Experian admits mobile and online issues after system upgrade

Credit referencing company Experian has admitted that some customers are continuing to have problems accessing paid-for services following the migration of millions of customers to a new platform.

The company’s admission follows a statement a week ago that everything was working again after some problems.

Customers that use Experian’s Credit Expert service, which helps people to manage their credit rating and is charged for, have contacted Computer Weekly to express their dissatisfaction with the service, with some still being locked out of their accounts. Customers are also experiencing long wait times when they call the helpline.

One customer said: “I run a business I don’t have this sort of time to waste on a problem of their own making. Don’t these companies test new systems properly before they launch?”

He added: “This is advertised as a premium service at £14.99 a month. Experian is a multinational business and it is failing to address the issue.”

Experian said it was working hard to resolve the “glitches” but would not give more details about the cause or when the problems are likely to be fixed.

The company said it recently introduced updates to its consumer services, including migrating two million customers to a new platform. “Although the vast majority of customers have been transferred successfully, we are aware some have had issues,” it said. “We take each case very seriously and the team are working hard to resolve these glitches with each individual customer.”

Some customers have been locked out of accounts for more than two weeks and one told Computer Weekly he had been advised via Experian’s website and Twitter to try again and renew passwords. But this did not fix the problem, he said.

Last week, another customer said that on Experian’s main web service, his credit scores went down because master data was wrong, including an old address being used, which he said could occur if a database was restored to a point of time in the past.

“When I phoned the helpdesk, they acknowledged the issue but could not give any resolution as to when the problem would be fixed,” he added.

Problems have also been reported with Experian’s new mobile app, including the fingerprint login system not working. ............................................................................................................