Experian credit report incompetance

ericpode

Several years ago I ordered a statutory credit report from Experian. I think I had to phone them at the time because my address was a bit non-standard. It was quite straightforward and I received my report a few days later.

However I tried to order my credit report from Experian's web site again in January 2011.

My address has the format:

3 Gasworks Row
High Street
Toytown

We occasionally get letters for "3 High Street" which is a completely different address - so getting the format of the address right is very important.

Experian's online form had a field for house name and another for street. The house name field would not accept a number within it, and the street name required a number. So I was a bit stuck.

The only phone number on thier web site seems to be for their Credit Expert customers. I could not find a way to actually talk to someone for help with a problem they have with THEIR web form.

So after some struggling I managed to input to the form

THREE Gasworks Row
High Street
ToyTown

Unsurprisingly, I received an email saying they could not validate my address and asked me to send a passport photocopy etc.

I could not find out how to contact them, so I resorted to a Google search which found an email address on one of their own web pages. I emailed them telling them that their web form refused to accept my address and that I had successfully ordered a report before at this address.

I received an email reply asking me to download a paper form and send it to them, so I completed the form and snail-mailed it back to them.

Several weeks later I still haven't received my report. I have a horrible foreboding that it may have been sent to 3 High Steet.

My address (and my neighbours') is actually in the post-code database in the correct format. I've ordered goods from several online suppliers in the past and they all seem to be driven by the post code database - my address appears correctly on the screen and I just select it - job done.

I'm amazed that Experian has such a poor address input form that it can't even validate an address that is in the post code database, and MUST be in their own database aswell (this is credit reference agency, custodian of all our personal data after all!). And then makes it so difficult to overcome the problem by actually talking to someone.

It feels like they are being obstructive in providing a report that they are obliged to by law.

Sorry this is such a rant, but I would have expected a lot better care over postal addresses from a credit reference agency.

adindas

This organisation is useless, does not do any good to society ....

I still can not understand it is the data about you but when you need it you need to pay for it.

When they make mistakes or transfer the mistakes from the banks, you suffer because you can not get credit.

When you need to correct you still need to put a lot of effort ...

Do not let them take a penny from you