Sunday, November 13, 2005

Net Detective

If Net Detective was worth $39.95, Sherlock Investigations would not be in business. Fortunately, people buy it, try all the free public record searches listed on it, and then call us.

Sherlock Investigations started before public access to the Internet was, at the most, minimal, and little used. Probably because no one knew how to use it, and there wasn't that much available in the early days of the Internet. As the power of the Internet grew, especially with access to databases and search engines, I wondered if we'd be able to stay in business. After all, we were private investigators, trained to dig up the facts, and the dirt, on anyone. What if anyone could do this and didn't need us?

Not to worry, I soon learned. Very few people actually know how to dig deep on the Internet. The lazy and gullible buy things like Net Detective, to learn about their neighbors, those they date, and to see what the FBI has on them (as if they're important enough to have an FBI file). And, you'll never find everything you're looking for on the Internet. Old-fashioned detective work is still necessary. So, the serious ones end up calling us.

I confess, I actually bought Net Detective once. After examining what it had to offer I really felt foolish. I applied for, and got, my money back.

One ad I saw for Net Detective (and there are many of them), claimed to be the original one. Maybe that's like the Original Ray's Pizza in New York City. All the Ray's Pizzas claim to be the original.

I think one can be a distributor of Net Detective. Maybe it's multi-level marketing like Amway. I haven't bothered to look into it. Anyway, the original Net Detective claims to be endorsed by the National Association of Independent Private Investigators. Who the hell are they?

It's my guess, but, again, I haven't taken the time to investigate it, that it could very well be a group started by Net Detective to endorse themselves. Sherlock Investigations belongs to some of the leading PI organizations in the world, and I've never heard of the National Association of Independent Private Investigators. Furthermore, none of the groups Sherlock Investigations belongs to endorse Net Detective.

Sherlock Investigations is associated with more than 2,500 private investigators worldwide. As far as I know, none of these men and women belong to the National Association of Independent Private Investigators.

So, if all you want to spend is $39.95 to investigate someone, go ahead and order Net Detective. Heck, I'll give you some free advice, worth much more than $39.95. Start your investigation with Google. Look at Google on the web, then Groups, Images, News, and then go to Here you'll find tens-of-thousands of free public records databases.

If you still can't find what you're looking for, email or call us at Sherlock Investigations. We'll be your detective on the Net.


Anonymous said...

Is this the same thing as what sells? I am not sure cause the price is not the same. The one I have was from them and it was $29 not $39.95.

My personal opinion is it works ok, but certainly would not replace a real life private investigator. All in all I would say it was worth the $29.


Anonymous said...

Everybody has his own opinion, good or bad. Since Net Detective is a major (and highly successful) competitor of your's, I certainly can't blame you for bad-mouthing Net Detective.

Net Detective a very practical inexpensive option to start one's own investigations, and has served many of it's customers well. Private investigators are very expensive. When that option fails, then a private investigator may well be the final option of last resort.

Anonymous said...

While you generally get what you pay for, Net Detective does NOT live up to its advertisments.

Anonymous said...

I do a lot of searches on the internet without net detective. As far as I'm concerned it's a waste of money. But I would like to point out that as good as is, it's no longer free.

Tom said...

I don't know if netdetective was once a semi-legitimate business, but it is a downright scam right now. The frontpage promises a lot of things such as background checks, public records, FBI, credit reports, etc, but all you get for 29.99 is a white pages listing. The page for customer service is down, and I'm seeing a lot of the same reports on the internet.

Anonymous said...

I had exactly the same experiences and I wrote about them a while ago. I have had nothing but similarly affected and angry people commenting on the article.

This company should have its' business license revoked.

Anonymous said...

Sherlock is right. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY on netdetective. Buyer be ware.