Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  07/20/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was taken on a ride by a private investigator.I paid her $621 to domesticate a subpoena from the state of ********* to Georgia.She quoted $1,000 to domesticate the document, to locate and 2 attempts at service.I told her that I would pay her $600 to domesticate it and then I would pay the rest when the job was completed.I have dealt with too many private investigators in situations like this and have gotten ripped off. So, I know to not pay them until the job is completed.She told me yesterday that she would not do the job and told me she would not reimburse me the money I paid, because she was keeping $100 for the preliminary background check she ran.The deal we made was that she would domesticate the document for $600 and then locate her.I never asked her to run a background check. She did that on her own. I spoke to an attorney friend of mine after she refused to do the job and the attorney told me that a private investigator doesnt have the authority to have a court document domesticated.I informed the private investigator that she would need to send a cashiers check and the document to the attorneys office before Friday.She reimbursed me $500 and I have no idea where the document is.It is a legal court document, signed by a judge and now I need her to follow the instructions I gave her.She needs to own up to the fact that she agreed to do a job that she wasnt properly licensed to do, ran a background check when that wasnt what I asked her to do and send the document and the remaining $121 to the attorney so I can have the job done properly.I am including screenshots of the part of the email conversation I had with the ** and the text conversation I had with my attorney. I will forward the entire email conversation if necessary, but its at least 10 or so messages.Thank you

  

  Business response

  07/21/2022

  This client contacted us in order to locate a witness, for his upcoming hearing, that he needed to serve with a subpoena. The client also wanted us to domesticate the subpoena in our local court, as his hearing was to be held in another state, and also serve the witness upon locating her current address. The client said the address he had for the witness was no longer current. In order for us to locate any witness, we need to run a  background check. I am not sure how the client thought we would locate the witness without running the background. Once we completed the background, we notified the client that we found the witness' vehicle to be  registered at a new address which was different than the address he had. We the quoted the client a total of $1000 to cover the cost of locating the witness (via background check), domesticating the subpoena and then serving the witness. The client informed us that he did not have the full $1000 to pay at once, but he could pay $600 to cover us locating and getting the subpoena domesticated. He then agreed to pay the additional $400 before we would attempt to serve the witness. We agreed to this. The client paid $600 by credit card and advised us he would be mailing us the original subpoena to domesticate by ****** We received the subpoena by ***** on Tuesday 7/12/22. On July 19, the client emailed us to say that he now believed the witness was living in ******** as he had been contacted by the police due to the witness filing a complaint against him. When asked why the witness called the police, the client informed us that she had accused him of threatening and harassing her, and that the police advised him that she called from ******** to make the report. At that time, due to the seriousness of the accusation against this client, we decided it was not in our best interest to continue to provide any services to him. We had not yet take the subpoena to the courthouse to get it domesticated. The only service provided thus far was the background check to locate the witness. At that time, we emailed the client and informed him that we would refund him $500; the remaining $100 would be used to cover the cost of the background we did and the cost of return shipping for his subpoena. The client then became irate, sending numerous emails using vulgar language. In one of those emails he provided the name of an attorney and her address where he requested the subpoena be returned to. We also replied to his email explaining why he would be refund $500 and wished him well. On 7/21/22, we mailed the original subpoena to the attorney's office that he requested. The ***** tracking number is #************. We paid $52.95 to have it delivered overnight. According to the ***** website, the delivery was delayed today due to the attorney not being available or the office was closed. We have attached all relevant evidence for your review.

  Customer response

  07/21/2022

  I am including a copy of the police report.  Even the police knew the woman was making a false allegation to prevent me from serving her the subpoena.
  I explained to Ms. ********************** that it was a false allegation and I would figure out what was going on. 
  
  
  She admitted herself in her response that she decided to refuse the service I paid her to provide because she wanted to.
  She owes me a full refund.
  I already sent the part of our conversation where she said she ran a preliminary background check and didnt ask me first.  She just did it.
  I told her to domesticate it first and then we would locate her.
  its her fault that she tried to locate her first.
  When she told me that she was refusing the job and was only issuing a partial refund, I did use the word bull shit
  I had every right to get angry. 
  
  
  She took it upon herself to refuse the job without all the information, and then only gave me a partial refund.
  I am including a copy of the police report and my last correspondence with Ms. **********************.  
  

  I tried including screenshots of our final conversation and they wouldnt attach.  
  

  Im sending the police report first and then Ill try another message directly after 

  
  
  You can decide for yourself if my response was uncalled for.
  She needs to reimburse me $121 still.

  

  Business response

  07/25/2022

  The police report provided does not state anything about the claim being false, nor would that have any effect on our decision not to continue service for this client. We licensed by our Board and comply with all rules policies and practices, including ethics. Once again, we have provided the client with a refund of $500. The cost of the ***** to the address he provided was $52.95. The remaining $47.05 covered the cost of our search to locate the witness, which once again, was the client's initial request as the address he had for said witness was no good. The ***** tracking number has been provided and we now consider this issue closed and resolved. 

  Customer response

  07/25/2022

  No, it isnt closed.

  I spent like $40 or something mailing the document to her in the first place.  So what she spent mailing it is a wash.

  If she had finished the job it wouldnt have been necessary to pay that expense.

  She refused to do the job.  She has every right to refuse service for any reason.

  but She doesnt have the right to keep a portion of the money I paid.  She owes me a full refund.

  The fact that I wasnt arrested for making a threat proves the police knew it was a false allegation.

  I do not believe there is a State Law in Georgia that says she can give a partial refund if she decides in the middle of a job to not do it.

  Its not about the allegations.  Its about the fact I paid for a service, I was not provided the service I paid for and instead was charged for a service that I didnt ask for, does nothing for me.

  The woman hasnt lived at the ********* address in like 10 years.

  Thats where she was living when she bought the car.

  She owes me a full refund.

  Ill need information on how to take this to the next level.

  This is ridiculous 

   

   

  

  Business response

  07/26/2022

  This matter is considered closed on our end. A refund for services we did not perform has been provided. 

  Customer response

  07/26/2022

  No, it isnt closed.
  I spent like $40 or something mailing the document to her in the first place.  So what she spent mailing it is a wash.
  If she had finished the job it wouldnt have been necessary to pay that expense.
  She refused to do the job.  She has every right to refuse service for any reason.
  but She doesnt have the right to keep a portion of the money I paid.  She owes me a full refund.
  The fact that I wasnt arrested for making a threat proves the police knew it was a false allegation.
  I do not believe there is a State Law in Georgia that says she can give a partial refund if she decides in the middle of a job to not do it.
  Its not about the allegations.  Its about the fact I paid for a service, I was not provided the service I paid for and instead was charged for a service that I didnt ask for, does nothing for me.
  The woman hasnt lived at the ********* address in like 10 years.
  Thats where she was living when she bought the car.
  She owes me a full refund.
  Ill need information on how to take this to the next level.
  This is ridiculous 
  
  then I need the contact information at the next level to escalate.
  

  

  Business response

  08/02/2022

  There is no new information here. We have provided a refund for services that were not provided and mailed the subpoena to the attorney he requested. Our file is closed and no amount of repetitive messages will change that. Good day.

  Customer response

  08/02/2022

  I would like to know what the BBB plans to do about this business refusal to conduct ethical business.

  After thinking about it, this is what I believe happened.

  I think this business knew they were required to give me a full refund so she just made up an expense to make something for nothing.

  I can do some research myself on what I can do at this point, but are there sanctions yall can put against this business or something.

  I mean she basically just stole $121 from me and shes hiding behind a lame excuse to do it.

  I basically gave her $121 and got nothing out of it.

  I dont even know if the story about the background check is true.

  I never received a copy of it.

  For all I know she Googled her name and found an address.  Because both of the addresses she found for the woman are old addresses.

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