Complaint / Review
Net Detective
Harris Publishing shady, shady, shady. Misleading promotional materials ripoff

I am in the process of hiring a new employee and want to conduct a background check. I did a google on background check and saw an ad that said something like "don't purchase any other background check software until you read this!" (consumer-guide). So I went to that website and read about how wonderful Net Detective is.

At the Net Detective site, I prepared to buy the software.in order to buy it, you have to agree to their terms and conditions. My spidey senses started tingling when I realized that there was no link to the terms and conditions on the page that required you to agree. So I started looking around and finally found them. I'm so glad I did! The terms and conditions state that the software is for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. I immediately left the site.

Later I received an e-mail from them saying they noticed I had not completed my order. This e-mail SPECIFICALLY said that the software can be used to screen employees.

I sent them an e-mail explaining that I don't consider screening employees to be a matter of entertainment and that I would not order their product because 1) the terms and conditions were so difficult to find and 2) I didn't agree with the terms and conditions.

This morning I had another e-mail from them suggesting that I call them to complete my order. So I called them to share my concerns. The woman I spoke to (after a period of about 3 minutes on hold) said that the Entertainment Only didn't mean what I thought, it just meant that I couldn't use the product to harrass someone. I told her that's NOT what it said and I did not want to buy the product. She had no explanation why the terms and conditions could not be found easily or why there was no link right to them from the part of the form that requires you to agree.

After checking consumer-guide.org again, I noticed that they appear to recommend only a few specific products. Take a look and see what I mean. I would be VERY surprised to learn that consumer-guide.org is NOT somehow related to Harris/NetDetective.

Very shady stuff.