Experian/Creditexpert Scam

thomohawk

Hi all,

I recently signed up for Experian/Creditexpert in order to check my credit file as I was about to apply for a mortgage. I signed up via quidco in the hope that I'd receive their cashback offer. Quidco is normally very good at tracking purchases & I have used the site for over a year now, however, my free trial was not tracked. This is not my main issue but was something which I found nonetheless to be strange. Did anyone else have this experience?

My main issue was with my attempt to cancel my membership before having to incur the quite ridiculous £14.99/month fee. Conveniently enough, I could not cancel the membership online so I phoned customer services at premium rate of course & on attempting to cancel was told that there was an erroneous address associated with my account. I was asked if I wanted to keep the account open while it was updated which funnily enough could not be updated there & then but overnight. I agreed that I would like any errors corrected & for the account to remain open while this was performed but for the account to then be closed.

To my surprise I received my credit card bill through & was charged £14.99/month & my account remained open. I then phoned customer services again & was informed that I'd agreed to keep it open for my addresses to be updated, which I concurred with, but that I had been expected to phone again in order to close the account. I found all of this to be verging on a scam as I felt it very convenient that addresses should be flagged as incorrect upon me attempting to cancel my membership & for this process not to be instantaneous. I thought I'd share this with the Moneysavingexpert community in order that others avoid this & also to hear back if anyone else has had similar issues with this company?

iereboy

It only happens to those who do not read the T&C's.

It is quite clear you have to cancel before the free trial.

You can get a landline number to cancel on saynoto0870.

thenudeone

iereboy wrote: »

It only happens to those who do not read the T&C's.

It is quite clear you have to cancel before the free trial.

Agreed.

If the information is wrong they have to correct it by law (Consumer Credit Act and Data Protection Act) regardless of whether you have paid for their "extra" service or not. A £2 statutory credit report shows exactly the same information. There was no need to carry on paying for their monthly service in order to get incorrect data corrected.

However, no harm in pestering them for a refund on the basis that you misunderstood what you were agreeing to.

thomohawk

Iereboy, I think you have misread my post or perhaps I have not made myself clear, I phoned up to cancel my account before the free trial, that was my main reason for phoning Experian, however, when I attempted to do this I was told that an address was wrong & that the account had to remain open until this was corrected. I agreed to have my details updated but then expected the account to be closed as this was my sole purpose for phoning them, however, they kept the account opened, apparently updated an erroneous address but then KEPT the account opened.

MoneySaverForever

I'm sorry to hear about your problems

I too have had a bad experience with Experian because I remember signing up for their services but, for whatever reason, they charged my card twice one month and when I called to try and have my money refunded, I was passed here, there and everywhere which was incredibly frustrating and timewasting! eventually though, I got through to the right person and they said they'd refund my money but didn't even offer an apology for what had happened to be perfectly honest they didn't even seem all that bothered. I then asked for my account to be cancelled but was told they can't cancel my account whilst there's still things being "processed" and so I said I'd call back once my money was returned to my account as it seems you can only cancel your account by calling them (and then being urged to stay). I waited a few days, still no money in my account but when it did finally appear I saw that it was only for half of the £14.99 fee that they'd taken twice from my account and should have been refunded in full. I had to wait another 14 days for them to pay the other half and as soon as I knew it was in my account, called them up and cancelled there and then. I'll never use their "services" again, shocking service, very bad company.

Good luck with everything xxx

Experian_company_representative

We do not use premium rate phone numbers. Main helpline is 0844 (~5p per min) and cancellation line is 0800 (free). You can also cancel by email in the first 14 days of the free trial. You should not have been told that you had to remain a member in order to correct something on your credit report, unless it was something on your CreditExpert membership profile that was incorrect and potentially affecting the data you were seeing. If it was the former, please contact us through the email address on my biog on here and we'll look into this for you.

James Jones

Funkyfreddy

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

We do not use premium rate phone numbers. Main helpline is 0844 (~5p per min) ....

Premium as in it is not a standard geographic number that could well be part of a "inclusive call package" (landline or mobile) that would be at no cost to the user.

Whilst BT (maybe some others now) offer 0845 numbers within (some) of their packages I am not aware that 0844 calls are not so that results in a chargeable call (you state 5p min but from some providers it could be more) of which some revenue ends up with you.

Call it what you want but you make money from the caller being on the line.

FF

rira

I think it's stupid that I will have to post a marriage certificate to experian in order to add my MAIDEN name onto my credit report!

Why not simply have 2 spaces:
Name
Maiden Name

I went there to get an ACCURATE credit report *today* not in a week or two from now.

The service shoots itself in the foot by being ridiculous.

Cancel email sent.

thomohawk

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

We do not use premium rate phone numbers. Main helpline is 0844 (~5p per min) and cancellation line is 0800 (free). You can also cancel by email in the first 14 days of the free trial. You should not have been told that you had to remain a member in order to correct something on your credit report, unless it was something on your CreditExpert membership profile that was incorrect and potentially affecting the data you were seeing. If it was the former, please contact us through the email address on my biog on here and we'll look into this for you.

James Jones

Hi James,

I cannot find an email address to contact you regarding this matter, the links on your profile direct me to the Experian website.

Thanks

3cheesesoup

rira wrote: »

I think it's stupid that I will have to post a marriage certificate to experian in order to add my MAIDEN name onto my credit report!

Why not simply have 2 spaces:
Name
Maiden Name

I went there to get an ACCURATE credit report *today* not in a week or two from now.

The service shoots itself in the foot by being ridiculous.

Cancel email sent.

Er...they ask you at sign up...there's a box that says 'names you have also been known by'...thinking carefully for a nanosecond, is it not possible that men might have different names as well, and might not want to fill out a box that says 'maiden' in it?? Miss it and it's alias form time....what can I say but don't be so hasty in teh future.

3cheesesoup

there was an erroneous address associated with my account. I was asked if I wanted to keep the account open while it was updated which funnily enough could not be updated there & then but overnight.

Again it comes down to following simple on-screen instructions, when you first sign up...did you not think to provide your full address history to start with? If not, why on earth ask for a credit check? If that address omission meant that a CCJ or a default had not showed up on your report, you would be on this forum moaning that Experian wasn't giving you your full information, so they told you what could be missing. It will work on the spot provided you have not already logged in that day, as the report will only generate once per day at the moment of login.