SearchBug Inc

If I could, I would give -0 Stars. On top of selling your info, they will charge you $20 to have it removed. WHAT? They invade your privacy and then charge you money to get your privacy back? IT'S INSANITY! INHUMANE! and EVIL! People like them are contributing to identity thief! I bet they don't have their own info on that site. Bunch of criminals!

First of all I'd
like to point out that *** ***
"">filed a
complaint about *** or Collection Issues but she is not even a customer of ours
We have no record of any transaction from this person so the complaint cannot
be for Billing or Collection Issues since they have never purchased anything from us and we have never sent them a bill nor have we sent them a collection
notice
We have no
outstanding billing or collections issue, nor do we have any records of this
person doing business with us what so ever
As far as the
description of her complaint about trying to remove her information from the internet,
we have no record of her call*** into our offices and our opt-out procedure is
clearly posted on the web site
It's unfortunate
that Ms*** is able to file a complaint about a company without any merit
which goes on their Revdex.com record for years without any just causeAnyone can
get public information simply by visiting any other public records information
provider or by visiting a local county office and requesting them
SearchBug has an
Opt-out policy (which is not required by law) posted by visiting http://www.searchbug.com/comments.aspx and then
clicking on the "Personal Listing" option
We are not
required by any laws to offer a way to remove people from the internet (which is impossible)However,
we do offer a way to block information from showing up on our website as a
courtesy to the publicWe must therefore charge a fee to offset the
administrative fees should someone not want to follow the online instructions
to utilize the free removal process
The
administrative costs of blocking someone's information from showing up in the
public record results on searchbug.com vary based on the number of records,
however we offer a flat fee
Note that
searchbug does not own the data in public records that shows up on the internet
We have no control over the data and hence can only block certain aspects from
showing up on our results pagesBlocking this information takes effort, time
and resources and we charge a fee to recoup these administrative expenses
Our data comes
from many sources which are of public record stemming from the FCRA - http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf
Further
information that answers many of the questions people have about public records
and opt*** out can be found here: http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/infobrokers.htm
This is a list
of online data brokers that sell similar information - http://www.privacyrights.org/online-information-brokers-list
If you're
concern is more about Identity Theft we suggest reading the FTC.Gov pages found
here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft//consumers/about-identity-theft.ht...⇄ /> If there are several
records on searchbug.com that match the name provided we don't know which one
to blockIf *** was to send a screenshot of the exact record to be blocked
we would offer a one-time courtesy to do that at no charge

First of all I'd like to point out that *** *** filed a
complaint about service issues yet she is not even a customer of ours
We have no record of any transaction from this person so the complaint cannot
be for service issuesWe have never received a phone call, email or
letter
regarding any issue from *** nor do we have any records of this
person doing business with us or calling us to discuss any issue
As far as the description of her complaint it seems to be an issue
of a matter of opinionShe believes we should not charge a fee based on other company policiesWe believe we get to decide how we run our business and that if someone calls us to talk to us, we're very human people and would prefer an email, phone call, or facebook message verses a complaint to a 3rd party website that rates our company based on complaintsSome companies don't even offer a way to opt-out due to the extra effort and resources it uses. There should be a way to determine if the customer ever even used the services of the company in question or is just complaining based on their own beliefs and perceptionsBeliefs and perceptions are not facts
Based on the Freedom of Information Act it's actually perfectly
legal to have personal information on our website. There is no law that
requires any public records research company to obtain permission to gather
public records and present them in a readable form online for sale.
It's unfortunate that people can file a complaint about a company
without merit which goes on their Revdex.com record for years without any just
cause. Anyone can get public information simply by visiting any other
public records information provider or by visiting a local county office and
requesting them
SearchBug has a posted Opt-out policy (which is not required by
law) posted by clicking the http://www.searchbug.com/comments.aspx and then clicking on the "Personal Listing"
optionWe don't even need to offer a way to opt-out but do so as a courtesy
and hence charge a fee due to the overwhelming administrative costs of blocking
this type of information from showing up in the public record results
Since we don't own the data, we have no control over the data and
hence can only block certain exact pieces from showing up on our results pages
Blocking this information takes effort, time and resources and we
charge a fee to recoup these administrative expenses. Just like
the phone company charges monthly to keep phone numbers unlisted, we charge a
one-time fee
The $discussed on our website and in the paragraphs above are
administrative costsIf we took the time to block every request received
without a fee, we would need to hire more people, and then increase costs of
our services to paying customers while providing free administrative services
to people that are not even customers. Also, we cannot guarantee the name
is blocked for more than year is simply due to the updating of public records
by all the various online entities that provide this dataIf any piece of the
records are updated, the subjects name, address or phone number may reappear on
searchbugWe will block it again when notified without a fee for one year and
often continue to block it indefinitely when possible or if brought
to our attention with a simple phone call or email, especially if
someone has paid the administrative fee in the pastWe put the year
limitation on their simply to protect ourselves since we have no control over
publicly available data
Consumers that are not business owners seem to look at this issue
one sided. Our policy has nothing to do with an act of privacyIt’s
merely a cost of doing business in the age of electronic information
Our data comes from many sources which are of public record
stemming from the FCRA - http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf
Further information that answers many of the questions people have
about public records and opting out can be found here: http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/infobrokers.htm
This is a list of online data brokers that sell similar
information - http://www.privacyrights.org/online-information-brokers-list
If your concern is more about Identity Theft we suggest reading
the FTC.Gov pages found here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft//consumers/about-identity-theft.ht...⇄ /> Some customers disagree with our company policy and we understand everyone has the right
We are in the USA where capitalism allows us to set our own pricing and
business practices and people are allowed to disagree with themIt is
unfortunate that they are then able to tarnish a companies reputation on the
Revdex.com site just for disagreeing with a company they don't even do business with.
If people prefer not to have personal data to show up on the
internet, then they’ll have to live “off-the-grid” or remove information from
any and all databases (see links above)
We have opted to offer a one time courtesy to block her
information from showing up on our website; however, since 3rd party databases are constantly
updated, we have no way to guarantee the information will not show up againThe
administrative fee is an unfortunate necessity of the times we live in

There is no law that requires any public records research company to obtain permission to gather public records and present them in a readable form online for sale It's unfortunate that individuals are able to file a Revdex.com complaint about a company without being a customer Mrs***,
anyone can get your public information simply by visiting any other public records information provider, including county offices, courthouses, and public records from the San Luis Obispo County offices here http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/residents/public_records.htm or by visiting the Clerk-recorder official records office on *** Street Your "stalker" could have easily said the internet (which does not mean Searchbug) but they could have simply physically gone to the county records officeEverything you do online, your deeds, your magazines, your grocery store rewards cards, and many other forms we fill out end up in public record repositories.SearchBug has a posted Opt-out policy (which is not required by law) posted by clicking the http://www.***com/comments.aspx and then clicking on the "Personal Listing" optionWe don't even need to offer a way to opt-out but do so as a courtesy and hence charge a fee due to the administrative costs of blocking your information from showing up in the public record results on ***com.Our data comes from many sources which are of public record stemming from the FCRA - http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes***Further information that answers all the questions on the attached document can be found here: http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/infobrokers.htmThis is a list of online data brokers that sell similar information - http://www.privacyrights.org/online-information-brokers-listFor more information on Identity theft I suggest you read the FTC.Gov pages found here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft//consumers/about-i***Unfortunately...⇄ we have no control over public record repositories and simply show what's availableIf the repositories change or update information, we have no control over what shows up Hence our very reasonable admin fee for keeping your information blockedIt's not that we are making money on that, reallyIt costs us more in labor, rent, healthcare for our employees, and everything else when it comes to helping someone block their information from showing up We don't even need to offer that, but we doWould you rather we have no way to help people who want their info blocked, or charge a small fee to recoup some of the associated costs and offer the service? As a courtesy, which could have been accomplished by simply calling our toll free number (we have no record of any emails coming from your email address) I have blocked your information from showing up on our website

Hi ***,
We weren't able to pull up anything in our online system regarding an account under your name, however, we did find an email where you stated that it wasn't "Fair" that we charged a fee to block records and requested we remove your information from our systemOur customer service team replied with our policy and the options for opting outFree records come from published white pages and other freely available sourcesSince your records were found on the premium preview tab, those are derived from public records that data brokers manage data we don't ownIt's literally impossible for us to remove those records from the internet, however we can perform an administrative procedure to block them from showing up in the results but it takes us timeYou then requested information about where our data comes from and the response from our support team explained itAgain, since we don't own the information, and we only display what is out in public records, we do require an administrative fee in order to manually block the records All the requests we were getting was taking time away from paying customers and costing us countless hoursBy implementing a minimal fee, it covers the costs for the administrative time and it reduces the number of requests receivedIT was the only way we could figure out how to still help people that wanted to block records and stay in business We're sorry you don't think it's "fair"Is it fair that some people in the world are starving or don't have indoor plumbing? Is it fair that we have to pay enormous corporate taxes that get wasted by Government officials? We could all go on and on about what we think is or isn't fair.
Your Requested Settlement:
As previously mentioned based on your requested settlement, the records have been blocked without any payment so we are not sure why you rejected the settlement. If you check the URL you included in your initial complaint showing your information you will see that your information no longer shows up on our site (after you clear your Browser Cache and Cookies).
We wish you all the best,
Searchbug

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
Regards,
*** *** Dear ***,
I would like to take this opportunity to communicate with the business ownerThank you for your response to my complaintIt is not my intent to tarnish your business at allI am, however, disappointed in the response I received when I emailed [email protected], I did attempt to opt-out on your website and when it was unsuccessful, I emailed your business I expressed my concern over my home address being published online and that, at this time, I cannot afford to pay $to have my information removedI was instructed via email that I could have my information excluded in the "free listings," but that I would not be able to have my information removed if it fell under the category of "premium records." It's convenient for SearchBug Incthat all of my listed information fell under the latter category which charges the $feeI expressed in the email to her that I am concerned about the safety of myself and my familyI further asked her via email where this detailed information came from and I was told it came from grocery store cards, magazine subscriptions and mortgagesI appreciate her providing this informationShe also stated that your company provides Listing Removal Service as a courtesy to some peopleThere is a high likelihood that I will be called as a witness in a pending civil lawsuit and this is why I want my family's and my personal information removed immediatelyIt is for our safety and securityAlthough you are correct that you decide how to run your business, you may be interested in the following: Radaris.com deleted my personal information the day after my email request; Publicrecords.com has agreed to remove my personal information after receiving proof of my identity (mailing or faxing them a copy of my driver's license showing name, address and DOB)Intelius.com removed my information from their site within hours of my request, with no questions asked; Spokeo.com has approved my online personal information removal request and it will take effect within hoursOther than the postage required to send my proof of identity to Publicrecords.com, no one has charged or attempted to charge me any feesYour business exists because of the publishing of peoples' personal informationYou are correct, I am not a paying customer, but your business would cease to exist without your access and publishing of information like mineMost business owners would treat the source of their business income with more kindness and respectWhile I want to follow the policy of not disclosing personal information, I will certainly provide you the information on the email correspondence I had with one of your staff membersThis will prove that I reached out to SearchBug Inc to remedy these issuesI appreciate your time

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Regards,
[redacted]
Dear [redacted],I would like to take this opportunity to communicate with the business owner.Thank you for your response to my complaint. It is not my intent to tarnish your business at all. I am, however, disappointed in the response I received when I emailed [email protected]. Initially, I did attempt to opt-out on your website and when it was unsuccessful, I emailed your business.  I expressed my concern over my home address being published online and that, at this time, I cannot afford to pay $20.00 to have my information removed. I was instructed via email that I could have my information excluded in the "free listings," but that I would not be able to have my information removed if it fell under the category of "premium records." It's convenient for SearchBug Inc. that all of my listed information fell under the latter category which charges the $20.00 fee. I expressed in the email to her that I am concerned about the safety of myself and my family. I further asked her via email where this detailed information came from and I was told it came from grocery store cards, magazine subscriptions and mortgages. I appreciate her providing this information. She also stated that your company provides Listing Removal Service as a courtesy to some people. There is a high likelihood that I will be called as a witness in a pending civil lawsuit and this is why I want my family's and my personal information removed immediately. It is for our safety and security.Although you are correct that you decide how to run your business, you may be interested in the following: Radaris.com deleted my personal information the day after my email request; Publicrecords.com has agreed to remove my personal information after receiving proof of my identity (mailing or faxing them a copy of my driver's license showing name, address and DOB). Intelius.com removed my information from their site within 24 hours of my request, with no questions asked; Spokeo.com has approved my online personal information removal request and it will take effect within 72 hours. Other than the postage required to send my proof of identity to Publicrecords.com, no one has charged or attempted to charge me any fees.Your business exists because of the publishing of peoples' personal information. You are correct, I am not a paying customer, but your business would cease to exist without your access and publishing of information like mine. Most business owners would treat the source of their business income with more kindness and respect. While I want to follow the policy of not disclosing personal information, I will certainly provide you the information on the email correspondence I had with one of your staff members. This will prove that I reached out to SearchBug Inc to remedy these issues.I appreciate your time.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
SearchBug's message to you is not true.  The removal procedure they stated did nothing when I tried multiple times.  I also sent 6 emails to get my information removed.They did not take my information down, until I contacted you.  My information now does NOT come up on their site!  I am very thankful to Revdex.com; they we're very difficult to deal with.  Your work has been great!  Thank you,
  [redacted]

Hi [redacted],We weren't able to pull up anything in our online system regarding an account under your name, however, we did find an email where you stated that it wasn't "Fair" that we charged a fee to block records and requested we remove your information from our system. Our customer service team replied with our policy and the options for opting out. Free records come from published white pages and other freely available sources. Since your records were found on the premium preview tab, those are derived from public records that data brokers manage data we don't own. It's literally impossible for us to remove those records from the internet, however we can perform an administrative procedure to block them from showing up in the results but it takes us time. You then requested information about where our data comes from and the response from our support team explained it.Again, since we don't own the information, and we only display what is out in public records, we do require an administrative fee in order to manually block the records.  All the requests we were getting was taking time away from paying customers and costing us countless hours. By implementing a minimal fee, it covers the costs for the administrative time and it reduces the number of requests received. IT was the only way we could figure out how to still help people that wanted to block records and stay in business.  We're sorry you don't think it's "fair". Is it fair that some people in the world are starving or don't have indoor plumbing?  Is it fair that we have to pay enormous corporate taxes that get wasted by Government officials?  We could all go on and on about what we think is or isn't fair. Your Requested Settlement:As previously mentioned based on your requested settlement, the records have been blocked without any payment so we are not sure why you rejected the settlement. If you check the URL you included in your initial complaint showing your information you will see that your information no longer shows up on our site (after you clear your Browser Cache and Cookies). We wish you all the best,Searchbug

First of all I'd
like to point out that [redacted] filed a
complaint about [redacted] or Collection Issues but she is not even a customer of ours.
We have no record of...

any transaction from this person so the complaint cannot
be for Billing or Collection Issues since they have never purchased anything from us and we have never sent them a bill nor have we sent them a collection
notice.
We have no
outstanding billing or collections issue, nor do we have any records of this
person doing business with us what so ever.
As far as the
description of her complaint about trying to remove her information from the internet,
we have no record of her call[redacted] into our offices and our opt-out procedure is
clearly posted on the web site.
It's unfortunate
that Ms. [redacted] is able to file a complaint about a company without any merit
which goes on their Revdex.com record for 3 years without any just cause. Anyone can
get public information simply by visiting any other public records information
provider or by visiting a local county office and requesting them.
SearchBug has an
Opt-out policy (which is not required by law) posted by visiting http://www.searchbug.com/comments.aspx and then
clicking on the "Personal Listing" option.
We are not
required by any laws to offer a way to remove people from the internet (which is impossible). However,
we do offer a way to block information from showing up on our website as a
courtesy to the public. We must therefore charge a fee to offset the
administrative fees should someone not want to follow the online instructions
to utilize the free removal process.
The
administrative costs of blocking someone's information from showing up in the
public record results on searchbug.com vary based on the number of records,
however we offer a flat fee.
Note that
searchbug does not own the data in public records that shows up on the internet.
We have no control over the data and hence can only block certain aspects from
showing up on our results pages. Blocking this information takes effort, time
and resources and we charge a fee to recoup these administrative expenses.
Our data comes
from many sources which are of public record stemming from the FCRA - http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf
Further
information that answers many of the questions people have about public records
and opt[redacted] out can be found here: http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/infobrokers.htm
This is a list
of online data brokers that sell similar information - http://www.privacyrights.org/online-information-brokers-list
If you're
concern is more about Identity Theft we suggest reading the FTC.Gov pages found
here:  http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft//consumers/about-identity-theft....⇄ /> If there are several
records on searchbug.com that match the name provided we don't know which one
to block. If [redacted] was to send a screenshot of the exact record to be blocked
we would offer a one-time courtesy to do that at no charge.

[redacted] is not a customer. His complaint has to do with [redacted] thinking we have an obligation to remove his information when we have clear instructions on how to block listings from appearing on searchbug in our Get Help section.  How is his...

failure to follow our instructions a customer complaint?  
If you review this screenshot you will see there are no listings found when searching for his name.
At the bottom of the searchbug web site in the footer, under the heading "Get Help" there is a link called Personal Listings Removal, clicking this link provides instructions on getting information blocked from viewing.

First of all I'd like to point out that [redacted] filed a
complaint about service issues yet she is not even a customer of ours.
We have no record of any...

transaction from this person so the complaint cannot
be for service issues. We have never received a phone call, email or
letter regarding any issue from [redacted] nor do we have any records of this
person doing business with us or calling us to discuss any issue.
As far as the description of her complaint it seems to be an issue
of a matter of opinion. She believes we should not charge a fee based on other company policies. We believe we get to decide how we run our business and that if someone calls us to talk to us, we're very human people and would prefer an email, phone call, or facebook message verses a complaint to a 3rd party website that rates our company based on complaints. Some companies don't even offer a way to opt-out due to the extra effort and resources it uses. 
There should be a way to determine if the customer ever even used the services of the company in question or is just complaining based on their own beliefs and perceptions. Beliefs and perceptions are not facts.
Based on the Freedom of Information Act it's actually perfectly
legal to have personal information on our website. There is no law that
requires any public records research company to obtain permission to gather
public records and present them in a readable form online for sale. 
It's unfortunate that people can file a complaint about a company
without merit which goes on their Revdex.com record for 3 years without any just
cause. Anyone can get public information simply by visiting any other
public records information provider or by visiting a local county office and
requesting them.
SearchBug has a posted Opt-out policy (which is not required by
law) posted by clicking the  http://www.searchbug.com/comments.aspx and then clicking on the "Personal Listing"
option. We don't even need to offer a way to opt-out but do so as a courtesy
and hence charge a fee due to the overwhelming administrative costs of blocking
this type of information from showing up in the public record results.
Since we don't own the data, we have no control over the data and
hence can only block certain exact pieces from showing up on our results pages.
Blocking this information takes effort, time and resources and we
charge a fee to recoup these administrative expenses.  Just like
the phone company charges monthly to keep phone numbers unlisted, we charge a
one-time fee.
The $20 discussed on our website and in the paragraphs above are
administrative costs. If we took the time to block every request received
without a fee, we would need to hire more people, and then increase costs of
our services to paying customers while providing free administrative services
to people that are not even customers. 
Also, we cannot guarantee the name
is blocked for more than 1 year is simply due to the updating of public records
by all the various online entities that provide this data. If any piece of the
records are updated, the subjects name, address or phone number may reappear on
searchbug. We will block it again when notified without a fee for one year and
often continue to block it indefinitely when possible or if brought
to our attention with a simple phone call or email, especially if
someone has paid the administrative fee in the past. We put the 1 year
limitation on their simply to protect ourselves since we have no control over
publicly available data.
Consumers that are not business owners seem to look at this issue
one sided.  Our policy has nothing to do with an act of privacy. It’s
merely a cost of doing business in the age of electronic information.
Our data comes from many sources which are of public record
stemming from the FCRA - http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf
Further information that answers many of the questions people have
about public records and opting out can be found here:  http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/infobrokers.htm
This is a list of online data brokers that sell similar
information - http://www.privacyrights.org/online-information-brokers-list
If your concern is more about Identity Theft we suggest reading
the FTC.Gov pages found here:  http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft//consumers/about-identity-theft....⇄ /> Some customers disagree with our company policy and we understand everyone has the right.
We are in the USA where capitalism allows us to set our own pricing and
business practices and people are allowed to disagree with them. It is
unfortunate that they are then able to tarnish a companies reputation on the
Revdex.com site just for disagreeing with a company they don't even do business with. 
If people prefer not to have personal data to show up on the
internet, then they’ll have to live “off-the-grid” or remove information from
any and all databases (see links above).
We have opted to offer a one time courtesy to block her
information from showing up on our website; however, since 3rd party databases are constantly
updated, we have no way to guarantee the information will not show up again. The
administrative fee is an unfortunate necessity of the times we live in.

First of all I'd like to point out that [redacted] filed a
complaint about billing and collection issues and he is not even a customer of
ours. We have no record of any transaction from this person so the complaint
cannot be for billing or...

collections. We have no outstanding billing or
collections issue, nor do we have any records of this person doing business
with us what so ever.
As far as the description of his complaint it seems to be an issue
of a matter of opinion.  There is no law
that requires any public records research company to obtain permission to
gather public records and present them in a readable form online for sale. Nor is there any violation of privacy laws being broken to charge administrative fees to conduct out of the ordinary business. Blocking public records from showing up on our website requires separate administrative duties outside our normal course of business. 
It's unfortunate that people can file a complaint about a company
without merit which goes on their Revdex.com record for 3 years without any just
cause.  Anyone can get public information
simply by visiting any other public records information provider or by visiting
a local county office and requesting them.
SearchBug has a posted Opt-out
policy (which is not required by law) posted by clicking the  http://www.searchbug.com/comments.aspx and then
clicking on the "Personal Listing" option. We don't even need to
offer a way to opt-out but do so as a courtesy and hence charge a fee due to
the overwhelming administrative costs of blocking this type of information from
showing up in the public record results.
Since we don't own the data, we
have no control over the data and hence can only block certain exact pieces
from showing up on our results pages. Blocking this information takes effort,
time and resources outside our core business and we charge a fee to recoup these
administrative expenses.  Just like the
phone company charges a monthly fee to keep phone numbers unlisted (did you file a Revdex.com complaint against your local phone company)?
The $20 discussed on our website and in the paragraphs above are
administrative costs. If we took the time to block every request received
without a fee, we would need to hire more people, and then increase costs of
our services to paying customers while providing free administrative services
to people that are not even customers.
Consumers that are not business owners
seem to look at this issue one sided.  Our
policy has nothing to do with an act of privacy. It’s merely a cost of doing
business in the age of electronic information.
Our data comes from many sources
which are of public record stemming from the FCRA - http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf
Further information that answers
many of the questions people have about public records and opting out can be
found here:  http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/infobrokers.htm
This is a list of online data
brokers that sell similar information - http://www.privacyrights.org/online-information-brokers-list
If you're concern is more about
Identity Theft we suggest reading the FTC.Gov pages found here:  http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft//consumers/about-identity-theft....⇄ /> Unfortunately, we are unable to appYour desired settlement request is
ridiculous. No one has the authority to close a business or “take down a
website” simply because one individual has an issue with it.
We are in the USA where capitalism
allows us to set our own pricing and business practices. We are unable to
remove personal data at all since we don’t own the data.
If you don’t want your personal
data to show up on the internet, then you’ll have to live “off-the-grid” or
remove your information from any and all databases (see links above).
We are to block your information
from showing up on our website; however, since 3rd party databases
are constantly updated, we have no way to guarantee the information will not
show up again. The administrative fee is an unfortunate necessity of the times we
live in.

Dear [redacted],
I'm the CEO of SearchBug and I'm truly shocked at level of misunderstanding and how many sites you posted complaints on for a $6.00 charge.  I read the notes in our system from my customer support team and can clearly see that a refund was processed....

 Since customer satisfaction is our primary concern and we have thousands and thousands of very satisfied customers, we know we can't make 100% of the people satisfied 100% of the time.   When a customer is so dissatisfied I actually take it personally since we try so hard to make our site user friendly and provide the best available data possible.  
When I see this happen I try to reach out to the customer personally before a customer would leave us a bad review or complain to the Revdex.com but I was out of the office this week and was not aware of this situation.  We are all human and as such try to treat our customers with the respect and attention they deserve and hope for the same treatment in return. When customers file multiple bad reviews and complain to the Revdex.com I've often found that even though they checked the box agreeing to our terms of service, they never really read them or understood what it was they were ordering.   
While you ordered a trial day pass which includes all of the services found here:  https://www.searchbug.com/unlimited/access.aspx  it does only include the most basic reverse phone search as shown.  This phone search (https://www.searchbug.com/peoplefinder/reverse-phone.aspx) while included in the day pass only includes published white pages and public records as stated (nowhere on the page does it state that cell phone numbers are included). 
The results for your phone number [redacted] do not come back with verified information.  If the results are not you, then this number could have been used by someone else before you had it and that data is the current public record or was originally a published landline phone number years before it was a cell phone number.  A deeper search shows that this phone number was actually ported in 2006 and is now a cell phone number.  
There are no phone directories for cell phone numbers.  Cell phone numbers are never listed in published directories and are rarely found in public records.  I can only wish that you had spoken to our support team before you placed your order as they would have recommended different services had we known you were searching for cell phone numbers. However, since the $6.00 day pass is very inexpensive and it works for most people that understand what they are getting many people don't call to ask if it is right for their needs.  
The other phone number you searched, [redacted] is also a cell phone number and would never be found in published white pages and would be very rare to find in public records unless the owner had used it on publicly available documents like voter registration, magazine subscriptions, home or consumer loan, house deed, or some other government or publicly available document that gets shared among data aggregators.  Once a number is used in public records, it gets captured and added to databases and then data aggregators clean up the data and make it available to legitimate public research companies like searchbug.  
I went a step further and conducted one of our premium searches to look up the cell phone number you entered and it returned with the following information.  
Owner Name (verified):
[redacted]

Phone Type (verified):
CELLULAR
  




Carrier (verified):
[redacted] (OCN: [redacted])

Number was Ported:
12/01/2009 2:40:07

Area Code:
[redacted]1.

Local Calling Area:
[redacted]
While the Verified name came back as "[redacted] that is what the carrier "[redacted]" has on file.  That is a real-time lookup that has a separate fee that is not included in the day pass.  It's all a matter of knowing what to order to obtain the correct information. It's not that the information you received was wrong or bad, we just don't have any public records or published data for a cell phone number. These are not included with the day pass since they are private cell phones and require a more expensive level of service.   The other phone number  [redacted] is also a cell phone number operated by [redacted]. 
It's clear to me that you didn't understand that cell phone numbers were not included in the services you ordered. I don't know how to remedy that.  Our bullet points on that page clearly state that published phone numbers and public records are included.  We will certainly look at adding a line on that page that says that Cell phone numbers are not published white pages nor are they public records (however since most of our clients are industry professionals that understand that. we didn't think specifically stating that was necessary since we have other services for locating owners of cell phone numbers).
I like to use the analogy .... It's like going to a restaurant and ordering a hamburger and complaining because you thought they made the burgers with Filet Mignon. While the restaurant doesn't say the burgers are not filet mignon, maybe some customers have eaten in restaurants that do that, but a filet mignon burger is not $6.00, it's probably $12 or $15.
I'm sorry that you think our advertising is not forthcoming however this is the only complaint we've gotten in many years and have hundreds of thousands of users annually. Our Terms and Conditions are pretty clear as is the language on the order page. It's just unfortunate that there was a misunderstanding. Especially since nowhere on the order page do we say that cell phone number lookups are included with the day pass.
I'm also sorry your expectations were not met, however in light of the fact that you were searching for cell phone numbers that were not included in the service you ordered, and the fact that we refunded your money when you called the second time (you didn't ask for a refund during the first call) to ensure customer satisfaction certainly does not warrant the number of bad reviews and complaints you filed online for a $6.00 charge.  Especially, when I believe you ordered the wrong service for your needs.  We have several other services that would have worked for you, however they are all much more expensive and the professionals (lawyers, collection agencies, government agencies) that use our website understand that.   I'm sorry it didn't work out for you.
Regards,
[redacted]
SearchBug, Inc.

Our support team has complied the attached document showing all the conversations between our office and the customer. We of course want satisfied clients but it seems the facts may not line up with beliefs in this case. There is no way to dispute the facts of the investigators findings. Certainly...

not based on beliefs and perceptions. Believes and Perceptions are not always reality and the facts on this case are evident based on the investigators findings.  We certainly wish the information matched what the customer thinks it should be, but that is why it is an investigation. We hope the information is useful, but we are simply the facilitators between the customers information and the facts the investigators find. Not everyone likes the facts. Unfortunately, when reality contradicts our own believes and perceptions, sometimes we chose to ignore or deny it.

This Business Racial Discriminated me SARAH is her name customer service I was just trying get in my account and I had one of my Employees called and she was very rude calling me a liar and I called from my company phone and she still called me a liar ..

SearchBug Inc has my private information listed on their website without my permission. The age they have for me spread across the internet is incorrect. Anyone viewing my listing will see false information. The information that searchbug inc has about me is misleading and incorrect. They are selling false information. They want me to pay them to have the listing blocked. No one should have to pay to have their information blocked or removed when they never gave permission to have it listed in the first place. This displaying and selling of people's private information should be illegal. I should sue searchbug inc for listing and selling false information about me.

Review: Search Bug, Inc. has personal information about me listed on their website. They have my home address, phone number and my relatives and their personal information on their database. I am attempting to have my personal information removed from their database for my own safety and security and that of my family.

I visited the information section that instructs how to have my information removed and the instructions are to send them a check for $20.00 to have my information removed. I realize that several search engines have my information and all the others which I have encountered require me to simply send them a letter in the mail with proof of identification or fill out a questionnaire online.

In consideration that I did not provide them my personal information to begin with, I don't think it is fair that I be charged to remove it. If I had paid for a service to begin with, I would pay to cancel that service. Search Bug, Inc. obtained my personal information on their own. Myself and all of the other people whose personal information is published online are in danger. There is no anonymity anymore. I would like for my personal information and that of my immediate family members removed immediately. Here is the link to the page where my personal information is listed.

https://www.searchbug.com/peoplefinder/results.aspx?TYPE=people&WHAT=Name&am...⇄ Settlement: I would like my and my immediately family members' personal information removed from the database without being charged any fees.

Business

Response:

First of all I'd like to point out that [redacted] filed a

complaint about service issues yet she is not even a customer of ours.

We have no record of any transaction from this person so the complaint cannot

be for service issues. We have never received a phone call, email or

letter regarding any issue from [redacted] nor do we have any records of this

person doing business with us or calling us to discuss any issue.

As far as the description of her complaint it seems to be an issue

of a matter of opinion. She believes we should not charge a fee based on other company policies. We believe we get to decide how we run our business and that if someone calls us to talk to us, we're very human people and would prefer an email, phone call, or facebook message verses a complaint to a 3rd party website that rates our company based on complaints. Some companies don't even offer a way to opt-out due to the extra effort and resources it uses. There should be a way to determine if the customer ever even used the services of the company in question or is just complaining based on their own beliefs and perceptions. Beliefs and perceptions are not facts.

Based on the Freedom of Information Act it's actually perfectly

legal to have personal information on our website. There is no law that

requires any public records research company to obtain permission to gather

public records and present them in a readable form online for sale.

It's unfortunate that people can file a complaint about a company

without merit which goes on their Revdex.com record for 3 years without any just

cause. Anyone can get public information simply by visiting any other

public records information provider or by visiting a local county office and

requesting them.

SearchBug has a posted Opt-out policy (which is not required by

law) posted by clicking the http://www.searchbug.com/comments.aspx and then clicking on the "Personal Listing"

option. We don't even need to offer a way to opt-out but do so as a courtesy

and hence charge a fee due to the overwhelming administrative costs of blocking

this type of information from showing up in the public record results.

Since we don't own the data, we have no control over the data and

hence can only block certain exact pieces from showing up on our results pages.

Blocking this information takes effort, time and resources and we

charge a fee to recoup these administrative expenses. Just like

the phone company charges monthly to keep phone numbers unlisted, we charge a

one-time fee.

The $20 discussed on our website and in the paragraphs above are

administrative costs. If we took the time to block every request received

without a fee, we would need to hire more people, and then increase costs of

our services to paying customers while providing free administrative services

to people that are not even customers. Also, we cannot guarantee the name

is blocked for more than 1 year is simply due to the updating of public records

by all the various online entities that provide this data. If any piece of the

records are updated, the subjects name, address or phone number may reappear on

searchbug. We will block it again when notified without a fee for one year and

often continue to block it indefinitely when possible or if brought

to our attention with a simple phone call or email, especially if

someone has paid the administrative fee in the past. We put the 1 year

limitation on their simply to protect ourselves since we have no control over

publicly available data.

Consumers that are not business owners seem to look at this issue

one sided. Our policy has nothing to do with an act of privacy. It’s

merely a cost of doing business in the age of electronic information.

Our data comes from many sources which are of public record

stemming from the FCRA - http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf

Further information that answers many of the questions people have

about public records and opting out can be found here: http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/infobrokers.htm

This is a list of online data brokers that sell similar

information - http://www.privacyrights.org/online-information-brokers-list

If your concern is more about Identity Theft we suggest reading

the FTC.Gov pages found here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft//consumers/about-identity-theft.ht...⇄ />
Some customers disagree with our company policy and we understand everyone has the right.

We are in the USA where capitalism allows us to set our own pricing and

business practices and people are allowed to disagree with them. It is

unfortunate that they are then able to tarnish a companies reputation on the

Revdex.com site just for disagreeing with a company they don't even do business with.

If people prefer not to have personal data to show up on the

internet, then they’ll have to live “off-the-grid” or remove information from

any and all databases (see links above).

We have opted to offer a one time courtesy to block her

information from showing up on our website; however, since 3rd party databases are constantly

updated, we have no way to guarantee the information will not show up again. The

administrative fee is an unfortunate necessity of the times we live in.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Regards,

Dear [redacted],I would like to take this opportunity to communicate with the business owner.

Review: SearchBug has my private information, along with my mother's information listed together. I requested six times to have it removed. After I posted my current and last address, I got an email from them said they would remove the four listings as a " one time courtesy.." ( I kept the emails) They have not taken down all my listings, despite their statement that they would.

There is no other way to remove the listings. I am concerned about my mother's safety and privacy, along with my own.

They have not followed through with their statement to remove my information,( 4 listings of me and her together in [redacted]) along with my mother's address and information. This whole process has been long and frustrating.Their method of handling this important matter has been completely unsatisfactory. Perhaps you can help.Desired Settlement: Remove/ erase all my information posted on Searchbug's website and never list me or my mother again. Respect both our privacy, especially after so many requests and unfulfilled responses.

Business

Response:

[redacted] is not a customer. His complaint has to do with [redacted] thinking we have an obligation to remove his information when we have clear instructions on how to block listings from appearing on searchbug in our Get Help section. How is his failure to follow our instructions a customer complaint?

Review: This website collects Data unethically and charges for people to opt out after they put personal data on their website. This is a violation of privacy and they're asking people to pay $20 for their privacy.

Removal of "PREMIUM Records" Listings including the Free PREVIEW of Premium Listings

SearchBug Records are online public records. Public records information comes from files or records of local, state, federal or other government agencies, such as corporate and property records. Public records are created by the federal and local government agencies, (vital records, immigration records, real estate records, criminal records, etc.) or by the individual (magazine subscriptions, voter registration, sweepstake entries, home purchases, not opting out from financial institution marketing notices, etc.).

Original public records documents are maintained by the government and private data depositories, many of which are accessible to the public (usually for a fee).

SearchBug online data is as-is representation of underlying public records. Therefore, we are unable to guarantee the accuracy or add, update, or remove information at the original source. We can however block individual records from appearing in SearchBug PREMIUM Records..

Blocking of PREMIUM Records listings is a manual administrative process and does require payment for the administration of manually blocking records. Since data comes from several different provider feeds, we have no way to automate a process. Each removal request is based on a specific name or addresses and requires them to be manually verified and completed.

If you would like your information blocked from showing in the PREMIUM records preview, please follow the instructions below.

Enter your name and state in the people finder tool and click search.

Click on "Premium Records - free preview" tab.

Print the page with your listings.

Circle or highlight your listings to be removed.

Mail us the removal request and Include the following iDesired Settlement: For their website to be taking down for unethical use. Or for them not be able to charge to remove personal data that They took without the customers knowledge.

Business

Response:

First of all I'd like to point out that [redacted] filed a

complaint about billing and collection issues and he is not even a customer of

ours. We have no record of any transaction from this person so the complaint

cannot be for billing or collections. We have no outstanding billing or

collections issue, nor do we have any records of this person doing business

with us what so ever.

As far as the description of his complaint it seems to be an issue

of a matter of opinion. There is no law

that requires any public records research company to obtain permission to

gather public records and present them in a readable form online for sale. Nor is there any violation of privacy laws being broken to charge administrative fees to conduct out of the ordinary business. Blocking public records from showing up on our website requires separate administrative duties outside our normal course of business.

It's unfortunate that people can file a complaint about a company

without merit which goes on their Revdex.com record for 3 years without any just

cause. Anyone can get public information

simply by visiting any other public records information provider or by visiting

a local county office and requesting them.

SearchBug has a posted Opt-out

policy (which is not required by law) posted by clicking the http://www.searchbug.com/comments.aspx and then

clicking on the "Personal Listing" option. We don't even need to

offer a way to opt-out but do so as a courtesy and hence charge a fee due to

the overwhelming administrative costs of blocking this type of information from

showing up in the public record results.

Since we don't own the data, we

have no control over the data and hence can only block certain exact pieces

from showing up on our results pages. Blocking this information takes effort,

time and resources outside our core business and we charge a fee to recoup these

administrative expenses. Just like the

phone company charges a monthly fee to keep phone numbers unlisted (did you file a Revdex.com complaint against your local phone company)?

The $20 discussed on our website and in the paragraphs above are

administrative costs. If we took the time to block every request received

without a fee, we would need to hire more people, and then increase costs of

our services to paying customers while providing free administrative services

to people that are not even customers.

Consumers that are not business owners

seem to look at this issue one sided. Our

policy has nothing to do with an act of privacy. It’s merely a cost of doing

business in the age of electronic information.

Our data comes from many sources

which are of public record stemming from the FCRA - http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf

Further information that answers

many of the questions people have about public records and opting out can be

found here: http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/infobrokers.htm

This is a list of online data

brokers that sell similar information - http://www.privacyrights.org/online-information-brokers-list

If you're concern is more about

Identity Theft we suggest reading the FTC.Gov pages found here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft//consumers/about-identity-theft.ht...⇄ />
Unfortunately, we are unable to appYour desired settlement request is

ridiculous. No one has the authority to close a business or “take down a

website” simply because one individual has an issue with it.

We are in the USA where capitalism

allows us to set our own pricing and business practices. We are unable to

remove personal data at all since we don’t own the data.

If you don’t want your personal

data to show up on the internet, then you’ll have to live “off-the-grid” or

remove your information from any and all databases (see links above).

We are to block your information

from showing up on our website; however, since 3rd party databases

are constantly updated, we have no way to guarantee the information will not

show up again. The administrative fee is an unfortunate necessity of the times we

live in.