What Are The Benefits of Hiring a Large Private Investigation Agency
11/15/2017
While we usually like to share information about what to look for when hiring a private investigator, the past few months we have heard more horror stories from clients about their previous interactions with other investigation companies. Interactions like these give all private investigators a bad name and leave a lot of people with such a bad taste that they would never hire anyone again and would recommend to their friends they never do either. To dispel these impressions, we are providing more information on what to avoid when looking to hire a PI.
A common misconception is that larger companies will charge more because they are so big, and that the customer is just a number. We strongly disagree; the larger companies like ours base our fees on what we know we will need to do for a client to get their case handled correctly. Many of the smaller investigation companies will try to undercut our prices so they can entice customers to hire them; the problem is, whether you hire the largest company or the smallest, there is still only one way to conduct a client's case and obtain the information needed. When companies undercut prices to get a case, the client will inevitably be shortchanged when it comes to service. The private investigation industry is not Home Depot vs. a mom and pop hardware store, where Home Depot can buy in bulk and pass the savings onto their customers. Domestic investigation is about time, and the cost of time is relatively the same for everyone. Since larger companies usually work on volume, their prices would be inherently lower than a small organization.
Another sign to keep an eye out for when choosing an investigation company is the number of actual employees a company has (not sub-contractors). An agency with several employees means there is always someone available to help you, whether it be with questions, billing, running your case, etc. A small one- or two-man agency can only do so much, as they don't have the resources of a larger agency.
When you call around for an investigator, see if you have to leave messages and someone calls you back, or if you always get an actual employee on the phone (not an answering service). Even a big company can get overwhelmed with phone calls now and then, but you are much less likely to have to leave a voicemail.
Success in the PI world is not based on how many times investigators catch a cheating spouse, but in knowing how to get their clients peace of mind. This knowledge comes with experience. This is not to say there aren't good one-man agencies, but they are far and few between because the fact remains that these one- and two-man agencies can only run one case at a time, meaning clients get pushed to the side if that investigator is already running a different case that day.