Equifax charging for "Equifax Identity Watch" [Edited Title]

StaffsSW

CoolHotCold wrote: »

I thought you were talking rubbish, but no, this website does indeed link to a unique identifier that associates clicks to a promoter account which pays out money to the owner of the website (though Martin does give links to TopCashBack too)

And he also gets a payout for every click that goes through to TCB/Quidco as well...

Double bubble.:money:

Within the affiliate industry, he is known to be one of the biggest earners in the UK - well over 7 figures per year, and conceivably £10m+ in affiliate payouts...

"Free from Ads"? This site is one huge series of advertisments.

boydepaname

Hi,

Don't usually post here, but I just wanted to let people know about my experience.

I signed up for the Equifax free trial and cancelled a couple of days after on the phone. I got an extremely unclear customer service rep who confused me talking about signing me up for free alerts. Needless to see having got off the phone and doing a quick google search I found this thread.

I immediately phoned back and forced them to cancel Identity Watch there and then. They were extremely persistent but finally gave in. So my advice would be: make triple sure you have cancelled any and every service you have or might have been signed up to.

Ugh, last time I deal with Equifax (I hope).

ajw1974

I had the same thing. The first time we cancelled, and notice further charges, and 1 year ago had major difficulties with them to get it stopped.

1 year later, my wife notices £2.99 taken out every month the last three months (i know, should check carefully every month). Eventually got through to them. They are deliberately unclear and try to confuse you on the phone. The allege that we agreed to a further 1 years free trial of 'identity watch' - which is rubbish, as we were furious last time and wanted them to cancel everything.

The would only refund the 1 payment and email to confirm cancellation and refund. They refused to give me an email address to complain to, they said i had to 'log in' and 'raise a dispute'. As i no longer trust them, and there would be no 'trail' of evidence of emails sent, i demanded an email address. I argued until i could speak to someone senior.

Eventually they agreed to refund all 3 months and cancel, but still no email address for complaints. The best they can do apparently is a PO Box in Bradford.

I guess the reason they ask for cred / deb card details - and not a standing order or direct debit - is because the whole plan is to make money on these sneaky little charges. Imagine 1000s of them going unnoticed. With card details, they can take money whenever they want, but a DD/SO - i could log in online and cancel permanently anytime.

The same reason they make it very hard to cancel the free trial online, and the same reason they refuse to give an email address (whoever heard of that?) - they plan to scam money from the beginning.

I don't trust them not to start debitting both of us again in future so we are cancelling our debit cards and getting new ones. Drastic but i don't trust equifax one bit. Scammers.

wealdroam

There are two email addresses in this post.

Perhaps worth a try.

hannerrbabes

This just happened to me! I haven't been charged anything yet. I called up to cancel a free trial of something, and the woman on the phone added another thing without my consent! Or maybe she did ask me but I couldn't understand her accent

Ga31

I got scammed by equifax too.

Was a subscriber for a while; then phoned one day to cancel. A year to the day later a charge for £2.99 appears on my credit card bill.

I think the original equifax operative must have put me on this 'identity watch' without my consent when I phoned to cancel over a year ago. Regardless, any half decent company would at least send a reminder email or letter saying 'hey, your trail's nearly up and we'll start taking £2.99 a month from you soon'. I just happened to spot the charge on my bill the first month it was taken.

Tried emailing but no response. Phoned the 0800 066 5825 number I got from one of the other threads on here. Tried to be polite as I could and managed to get the thing cancelled and a refund.

Shake

Just noticed a £2.99 charge 7th April 2014 on my credit card statement described as Equifax Ltd Apr. I canceled my 1 month trial a year ago (using the freephone number Tel 0800 0665825 which still works today). The salesman was very pushy and said I could have a free monthly alert service, to which I replied yes as long as its definitely free. He confirmed it was free and did not mention any charges. Even the confirmation email I received for this 'order' of Identity Watch™ Lite, Status Complete, Total billed £0.00 - no mention of further fees. THIS IS VERY BAD PRACTICE EQUIFAX! Make sure you never agree to any form of monthly alerts from this company unless you are happy paying for them or chasing refunds further down the line because Equifax operations are evidently susceptible to corrupt oversea call centre salesman malpractice.

ghm501

Just checked online bank Equifax have taken £2.99 as some kind of direct debit how do i stop this and get my refund

wealdroam

ghm501 wrote: »

Just checked online bank Equifax have taken £2.99 as some kind of direct debit how do i stop this and get my refund

There is only one kind of Direct Debit.

There is good advice in earlier posts in this thread.

Marker_2

I have been scammed under this also. I remember quite clearly the lady on the phone saying 'you may as well have it, its free'. No talk of being charged after the 12 months at all. I am currently disputing it dating back to March 2014 (yes naughty ive only just noticed).

Only reason I even noticed it was being refused credit because of Equifax, to find they hold no current correct details of me, despite being on the electoral roll.

How can I possibly pay them to protect my identity when they have simple things like my address wrong?