Spokeo Review

Spokeo offers a number of reports with its subscription membership. While the website’s homepage can run a very basic search for anyone for free, the results that are returned are very limited. However, in stark comparison, Spokeo’s standard membership will give customers extensive access to the company’s name, phone, email (called social) and address searches.

In terms of what these searches reveal, a name search will provide a customer with:

• Phone Numbers
• Email Addresses
• Age
• Addresses
• Relatives
• Marital Status
• Education Level

For those that run a social search, more commonly known as a reverse email search, a Spokeo membership will give a customer this information:

• Public profiles on social networks such as Facebook or Twitter
• Public profiles on dating sites like Match and OkCupid
• Public photos on networks such as Flickr or PhotoBucket
• Videos from sites like YouTube and Vimeo
• Reviews of products on shopping sites such as Amazon or eBay
• Blog entries on sites such as Blogger and LiveJournal

A reverse phone search report from Spokeo will provide standard members with:

• First and last name of the phone’s owner
• Address that the phone is registered to
• Age of the owner
• Phone carrier

Finally, any reverse address searches run by Spokeo members will give the following data within a report:

• Names of current and past residents
• Owner information
• Estimated value and building statistics
• Phone numbers, email addresses, social network profiles of owners and/or tenants
• Neighborhood information

For an additional sum, subscribers can also run court record and historical record searches when needed.

Spokeo really is one of the easiest services to use right from the company’s website homepage. The website allows you to choose what type of search you want from the beginning – either a name search, social search, reverse phone search, or reverse address search. The result is that a customer only needs a first and last name or an email address or a phone number or an address to run one of Spokeo’s preliminary reports.

What is good about having to choose what search you want to from the outset is that it immediately cuts down on the time it takes to run the search in the first place. The company does not run a report and give the customer a whole load of data that is totally surplus to their requirements. It saves both them and the customer time, as well as saving the customer money as the searches the company runs do not have to be so intensive.

The above data points will allow Spokeo to return the follow information:

• Names, photos and public social profiles
• Criminal records
• Available phone and location information
• Current address and location history
• Mobile or landline numbers
• Family members and other public information
• Property information
• Neighborhood information

Spokeo employs a range of sources to compile its reports. While it makes no comment upon what specific public government sources it uses, it does affirm that it uses the following:

• Phone book listings
• Social networks, social media sites and its data
• Marketing surveys
• Real estate listings
• Court records

While it does not list other government public sources specifically, it does at least acknowledge it does use them to generate reports. In fact, it claims it gathers data from over 30 sources. It continually cross references data it gathers from these sources to sift out any inaccuracies or out of date information. Spokeo then indexes all the data it does find within its own systems and databases. This data is then listed in an organized fashion that makes it very quick and easy for businesses and individuals to find information on people.

For a company that sometimes champions itself as a firm to use if you want to check up on a cheating partner or something similar, it is unfortunate that it comes up on billing statements so clearly. This is perhaps not one to use therefore if this is a major worry for you.

Spokeo also has a flaw in that individuals can opt out of being listed on Spokeo’s website. While people have to be aware that they actively need to choose to opt out of Spokeo’s database of information, it can prevent someone being found. This means that a customer could feasibly pay money for a search for someone, only for nothing to come up.

Perhaps less specifically, but more far reaching, is that fact that Spokeo’s background checks are not as deep, extensive or thorough as their competitors. While it can certainly answer a few questions a person may have regarding a long lost relative or friend, it is not the best if you want extensive information on a person’s past. What it does provide however it provides for a very low cost, so you could argue you get what you pay for.

Spokeo currently offers two different subscription plans that start at a monthly rolling subscription to signing up for three months at a time. The rolling one month membership costs $13.95 and for three months customers can make a saving as this drops to $7.95 a month. Users can also buy court or historical records for an extra $2.95.

In comparison to its competitors, this is exceptionally cheap. It’s fairly easy to cancel a subscription as you can either email the customer care department directly or call them and cancel over the phone. PayPal users can also cancel subscriptions through their paypal account which is even easier, and immediate.

Spokeo accepts all the usual debit and credit cards, but users can also request an invoicing arrangement. Additionally, should customers want a longer service than the one or three months that is easily available to purchase on the website, they can all customer service to talk about personal pricing options.

Spokeo makes itself available to its customers in a variety of ways, all of which offer responses to customer requests in a timely manner. Firstly, there is a contact form that customers can find on the company website where they can ask for the query to be answered either by phone or by email. This form is easy and quick to find. However, customers can simply email Spokeo’s email support directly too. The company employs a 24 hour response time, though answers are often given in about half this time.

If it is preferable to the customer, Spokeo can also be contacted through a whole host of social media sites that the company has profiles upon. This means that customers can request help through Twitter or the like should they see fit. Additionally, and more traditionally in line with its competitors, Spokeo also has a telephone support team that will answer the phone to their customers every day of the week.

Finally, the FAQ section on the company website is extensive as well as clearly laid out to help customers who are happy looking for the answer to their query themselves.