Sean
Amherst,#2Consumer Comment
Sun, July 19, 2009
The retainer you pay to a P.I. is usually non-refundable. Shame on this P.I. for not making it perfectly clear. Not only that but yours sounded pretty reasonable, as far as retainers go. In business, everything should be spelled out in writing. Bottom line, my opinion is, he got paid for his time.
Thomas The P.i.
Fountain Hills,#3UPDATE Employee
Tue, June 09, 2009
We do our best to help people but we can not create results. It is unfortunate that the individual has not left there true name when they came forward. A lot of time people do not realize that drive time and waiting time is also charged. I have had some people think that if I don't find anything out I don't get paid. Well like any other job you get paid from the moment you begin to work. A lot of private investigators are retired law enforcement and they do not want to deal with domestic relations cases because they have done them there whole life but out of the thousands of client we have served a few sour grapes are expected. Even in making fine wine you get a few sour grapes. Well if this person were to contact me I would be happy to look at their case and see what went wrong. Call 1866-640-1010. Best Regards Thomas the P.I.
Auto91
Mesa,#4Consumer Suggestion
Sun, January 25, 2009
Well first of all, its rare you will get your retainer back when you sign a contract with a private detective agency. Normally in the contract it will say something to the fact the retainer is not refundable. Sometimes if they dont use up all of the retainer then could give you like a credit for remaining balance just in case you want them to do anymore work for you in the future. Another thing too is that if you have them on stand -by time, that will deplete your retainer too. In other words on stand-by time , the investigator is only waiting on you for the go ahead to work for you. He or she has put everything else on hold JUST FOR YOU.So in essence your paying for their exclusive time. And in the P.I. business, TIME IS MONEY. Normally in the contract, it should tell you in black and white, what exactly they charge you for and when it should be done. Every last detail. But even if they did use up your retainer, they should have sent you a invoice or statment showing you exactly what they did and how much they charged. Any "decent" agency would do that.