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I have spent a very large amount of time over the past few years attempting to correct Equifax's record of my information (all to the now-apparent end of reduci
by ahelwer 9y ago
I have spent a very large amount of time over the past few years attempting to correct Equifax's record of my information (all to the now-apparent end of reducing noise in the hacker's data). They somehow had my SSN associated with someone else, leading to a few rejected credit applications.
Equifax customer service reps are very poorly trained. The singular goal of all Equifax employees with whom I interacted was to make me Someone Else's Problem. To that end, they deployed several tactics:
* Telling me I'm calling the wrong Equifax customer service phone number
* Telling me I'm calling the wrong new Equifax customer service phone number
* Telling me to mail in just one more piece of identification
* Telling me they never received snail-mailed documents
* Telling me received snail-mailed documents "were not yet in the system" (over a week after receipt)
* Telling me to fax documents, not mail them
* Telling me the fax number I have is old, wrong, and no longer used
* Telling me the new fax number I have is old, wrong, and no longer used
* Telling me to call the bank providing my credit card, and get them to send my info to Equifax
* Mysteriously hanging up
* Again telling me the identification documents provided were insufficient
Finally I just sat on the phone for several hours with a customer service agent who had not yet discovered the complete lack of consequences for hanging up, asking what additional information would be provided by whatever additional piece of ID they were requesting. It escalated up the supervisor chain a few times, went on hold for half an hour, then I was just suddenly told the problem was taken care of and disconnected.
The problem wasn't taken care of, and the perpetual complimentary credit monitoring service subscription I have from some past data breach other another continued to fail its Equifax enrollment. Finally, a year, later, the problem fixed itself.
This company is trash.
- emodendroket 9y agoThat's what most large call centers are like. When I worked in one the factors in your evaluation were: 1) "handle time" (i.e., time on the phone per customer) 2) callbacks within a set time period 3) customer surveys 4) spot checks of recordings for adherence to company policy. So naturally, if you have a difficult case the most logical thing to do is find some within-the-rules way to transfer the customer to someone else (you couldn't just do this capriciously; the circumstances under which it was allowed were enumerated), where they won't be able to answer a survey for you and they're someone else's problem, or else to put them through a process where they aren't supposed to get an answer for weeks. One popular technique at the place I worked was deliberately needling customers so they'd get upset and ask to cancel or speak to a "supervisor" -- both valid reasons to transfer a call to another department and wash your hands of it. Since your failure to do well on the metrics was tied to a big chunk of your pay you were highly incentivized to game the metrics in this and similar ways.
- PaulHoule 9y agoThis is just not always true. I sometimes have a bad time with a call center but often I call a call center and get prompt and efficient service. If you tar them all with one brush, you are giving the bad ones a pass.
- emodendroket 9y agoFor a very large call center I'd say you're getting prompt and efficient service if your problem is a supported scenario. Something novel and your odds aren't that good.
- rhizome 9y agoSo what are the ways around that? What were the frustrating loopholes in which reps were forced to deal with the customer's problem?
- emodendroket 9y agoWell, the cancelation guys and the fake supervisors could grant exceptions front-line reps weren't allowed to so you can probably just ask for a supervisor. Also, considering the amount of abuse many reps get, they're way more likely to do whatever they can to help if you're not rude or demeaning.
- harryh 9y agoObligatory link to patio11's extremely helpful blog post on how to deal with these kinds of issues: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-reports/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-re... Rule #1 is never try to fix things over the phone. Do it in writing and keep a record of everything you send and receive.
- ahelwer 9y agoYes, I very much wish this post existed during my time dealing with Equifax.