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No1Reviews.com >> Background Check Sites >> Private Eye Review |
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Private Eye Review
Membership Costs Various options, including:
Features:
Editor's Verdict: Private eye is a good basic people-finding website, with a range of options that should prove sufficient for most general users. However, it's slightly lacking in areas such as business searches and more advanced options. The website is tastefully designed and clearly laid out, making entering your data and beginning your search quick and easy. Whilst some websites in this category bombard you with a hundred different searching options right off the bat, Private Eye features the basic people-search which the majority of new users will be looking for right up front on the welcome page. You can access the various other searches available by clicking on one of three simple categories: people searches (which includes background checks and reverse phone searches), public records searches (including criminal and property records) or family searches (marriage, death, divorce etc.). This distinction makes good intuitive sense and does a nice job of compartmentalizing the website in a more accessible way than some people-searching sites, which can be too modularized, making it difficult to find your way from one service to another. Slightly confusingly, the website has recently started using the names "Private Eye" and "PublicRecordsNow" (sic) interchangeably, so it is unclear whether one is a company that has just acquired the other or whether Private Eye is about to rebrand itself or perhaps launch a new subsidiary brand. In practical terms this makes little difference, of course, but a little consistency would be nice. The layout of the website creates a favorable initial impression, but the downside is that perhaps too much detail and information has been sacrificed to achieve this invitingly streamlined interface. Nowhere is there a "how searching works" introductory guide for newcomers, you're just expected to enter your search parameters and see what happens. The welcome page does feature a section about "what are public records?" - the answer it gives being that they are records that are available to the public - but tells you nothing that isn't self-explanatory. It does tell you that you don't have to be a member to search but doesn't mention that you do need to register to complete your purchase. More complete information would be appreciated. Similarly, the initial search form you complete is invitingly simple, but omits slots for potentially useful data (basically you can key your search on name, address or phone number and that's about it). There is an FAQ (confusingly listed as "help" on the homepage rather than "FAQ") section, but it's mainly to do with technical issues, passwords and credit cards and doesn't really tell you basic stuff like how the site actually works. In practice, searching seems to be a matter of entering the information you already know in the search boxes, receiving an initial summary of possible hits and then deciding if you want to purchase a full report on one or more of them. If you choose to do so, you then have to register and pay. Unlike a lot of otherwise excellent people-searching websites, Private Eye allows you to view the prices for the various searches before you start searching, which is only fair. The pricing structure is rather simpler than some of its rivals and the prices themselves are very reasonable. Admittedly, the prices are not that prominently featured, you have to go to the FAQ to find them, but at least they're there. One reason why the pricing structure is less complicated than with other sites we've reviewed is that there aren't quite so many searching options available. This is not to say there aren't a lot, but the range is large rather than massive, which should be wide enough to meet the needs of most users. Basically, if you want to search for contact details, criminal, property or bankruptcy records, run a reverse phone or background check or look at marriage, divorce or death records, then Private Eye can help. Business options are a bit more limited and international searches are missing entirely, although the latter is a fairly common omission in otherwise proficient people searching websites. In fact, not only does the reach of Private Eye not extend beyond the borders of the United States, you can't even register without a US credit card, so nuts to the rest of the world. The searches themselves take almost no time at all to return your results and the reports you get are generally very comprehensive and easy to read. Whichever search options you choose, it's slightly disorientating that every page on the website looks and feels much like every other, even the layout is the same throughout. There is never any sense of being "in" the website rather than merely skimming over the shiny surface, so a sense of engagement is lacking. The whole thing feels rather insubstantial. On the plus side Private Eye do offer a 30 day refund if you are dissatisfied with their service. Admittedly, it's not made entirely clear under what circumstances a refund will be granted, so this may or may not be a useful feature. A current limitation of Private Eye is that they cannot find people's email addresses for you. On the face of it this seems an odd omission, no doubt there is either a sound practical or technical reason for this, but the website doesn't tell you what this is. Also absent is the option to pay extra for an expert-assisted search in which a human specialist helps you to find your results. This won't be a big deal for most users, but there are avenues of investigation an automated search might not think to try and some rival sites take this into account by including human-assisted searches amongst their services. Another feature missing from Private Eye that some rival sites offer is a comprehensive identity theft protection package. To be fair, there's no reason why a people-searching/background-checking website should necessarily be expected to branch out in this direction, but the fact is that some others do and this one doesn't. In summary, PrivateEye.com, or possibly PublicRecordsNow, is both easy on the eye and easy to use, but could do with providing you with more information so you know what's what before you start searching. Both searching and payment are reputedly confidential and trustworthy, and value for money is pretty good. The basic searching options are decent enough, but if you want a wider range of choices then the websites higher up in our top 10 might be better able to service your needs.
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