Experian's Parent Prompts Concern After Buying Shopping Site

GUS plc, the mammoth UK company that owns credit reporting agency Experian among other entities, has gobbled up PriceGrabber.com, a comparison shopping site that competes with companies such as eBay owned Epinions.

A GUS statement claimed that PriceGrabbed had 17 million visitors in November 2005 and would generate $60 million in revenue this calendar year.

"This marks another entry by this company into the American marketplace, and consumers should know who they are dealing with," said Consumer Help Web president Joan Bounacos. "The industry forming the heart of this company is notoriously consumer-unfriendly. Under subsidiary names, GUS companies have run afoul of US consumers before, and we are concerned about their functioning as a shopping comparison site for consumers who may not know their true identity. We are very concerned to see the companies own press release talking about 'improving the quality of leads...by adding Experian data and analytics.' That is a very slippery slope they are climbing."

Bounacos said she was also concerned about a Federal Trade Commission complaint filed earlier this year against an Experian company using the name consumerinfo.com. The United States government reached a settlement with that company over "deceptive marketing" practices through the use of multiple web sites promising "free" credit reports.

posted by Consumer Help Web Editorial Team at 12:39 AM |