     Christine Baker (Admin) | Monday, March 26, 2001 - 08:32 pm 
You can't imagine how sick I am of Equifax.
Last Friday their system was down from early afternoon until they eventually closed, and again this afternoon for a while.
1) Their hours SUCK! Working people who don't have the luxury of a private office and phone can't reach Equifax by phone at all. 8 - 5 EST Mon - Fri.
2) Hold times are excessive. Many times 30 minutes +
3) They refuse to discuss credit reports with spouses.
4) They tell people that all they need to do is fax the Power of Attorney, but it can take hours to get through to that fax number.
5) At the end of the day, they shred all those PoAs, at least that's what some Equifax employees say.
6) Angela, supervisor Team B told me that all I can do is FAX my PoA WITH the actual dispute, they will then launch an investigation within 72 hours. They will NOT discuss anyone elses credit with me.
That's in direct conflict with the "we shred all faxes at the end of the day."
And yes, I have discussed client credit reports with Equifax people on the phone.
7) The on-line reports:
a) I could NOT find the creditors' addresses and phone #s anywhere. Exception: derogatory accounts.
What about accounts with no lates that don't belong to you, are closed with 0 balances but show outstanding balances and open, etc. etc?
They told me on the phone that this creditor info was not included in the on-line reports.
b) I couldn't find a way to print a comprehensive report including ALL data.
The on-line report should produce a printed report similar to what they snail mail.
c) They claim that you get access to a "preferred" customer service number by ordering on-line. When I called there, I eventually got to a person who could not even view the report. It's "tech" support only.
8) When I wanted fax or snail mail info to bring to their attention that one of their customers (collection agency) is violating the FCRA, they first referred me to the FTC.
When I told them that I want the Equifax contact, they referred me to some customer service #. I tried SEVERAL people, they were all consistent in their efforts to minimize complaints by sending me to the FTC. It's obvious what's important in their training.
After being on hold 30+ minutes at that number I gave up. Equifax doesn't want to hear complaints.
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That's all I can think of right now. If anyone figured out how to print the entire report, please post.
Also, in spite of all my complaints about their lousy service and system, I still recommend the Equifax on-line report.
It's nice to be able to initiate some basic disputes on-line and it's still easier for me to print 5 different screens than dealing with incomplete faxes from my clients. |
| Koona (Koona) | Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 10:30 am
Go to www.equifax.com ,now in the top left green banner click on Consumers,which bring you to Member login.After logging in click on whatever you have ordered(to the right of My Products).
This will bring up your online report.Now in the blue banner at the top of the page click on Print View-
This should give you a printable report that looks and feels more like the snailmail version. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 12:31 pm
Thanks, I just tried that again.
Here is what's missing:
1) The creditor contact info. It contains NONE of the addresses/phone numbers.
2) It states "Prior Paying History" with each account - followed by NOTHING.
I have to log BACK in and go to credit information, then click on the "Details" for EACH account.
Now, maybe the LACK of info indicates that there were no lates?
3) The report is also missing the 24 months history that creditors get when they run our credit. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 01:37 pm
Equifax states in the Dispute section:
** A Priority 800 number is also provided when you purchase **
Going to the contact info, I find:
1-888-532-0179
Option:
1) identity verification/password problems
2) tech support
3) Questions about scores: recorded message refers to FAQ on web.
Last Friday I was on hold for 25 minutes, today about 20 minutes.
I was told that because creditors don't get the contact info for each account, consumers aren't entitled to it either.
After all, ** I ** should know how to contact my creditors.
Wow! |
| Shylock (Shylock) | Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 05:09 pm
Customer support lines are usually rated by the number of 'dropped calls.' That is the number of people who call, get on hold, and hang up before they talk to a person. Once they hit, let's say, 10% dropped calls they'll add another person. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 05:22 pm
Interesting. So, people who got spare time should just hit that redial button a lot and hang up right away to improve customer service? |
| Koona (Koona) | Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 06:53 pm
The 1-888-532-**** number for equifax is their generic number.Go to -Personal Data-and @ near bottom of page,below Investigate Your File,is the 800 # to call.Took me about 5-6 min to get a real person.I always ask for an updated file to verify the new changes (action taken) and a new confirmation #which adds 60 days to the time you can call,investigate using the new # and it's still a soft and below the line inquiry.This also gets you a mailed hard copy and a new free peek @ your file 35-45 days later. |
| Shylock (Shylock) | Wednesday, March 28, 2001 - 04:52 am
Christine:
I doubt that one person would have the ability to affect the dropped call percentage for a nationwide firm, but if you knew the hold times were excessive and you wanted to increase the number of dropped calls you could probably hook your modem up to accomplish that for you.
Assuming that you decided every call should be answered within three minutes you could generate almost 20 additional dropped calls per hour. Assuming Equifax gets 50,000 calls an hour this technique would increase the dropped calls by only about .04 of a percent. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Wednesday, March 28, 2001 - 08:15 am
Interesting.
And Koona, I think you're referring to the 800-255-0801 number, and that's the one I was calling since Friday. My average hold was at least 1/2 hour. Of course their system was down (they call it updating) most of Friday and part of Monday.
I always ask for an updated file to verify the new changes (action taken) and a new confirmation #which adds 60 days to the time you can call,investigate using the new # and it's still a soft and below the line inquiry.This also gets you a mailed hard copy and a new free peek @ your file 35-45 days later.
That's nice to know, thanks! |
