PeopleWhiz Reviews

PeopleWhiz is a website that provides comprehensive background check services using a compilation of public records databases.
Before online databases existed, public information about a person was recorded and stored with various agencies and compiling a thorough background check was arduous.
PeopleWhiz states that they use their proprietary platform to scan over 67 billion searchable public records and provide fast and accurate reports.
Is PeopleWhiz a legitimate site? We’ll take a closer look in this review.
What is PeopleWhiz?
The website interface is simple and straightforward. Users are required fill in basic information on the person they want to search for, such as the person's first and last name, city, and state.
This basic information is, in most cases, enough for PeopleWhiz to find the requested info. In some cases you may need to fill in additional information, such as the middle name and age of the person, to further narrow down the search.
A PeopleWhiz search usually lasts about two to three minutes. The results of a search include Federal, State and County records along with social media profiles.
The information they compile can include things such as:
|
|
PeopleWhiz claim to be able to locate any recorded instance where a person interacted with a government/private sector agency that included a public record.
While the resulting information is publicly available to anyone, PeopleWhiz is offering is the convenience of having the data from all these various sources compiled into one report.
In their advertising, the company claims to be the top platform providing this service. However they do declare that there could still be missing or inaccurate information in their reports.
They go on to state that the most common occurrence of this is when people have a common name that is shared with many other individuals.
Other examples of errors are when handwritten records are incorrectly transcribed when being digitized, which is outside of their control.
PeopleWhiz states that if you’ve found incorrect information in their report, then you can contact the company regarding the accuracy of the report.
Is Using PeopleWhiz Illegal?
While the information that PeopleWhiz collect is publicly available, there are laws that describe certain things that the information can not be used for.
The 1970 Fair Credit and Reporting Act (FCRA) regulates the legal use of consumer information filed by consumer reporting agencies. It focuses on accuracy, fair use, and privacy.
PeopleWhiz’s disclaimer states that under the FCRA
"It is unlawful to use our service or the information we provide for any purpose that would require FCRA compliance; this includes but not limited to making decisions about consumer credit, employment, insurance, or tenant screening. PeopleWhiz is not a consumer reporting agency as defined by the Fair Credit Report Act, we do not provide consumer reports. Since PeopleWhiz only collects this data and does not create it, we cannot fully guarantee its accuracy."
On their website they outline the instances where you should not use their service. These include:
- Employee Screening
- Screening Potential Employees for ANY Job
- Hiring People To Work At Your Home (Babysitters, hospice caretakers, nannies, gardeners, landscapers etc)
- Educational Admissions & Scholarships
- Screening Tenants
- Extending Credit & Qualifying for Insurance
- Customer Initiated Business Transactions
To help users better understand what types of reasons they can use PeopleWhiz for the website offers some suggestions:
- Checking Out a Potential Roommate
- Prescreening an Online Date
- Obtaining Public Court Records
- Checking Out Online Buyers and Sellers
- Self Search
- Address Lookup
- Check your kids' carpool driver
- Neighbor Lookup
Thereby the service that PeopleWhiz provides is legal and does not break any laws, yet it is also up to the user of the service to have legal reasons for using the service and to make use of the information they find in a legal manner.
How Much Does PeopleWhiz Cost?
The website does not make it immediately clear how much their service costs to use, and people even often wonder if the service is free or if PeopleWhiz offers a free trial.
Even looking through the website's FAQ does not offer an answer. You only find out the cost of the service once you try to submit your first search.
PeopleWhiz has a tiered pricing structure that's based on how long you wish to use their service.
- Recommended Plan - $27.99 / month for 1 month of unlimited reports
- Moderate User Plan - $22.95 / month for 3 months of unlimited reports
- Power User Plan - $14.95 / month for 6 months of unlimited reports
If you choose not to select one of these plans then PeopleWhiz will present you a trial offer for 5 days of unlimited use for $1.00. After the 5 day trial period your plan will automatically be converted to a monthly plan for $29.99 per month.
Furthermore, unless you cancel your subscription all plans will automatically renew under the same terms at the end of the billing period.
Customer Service
PeopleWhiz lists a phone number, email, and a FAQ section on their website.
If you have any billing issues, questions, want to report inaccuracies, or need to cancel your subscription you can reach a representative
- Email support at [email protected] is available Monday through Friday and you get the answers in about 24 hours.
- PeopleWhiz states a live person can be reached by phone at (833) 276-9449.
You can also reach out to the company to have your information removed from their database by going to PeopleWhiz.com/optout. You will have to provide an email address and photo ID to confirm your identity.
PeopleWhiz Reviews & Complaints
PeopleWhiz has run many advertising campaigns with one popular ad strategy enticing people to get reports on their romantic partners to see if they’re cheating.
The ads used catchy headlines such as ”One thing all cheaters have in common…” or “Are you being lied to?”
This led to a lot of people trying the service, but also generated many complaints from users who felt the results didn’t live up to the company's claims.
In general the majority of PeopleWhiz customer complaints can be split into two categories, disappointment with the search results and the company’s predatory billing practices.
Disappointment with the search results often came from finding inaccurate information. For example, many reviewers reported searching for themselves or someone they know well and finding inaccurate, and sometimes damaging, information.
Many customers also feel deceived by the $1 trial offer, after which they’re shocked to see a $29 charge on their credit card for a month's worth of reports, often when they were only interested to get info on one person.
This also happens to customers who were not aware that all PeopleWhiz plans automatically renew, with sometimes even higher charges when their longer subscriptions were re-upped.
There are some positive reviews from customers who praise the website for saving them from certain persons in their lives.
PeopleWhiz also has an A+ rating according to the BBB. Though the company has a large number of customer complaints, they consistently respond to these complaints, which the BBB takes into account when setting their rating.
Competitors and Alternatives
PeopleWhiz vs TruthFinder - TruthFinder is a similar website that offers services in the US.
Additionally, TruthFinder states they offer a dark web scan where users can enter their email address and see if their info has been compromised on the dark web.
The Bottom Line
So, is PeopleWhiz legit or a scam?
With the mixed reviews that the website gets we think the answer depends on which aspect of the company is in question.
While the website offers a legitimate service, some users are rightfully put off by the fact that the company doesn't clearly display the prices for their services until after they use their email address to make an account.
PeopleWhiz billing practices also tend to garner a lot of negative feedback.
Furthermore PeopleWhiz claims that their service is superior to competitors because their tech can accurately differentiate data for people with the same names. However, based on customer reviews it seems that this is still a major source of issues for their users.
Overall, it’s difficult to recommend a company with this many customer complaints. If you're aware of how the billing works it may be a tool to consider depending on what you need the info for.
There are many competing services available, though most of them work in similar ways with comparable billing practices and customer reviews.
For more serious background checks there are also professional tools available for specific reasons, such as if you need to do a credit check on a potential tenant. You may also try to find specific information that you need using state or federal databases.
If you have any experience with PeopleWhiz or their services, please leave your reviews below.
You may also be interested in
PeopleWhiz Customer Reviews
-
Sort Reviews By:
Linked People not related to me
You linked ex-wives of my deceased husband to me. You still linked my deceased husband to me. You linked other things that were not me.. Shame on you!
Linda Pool Knott
Beyond terrible.Bad
Total rip off! $28 and near zero data on me. AND yes all my addresses were correct, confirming it was me. Categories all said: nothing found, until site disappeared from phone completely. Good grief!. Next, I find on web search, try to login . Nope, said you are one in in ten million members.
Please choose your prize, lucky you ! Only choice given, no login. Hit the choose prize button, site disappeared , not to be found without another Google search. A truly criminal outfit: peopleWhiz is!
Way worse than just extremely horrible. Me: be warning all my acquaintances for rest of my life.
Little to no info. Incorrect info. Don't waste your money.
Scamming liars feeding off victims and provide nothing
Peoplewhiz is a scam. First of all the information that is provided with their service doesn't contain anything that you can't get for free pretty much just by googling the name and following the leads. And then the billing is designed to charge you full price very quickly even if you cancel.
Once they've billed you the much bigger amount and they won't refund any moneys even if you're entitled. Not a good service at a high price. What's more they will ban you from accessing your own account.
Absolutely true! What a ripoff!
peoplewhiz is peoplewizr Shut them down!
zero stars!!! this company peoplewhiz.com has another website with same exact layout and contact information peoplewizr.com and when I try and remove myself it won’t work. sending email won’t work. calling they claim that website isn’t theirs yet it is same exact website and they claim I'm not listed when I most certainly am and bs info under fake businesses using my address. also, I was told oh, if I have an iphone it won’t work said only Firefox or google yet I'm on google.
No supervisor available guy didn’t even seem to care what I'm explaining if he claims that isn’t their website as a worker I'd be taking that seriously and escalate the findings to the company but you know why he didn’t cuz these people are crooks! I will contact the business bureau or figure out how to hold these sick soulless humans accountable.
I hope the internet has the biggest crash ever to wipe all the criminal activity mishandling personal information. Can’t even get my information removed when I clearly see it does so certainly exist!
Amen big big scam the only way to stop them is close your banking account,credit card or whatever their drafting from. Signed, Alice McCormick very dissatisfied Salem, Alabama
Tired of lies
Very deceptive advertising!
If I could, I'd give zero stars too!
PeopleWhiz = Fraud
I'l try for zero stars if it lets me. If not, and I have to click on a single-star, just know that I tried for ZERO! So Discover Fraud Services contacted me, opened a fraud dispute and disabled all our Discover cards due to PeopleWhiz charges. They saw recurring $29.99 charges from PeopleWhiz and Discover corporation must have already had reason to suspect it was fraudulent or they would not have contacted us.
So, if they know it’s a fraudulent business why aren’t they taking these websites down? there is a website with same exact info if you look up peoplewizr.com same exact phone number! they claim I'm not listed and i most certainly am and can’t get them to remove my info.
i paid for another service on a site called one rep and the moment i did that more of my information appeared on search engines that didn’t prior. all these claiming they help actually make it worse! It’s scary!
Did you ever have success getting your info removed of these search engines? if so, how? google says i have to contact the webmaster and that’s what led me to finding all this mayhem ever since i tried to remove it’s actually spread my information to more of these websites. purely sick!
Defamation of character
False information - felonies in my record
Can’t they be sued for illegal representation? That’s absolutely disturbing these websites can produce fictitious information mixed with personal real info! so sick! I thought businesses using my name and address as their own was outrageous but a felony record? These websites workers and owners will get their judgement day! Sorry, that has happened to you. wow! makes my stomach curdle in disgust!
Horrible. And customer service is even worse.
Horrible. They say $1.00 for a record and charge you for a full month. Not only that the records they promise are not provided in most cases.
Complete Waste Of Money
Scam!
Don't give them your credit card number...
Stolen Identity
Do jot know who you are but I've been hacked over a year and these people putting bs on my background checks along with false phone numbers addresses and debt i did not do i have a police report and someone has illegally opened my records or asked for them without my knowledge and have destroyed my own credentials
all i can say is i will get get back at them and i received a threat from Google if you want me to post that to i need a Identity theft Attorney and all 3 reports i will be going after them spreading lies wrong phone numbers addresses debt not mine and debt that was off is back they have done nothing over whole year that i asked and have proof
like WTF would Googles main number be connected to me at all i did not know who it was when i called and dead peoples phone numbers on my reports that i never had !!
And complete BS put on made up Background checks i will get payback for all the false and hurtful hacking this whole year i will not shut up until they STOP I've complained to all the way up Attorney general nobody has done anything
what if it was YOU and lets talk about these fake Samsung and Apples coming from CA somebody better listen soon or its going to happen to you
Scam
PeopleWhiz is a scam. They said I have a criminal record and I must pay $27.99 to see it. I paid but there was no criminal record...
Scammers!
people whiz is a ripoff
people whiz is a scam I paid $24.95 for what i thought was going to give me information but all I got was very limited info in order to get more you have to pay an additional $19.95 which I thought was for all the the check up but I come find out it’s for everyone of the reports and I got ripped to the tune of $84.80 three premium reports I'm so mad that people can still rip you off and get away with it
I called the peoplewhiz customer service and told them how i got ripped off and wanted a refund and she told me I was going to have to deal with the charges because nothing is refundable and they got me for $88.00 dollars after you pay $27.99 for useless information they charge 20 bucks for each additional report to get any useful information biggest scam I have ever encountered
Not only was the money a ripoff but I did a report on myself and I was listed as deceased.
Scam!
Unresponsive...Stay Away...Beware!
I had my identity stolen. Numerous accounts created, subscriptions with my credit card info began, and credit cards/inquiries I never applied for!! All companies reversed and refunded my money......except PeopleWhiz.....they won't even respond to my emails!! I bet they try to charge my card again when the time comes...
Sleazy Scam
Total scam! For $29, I only received the person’s address, which I already had! It asked for another $20 to get the full set of information. Total BS.
On top of that, it set up an automatic monthly charge without me knowing it. This is the sleaziest outfit that I have ever encountered.