Experian review: charging acct and now acct bounced due to the charge. no permission to charge acct. 68

this same thing happen to me; apparantly this "free" viewing of your credit report isnt so free after all. when you view your credit report; although it said $0.00 it charges you 14.95 after 9 days if you do not call them up and cancel your "automated membership." in the terms and agreement; they say that in order to see the credit report we will be automatically signed up and charged $14.95 on a month to month basis unless canceled and the fee is non-refundable. when i called them; all they could do is cancel my membership and not refund me the $14.95 back. this was a very misleading advertisement. try calling experian customer service at [protected] to resolve it. maybe you'll have better luck than me.

Let me update everybody with a C&P of my correspondence with them.
I just received this message so, I can say that they did cancel my membership.============

We’re sorry to see you go! But we would like to thank you for choosing Experian Direct® as your credit monitoring provider.

This e-mail confirms that we have received your request to cancel your membership. We are currently processing your request, and this change will take effect on 4/19/2010.

No further monthly membership fees will be applied to your credit card.

Rest assured, you will still have unlimited access to the many features and benefits of Experian Direct until 4/19/2010, when your membership expires. At that time, you will receive a final cancellation confirmation e-mail.

We hope you enjoyed your Experian Direct Membership benefits. Should you decide to keep your membership, simply call us toll-free at [protected].
Your Experian Direct membership gives you the confidence you need to look after your credit. We encourage you to log-in regularly to take full advantage of the benefits your membership has to offer, such as unlimited access to your Credit Report and Score Tracker. Notifications like this are an important part of your membership, and in helping you stay on top of your Credit.

Sincerely,

Douglas Sash
Vice President of Customer Care
Experian Direct
Customer Care
[protected]
Monday-Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
Saturday-Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time

I too found this to be a sneaky way to steal innocent people's money.
I filed a dispute with my Discovercard customer service and was told that they
had the right to take this money. I never authorized anything of the such.
This has been going on since last year. I finally was given a phone number
of [protected] to call and cancel my membership. I did call and somebody
that sounded Indian or something like that tried to talk me into keeping my
account. You know that I put my foot down on the subject. Anyway I was told that they would cancel my account by the end of next week.
I guess that they want their last payment. :(

Good Luck to you all with your attempt to cancel..

I wish you would also post on this site, information on how to contact Experian and cancel these charges. I did sign up for a 3-month subscription for $25.95. I only accessed it 1 ONE time and, since the first month, have been charged $14.95 on my credit card. I went online and told them to cancel my subscription. Since then I have had two more charges for $14.95. HELP.

I just got off the phone with "customer service". After an hour of round and round, nothing was solved. He just kept telling me to write to the Consumer Affairs division and file a police report. I asked for their phone number and he said that they didn't have it. Come on - a whole department without a phone number! I asked to speak with a supervisor, who was a real...jerk. She wouldn't give me the phone number either.

I looked on the their website, and it says that if you're a victim of fraud, "we'll hold your hand through the whole process...". I told him that since I'd been paying for their services, with their help, I'd like to start a fraud complaint, against Experian. This stumped him for a bit, but then he went back into his..."write to consumer affairs..." bit. Then he told me to call the FTC and actually gave me their phone number! They're second on my list to call after the BBB, then the Attorney General.

These people are totally incompetent! Think about if you actually did call them for a legit reason, about a credit problem. My guess is that they wouldn't have a clue about what to do. It was also obvious that he was eating and sounded like reading a newspaper or something through the whole call...I guess it was probably dinner time in India, from where he was calling...

Anyhow, I don't blame the phone reps for their incompetence - it's a job, and I'd have a hard time caring if I had a job like that, but this business has got to go!

Exact same experience. Pretty much word for word. They must have a script and training on how to deal with this. General rule, don't do business with companies that try to reassure you that their product is not a scam on their website. But, it's hard to follow that if you don't even sign up! You have to wonder about a company that has on it's website the following...

"Is this a scam?"

"Answer:
-No, this is not a scam. We go to great lengths to include enrollment disclosures and to disclose the terms of our offer on our websites, emails and advertisements. We also ask that our customers agree to our terms and conditions before the transaction can be completed to further ensure the customers understand the agreement.
-If you received a charge on your billing statement, it was because you elected not to cancel your membership before the 7-day free trial expired. This style of membership offer is fairly common and is being used online by video game companies, movie and music providers, and even other credit monitoring companies."

I'm also sure that if you actually do submit a police report, that it would disappear into some back hole, and you'd never hear from them again.

My advice -
Keep asking for a full refund, insist on it - calmly and respectfully.

Keep asking for a higher supervisor.

Insist on having them send a record of exactly when you "ordered" their service and a phone number from which you called.

Don't agree to a submit a police report, this is way too much of a hassle (and they know you won't do it anyway).

Let them know that you're filing complaints with the attorney general, BBB, your credit card company, and actually do so!

Freecreditreport.com & Infoexperiandirect.com Are RIP Offs & By The Way Both Are One In The Same. I Called To Complaint Of Their BOGUS Charges Of $14.95 & Their So Called Manager Informs Me That I Need To File A Police Report Then Fax Over My "Notorized" Police Report To [protected] With Some Reference # That He Gave Me. I AM REPORTING THEM TO THE BBB ASAP!

I WAS GIVEN THEIR ADDRESS OF...
P.O. BOX 19729
Irvine, CA 92623

Don't ever use free FREECREDITREPORT.COM OR INFO.EXPERIANDIRECT.COM. This company offers Free credit, but what they want is to charge you a monthly membership for $15.88 per person. I was charged twice, I cancel last month and they still charged me for the present month. VERY ANGRY .

I went to freecreditreport.com to receive my "FREE" credit report only to find out that I am now being charged $14.95 a month for nothing. I can not find a phone number to dispute the charges. I called my credit card card company and they are disputing the charges but can not assure me that it will not happen next month. I could not find a phone number on Experian's website to dispute these charges. This is absurd. What don't they understand about the word FREE!

Very Angry.

Experian Direct is ridiculous! freecreditreport.com is so misleading! I signed up to get a "free" credit report and was charged $14.95 on my account. I called to find out what that was and they give me this line about how it is clearly stated in the terms and conditions of the website. The trial period is only seven days. At least I caught it after the first charge. They said the amount was not refundable. What a joke!

Annoyed.

I checked my neice's credit report & score in October for to show her how they worked. INFO.EXPERIANDIRECT.COM started charging her debit card and my credit card $14.95 on the 28th of each month starting on 10/28/09. I did not sign my neice or myself up for their service. When I contacted the company, there started asking me all sorts of personal questions. Had I signed up for a legitimate service, they would have already had my imformation. As luck would have it they charged my AMEX card. On my January AMEX bill, I have been credited with the four charges of $14.95. A total of $59.80

I have contacted the FBI to inform them of this fraud.

i have also been charged the past 3 months with a total of $48.84, after canceling this service... i understood that when you sign up, you get the FIRST MONTH free but additional monthly charges every month. I did cancel the service but, just noticed that they were still charging me 3 months later... i am glad i just noticed this now.. so i called (which the phone number was hard to get ahold of) and talked to the woman nicely and she told me that their was an issue with the computer systems and i will be refunded the money in the next 7 to 10 business days...

You all just have to read the fine print, because it has happened to me before with Acai Berry pills and i was overdrawn my bank account and took forever to get refunded for all the fee's!

Please explain why I am being charged $16.28, what for and I hope not again...

On Credit CARD statement, charged $16.28, WHAT FOR?Please explain...

This has happen to me and I want to know howto stop it. I cancelled the subscription within tha alloted time frame not to be charged and I did notice the charges until they had colleted two payments. This is nonsense and should be stopped. I want to scream for what I have to go throught to stop them from charging my acount.

I fell victim of this experian direct scam this Dec 2009. I went to experian.com to check my credit score. While I browsed their website I saw the their offer for a free credit report and score. I clicked on it and applied noting that they offer it free for 30 days before charging the credit card. But to my amazement, I caught them charging my credit after only 9 days hence I am now in the process of disputing with my bank. I am not sure where else to complain about their scam. Please email me if you have an idea at in_syte@live.com. TY.

I have the same problem. Luckily, I caught it immediately, so only incurred one month. But it took me over 10 minutes to convince the woman on the phone that I don't want the 14.95 package or the 9.95 package or the 5 dollar package, I am trying to CANCEL. (Needless to say, I am steamed.)

I'm the latest to be caught in this fraudulent scheme; charged 14.95 for two months before noticing it and like many of you Experian won't rescind the charges. Ujuswait and Masc, your class action lawsuit seems like a good idea.

Same problem here in Austin TX.
Has anybody found a way to get rid of these charges?
Wolf Metzner
[protected]

I also got a fraudulent withdrawal of 14.95 from my checking account. Called my bank and they called Experian and we had a conference call. Experian will not refund my money
stating that I requested a credit report in back in May which is a bunch of bull. Experian said they will not deduct any more money from my checking acct. Woopy but I'm still out $14.95. At least call Experian and have them cancel future deductions

THESE PEOPLE ARE INCREDIBLY DISHONEST AND HAVE NO CONSCIENCE ABOUT STEALING AND LYING ABOUT THEIR SERVICES. THE CHARGES THEY STICK TO UNSUSPECTING CONSUMERS ARE TOTALLY UNREASONABLE. THEY LET UNAUTHORIZED PEOPLE BILL A CREDIT CARD THAT DOES NOT EVEN BELONG TO THEM AND THEN REFUSE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR PERPETUATING A CONTINUED FRAUD. I HOPE THEY ALL BURN.

Stop this nonsense of charging people for services that were not properly explained nor ordered, this is the perfect recipe for a class action lawsuit that Experian Direct will end up with, , there are demonstrating the classic predators that are in this world! I have been charge the sum of $14.95 for three or more months for services I don't even know about. I called my credit card company and they will put a stop to this, as I am not the only one that has experience this, , This people should be ashamed of themselves for being part of a credit monitoring company and someone in the government should be monitoring their practices as well. I will make sure that a class action lawsuit is filed against this company and will never use their services ever again.

Beyond Angry.

Call them. You might have been scammed like my husband was. He wanted a free credit report and instead was signed up for a free trial for seven days. If he did not cancel before then he would be agreein to join and charged $29.95 monthly. Find out their website, get their number and credit card charged. Ask them to cancel you subscription to whatever it is they are subscribing you to. Do it soon since my husband was only refunded present month. When you call I suggest you get the name of the person you are talking to and their agent number if they have one. Keep it for your records. We cancelled our "account" and yet were billled again just yesterday. So when you call you can have some refernce, because they will probably try to keep charging you otherwise.

Exact same thing happened to me. I was charged $14.95 a month for 6 months and customer service said they can only return one month of charge to me since by not telling them I don't want the membership after 7 day trial period I authorized them to charge me. I asked to talk to the manager, they said he is busy and I should take my complaint and write a letter to a POB. I did and never heard back from them. This is a dirty trick they play on us the innocent consumer. I probably threw away their membership letter in the trash since I get hundreds of junk mails and they knew so they prey on this. This is not a matter of money, it's deceptive business practice and if they can con 20 customers a day they will make millions of dollars in a few month. This calls for a class action lawsuit.

Angry and won't let up Ujustwait.

i am being charge 14.95 a month for something i don't want .I need to know how I can stop this charge. I did not approve this charge.

I also did not authorize Info Experian Direct to charge me $14.95 a month. How did this happen? I will be stopping payments immediately. How did they get into my ATM account to do this? I am outraged! What can I do to stop this from happening to others?
A Very Angry Rockygirlcat

This has happened to us on several occasions now! We have been trying to find the site that is charging our account without our consent but today is the first day that I was able to locate one. This month alone they have charged my account $14.95 twice. I will be contacting them tomorrow but I am sickened at the fact that they think they can do this to consumers! Enough is enough!

This happened to me today to. Same amount, same company. I never agreed to a subscription. They just randomly charged me out of the blue like 6 months after I got a credit report. Kinda ironic, a Credit report company using business practices that can trash your credit...what crooks. Fortunately, my bank caught the charge as fraud and declined, but alerted me nonetheless. I guess its the last time I get a credit report from experian.