CIC Credit Report ripoff, deceptive billing of $79.95 Orange County California

A few months ago I was looking to find my credit report because I was applying for a credit card and wanted to make sure my credit history was clear. I looked online and found a free credit report via ConsumerInfo.com or CIC. They lured me in with the free trial and told me I could cancel at anytime, but they never even found my credit report so I never visited the site again.

This was a few months ago, and recently I noticed a $79.95 charge to my account. That's kind of a lot of money to a starving college student like me, so I immediately found out what I could about getting my money back. Of course I could have cancelled sooner, but on the website it doesn't really show you how, and it turns out you have to call them to canel, and they'll leave you on hold for just about as long as they possibly can.

I cancelled and received an email stating that they would credit the $79.95 charge back to my account because I was within the 6 month money-back guarantee period. They said that would take about 7-10 business days so I'll know for sure if they'll do what they say, but for anyone like me who has just found a charge of 80 bucks to their account that they didn't know was going to be there, call them immediately to cancel and ask for your money back. It does state in the terms and conditions that if you do not cancel within the free trial period your account will be billed, so I suppose legally they've done nothing wrong, but that doesn't mean you have to pay them. I'm sure credit reporting could be a useful service but not at such a high price.

Tracy
Beaverton, Oregon
U.S.A.