Angie’s list notes Lifelock under scrutiny
3 comments
by Doug Pollack
Angie’s List is a tremendously popular website that provides “unbiased reports and reviews about service companies”. In this month’s magazine, they publish an article about Lifelock, a very high profile ID theft protection service, that is coming under fire.
The article titled “Identity protection service LifeLock faces scrutiny” describes current litigation that LifeLock is current embroiled in, as well as issues that are being surfaced about the level of identity theft protection offered by the way LifeLock uses the fraud alert mechanism available to consumers from the credit bureaus. Per this article:
“LifeLock also has come under fire from a number of directions. The company faces an investigation from the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, a class-action lawsuit and a suit filed by Experian, one of the nation’s three major credit bureaus. Both Experian and the class-action suit allege that LifeLock is engaging in false advertising and deceptive trade practices and that its million-dollar guarantee to members is misleading and filled with loopholes. Furthermore, these critics — along with several credit and identity theft experts — point out that LifeLock charges its members $10 a month for services that consumers can mostly do themselves for free. They also say that LifeLock only protects against new account theft — in other words, when someone uses your credit information to obtain a loan without your knowledge. Javelin Strategy and Research, which tracks financial trends, says this form of identity theft accounted for less than one-third of the 8.1 million identity theft cases in 2007.”
I would think that any organization that is considering embracing LifeLock to address the serious threat posed by identity theft to their customers, members or employees, should make this “must” reading.
As an advocate who encourages consumer education, I support companies and organizations who take an active role in educating consumers on the risks of identity theft. However, having said that, I feel compelled to comment on your latest entry about the recent Angieslist article.
Early this fall I was contacted by the reporter who wrote the recent AngiesList article you refer to here. He relayed he was working on a story specifically about LifeLock and asked if he could arrange a time to speak to me about their services and why I found them to be of value. I agreed, we scheduled a data and time and we had a lengthy interview. We talked extensively about identity theft and my opinions on LifeLock.
While reading the article yesterday, I was stunned and dismayed on several levels. I was extremely disappointed in Angieslist as it didn’t take long to realize, they seemed to have altered their policy to offer their readers a fair and balanced opinion of company services.
It didn’t take more than a glance to realize this article wasn’t going to provide a balanced viewpoint. It looked like the same old smear piece that has been popping up since the ex-CEO of LifeLock left the company well over a year ago.
But it wasn’t that they opted to leave out my comments and opinions of LifeLock that prompts me to comment here. Instead, it is your claim (and theirs) that AngiesList “provides unbiased reports and reviews about service companies” that has spurred me to air my view on this matter.
The type of smear campaign this article intentionally invokes not only leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but makes many of us question the agenda of those who perpetuate dredging up old news and baseless complaints aimed at knocking out a competitor.
LifeLock employees hundreds of families, has over a million customers –and to my knowledge they have not harmed anyone!
It rubs me the wrong way when people forget the real problem is identity theft! It’s identity thieves I am afraid of …not LifeLock!
It’s a funny thing though, I have yet to see LifeLock engage in smear tactics against any of their competitors. I wish more companies and journalists would follow their lead. It will be interesting to see who takes the high road -and who doesn’t!
Comment by Denise Richardson — December 4, 2008 @ 4:11 am
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Comment by Jenny R. — December 6, 2008 @ 11:36 pm
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Comment by Tim Reynolds — December 7, 2008 @ 5:13 pm