 's ) accounts, you will read that Experian made XXXX changes to the reporting time frame without written or verbal notification to my wife or me. If calculated together, the changes would cost us an additional {$470.00} annually and {$11000.00} using the average lifespan of Americans. Adding insult to injury, after 22 days ( inclusive of XXXX telephone calls, XXXX odd wasted hours on the telephone, no return calls as promised by Experian, XXXX messages left for managerial staff ( XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX ) XXXX emails which Experian sent, and being offline with my wife 's account for 22 days ) I was told by XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX day after this fiasco began, that XXXX " had made a mistake '' and that she [ XXXX XXXX ] was `` sorry, but there wasn't anything or anyone that could change the situation. '' In effect, she told me to pound sand. I do not accept this type of treatment and waste of my time by anyone or any company. I paid for Experian services and relied on their employee 's words. I lost a 5.6 % refinance rate on my home because of Experian 's ineptitude, combining my and my wife 's accounts. Being " sorry '' doesn't solve anything for me. Experian has done this to thousands of paying customers ( if not more ) who walked away. However, I will not be taken advantage of by Experian 's trite and insulting response after costing me tens of thousands of dollars and wasting my valuable time. 

At the end of my conversation with XXXX, I reiterated the same question about everything remaining the same. XXXX again said, " Yes, everything will remain the same. '' XXXX assured me that once I hung up, I could log into both accounts in the same manner as before, with nothing changed. At the end of the phone call, I logged into my wife 's account and received an error message indicating that her account was closed. I quickly called back and spoke with XXXX in the XXXX at XXXX hours. XXXX, in turn, transferred me to XXXX  ( not the supervisor I requested ) in the U.S., where he placed me back in the general queue after another XXXX minutes to find out why I was getting the " closed account '' message. I called back twice ( totaling XXXX calls ) on XX/XX/XXXX, once at XXXX hours, when XXXX in the XXXX hung up on me or the IP line connection failed ; both seem regular occurrences when speaking with Experian XXXX  employees. Again, at XXXX hours, when I talked to XXXX, who transferred to XXXX ( where I was supposed to go when XXXX told me she was transferring XXXX minutes earlier ), a XXXX supervisor issued a credit that did nothing to offset or resolve the problem. XXXX told me I should wait for Experian 's callback or email instructions to reconnect my wife 's account, which should be by the end of the day or early the following day, but neither occurred. Once again, Experian 's recording of XXXX and my call will corroborate that I am restating an accurate accounting of what XXXX and others told me. 

The situation began going sideways at this point because I went online to check if I could access my report. My report showed that " updates '' were changed from XXXX to 90 days when I logged in. Based on my wife 's closed account, I assumed my status changed from a paid to a free account ( see attached jpg ). I became aware days later that Experian had changed my account status without notification. Experian increased my updates to 90 days from years of providing 30-day updates. Neither XXXX nor anyone else mentioned this would occur ( in XXXX proceeding telephone calls ), which you can hear in my and Experian 's recorded conversations. Not XXXX of the XXXX and more U.S.-based and XXXX  representatives knew about the status change until someone ( my guess is XXXX XXXX ) handed it down to XXXX XXXX 22 days after this entire fiasco began. Please note that I had spoken with XXXX XXXX multiple times without her knowledge ( or advice ) of the change in status until XX/XX/year>. 

I won't detail the XXXX calls I've mentioned previously ; for 22 days, I had to deal with untrained, ill-versed, and bumbling offshore non-English speaking Experian personnel who couldn't or wouldn't respond to any of my questions in a logical, lucid, or helpful way. And I won't detail the over XXXX hours of my wasted time on these phone calls because it would be repetitive. Suffice it to say, the XXXX Experian employees I spoke with didn't have an answer to a single question or a fix to the issue until XXXX weeks and a day later when XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX that XXXX had `` made a mistake. '' I called Experian XXXX times because Experian never followed through on any promises and never indicated how long I would have to wait for my wife 's account to reconnect. Numerous emails stated I had not added an adult to my family plan. However, several Experian agents told me to ignore all those emails as they were automated system messages ( see JPEGs ). All the while, Experian knew it was urgent to know my wife 's FICO score to reduce my mortgage rate with a refinance. Every call I made led to the same promises-not kept hang-ups and transfers to nowhere or the wrong department. I can detail all the calls based on my recordings and hours wasted on the phone with untrained, non-English speaking XXXX and XXXX XXXX workers. However, they are all the samethe right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing at Experian. Experian responses to service and product information can never be counted on, especially from XXXX and XXXX XXXX workers. I now believe that statement is also true for most U.S.-based employees that consumers can speak to. 

Despite my repeated efforts, the issue still requires a resolution. Experian says I must pay them {$470.00} annually or {$11000.00} [ annualized ] over my and my wife 's life expectancy to have the same service I had before I converted to the Family Plan. XXXX XXXX says there is " no other way '' to deal with the misinformation that took 22 days to be recognized by upper management at Experian. I assert that Experian is untruthful and is trying to backtrack on commitments made to hundreds of thousands of customers ( maybe millions ) for XXXX XXXX and XXXX updates XXXX 

Please remember that I indicated at the top of this complaint that I paid for my son 's Experian report. You will find that his credit report continues to be updated by Experian daily and by XXXX and XXXX at thirty-day increments, including FICO Scores ( please refer to XXXX A ). XXXX XXXX told me that XXXX XXXX and XXXX updates are no longer possible in the Experian system. What XXXX XXXX relayed to me is untrue. Please consider the multitude of Experian paying consumers who are given the same information and accept it.

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