     Patricia Holly (Househunting) | Thursday, November 02, 2000 - 10:56 am 
I signed up about 5 weeks ago for junum.com through carreon and associates. I mailed the power of attorney and all 3 reports to them about 3-4 weeks ago and have heard nothing. I have now been billed for 2 months of service. I emailed their support and attempted to call their 877 number. They have not gotten back to me via email nor does anyone apparently answer the 877 number. Am I being too impatient or does this seem like an excessive amount of time? Does anyone have long-term experience with these guys? |
| Patricia Holly (Househunting) | Saturday, November 11, 2000 - 04:22 pm
An update on this issue. I finally got someone there to call me back after I selected the "call me now" option on the site. It was 3 days later but they did call. They took my reports and generated generic letters without speaking to me. I was not particularly happy about this as I have *valid* disputes I need made with supporting documentation. I have no idea if there generic disputes will work but I highly doubt it since MY previous letters with supporting documentation to the bureaus has not up until this point. I am going to cancel my membership and retain a lawyer. This route is clearly more expensive but I am really at the end of my rope. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Sunday, November 12, 2000 - 09:33 pm
That's disappointing. Please let us know how it goes with the lawyer. |
| Patricia Holly (Househunting) | Thursday, November 16, 2000 - 04:32 pm
Just a brief update. I hired Lexington last week. Now I took their high-end package that includes a pretty decent retainer (not the $35 a month internet special). For my money I have a dedicated paralegal and full access to anyone at the firm via phone without additional charge. They called me the same day I signed up to see if I had any questions. They then called 3 days later to tell me they had ordered my reports for me and had sent me a pre-paid envelope for me to return the reports to them when they got here. I called tonight to discuss documentation and the exact nature of the disputes. They took detailed notes which they read back to me and told me exactly what to send and in what form (photocopies of letters, receipts, etc.). I have a good feeling about this so far. I will post more when I start getting disputes back from the CRAs. |
| frank hardy (Esajh) | Friday, November 17, 2000 - 03:15 am
All I can say Pat is I hope you did not give them your credit card number. There is not much good I can say about them so I tried to keep my mouth shut. However, now that people are using them I believe I should give some of my experience. I must preface this by saying this was only my experience - others may have different reactions.
I too hired them a while ago; however, I used the Internet special. I was with them for a while. I paid the up front 75 bucks and then paid for the 3 credit reports (they would not accept the ones I already had which were on average 3 weeks old.) Yes, I too felt good at first but after a few months I felt funny. I am not a "sit back" kind of person so I must say this up front. I want to know what is going on. Well after a few months I saw nothing going on. I sent them e-mails and got no answer. I would call them, complain that I did not get as much as a response that the CRAs were "investigating" - something all the CRAs do. After my complaint I would get an e-mail stating they would do blah blah blah. After several months I received notice that they were behind and would give me 2 months of free service (since they had done nothing which I proved to them.) After 2 additional months - still nothing. Now I had wasted nearly half a year. I call to cancel my service and sent them an e-mail as well. I was out 75 bucks startup plus 3 months of $35/mo. I sent them 2 complete sets of credit reports at $24 per set for a total of $228 plus long distance phone calls (7 total since I only got a recording on the 800 number) and wasted 5+ months of time. NOT ONE THING CHANGED ON MY REPORT!
Had that been the end of it I would not be writing this post. Once I cancelled my account I still received monthly charges (deductions) from them. They had (as they required then) my credit card and would automatically charge it each month. Well, I could not get them to stop!
For those of you that do not know how they work this is their process (at least back then.) They charge you a startup fee ($75) and then a monthly fee of $35 for as long as you want. They have ads that tout how long things take but suffice it to say, you must get them the credit data, they must send out their "saturation" letters etc. It will take a while. For me there was no need for them once I knew what they were doing. So after these unproductive 5+ months I cancelled. By their (own) information it should have been over - BUT NOOOOOOO!
I kept getting the monthly charges. I would call them, they would apologize and say they would return the fees (and once they did) but then the next month there they were again. I would dispute the charges with the bank but that gets old (and the bank gets tired of it too.) I finally called my Bank's VISA Department directly and asked them to stop paying these monthly fees - just reject them. Guess what? No can do, I had too file a "lost/stolen card" report and then get a new CC. I did that but guess what? A loss card is a negative on your credit card - you got it I lowered my score even more.
I have been able to negotiate with my bank. Since I've been a good, never late, below limit, good user for over 2 years, they removed the lost card from my report. They now simply list it as "account closed at customers request" - after a lot of letters and work on my part. Yes it is a good report except for the fact that my 2+ year account is now closed and in its place sits a new account that is only 5 months old.
So there is little good I can say about them. It is not the money they cost me for nothing, but the negative things they probably unwittingly created. The additional hassles they forced me to go through and ALL THE WASTED TIME!
Take care
Frank |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Friday, November 17, 2000 - 01:05 pm
Much appreciate your posting. It's no wonder I can't get myself to deal with advertisers. Too frustrating. |
| Patricia Holly (Househunting) | Tuesday, November 21, 2000 - 11:53 am
Well this does not bode well for me. Your posting reminds me of the problems I am now experiencing with Junum.com. Let's face it if they charge you per month until the job is done, the incentive to follow through by starting to send out letters right away is no longer there. I am going to give Lexington some time and see if I have better luck. I am not prepared to walk away yet. Wish me luck, apparently I am going to need it. |
| Mike Notnats (Intrestcide) | Wednesday, January 03, 2001 - 07:54 am
I currently have bad credit and signed up with Junum. Hopefully they can provide a light in the darkness, although it seems that I should be cautious because of all these apparent problems. |
| Patricia Holly (Househunting) | Monday, January 08, 2001 - 07:24 am
Update. I received an email from Lexington telling me last week that they had sent out the first batch of letters to all the bureaus and creditors themselves. That would be exactly 7 weeks after signing up. As I said above they ordered my merged report which I received within a month of signing up (approximately). Junum did finally send out letters on my behalf, in late Novemember, shortly before I cancelled my membership with them. They had some success, but they took too long to start the process in my opinion (2+ months after receiving the reports with no contact) and sent form letters not the evidence I had. I got nothing from Experian, only one deletion each on the other two reports. There are about 5 inaccuracies needed on all three (for a total of 15), so the one each is a start.
Another thing, I called Lexington on a Friday afternoon and got through instantly and had the woman who answered read me everything in the database about my account updated whenever they receive something or take action. I was very happy with that. I canceled the credit card Junum was using to charge me so that I didn't run into any problems. Also, I canceled with Junum through a return receipt requested letter. I never got the green card back? I thought the USPS worker made them sign before turning the letter over. I sent out another one this morning. Hopefully, that will go through.
I'll post any success/dissatisfaction I experience with Lexington. Thanks for all the input and advice thus far. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Monday, January 08, 2001 - 09:30 am
Patricia, thank YOU for your continuing updates. This is all NOT very encouraging, it shouldn't take MONTHS to get things going! |
| Zachary1 (Drcredit) | Monday, January 08, 2001 - 01:12 pm
Use a courier service and INSIST on a signature with printed name. |
| Patricia Holly (Househunting) | Tuesday, January 09, 2001 - 05:06 pm
2 additional updates in this vein.
1. I received a copy of my Experian report today with 4 of the 5 negative items successfully deleted! It would be funny if it hadn't been such a painful 2 years of my life fighting with these guys. Junum writes one generic letter on my behalf and accomplishes what my evidence couldn't after 2 years of letters and calls. I am just stumped.
2. Thanks for the courier advice. Another piece that is just blowing my mind. I closed a Providian account a long time ago and have been paying it off. Today on my bill they have a little note saying my account is closed (duh!) AND if I have any merchants still receiving a monthly payment such as a gym, that until the account has a zero balance, their payments will be continued to be processed. It is apparently my responsibility to cancel directly with the company taking the payments. Can you believe it? So what Frank describes above could cause havoc with your card for as long as there is a balance and there is nothing you can do about it. So, sure enough, I called Capital One the guys junum.com is billing through and they just hit my Capital One account again last week a month after closing the account to prevent them from doing just that. I will be paying Capital One off next month but now I have to file a dispute every time they bill my account. Can you believe this? |
| Erik (Erik) | Tuesday, January 09, 2001 - 05:33 pm
nevermind...sorry |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Tuesday, January 09, 2001 - 09:19 pm
Patricia, would you please start a new topic about ENDING pre-authorized billing?
It's a huge problem I'm struggling with too. I can't believe what Providian is doing. |
| Mike Notnats (Intrestcide) | Wednesday, January 10, 2001 - 10:08 am
I just sent in the credit reports Junum ordered for me. It took about a week, but thats not so bad. I'm hopeful though since Patricia says they're generic letters got 4 deletions she couldn't get with proof. Maybe there is hope. |
| Shylock (Shylock) | Wednesday, January 10, 2001 - 05:55 pm
The easiest way to end automatic billing to a credit card is to report the card lost/stolen. |
| Patricia Holly (Househunting) | Monday, January 15, 2001 - 06:04 am
Another tyraid for a moment about junum.com. I asked a guy that works at a Mailboxes, Etc. what he thought about my not getting the card back from junum.com through the postal service. He said that because the address junum.com gives out on their site and in their literature is a P.O. Box number only without a physical address that the letter probably got bundled and put in their box without a second thought by the post office there in Las Vegas. So, I am trying to send another letter via courier or FedEx REQUIRING a signature for delivery. But guess what? I don't have a physical address. They are not listed with information in Las Vegas and as usual they are not answering their 800 number. It just rings and rings. No answer. Whois directory produces an address in So. California. What do I do now? |
| Patricia Holly (Househunting) | Monday, January 15, 2001 - 06:16 am
Ok, ok. I finally got through. They tried to transfer me to someone's voicemail when I asked for a physical address. I lost it. I can't even recount the ridiculousness of it all. I finally got a physical address in Costa Mesa. I'll post it here just in case someone in the future wants to find it themselves.
1590 Corporate Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Ugh. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Monday, January 15, 2001 - 11:35 am
Patricia, just for kicks, you COULD take your original certified mailing receipt to any post-office and request they RESEARCH what happened to your mailing. Maybe you can even inquire at their USPS web site?
I still prefer the fax. (Jfax) It requires the least of MY time, delivery is instant and incredibly cheap (10 cents or so per page.) I feel 100% comfortable with the 3rd party confirmation of receipt and will take those into any court as proof.
And of course it's sad to see Junum do business in this manner. |
| MVoyles (Mel) | Monday, January 15, 2001 - 02:38 pm
If you wrote to them to cancel your service and cancel payments charged to your card, then you can dispute the charges each month on your credit card as unauthorized (doesn't matter if you send it certified or not). Although it may be a pain for you to do it, it's also costly for junum. Anytime a merchant gets a "chargeback" from a credit card, the banks charge them a hefty chargeback fee along with the original amount. The banks do not like these disputed transactions and chargebacks. This is to encourage merchants to NOT process credit transactions that may be risky or disputed. (Believe it or not, the banks are usually on the consumer's side in these matters) Also, if a particular merchant shows a pattern of too many chargebacks they are at risk of losing their privelege of accepting credit cards. So I'd think after a couple months of you disputing and junum having to pay fees, they'll catch on and cancel the monthly charges. |
| Patricia Holly (Househunting) | Sunday, March 18, 2001 - 08:10 am
Yet another update. . .
The latest with Lexington. Even though I received that email from them in January (first week) saying they had sent out my disputes, they did not really go out until the end of the month. That would be 2.5 months after signing up. I consider that to be entirely too long, but whatever they went out. I have started to receive letters back from the bureuas.
This is the breakdown before the letters:
Experian-1 very old deragatory (paid collection)
Trans Union-4 deragatories (paid collection, 2 charge-offs, 1 late payment)
Equifax-4 deragatories (paid collection, 2 charge-offs, 1 late payment)
What Lexington managed to accomplish in this round:
Experian-Deleted 1. (Got a letter saying they would not investigate the one collection account again, they just verified a couple months before. However, when I pulled my report from them yesterday, it was gone.)
Trans Union-Deleted 1. (The collection account is gone. This was only 4 years old and my most recent deragatory, so this was a victory.)
Equifax-Deleted 1, Corrected Another. (The collection account is gone. The late payment was corrected without deleting the otherwise nice, long history.)
So, to summarize. I had 15 deragatories before Junum.com. When they were done, I had 9 deragatories. I had 9 deragatories before Lexington, now I have 5. (And frankly it could go lower as I am expecting an additional letter from Trans Union b/c I got 2 seperate acknowledgements from them about receiving disputes.)
This may not sound like much but you have to realize the accounts in question went nowhere after 2, 3, 4 letters to the bureaus with supporting evidence from me over a 1-2 year period. |
| Patricia Holly (Househunting) | Monday, March 19, 2001 - 06:56 am
I can't spell. Derogatory, not deragatory. My bad. |
