I purchased an unlimited one month membership from Instant Checkmate for just under $23. After less than ten minutes of use, I realized the services they purport to provide are bogus. Using very narrow search techniques produced long, inaccurate lists from the entire nation that clearly fell outside of my search parameters. As a test, I conducted searches using information I knew to be entirely accurate, including known criminal records, and got search results of zero.
Within the same ten minutes of my purchase, I called Instant Checkmate to cancel my account. I spoke with Scott at Station #22. When I told him that I'd just purchased a membership minutes ago, was unhappy with the service they offered and asked for a refund—he guffawed. (Not much of a surprise to me after experiencing the poor quality of their site. I was surprised, however, that they picked up the phone!) After some hemming and hawing he finished researching my account and noted that because I'd actually searched on quite a few names in that ten-minute time period, he could only offer me a 50% refund. I asked him how many searches warranted "too many" for them to offer me a full rebate. Silence. Then he went on to say that wasn't really the point. He explained that it costs them money to operate their business and that I clearly accessed a lot of information that they couldn't just provide me for free. He went on to say that because they were only giving me a partial refund that I would be allowed access to the site for the full 30 days of my membership. I asked if the account would close after 30 days or if I'd have to call back to cancel. He assured me that the account would close.
We'll see. I've already contacted my bank to set up an alert.
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