ComplaintsforDirect Screening

• Initial Complaint

  07/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  This website is reported fictious information about me, ******** ****. I have had my record expunged which mean I legally have never been arrested and report the same. This data broker has inaccurate information and I want them to remove it immediately.

  Customer response

  07/20/2023

  The dispute has been solved.  They updated my records correctly. 

• Initial Complaint

  02/15/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I did a background check on myself because I am applying for a job in the sheriff department and need a full arrest history as well as every address I have lived. I paid for the top tier, but the results came back with nothing. I know this to not be true, I have had three arrests about 20 years ago. There was also no address history included. I have uploaded a photo that shows where an address history appears to be included in this tier according to their claims. I messaged them requesting a refund and got a very rude email back with a bunch of excuses.

  Business response

  02/15/2023

  Mr. ****** ordered a criminal record search yesterday and has already filed a complained to the BBB. As our BBB history will show, it is a rare occurrence that we have a BB complaint filed against us, especially considering the high volume of customers we have. To receive a complaint in less than 24 hours after the order is purchased is something that has never happened before. 

  Mr. ****** complained that his extensive arrest records were not returned in our criminal record search.  We are a FCRA complainant website. As we told him via email, FCRA complaint websites do not return arrest records. FRCA Arrest records are nor reported under the guidance of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

  No where on our website do we state that we return arrest records as part of any search we perform. My ****** should know this as he made the following legal representation to us before he was allowed to order the criminal search on himself.

  - You acknowledge that you have read and agree to our "TERMS AND CONDITIONS" and that you have reviewed our "DATA COVERAGE" in your selected search area.

  Apparently Mr. ******, despite his representation, did not review our "data coverage" which lists the types of criminal records returned by each criminal record source (Department of Corrections, County Courthouses, etc.)  If he had done as he represented, he would have known we do no return the arrests records.

  The strange thing about this situation, is Mr. ****** not giving us a chance to respond to his email of last night which apparently he sent just before filling this complaint. We would have refunded his money as a courtesy. He appears to be way over his head in using a FCRA compliant website as he calls our website "Misleading"  That is a word that I have never heard about our website. Most people think it is very straight forward.

  The opportunity for a courtesy refund was closed when he filed this complaint.

  Customer response

  02/15/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I do not accept the business's response as a resolution to my complaint because: part of the complaint is that I did get a response and it was nothing short of rude.  That was why I initially contacted BBB.  You made your refusal to work with the customer (i.e. me) to make things right perfectly clear in the email.  There was more than just arrests, there was a court case for each arrest and an outcome of the case that is a matter of public record.  I know this because I have been through the process of getting the information in the past when I applied for another job.  Regarding the misleading aspect, perhaps you did not look at the attachment with the highlighted section that I sent in the initial message.  It would make it appear that an address history is also included in the report, yet there is none.  I would have received more information from any other background report out there (including truthfinder), paid far less, and not had to give my social security number.
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ******

  Business response

  02/16/2023

  You can read any tone you want into an email. You are obviously upset about your $38.95 fee, but there is no reason to continue to call me rude. Frankly I find your personal attacks uncalled for. It does not help solve your problem. 

  As I previously stated. you made a legal representation to us that you reviewed our data coverage before we would allow you to order. You have now changed your complaint from arrest records not being returned to other legal matters not being returned. Do we search the courthouse your other legal matters were held in? You should know this as you are required to find this out before you used our website. 

  However I do not want to continue to try to explain why you are absolutely wrong in disparaging our company that has been on the internet for over 17 years and disparaging our customer service as non helpful. A BB complaint for Direct Screening is a rare occurrence. Maybe you should assess why you are having these problems when no one else is.

  I have just now issued a credit for your fee and closed you account.

  Brian. 

  Customer response

  02/16/2023

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ******

• Initial Complaint

  06/06/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased an enhanced national background check from the company on Jun. 3, 2022 and the results came back highly inaccurate. I informed them of this and went ahead with using a different company for my report and had perfect results so I asked Direct Screening to issue a refund bimut have not been able to get a hold of anyone to help with this. I can provide copies of receipts and the background check if necessary via email only, the platform I'm using currently will not allwmow me to upload to this page directly.

  Business response

  06/06/2022

  This is unbelievable, this woman wrote us Sunday night at 5:52 PM. It is now a little over 12 hours later on Monday morning and we are just seeing her email now. She actually filed a BBB complaint on the same night she emailed us. Not many companies that are closed on Sunday would be able to respond as she expected.
  
  It appears to me she is wasting the BBB’s time on this and never gave us the proper time to respond to her email.
  
  In any case, to respond to her complaint, she claims that she wrote us and informed us that the results were inaccurate and she was going to use another service. Here is what she actually said per her one email:
  ------------------
  Hi I recently purchased a national ssn background check on myself and it was completely inaccurate. It showed 0 out of 13 criminal charges that I have. I went ahead and got a background check from an other company that was accurate, so I would like a refund issued a.s.a.p. thank you.
  ---------------------------
  She also claims in her BBB complaint that she “has not been able to get anyone to help her with this.”  Our response would be “Maybe you should wait until our business opens Monday morning so we have a chance to respond to your email. Who files a BBB complaint within hours of sending us an email?”
  
  In her email she states that we did not return her 13 criminal charges and another background check company did. We would request a copy of that “perfect results” background report that includes her 13 criminal charges so we can she if we search the courthouses she was convicted in 13 times. In addition we need to be sure the company she used was FCRA complaint as our company is. FCRA compliant background companies can be limited on the records they return certain states. One of those states is California - where she lives.
  
  Also she represented to us before she ordered her search that she reviewed our Data Coverage. Apparently, we either do not search the courthouses that she was convicted in or she put in inaccurate search details. The latter is the most likely.
  
  I will wait for her to send us this “perfect results” report before we waste more time discussing this on the BBB platform.
  
  Brian
  Customer Support...

  Customer response

  06/07/2022

  
  Complaint: 17322843
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Actually, the first attempt I made at contacting them was through their website under the "contact us" tab, which was directly after receiving the innacurate results of the background check. But I had not received any response all week.

   

  Also their website shows for the state of California the following coverage:

  *** ******* ****** * ******** *****

  Description : Data contains felony conviction records for over 1.1 million offenders from the General Jurisdiction court locations. Search results may include Defendant Name, DOB, Case Number, Court, File Date, Offense, Disposition, and Disposition Date. Date of Birth is available for approximately 55% of the records from this source.

  ******* ****** * ******** *****

  Description : Ventura County Court data contains felony, misdemeanor, and traffic records on approximately 1.9 million individuals. Data can contain Defendant Name, Degree of Offense, Statute, Violation Date, and Case Number. Date of Birth is not available from this source.

   

  Also, I have attached copies of both the report I received from directscreening and the report I received from an other company below.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ****

  Business response

  06/10/2022

  This is the strangest thing. She shows our data coverage for her area and it clearly states dates of birth are not available to us. In the other source they are limited. Yet she orders a search from us anyway. As she should know from reading our website, we are a FCRA compliant website and are limited to which records we can return by law - especially in CA.

  Then she posts her extensive criminal record from a free site as proof that our reports are "inaccurate". The free site is obviously not FCRA complaint.

  In any case, this person apparently ordered and made legal representations to us and did not actually do them. Then takes up the BBB's time as she couldn't reach us on the weekend.
  

  To end this case, I will issue the requested refund. The same refund she would have been granted by us if she given us a chance to respond to her email.

  Brian

  Customer Support

• Initial Complaint

  01/03/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I ordered a national background check and got no results when I do have things on my background and now I cannot use this for employment. I just want my refund. I sent the receipt and what I got sent attached.

  Business response

  03/01/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/01/03) */ This was explained to her via email. Here is her email and our response. From: XXXXXXXXXXXXX Sent: Monday, December 27, XXXX X:XX AM To: *******@directscreening.com Subject: I paid $17 for a national background check that didn't show anything... I know I have things on my record so this isn't going to work for my employment. If this is a scam I'm reporting you guys just so you know. Hi XXXXXXXXX Thank you for contacting us about your concern. Did you review the criminal records we search to see if we can electronically search the courthouse you were convicted in and what records we can return from that courthouse before you ordered your search? No background check company can guarantee they can return all of a person's criminal record. The technology is not as yet that advanced. Some courthouses cannot be searched electronically. Our national search searches an industry leading over 650 million criminal records, but that unfortunately is not all of them. This is why it is important that you review our data coverage to see exactly what criminal records we can and can't search. It is also why we have you represent to us that you reviewed our data coverage before you can place an order. Thanks, ***** Customer Service Manager DirectScreening.com I am unsure how my answer to her email could be anymore straight forward. To accuse us of being a "scam" despite being on the internet for over 15 years is absurd. She apparently didn't read the description on the website on what she was buying. And now she is complaining. *****

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩