Carfax Inc

An accident was reported for the customer's vehicle by the police department.  After the customer submitted the Research Request Form, CARFAX researched this with the police department and discovered that the customer's vehicle was listed in error.  The accident was removed from CARFAX's...

database today and the customer was notified via email.

CARFAX does not "advertise that they have accurate up to date and are the Best."  Every CARFAX Report states that not all information, including problems, are reported to us, and therefore recommends a pre-purchase vehicle inspection and test drive to assess the vehicle's condition and check...

for prior damage severity and hidden repairs.  The CARFAX Vehicle History Report did notify the customer at the time of her purchase that the vehicle had been severely damaged in accident, deploying the airbag and requiring the car to be towed.  The vehicle still has a clean title, and therefore the CARFAX Buyback Guarantee does not apply.

The customer will have to provide specific details in order for the complaint to be addressed.

The customer states in
his complaint that he was unaware that the Unlimited CARFAX Reports plan was a
license plate only plan and uses such harsh words as “fraud” and “deceptive
marketing.” 
While I am sorry he did
not...

notice this was a license plate only plan, it does say on the CARFAX order
page “Unlimited CARFAX Reports only $54.99 / Unlimited Reports by U.S. License
Plate.”  This is also in the Customer
Agreement, to which the customer indicated he read and accepted.  It is also mentioned in the receipt email, as
well as listed in the account upon logging in. 
The account does not
qualify for a refund because the customer ran six CARFAX Vehicle History
Reports, which exceeds the refund threshold.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: your argument is biased and doesn't make any sense and you are reading the offer from the firm's perspective not the customers' . Look at your other offer "5 CARFAX Reports $49.99" vs "Unlimited CARFAX Reports only $54.99". This is where the deception takes place, either pay $49.99 for 5 reports, or pay $54.99 for unlimited reports. Your deceptive advertisement is changing the types of reports between offers.  I demand a refund.
Regards,
[redacted]

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
they own the computer they can remove it never subscribed to them or gave them information
Regards,
[redacted]

From: Vince L[redacted] <[redacted]@carfax.com>Date: Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 2:45 PMSubject: RE: You have a new message from the Revdex.com of Metro Washington DC & Eastern Pennsylvania complaint #[redacted].To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>[redacted], The order page is clear that the plan is unlimited using the U.S. license plate in both the product selection box and the Customer Agreement.    The product selection box states, “Unlimited Reports by U.S. License Plate.”  The Customer Agreement states, “You acknowledge and agree that vehicle license plate and state information is needed to run each CARFAX Report under this Plan. . .  for your personal use only in connection with the purchase of a vehicle from a private party and/or the sale of a vehicle to a private party.” These details are also listed on the order confirmation page, the receipt email, and while logged into the account it states “Unlimited” by the license plate search box, and “5 Free Reports” by the VIN search box, which count down to 4, 3, etc., each time a CARFAX Report is run by VIN.  I could not locate any other purchases under the information provided, but CARFAX has not offer an unlimited by VIN plan is six years.  CARFAX is upfront about the details of the plan, but despite our best efforts, it seems the customer did not read the information we provided prior to purchasing. Respectfully, Vince L[redacted]Manager, Product Support and Data EscalationsCARFAX, Inc.

The accident was reported to CARFAX by Oklahoma.  We have ordered a copy of the police report to check for errors and will contact the customer directly once the police report arrives.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: the business does not adequately acknowledge that customers are not overtly and thoroughly informed of their purchase limitations until AFTER they make their purchase. I continued using the service because I had already wasted my money,
and was certain that I would not be refunded. Your response confirms that I was correct in my assumption. This is the last time you will get my money. I will be sure to tell others to avoid using your service from this point forward. Thankfully we have purchased a vehicle, and if/when we have future needs, we will take our business to your competitors.
Regards,
[redacted]

The customer did not request to cancel until July, therefore, the customer is responsible for July charges.

CARFAX verified that the vehicle was sold at the auction with a structural damage announcement because the CARFAX Vehicle History Report is only stating that the vehicle was sold at an auction with a structural damage announcement.  However, CARFAX also verified that the vehicle had structural damage, which is why it was sold under the structural disclosure.  
 
Further, this vehicle underwent two physical inspections by factor-trained vehicle appraisers who both determined the vehicle required a structural damage announcement under the auction’s structural disclosure policy.  This is not a decision made lightly, as the seller stood to lose money on the vehicle by making such an announcement.  Further, whatever business which purchased the vehicle from the auction was provided an auction slip outlining the structural damage disclosure.  No business buys a vehicle from an auction without an invoice, receipt or auction slip.

Every CARFAX Vehicle History Report states clearly that ownership information can only be estimated.  This is because CARFAX does not receive any personally-identification information from its sources.  On September 9, 2014, CARFAX emailed the customer explaining that its research...

concluded the vehicle was correctly displaying its estimated two owners. 
CARFAX always stands behind the CARFAX Buyback Guarantee, but the customer's situation is not a covered event.  The CARFAX Buyback Guarantee covers missing DMV-issued branded titles only.  On the CARFAX Vehicle History Report, the CARFAX Buyback Guarantee is listed in the title brands section and specifically refers to those specifically stated major title problems.  Other events, such as accidents or damage, are not covered under the CARFAX Buyback Guarantee.

The customer purchased the $54.99 Unlimited package from CARFAX on May 7.  In the evening, we received their email asking for help logging in, and instructions were provided 8:09 AM the next morning.  The customer wrote back on May 8 requesting a refund, and CARFAX responded about an hour...

later issuing a full refund.  For future reference, CARFAX customer support can be reached by visiting our website, www.carfax.com, and clicking the Help button at the top of the page, or the Help link at the bottom of the page.

We received a refund request from the customer, and on 3/3/2015, issued a full refund for their purchase, as requested, and notified them via email.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
You guys are falsely advertising your product. I checked a dozen of cars (not all)that had severe damage but carfax showed a clean history. Without providing this information but making the promise carfax is taking part in hurting the consumers protection when it comes to buying a car. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Contrary to the complainant's assertion, the CARFAX Report did not give "the clean report without mentioning any accident or any other problem in this car".  The CARFAX report did mention accidents and other problems.  Specifically, the CARFAX Report accurately stated that no accidents or...

damage had been reported to CARFAX, but this does not mean that no accidents or damage took place.  The CARFAX Report also stated that it can only report what has been reported to CARFAX at that moment by its sources, that other problems may not have yet been reported to CARFAX, and therefore, the CARFAX Report should be used along with a pre-purchase vehicle inspection to check for prior damage.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
It states the following on the Carfax site, on the bottom left of the screen, after clicking on 'order reports':
"Money Back Guarantee if Not 100% Satisfied - No Risk!  
There is no asterisk or fine print whatsoever after the aforementioned statement.
This former is not only misleading, but also contradicts Carfax's terms and conditions.
A complaint with the FTC has also been filed.
Regards,
[redacted]

Our customer support team does not have a record of being contacted by this customer, but they would love to assist him with his login issue.  Getting help is simple.  Visit our website, www.carfax.com, and click the Help button at the top of the page to get to our Help Center.  From...

there, the customer can search for his answer, click on the frequently asked questions, or submit a request directly to our customer support team.  For convenience, this is the direct link to submit a support request: http://support.carfax.com/c_contactus

The CARFAX order page offers three packages.  Due to the way the system currently functions, a customer cannot have more than one package open at a time.  This means that if the customer's Unlimited license plate plan is out of VINs and wants to buy more before the account expires, we...

would have to deactivate the current account before the next one can be purchased.  I understand this is an inconvenience to this customer, and I am sorry for any trouble that causes.  
If we deactivate the current plan, and the customer purchases another Unlimited plan, we could refund the $5 difference between that and the 5-pack.  This would allow the customer to keep the Unlimited license plates, and actually extend that time a little bit, and add more VINs to the account, for just the price of the 5-pack.  Our development team is working on enhancing the system to allow more VINs to be purchased without having to purchase a new account, but that solution is several months away.  In the meantime, our customer support team will be happy to help in anyway we we can, just contact us through our Help Center.  http://[redacted]

The customer purchased the Unlimited CARFAX Reports. The order page lists the plan as "Unlimited CARFAX Reports / only $54.99 /...

Unlimited Reports by U.S. License Plate / Valid for 60 days" and also states this on the order page under the Customer Agreement, to which the customer read and accepted before placing their order.
As a gesture of goodwill, the customer was given an additional fifteen CARFAX Reports to run by VIN.