Hard Credit Inquiry: Customer Service Agent Lied

[Sjwells17]

After my divorce, on 11-3-16 I called the Verizon Wireless central customer service and applied to transfer my wireless service from my wife's account to my own newly established account. The agent who asked to check my credit assured and promised it would be a "soft inquiry" which would not harm my credit score, not a "hard inquiry" which would remove points from my credit score and remain on my credit report for two years. I told the agent since I was trying to rebuild my credit, I would not authorize a hard credit check, only a soft credit check, otherwise I would give my business to another wireless provider or opt for a prepaid account. The agent assured and promised it would be a "soft inquiry" and proceeded. The next day, I was alerted by my credit monitoring service that a "hard inquiry" was recorded by Equifax from Verizon Wireless. I submitted a written dispute with Equifax, but they wrote back stating the "hard inquiry" needs to be removed by Verizon. I phoned the Verizon "Credit Verification Dept." 877.912.6500, on 11-26-16 who stated they would remove the hard inquiry from my Equifax credit report by 12-27-16. Today (1-3-17) I noticed the hard inquiry was not removed and called the Verizon "Credit Verification Dept."  who  said they can not help. For the next two hours I was transferred to five other departments who also said they could not help.

I am so frustrated and disappointed that Verizon used dishonest and fraudulent business practices by lieing to secure my business, then does nothing to take responsibility for their actions.

Can anyone help or suggest how I may have the "hard inquiry" removed from my credit profile.

[vzwprospectivecustome]

With credit disputes, if you file one with a credit agency before talking to the business, they give the business a specific # of days (30?) to respond to it. If the business fails to respond or agrees that it should be removed, the credit agency removes it. However if the business says "nah it's correct", then it's set in stone forever with the credit agency and you can't remove it, ever, since you only get 1 shot to dispute anything. My guess is that's why the customer service folks claim they are helpless, although I wouldn't put it past them to feign helplessness anyway.

Since you did your dispute with the credit agency before asking Verizon to remove it, you're probably screwed. Behind the scenes, Verizon confirmed the hard inquiry back to the credit agency before they processed your request to try and remove it. Verizon has a short window to get back to the credit agency, but are of course in no rush to process your request.

Moral of the story is Verizon definitely sucks a little bit, but you should have waited longer before submitting your dispute directly with the credit agency. Just one of those quirks of the credit game.

[Sjwells17]

Thank you for your kind, caring, and informational reply. Since posting this blog, I've read nany other web-based community blogs and discovered, like me, dozens of other customers were lied to by Verizon Wireless customer service agents promising that their credit inquiry would result in a "soft inquiry", not a hard inquiry. This would suggest the CS agents are trainled to lie or work in a permissive corporate environment which turn a blind eye to this type of behavior, especially since it is commonly reported by other consumers who have also been victims of Verizon's harmful, dishonest and fraudulent business practices.

Shame on you Verizon Wireless!

[WHERESMANDY]

This just happened me me. All I got was a GPS watch (LG Gizmo Gadget) which is $10-15 per month for my son. I was assured it was a soft inquiry. I already have a cell phone and plan w/ another company that I am content with. They said they do this to offer you up to 10 lines phone service. This is not what I was buying. I just wanted the watch for my son which needed a small data plan to work. I am LIVID at this point !