These days it appears as though there are detective agencies springing up all over the country but don’t be fooled! A little digging shows that many of these companies are not based in this country at all. One is in Germany with another operating out of Asia for example. These type of companies are popping up all over the place. They all list an enormous range of services and claim to be local but once you get to the actual contact stage, you find yourself with no local number to call or even worse, no number whatsoever, only an email contact form.
I contacted one such company (in Germany) to see what the story was. I posed as a prospective client wanting surveillance services. I was quoted an absolutely exorbitant amount of money which I pretended was agreeable just to keep things going. I then pushed to meet “my investigator†to discuss my case which is quite a reasonable request, one would have thought considering that I could be parting with large sums of money according to their quote, but beside the point, it would be not unusual to want to meet the person who will be undertaking my investigation, would it? Of course, as there was no representation in the Czech Republic for me to actually meet with, I was told after some dancing around that “it wasn’t allowed†which led me to directly ask if the company actually had representation in this country. The individual hung up on me.
Another who seems to be based everywhere from the Cook Islands, to India to Prague and actually owns in excess of 400 websites as it seems they have been buying up domain names like (country)privateinvestigators.com to cover every conceivable geographical location.
I do not wish to waste any more of my time checking out these companies, I feel that the picture is clear.
Be aware that these companies exist and it is wise to do a little due diligence yourself and ensure that your investigation agency is a local one, with local knowledge and contacts and all of the other elements that a good investigator needs to do a good job. Do not be fooled by companies who claim they have teams of investigators all running around internationally, when in reality there are very few who employ lots of full time investigators. The reason is due to the fact that it is much more efficient and cost effective to have people who work as required as the skills needed differ from job to job. It is normal to have a core range of services that are offered and concentrate on those and it is in these areas that expertise will have been developed. Websites that are offering reams and reams of services are simply trying to cast their net wide and will doubtfully have any experience or expertise in many of the services they offer (if any at all.) This may also indicate that their primary concern is with your cash and not with the business of investigation or quality of work produced but this is pure speculation.
So before you rush in, check that the website is in the native tongue of the country it purports to be from, that you are able to speak with your investigator should you wish to and that there is a local contact number for you to call. As a detective, I am happy to meet/chat with my clients about their cases. Why wouldn’t I be? I am working on your behalf, I have nothing to hide from you. We are on the same side! If you come across a company where this is difficult, think again, you may be talking to someone in India who has no real investigative ability or experience in the Czech Republic at all.…
