Calling Equifax took a bit of time, and required some backtracking throughout the phone call, but it wasn't impossible. All I can say is that if you need to actually talk to someone at Equifax and not just look up a case number, be prepared to spend some time on the line. I spent nearly ten minutes just getting through all the choices and listening to random speeches that had nothing to do with my phone call.
It feels as if they tried to put as many disclaimers as possible into the first few minutes of the call, but these situations had nothing to do with my phone call, and I was forced to listen through them. Also, I don't need to be directed to go to the website for support options. The only reason someone calls a phone line is for real-life support, and I didn't appreciate that either.
I can appreciate that Equifax probably gets a lot of phone calls from customers with fraud issues, credit disputes, and similar issues, but that doesn't mean they can cut corners on customer service. There has to be a better way to serve the majority of people than this.
When you call them, you get a standard greeting followed by a random note that says, "To add a short statement to your Equifax credit report noting that you have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, remain on the line to talk to a customer representative." Given the pandemic is now considered over, this seems like a message that could probably be removed.
Shortly after this is another recorded message about going to their online website, which I mentioned earlier. It was too lengthy to write out, but it was detailed and boring. Then, a different voice says, "If you have a question about the 2017 data breach settlement, say settlement or press 9." There is a long pause, and a fourth voice jumps in and says, "Okay, let's get started; in a few words, tell me how I can help you today?" I said freeze my account. It said something about how I wanted to dispute an account. I said no, and then I got a new menu. It all seemed a bit discombobulated, but I went with it and waited and finally got some real options.
The options were, "For Equifax security freeze, say freeze or press 1. For fraud alerts or active duty reports, say alerts or press 2. For your Equifax credit report or credit score, say report or press 3. To dispute an Equifax report, or dispute a pending status, press 4. For anything else, say other or press 5." I pressed 1, and it said that it had to gather information from me before connecting me to a customer service agent. I had to give it my social security number, address, phone number, and zip code. This made me slightly uncomfortable, but not as much as the 15-minute wait to talk to someone after that. If I had to call Equifax again, I would, but I would avoid it if I could.