I have been having fraud and identity theft problems. The FTC suggested I contact Equifax to get a credit report. When I contacted Equifax , they did not tell me I could get a free credit report. Instead, they said I needed to get Identity Patrol for a cost of $ XXXX/month. Three days later, I received an email stating I was no longer eligible and needed to get the Gold Watch protection for $ XXXX/month. When I called to ask about this, I talked to " XXXX '' who told me that some other credit company had put a freeze on my account and asked me a lot of vague questions about my credit without explaining why. Eventually, she said the account had locked up and I would have to email for additional information and she hung up. I was a little concerned because my emails had been hacked into. This did n't seem a secure method. Two hours later I called back and talked to " XXXX ''. He said the problem had been corrected and had been caused by XXXX. The only people I ever talked to were at Equifax. He said I only had to pay {$16.00}. When I explained to him that all I wanted was a free credit report and that that was never given to me as an option. He said there was little he could do. When I asked for a refund, he said he did n't handle that, it was handled by billing in the back-office. I then spoke to XXXX XXXX who said there would be an investigation and I should get a refund in 7 to 10 business days. He gave me a reference number of XXXXNone of these people were helpful, polite, or professional. They all wanted to argue with me.