Hiring the right PI for you and your case

How I find a PI when I have multi-state cases where I can’t be in three states at
once.

Basic Checks-

These are some tips that I have picked up over the years which have helped me
with a wide range of cases. I have had to hire PIs in states to help a local attorney
needing to get documents served. I have also hired multi PIs in multiple state to
follow an insurance fraudster as he endeavored to defraud his employers
insurance company by nearly $10 million. So when somebody calls me and says “I
don’t know how to do this, I have never hired a PI before,” I know what they are
going through.

Google oh Google do I want to trust Google to find the right PI? More than 90% of
people start with Google but what search terms produce the best searches. We
don’t know, established private investigators will come up no matter what you
search. I simply search for “Private Investigator” and the city where I need help.

Protip: Need a background investigation? All background investigations are not

created equal. Sure you can pay $19.95 to get everything you need to know on
somebody (according to the website). Somebody once said that you don’t know
what you don’t know and you won’t know anything for $19.95 but you get what
you pay for. I can promise you that you don’t know a lot if you rely on one of those
cheap background links, but I digress…

How are you going to find the PI? Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, Facebook. You will
find a pages of listings, some are national listings or at least deceptive…ever
wonder how this firm with an 800 number has an office in your tiny town? Now
what? Well Here is what I do:

Click on a few websites. Are they professional websites or one of the free website
creator pages? First impressions are lasting impressions and it really is difficult to
overlook somebody not willing to put the effort into their web presence. I simply
won’t take a business seriously if they have a free website and an e-mail without
their URL. Johnny’sPI@gmail/yahoo just means they aren’t serious about
establishing a presence, shows a lack of experience and if they can’t take the time
to build a reputable website or a legitimate e-mail they probably aren’t going to
spend a lot of time helping you.
So this takes care of 75% of the PI websites out there. Are there good PIs that are
bad at marketing or business? Yes there are but in my experience I have gotten
poor results if I don’t have a website to get to learn about a PI first.

Intermediate Checks -
Is the investigator or firm licensed? How long have they been licensed? Are they
insured and bonded?

Where are they located? Do they have an office? Is that address a big fancy office
downtown (do they make you think it is?) or a virtual office or even a PO Box. From
my experience a PI that uses a PO box is probably hiding from people, maybe even
people that he owes money to for previous shoddy work or libel (if you are reading
this - you know who you are - I did find you, if you recall).

Sometimes address seem to be real office locations such as 191 University Ave,
Suite 252, Anytown USA. That is a PO Box and the person who set up their
business is probably not going to be there to answer the phone when you need to
talk to them. Worse they may already be out of business - do you want the pizza
guy solving your case? If they can’t run a business, how will they handle your case.
No you want a PI that can work on your case during normal business hours not in
between food deliveries.

Fly by night operations are a waste of your money and time. Don’t mail somebody
your evidence! A PO Box won’t cut it. So click on their location, make sure it exists
and isn’t a Mail Boxes, Inc at the local strip mall.

Do you want to drive straight to a PI’s office? No! You just want to know that they
exist. I sure wouldn’t want to meet a guy at Starbucks to have him check for a
tracker on my car but if I drive to a PI’s office my ______ will see that I am visiting a
PI. There are options but not if your first stop is a PO Box or a virtual office.

Protip: Beware the PI that is too busy to meet with you, that PI probably might not
even work in the state like the over 20% of PIs licensed in Colorado. Unfortunately
a lot of PIs have websites that lead you to believe they are in Colorado and that is
why you will never meet with them. Some PIs are busy and everybody wants their
case to start tomorrow (call around, most investigators aren’t available in two
hours or even tomorrow - rushing into a case will be a waste of your money).

Does the investigator have their name on the website? Don’t expect everybody to
have a picture but at least a first name, how else are you going to address this
person that you are entrusting with your private life? Beware the PI that refers to
themself as Private Detective Mike or Private Investigator Smitty, I had a rank and
a title a long time ago, now I work for you!
Does the investigator have a biography? Why are they a PI? What did they do
before they were a PI? Do they have intelligence experience? I know I will always
contact them first. They know how to keep a secret and have thought of 10
different way to solve that challenging case that everybody else avoided.

Does the investigator have any reviews (or do they even allow reviews - double
whammy - cash only - not reviewable)? All of us face the prospect of an unhappy
client. You can work as hard and as long (and sometimes for free) for somebody
and they just aren’t happy. Often these are cases that should be avoided, you can
get a feel for a potential client and whether anything you provide will make them
happy or not. We rarely take a case with a hard to please client with unreasonable
expectations who wants hourly updates. It is bad for the client and bad for
business. They will eventually call somebody who works out of a PO Box and takes
cash!

Expert Checks -

How many different ways can you contact the investigator? Phone, e-mail, contact
form, text, chat, secure phone - IN AN OFFICE OR IN PERSON. I typically won’t
meet with a person in my office until we have spoken at length on the phone. I
have to screen my cases to make sure I am right for your case. Is there a conflict
of interest? Have I worked for your husband, wife, competitor…Regardless you
should call first. If I had a dollar for every time somebody thought their phone is
tapped (it isn’t) then I would have retired to my own island a while ago. I am
available to meet you at my office if you prefer AND there isn’t a reason we might
be tipping off somebody to our plans if you show up. I have office hours but I am
usually out of the office.

Does the investigator take payments other than cash? Most PIs work off a retainer
unless you are an established, long-term client with a good payment history or an
attorney. I often expect an attorney to pay my firm retainer because, well you know
why.

Does the investigator offer a free consultation? Don’t expect an investigator to

listen to your entire life story but you should get to spend some time talking about
your case and expect the investigator to ask some important questions. You
should ask some important question too. - Have you done a case like this before
(no case is exactly like yours but some methods work on most cases)? What other
information would help with my case (I call this client homework)? When can we
start? What should I expect my budget to be? What will I get in this case?

Working with an investigator on a sticky situation whether it is financial, or

emotional takes a toll. After reading this you should feel that Flatirons
Investigations knows our business, how to help you with yours and if we can’t, we
will still listen. We will even tell you why you should not hire an investigator if one
won’t help or give you a referral so somebody who specializes in that type of work
if we are too busy or the work fall outside of our normal scope