|
FREE
Background Check Wizard
|
INSTANT
Public Records Search - Much
Faster, Sponsored ($)
|
Jump
to: Overview
| Customer
Feedback | Company
Info | Official
Site
Service
Overview:
Intelius
is currently the largest public records provider in the online
research industry.
Even
sites such as Yahoo.com and several Whitepages directories
are either affiliated with, or recommend, Intelius as a provider
of public records.
Intelius
provides four main service types: verification, information,
protection & business. Within these categories are a full
gamut of search options such as background checks, phone searches,
email searches, business history checks, property records
lookups and so on.
Their
prices are also (usually) lower than their various competitors
online.
Customer
Feedback & Ratings:
Because
Intelius receives much more exposure than other companies
in the industry, they've also come under a lot more scrutiny.
It seems that many users who purchase access to various records
are sometimes disappointed at the level of detail provided
in their reports (or lack thereof).
We'd
have to assume that many people who use the service do find
it to be useful, due to the sheer volume of transactions they
undoubtedly process given their alleged $31.8 Million in revenues
for 2008 (source: TechCrunch)
There
are also numerous complaints regarding the refund policy of
Intelius' membership access and value-added programs. Intelius
provides its data "as is" and at the time of writing
this article, all sales are final according to their terms
of service. There's no conflict with this on the actual Intelius
site, but what is likely happening is that some of their affiliates
may be inadvertently misrepresenting the refund policy with
out-dated content - since Intelius used to advertise
a "no hit, no fee" policy.
Some
of the value-added programs that Intelius builds into its
checkout process as options/upsells have come under fire as
well, since users claim that the "fine print" is
definitely on the small side, and many users are unpleasantly
surprised to see that they're being billed on a recurring
basis for a service that they "joined" when completing
their transaction with Intelius.
|
Our
Verdict:
Intelius
offers similar records access quality as other providers,
but realize that if you don't find what you're looking
for, you can't get your money back.
Also
- make sure you read
the fine print when you're joining additional services
or adding "trials" and so on to your purchases
on checkout. It may be more affordable than some other
services, but sometimes, you get what you pay for.
|
Company
Info:
Intelius
was founded by Naveen Jain, who was the CEO of InfoSpace.
Jain left InfoSpace in 2002 shortly after the "dot bomb"
stock crash. There was some controversy around his departure,
and some sources hail Jain as a scammer, while others as an
innovative entrepreneur. (In our view, we simply can't find
enough information one way or the other to make an accurate
assessment.)
Jain
went on to start up Intelius Inc, which is a great financial
success as a private company. They are presently seeking to
become a public company.
If
you're considering using Intelius to perform records searches,
we suggest that you research the company by starting with
their BBB
Business Profile.
Start
Your Search With Intelius:
Intelius
offers sample searches for various record types and coverage
areas.
You
can begin your search from the Intelius
Home Page >>
