• InstantCheckmate

InstantCheckmate

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Overview

InstantCheckmate has a rating of 1.8 stars from 341 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about InstantCheckmate most frequently mention credit card, phone number, and email address problems. InstantCheckmate ranks 152nd among Government Records sites.

  • Service
    82
  • Value
    86
  • Shipping
    30
  • Returns
    42
  • Quality
    71

This company responds to reviews on average within 10 days

Positive reviews (last 12 months): 18.2%
Positive
2
Neutral
0
Negative
9
7
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How would you rate InstantCheckmate?
Top Positive Review

“Good customer service”

Sat I.
3/23/24

The customer service team are very professional and helpful, they make sure to clarify any confusion and I get every information I need.

Top Critical Review

“Slow and inaccurate information.”

PAUL M.
9/10/24

It's definitely priced too high. At night it can be very slow. Often times it gives a lot of incorrect information. It's definitely priced too high. At night it can be very slow. Often times it gives a lot of incorrect information. It shows my grandfather's information (he died in 1952) as my information.

Reviews (341)

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Reviews that mention popular keywords

instant checkmate (43) background check (25) customer service (39) email address (13) credit card (27)
Thumbnail of user vickir8
Arizona
3 reviews
23 helpful votes
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June 8th, 2014

I agree with everyone here. I went ahead and joined for a month@ 22.86, but will be calling tomorrow to cancel. The information is not accurate to be nice. Some is an outright lie and I know this because I entered my name and things came up that are a complete lie. I will be turning them over to the BBB also and Consumer Fraud also. And anyone else that will let me. I will see how hard it is to cancel tomorrow, since no one is answering today. Lucily I out this on a Money card and it doesn't have anymore on it for them to charge.

Thumbnail of user zerop2
Illinois
1 review
19 helpful votes
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November 13th, 2015

Then i found this... story of my life! Make sure you call to cancel because they will have it autopay monthly. I'm on the phone with my cc company right now. Because they won't give me refunds. They claim it a 'public database search' so they can get away with scamming people out of their money but advertising 'background checks' which should be actual background check. FALSE ADVERTISEMENT! STAY AWAY

Thumbnail of user jamesr4223
Colorado
1 review
2 helpful votes
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January 10th, 2023
Verified purchase

The check gave almost ZERO information. They promised military records but there was nothing. A box popped up when I was putting in info saying there was 0ver 500k in unaccessed funds but in the report gave no finance info at all. Couldn't even give employment or education info even though the person I was checking on had a college degree and worked for the same company over 40 years. Included bogus info on some stranger out in California.

Thumbnail of user nicholask381
Nicholas K. – InstantCheckmate Rep

Hello,

We are constantly working on and updating our records and we appreciate you taking the time to give us constructive feedback. We apologize you were unhappy with some of the information in our reports. Since we rely on third-party data sources, we can only display the information that we were provided, which could potentially include incomplete or inaccurate data. We hope to continue to improve our services to make them better for you and future customers. Please feel free to contact our dedicated Customer Care Team at (800) 222-8985, or email us at support@instantcheckmate.com, and we will try to make this right.

Thank you

Thumbnail of user johnyb5
New Jersey
1 review
21 helpful votes
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November 11th, 2015

I did a checkmate on my self and found untrue charges pended against me causing me to loose my jobs over the past few years. I've never been arrested in my life and always held
Down good jobs. A friend of mine directed me to google my self and checkmate came up.
I've contacted the FBI to investigate this false act against me. The FBI did a real record check on me world wide and found no criminal history at all I was like a ghost to there system as of comiting crimes. I would suggest all viewers to do your checks with the FBI especially
The employers. If the employers uses this site against employees rest a sure both parties will be sued and the case will be brought to the public and news.

Tip for consumers:
I did a checkmate on my self and found untrue charges pended against me causing me to loose my jobs over the past few years. I've never been arrested in my life and always held
Down good jobs. A friend of mine directed me to google my self and checkmate came up.
I've contacted the FBI to investigate this false act against me. The FBI did a real record check on me world wide and found no criminal history at all I was like a ghost to there system as of comiting crimes. I would suggest all viewer

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user jillh27
New York
1 review
24 helpful votes
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September 26th, 2015

I wish I checked here first. I wanted to see what my brand new employer was going to be seeing if they did a background check so I decided to purchase my background report from this website. I have a couple of offenses including a DUI and marijuana possession from a couple years ago and I wanted to see how it would show up. Well... I paid to find out my name and that I am a Capricorn and what my daily horoscope was. All other information was unavailable. Upon reading these other reviews about scamming money, I immediately called and cancelled my membership to avoid future charges even though I only chose the 1 month membership.

Thumbnail of user josephs72
New York
1 review
9 helpful votes
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April 22nd, 2014

Typical lying company just like the rest. Scam artist to the fullest. They make you go through an entire application process which by the way takes forever and even has a countdown to fool you into thinking that it's the real deal. Then on their site, they have all of the television logos along with Oprah's and Dr Phil's to fool you into believing that they approve their site. I checked and they were never on their show. I don't know how they aren't being sued by them. I am tired of companies like these. There should be a company that legitimately gives you any information you want and then to make funds they sell advertisements. Give to the people and make from the corporates. No, companies like these do not do that. They would rather take the money from the people. That is why they will never last. They come and go. The one that will be around forever are the ones that legitimately give to the people and take from corpo.

Thumbnail of user lindae69
Tennessee
6 reviews
17 helpful votes
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August 21st, 2018

They posted a picture of a black woman as my sister and a some of the info was incorrect about her. I tried repeatedly to get them to take down the picture but they wouldn't do it. I researched at least 10 others on this site and there was so much info that was inaccurate. Almost all the info I already knew, so it wasn't worth the price to have ever used it. It was as if I was doing a title search on the property someone owned because they kept showing me previous owners of the property. I couldn't understand why they thought anyone wanted that info. I wouldn't recommend them or any other site like this one. Don't waste your money.

Thumbnail of user ramirob16
Texas
1 review
3 helpful votes
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May 8th, 2019

When will ICM IT people add the ability to use Folders to keep all these background reports organized? As it is, the amount of reports is overwhelming after a while and the ability to find /return to a certain report is extremely difficult with all the growing stacks of incorrect (misidentified) reports. Or at least, can't ICM add the capability to look at a generated report and have the option to save it, or discard it.? Why not have something so simple yet effective? AND only being able to delete report from the online phone ICM APP is ridiculous. All these troubles are making it seem pretty inviting for us to return back to Spokeo, Been Verified or Spyfly and use their services instead. ICM has a good product but ICM needs to stay up with the times or be left in the dust of history.

Tip for consumers:
Do your homework and seriously check out spyfly, Been Verified and the other to really compare.

Products used:
Instantcheckmate.com monthly

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user staceyp284
Ohio
1 review
0 helpful votes
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September 17th, 2022

Did a search to check one thing. Marriage Date. It was not provided. Didn't care about any other information, because I already knew the basic stuff that I got for free by doing research. All I wanted was the marriage date and it was blank. So it was a TOTAL WASTE OF MY MONEY and I want a refund!

Tip for consumers:
Don't expect the information you are seeking to be in this report. Mostly blank information or things you can find for free by researching.

Products used:
Background report

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user nicholask381
Nicholas K. – InstantCheckmate Rep

Hello Stacey,
We are constantly working on and updating our records and we appreciate you taking the time to give us constructive feedback. We apologize you were unhappy with some of the information in our reports. Since we rely on third-party data sources, we can only display the information that we were provided, which could potentially include incomplete or inaccurate data. We hope to continue to improve our services to make them better for you and future customers. Please feel free to contact our dedicated Customer Care Team at (800) 222-8985, or email us at support@instantcheckmate.com, and we will try to make this right.

Thank you

Thumbnail of user wanetah
California
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 23rd, 2023

Great company. The representative (Jennelle) I spoke to today 2/22, was superior compared to the representative I spoke to a few months ago who didn't cancel my service, as she said she would. Jennelle did immediately.as she said she would.

Thumbnail of user nicholask381
Nicholas K. – InstantCheckmate Rep

Hello Waneta,
Thank you for taking the time to leave us with your feedback. We are delighted to see that you enjoyed your experience with us, and will be sure to pass along your kind words to Jennelle and her team! We look forward to continuing to assist you in the future.

Thank you,
TruthFinder Support

Thumbnail of user deborahh1193
Nevada
1 review
3 helpful votes
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May 24th, 2021

Instant Checkmate is somehow receiving good reviews when they are the absolute worse I've used out of 4. Do not waste your money as all you will get is a list of friends.

Tip for consumers:
Stay away from Instant Checkmate. They are the worst one out of many!

Products used:
Search for people

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user nicholask381
Nicholas K. – InstantCheckmate Rep

Hello Deborah,
Thank you for taking the time to leave us with your feedback. The experience you are describing is not one that we believe any of our customers should have. If you would like, please feel free to reach out to us at support@instantcheckmate.com with a description of what happened and we will try to make things right.

Thank you

Thumbnail of user teganj1
New York
1 review
14 helpful votes
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January 21st, 2016

This site is terrible. I did the 1.99 to try it out and it sucks. Nothing comes up even if ur specific with the search there is still 200 people with the same name. When i type in an age of the person a 54 person should not be coming up. This is the worst site ever. And i love how it says find out if your lovers cheating yea bull$#*!. This site is useless idk how they are affliated with the bbb they should be shut down!

Thumbnail of user jamesc242
Arizona
4 reviews
17 helpful votes
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September 10th, 2015

I went on instantcheckmate.com to find info on someone that keeps calling me before I signed up and gave out my credit card info the site promised me email addresses the persons actual address etc when I signed up and forked out 1.99 off my credit card I got hardly any info all I got was a first and last name. The state that person lives in and that's it even if i paid extra for more information I still wouldn't get the extra info that the site promised I only spent 1.99 and still feel ripped off this site is very deceiving I canceled my membership immediately so I don't get charged monthly this peoples search site is a scam that gives out hardly any info about anyone

Thumbnail of user gregp32
Vermont
1 review
25 helpful votes
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August 18th, 2015

Not only is their service completely wrong about a lot of information they "claim" to provide, they also sell your email to 2nd, 3rd and beyond advertisers, Phishers & spammers. You cannot get them to stop once you sign up with them. There are signatures coming from all over the world. If you like 30+ of these filling your filters everyday, sign up and give this fraudulent company your money...

Thumbnail of user fortenberry30649
Texas
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 4th, 2024

If I were to buy another subscription from any of the sites on the internet I suggest using a cash app card etc and only the right amount in that account so they can't keep charging. Be sure to turn off over draft pertection. I only purchased one subscription for $29.99 then I added two extra features for $2.99 each. Within 2 weeks I was charged for another $29.99 and multiple charges for $13.99 $7.99 $4.99 $2.99. I've been haggling with them for over a week and don't think I'm getting anywhere. I tried one more. I tried another app for $0.95 for 5 day trial but on the same day they charged me 3 times for total $69.97 I canceled by the time the trial was up. It was bout a week later when I saw the charges so I contact them by email and was told that it's company policy NOT TO GIVE REFUNDS which I think it should be illegal to do that. They said I didn't give good enough reason to warrant a refund as well. I've had it with these companies. Even after I canceled the subscription I still get charges.

Thumbnail of user nicholask381
Nicholas K. – InstantCheckmate Rep

Although we are happy you gave us this feedback, we are sorry to see that this happened. If this issue has not been resolved, please call our dedicated Customer Care Team at (800) 222-8985 (our team is available from Monday - Friday 7:00am to 4:00pm PST, excluding some Holidays) or email us at support@instantcheckmate.com and we will try to make this right.
Thank you

Thumbnail of user jink8
Texas
1 review
18 helpful votes
  • Send Message
August 26th, 2015

A simple Google search reveals much more than this useless piece of $hi#, that wants to charge $2 evem for downloading in PDF format.
And then they hide all the sensitive information unless you pay again another $19.99 for what you were given to understand you had already paid for.

Why didn't I first look at the reviews, as I usually do before paying for something...?

DON'T BE CHEATED!. WALK AWAY!

Thumbnail of user patriciav15
Georgia
1 review
23 helpful votes
  • Send Message
March 13th, 2015

I NEED to find my husband who has been hiding for the last two years, I cant go on with my life without a divorce and a few things that need to be settled, I have been searching other sites with only outdated information. I saw this ad on Yahoo and thought it was Legit, I paid the cost for one month and was only given outdated information... nothing I couldn't find over the internet. They didn't even has us as being married on the report. I wish I read these reviews, I am sickened by this scam, the $22 is a lot of money on my disability income.

EDIT 3/20/2015 I have had to talk to their customer service 2 times now to get a refund, and as annoying as that part is, I must say their Customer Service is THE BEST I've ever experienced with any company. They are professional and kind and understanding and really wanting to help.

Thumbnail of user johnk5933
Florida
1 review
0 helpful votes
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March 2nd, 2024

After answering questions totally unrelated to what I was looking for, I never did get the information I sought and paid for. A ripoff! Never again.

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user nicholask381
Nicholas K. – InstantCheckmate Rep

We are constantly working on and updating our records and we appreciate you taking the time to give us constructive feedback. We apologize you were unhappy with some of the information in our reports. Since we rely on third-party data sources, we can only display the information that we were provided, which could potentially include incomplete or inaccurate data. We hope to continue to improve our services to make them better for you and future customers. Please feel free to contact our dedicated Customer Care Team at (800) 222-8985, or email us at support@instantcheckmate.com, and we will try to make this right.

Thumbnail of user dinahs5
Illinois
1 review
6 helpful votes
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December 1st, 2019

Just for the heck of it, I entered my OWN name in the search. I have been getting numerous pop-ups everyday now, and the info they are using to bait me with is TOTALLY FALSE. I have NEVER EVER been in any legal trouble, but it says things like... Ms Dadada's info is shocking! Or "You must see Dadada's report, 1 felony record... etc. I am FURIOUS. I can't even find a way to contact this stupid company to tell them to stop. Instant checkmate is NOT credible.

Thumbnail of user moneekb
Indiana
1 review
19 helpful votes
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November 1st, 2015

I Am livid as I just wasted 23$ I could've gotten some junk food or bought my baby a new shirt or some pampers. I knew there would be risks but I couldn't find these reviews until after I had already been scammed. They don't provide any information that you can't find on google. Every step is long and drawn out and asks for more money to access more information. I plan to unsucribe immediately BY PHONE give me my money back bc I can't see anyone texts or call log. I had a feeling that was a bunch of bull$#*! You can't mysteriously access someone's private text log gtfoh

Thumbnail of user janev3
New Jersey
3 reviews
17 helpful votes
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January 11th, 2016

I foolishly paid to do a background check on myself, just to see what was there. I've had a couple of marriages in addition to my single name, and the checkmate program picked one of the names for me that I haven't used in over 20 years and gave me info on that. I tried to select another more current name (which was shown) but unless I paid MORE money, in addition to the original cost AND $$ for a PDF copy, I wasn't able to. A complete scam and waste of time!

Thumbnail of user kathyb53
Illinois
1 review
26 helpful votes
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May 27th, 2015

Terrible, a SCAM; looked myself up & it was inaccurate. HIDDEN FEES! Jointed & cancelled in less than 1/2 hour. Initial info can be found for free on the internet. Very unsympathetic uncooperative customer service. A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME!

Thumbnail of user davidh6794
Wisconsin
1 review
0 helpful votes
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March 10th, 2022

The service that instant check mate provides helped find classmates that I had been looking for with ease. Completely recommend this service to others!

Products used:
Information service

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user nicholask381
Nicholas K. – InstantCheckmate Rep

Hello David,
Thank you for taking the time to leave us with your feedback. We are delighted to see that you enjoyed your experience with us and were able to track down your classmates! We look forward to assisting you again in the future.

Thank you,
Instant Checkmate Support

Thumbnail of user andreaw34
Illinois
1 review
17 helpful votes
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November 23rd, 2015

Should have read the reviews first. Anything you actually would be interested in is with the "PREMIUM" service! An additional $20. Waste of time and money... don't do it!

Thumbnail of user suzannes31
Virginia
1 review
15 helpful votes
  • Send Message
January 26th, 2016

Used it for a background check. Cancelled immediately because it is lame and provides the same information that one can do on their own. Cancelled immediately, and big surprise, they continue to take a monthly fee. The experience with customer service is awful the act like collection agents. My account was finally cancelled but I had to go NUCLEAR and threaten legal action. I have succeeded in getting a cancellation but I bet that next month they will dip into my account again. I used PayPal and will be writing to them also to ensure they no longer send payments. DO NOT BE STUPID STAY FAR AWAY THIS IS A SCAM, THEY ARE PROBABLY MAKING TONS OF MONEY TO RIP PEOPLE OFF 25 BUCKS AT A TIME.

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Thumbnail of user nicholask381
Nicholas K.
Typically responds within 10 days

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