My company was acquired by Equifax in August, 2016. We were a mid-sized, privately-held business specializing in unemployment claims and tax management with a reputation for providing excellent client service. I knew we were in trouble when, at our very first meeting with the “new bosses,” we were told, in no uncertain terms, that the goal at Equifax was “make money for our investors,” which they made us repeat, at an ever-higher volume, three times. If this sounds to you like a recipe for client and employee disaster, I will not disabuse you of that notion. Over the next two years, business went from bad to worse, especially after the easily-preventable security breach in September, 2017. Some of our biggest clients did not want to work with Equifax from the beginning, because they had worked with them previously, After the breach, that number began to grow. It climbed even higher after we were “onboarded” into Equifax’s way of conducting business, which is to put customer service at the bottom of the list. This little saga ends on November 14, 2018, when three Equifax higher-ups walked into our office and announced they were closing the company, giving us one hour to collect our personal possessions and leave. To add insult to injury, the boxes they claimed they ordered to pack our things were never delivered. Bottom line: If you wish to work for a company that puts the client last, treats their employees like numbers on a spreadsheet and doesn’t have the competency to have an order of boxes delivered on a given date, then Equifax is the company for you.
