A couple years ago, ABN AMRO Mortgage Group, Inc. sent me a letter indicating that it had lost a tape containing sensitive information about its customers. To make up for it, they gave me a free 90-day subscription to TrueCredit, a credit monitoring system that notifies you in the event that anything changes on your credit report. If someone tries to take out a loan or sign up for a credit card using your name, TrueCredit notifies you via email.
I used the service for 90 days. If I remember correctly, ABN AMRO extended the free subscription for an entire year. I loved the service. Eventually my free subscription expired, and I chose not to pay for it. I figured I’d just download a free credit report once a year.
TrueCredit kept emailing me with special offers, and one day I decided to sign up for a free 30-day trial. I never had any intention of continuing beyond the 30-days. I just wanted a free copy of my credit report.
Just before my 30 days were up, I logged in to TrueCredit and started looking for an option to cancel the account. There is no such option. You have to call. I called and told the person who answered that I wanted to cancel my account. He asked why, so I told him that I just wanted the free report. I said I thought the service was excellent and offered many benefits, but I was unwilling to pay for it at this time. He then launched into a long series of benefits and recommended that I continue the service. I said, “No. I understand the benefits, and I still want to cancel the service.”
He continued, this time with scare tactics. If I discontinue the service, I will no longer have identity theft insurance, and if someone steals my identity, it could really cost me some money… blah, blah, blah. I told him that I understood and I still wanted to cancel the service. I had to repeat my desire to cancel the service no fewer than five times.
This is one of my pet peeves. If I can sign up for a service online, I think I should be able to opt out online, too. And if I call to cancel, I shouldn’t have to tell the person five to ten times that I want to cancel. Once, maybe twice, should be enough.
The gentleman I talked with told me he would cancel my account. He gave me a confirmation number and sent me an email message confirming the cancellation. It ended well, but what a hassle. This will make me think twice about ever signing up for these free services, even with legitimate companies.
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Yep, went EXACTLY as Terry and others described. Just keep saying no, no, no! There was a twist, the customer rep mentioned a new “free service” at http://www.truecredit.com/messenger that updates you when there is a change in your credit report, which means you get know there is a change, however insignificant, and then sign up and pay again, no thanks.
Not having a method to cancel online is predatory in my opinion. Predatory of people that either aren’t comfortable with these kind of sales tactics, or predatory of people who don’t have the time to call and wait on hold.
Just called them to cancel my account (I did pay for few months after the 30 days trial). Took only about a minute since I was a little rude and stopped him every time he wanted to tell me about the “benefits”.
what is the number you can call to speak to one of the reps about canceling the account?
The phone number is: 1800-493-2392
Thanks to all of your posts, I was prepared when I called to cancel my service. Yes, the rep did try to tell me why I should keep the service, but your posts helped me stay firm, and in under 5 mins I was told I’d receive an email regarding cancellation….., with no more pressure. Thanks to you.
Thanks so much for this. I was trynna figure this out for a while and had I come across this blog 15 days back, I would have saved some bucks for this month’s subscription.
I am happy it ended with one.
Thanks ya all. Cheers..!!
Thanks so much for this. I was trynna figure this out for a while and had I come across this blog 15 days back, I would have saved some bucks from this month\’s subscription.
I am happy it ended with one.
Thanks ya all. Cheers..!!
I believe the trick is not to give them a reason for why you want to cancel. When they asked me I said “no i just want to cancel” and he didn’t ask me any more questions, or tell me about any benefits … time <1min, no need to interrupt!
I just called to cancel and had to wait on hold for 5 minutes before talking to someone. I told them I wanted to cancel and tried to be “rude” to get through it fast but it didn’t work, I was on the phone for another 5 minutes listening to her try to convince me, with scares and an offer for 7.95/month instead. Ugh
I tried calling the number. The phone number no longer works. I get some automated operator response about how the call cannot be connected. Frustrating
the number works just fine, i just called it and got a lady. I just said i want to cancel every time she talked. off the phone in one min lol/
took less than a minute. Just cut the person off everytime they try to ask you something and tell them you want to cancel. No problems at all. These people do try to sell their product though!
If you want to cancel a subscription just call this number
(800) 493-2392. They’ll try to convince u to pay less but just keep telling them u don’t need it.
Thanks for the post Joe! When I looked for the cancel option on my trial account and didn’t find one I figured it was something like this.
Sad to think that the business strategy of building websites for credit reporting agencies has deception and inconvenience built into the user experience. Pretty creepy.
im on the phone with them now,and per the original post .they went into all the benefits and since i been a member for a few years and now i recieved a lower rate,so my sugestion would be if any one of you are a loyal member of true credit. contact them at 800) 493-2392 and let them know that you want a better rate.but for those who do not want to continue service with them,tell them you want to cancel due to financial reasons and most of the time,they do understand ..
I received a phone call from one of my credit card companies informing me of a suspicious charge. They confirmed with me that I didn’t make the charge and cancelled the card and re-issued another account number/card. I then became worried so I wanted to check my credit reports. A couple of years ago I received a notice from Disney Stock Company stating their off-site storage company lost a box of financial documents and wanted to pay for credit report monitoring for the next several years. Since this has since lapse, I checked TransUnion and was offered a free credit report trial through TrueCredit. I forgot to cancel within the “free trial” period. I contacted them yesterday (11/29/10) to cancel. Apparently their website states you have to call 1-800-493-2392 to request the cancellation. I spoke with Ann at 11:50 p.m. She told me I should receive an e-mail confirming the cancellation of benefits. Since I also signed up for a free trial with Experian around the same timeframe, I called them on 11/30/10 at 3 p.m. to cancel. I received a confirmation e-mail within minutes of my call. I then called TrueCredit because I didn’t receive my e-mail yet. I spoke with Annette on 11/30/10 at 3:30 p.m. who informed me that I would receive an e-mail in 30 days but no sooner. I asked why and she told me because that is when the next billing cycle starts. I became very frustrated and asked to speak to a manager. She transferred me to Julius. He sounded foreign and refused to help me. I told him I should receive a letter/e-mail. He told me he couldn’t do that. He said that he would not be able to send a letter because they don’t send letters. I asked for an e-mail confirmation. He said an e-mail is not a letter. I told him maybe he needed more education on proper business etiquette and customer service. He again kept telling me that he was going to end the call. I told him to transfer me to someone who could take my concerns and address them. He told me I would have to call back. I told him he was being ridiculous and called him a jerk. He again told me that I was not going to receive an e-mail from them because he cannot do that. I asked him then why have I received 4 e-mails from TrueCredit within the past week and now I cannot have a written confirmation of my request for cancellation. He told me it was not going to happen. I asked for his name with his last name and ID number. He told me he could only give me his first name of Julius. I asked him for an initial of his last name and he told me he couldn’t give that to me. He gave me his number as 6363. I asked him if his last name was Cesar and he hung up on me. I contacted American Express and had TrueCredit blocked from any further charges to my credit card number they had on file. I was glad to hear that American Express will block them for up to 4 years. They asked if I wanted the $14.95 contested; however, since I didn’t cancel within the alloted time frame, I could not do that in good conscious. I then searched the internet for problems with TrueCredit and I was amazed at the complaints. I am filing a complaint with my local Better Business Bureau as well. I then re-read the membership agreement on their website. I contacted TrueCredit again (third phone call). I spoke with Emily at 5:36 p.m. She told me she was unable to send me an e-mail requesting the cancellation due to security reasons. I told her I understood they have been investigated in the past for fraudulent charges as well as being investigated by the attorney general for these same issues as well. I told her that I was not going to stop pursuing something in writing until this got resolved. She transferred me to a supervisor named Noah. He explained to me that there are two issues they can handle this as: The first one was a “stop renewal” option. This wouldn’t be used since I already paid the $14.95. The other option of cancellation was not used because if they use this then the membership is immediately cancelled and I cannot view my reports for the next 30 days which apparently I have already paid for. I explained to him the letter I received from Experian stated: “this e-mail confirms that we have received your request to cancel your membership. We are currently processing your request, and this change will be take effect on 12/27/2010. No further monthly membership fees will be applied to your credit report.” I asked him why I couldn’t receive something similar from them. He told me they couldn’t because they are system generated. I then okayed the immediate termination from them since I was tired of trying to get this resolved with them. I hope to never have to deal with them ever again. It is not right. It is my information. I agree with the other complaintants that if I can sign up online, I should be able to cancel online as well.
Haven’t tried to cancel with them yet but I will be doing so within the next hour. Extremely embarrassed right now as I’m talking to the firm that runs credit reports for the owner of a condo I’m trying to rent and after looking at three scores in the mid to high 700s on truecredit for the past 2 months and an Equifax score of 779 from them after an update done 15 minutes ago, I’m having to send them an Equifax report directly from Equifax that says I’m at 676!
I know these FAKO scores are supposed to be +/- 20-30 points but for crying out loud! 103 points high?! What’s the point? I already have Lifelock for identity theft plus CreditKeeper from each one of my card companies and an account at MyFico.com on top of it. I was using TrueCredit to cross reference but if the scores are this far from any basis in reality I’m simply going to dump that $14.95 a month. I guess I’ll be back if I have another cancellation horror story to add but I agree. There should be a cancel button in very plain view on the account details page.
Wish me luck.
If you want to skip the hassel of talking with a rep just change the credit card you have on file to one that has expired. They will end up closing your account since they can’t get any money from you.
Omg…realy bad experience when I tried to cancel my account 5mins ago. The man I talked to wont let me cancel it, even if I no and was rude. Ill try to again later.. .ugghhh…
I wanted single “free ” report. Had thought maybe had cancelled online right away- but you know how ambiguous they make this. ONly noticed charges on credit card after three months.
In calling to cancel told rep. all this and said I wanted refund for the three months too. He first said he could only cancel, then said he could refund two months but I’d have to call back Monday to get the first month’s refund — after I said I would be writing the better business bureau and my legislature about trucredit deceptive business practices. He did give me a cancellation confirmation number and said I’d been credited for the two months. (We’ll see) Later he said he’d made a note for them to recognize when I call back for the first month’s refund.
He seemed to have done this before and was fairly straightforward.
I canceled the “free” service back in August, before the 90-day trial was up. Lo and behold, they continued charging me. I just called again, and received another confirmation (again) that the service was canceled. I will report them to the authorities if I see one more charge on my account.
Just cancelled my 3-credit bureau monitoring service with TrueCredit.com. I only had it for two days, and only signed up to get a copy of my credit report for free. When I signed up, they said it was free for seven days and then they would charge me, so of course I wanted to cancel way ahead of that seven days to avoid any issues.
After reading on this blog that you could only cancel over the phone, and that it’s a huge hassle to do so, I was not looking forward to making that call. I did call just now, however, and amazingly, the customer service rep immediately cancelled my subscription, gave me a conf # and sent an email confirming as well, without any rigamarole or sales pitching. Awesome!
I guess *somebody* has been reading consumer complaints about their practices. Now if they would only give an option to cancel one’s subscription directly from the website, they’d have made vast strides.
I tried to cancel my account the following day and they did not process my cancellation. Fortunately, I remembered that I did not receive a cancellation notice and had to call a second time when the representative told me “according to you, you called last week…” Not according to ME according to the facts. According to my phone record bitch. Shady people.
Took about 30 seconds to cancel, as soon as he asked why I wanted to cancel I told him “just cancel it!!”. It’s sad that companies like this force us to be a-holes.
Oh my gosh, so good to read of so many with similar frustrations as me. I did that same thing, with the free 7-day trial and then I couldn’t figure out how to cancel. They charged me. I was furious. Googled it, found this blog.
Now, armed with all your stories, I called them. Said one time, I wanted to cancel, wanted a refund, thought they should have an easy way to cancel on the website.
Guy said it was in the agreement that you have to call but that he could help me. He cancelled me and said the refund would also be issued immediately, but that it might take the banks a few days to finish processing it. I could not believe it was that easy.
Someone over there is reading this blog!
I just experienced this today. They changed their services from getting all three credit scores for $9.95 a month to $14.95 a month and you only get the TransUnion Score now. In order to get the other scores you have to pay an extra $30.
She kept saying that she’d give me service for free .. for X number of months. I kept asking her if it would give me all three scores for $9.95 a month – she finally said no and I told her to cancel then. Then she got snooty with me and rambled off my confirmation number so quickly that I had to ask her to repeat it. Then she talked to me like I was stupid and said, “Let me repeat that for you X pause X pause..” I will NEVER use them for anything again.
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