UK Private Investigators Reviews 

I am in the middle of a court case that has dragged on for months. Simply put the case was won back in September, however the court order is in the details of the company (a 'trading as' entity) and said company own no assets and so no money can be collected by the Bailiffs.

This is where UKPI enter the scene. I needed the name and home address of the owner of the company so that I could get the court order amended to reflect those details. Amending a court order is not cheap, the details have to be correct or I will lose any money spent on said amendment and have to start again.

Initially UKPI seemed just the ticket. Their response was almost instant to any email. Tim Burchell assured me that they could quickly and efficiently get the details that I needed subject to a fee of £120.

After a couple of days of reflection I went ahead and ordered their services. I received the details within a few hours and all seemed above board and correct.

I informed the company that I now had the details of the owner and asked them to settle up or face further court action. At this point they claimed that the details I had were wrong and wished me luck with the additional costs. I immediately emailed Tim Burchell to get reassurance that the details they had were correct. Tim ignored this email.

Hoping for the best I began the court order amendment process and paid £108. 11 days later the court confirmed that I would have to hand over a further £167 to go to a trial. This is because the company had claimed in writing to the court that the details I have were wrong.

Based on this and before risking a further £167 I once again contacted Tim Burchell asking him to confirm that he is sure the information that he supplied is correct. Tim once again ignored this email.

From 22/02 - 28/02 I placed 5 phone calls to their offices. Their receptionist is lovely and confirmed that all of my messages were passed on to Tim and they could not understand why he would not reply to my emails or call me back. I advised that if I did not hear back from him by 17:00 today I would have no choice but to request a credit card charge back and go with another company... No contact was made, so the charge back has been requested and this review is now being left.

The reason I am giving a 2 star review as opposed to a 1 star review is that I am trying to be fair. The information UKPI supplied may indeed prove to be correct, however as they will not communicate with me nor reassure me that the information is correct I simply cannot use it.

The beginning of the process was top notch, their reception staff are lovely when you get through on the phone. But unfortunately I have had a bad experience overall and my review score reflects this.

*** Edit following reply ***

For those reading the reply from Tim you'll note a misdirection technique at play.

First of all Tim did not respond at all over a 6 day period, despite the fact that he was well aware of my communication.

Interestingly he managed to respond within 11 minutes of me informing him that I had just posted a review to Trustpilot...

Tim could not confirm that his information was correct, simply that in most cases his information is accurate. Not exactly helpful, especially with a court case riding on the information.

As it happens the information he provided was incorrect, thankfully I employed a better company on the second go around. It cost more, but they actually provided evidence and the correct information.

If I could I would amend this to a 1 star review. Tim was belligerent in communication following the posting of this review and made no attempt to have a happy customer, I am still fighting with the bank to get my money back. Avoid.

I reviewed this company when I received my report quickly and professionally at the beginning of January 2023. I was able to advise Tim yesterday that I received a lovely reply (even though it took nearly a month to reach me from one side of world to the other), and that the reconnection will continue by mail + email. Thank you

I would highly recommend this company. I have used twice and they have come back with everything I asked for.
I find them extremely friendly, and very professional.

A professional front and an extremely unprofessional backend.

Customer service was great and the list of all of the things that they would POTENTIALLY find for you are extensive.

I was scammed on Facebook marketplace and was looking for UKPI to help out with at least getting the real name and contact details of the scammer in question. I was told via WhatsApp that the info that I had ready to provide them would be more than sufficient.

After paying £120 for the "full report", all I received was an address with no explanation, which didn't seem to have any connection to the scammer, as well as the email address that I had already provided. That was it. For £120. I pushed for more details and eventually got a possible real name of the person.

However, this name wasn't included in the initial report. After pushing as to why it wasn't included, I got a message saying "secretarial error" and for all I know, it was a name plucked out of thin air to keep me happy. No apology about it being omitted. No explanation. Just "here's a name" after badgering them.

I got very little information from them despite the "possibility" of finding all of these other things when I first contacted.

Furthermore, the attitude I received from the specific 'investigator' that contacts you throughout the interaction (or more specifically, after he had taken my money) was appalling. He was blunt, sarcastic and avoided questions about why something as basic as the full name of the scammer was omitted from the initial report. I wouldn't have received the name if I didn't ask for more details several times, despite him constantly saying "No further information available" and acting as if I was dumb.

An extremely unprofessional service as soon as they take your money. Getting details was like trying to get blood from a stone. Have no idea if the details are even correct as they don't provide any info about how they get the info, it's just typed into a basic email to you. Not only was there not an ounce of sympathy for my situation or the enthusiasm to help out, it was quite the opposite as I dealt with this snarky "investigator".

Keep your money or find a different company, I feel like I've been scammed twice in one week.

(P.S. complaintsboard.com have countless similar complaints to mine about this investigator; I wish I had seen them before I gave this company my money).

EDIT AFTER REPLY:
Having received a reply from Investigators, I am doubling down on my review. I made it very clear in my final email when I stated word-for-word "what a strange and unprofessional interaction this whole thing has been" after I had finally chased up a somewhat adequate response to my questions that were initially received with very vague and blunt responses. That was probably the most obvious and explicit I could have been about being dissatisfied with the service. I then heard nothing back from that email.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was only after I left this negative review that they got back in touch and wanted to 'do everything they can to help' and provided me with a full refund. They have never been interested in my satisfaction; only in the event that it might get this review removed or amended. To then suggest that my discontent towards them was misdirected from being angry at something else - and nothing to do with their service - is the clearest example of the unprofessional and manipulative behaviour I have mentioned throughout this review.

They haven't provided me with a single piece of evidence that the other reviews are fake and from competitors as they have alluded to, so that is an outright lie in their reply to this review.

And given that the reviews in question are very similar to my own experience, I have good reason to believe their legitimacy. Regardless, my experience and this review are their own standalone evidence and I will be happy to show anyone who asks my experience with this company from start to finish, prior to the 'help' they are so willing to provide when their facade is at risk of being exposed.

Great if they supposedly have had 25 years of 1st class service - not sure if that is true or not either given their ambiguous idea of 'truth' throughout our interactions - but my review and experience is the most up-to-date version of the service you can expect. You can decide for yourself if the other positive reviews are genuine or not.

And since they kindly ended with a quote from Stoicism which they know is a philosophy dear to my heart, here is one of my own favourites:

"A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer." - Seneca

I recently contacted UK PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS to find an English person that I lost 24 years ago. I very much appreciated the warm contact with TIM, who did an exemplary professional job in quickly finding this person (in less than 24 hours)! Impressive. Thanks Tim.

Nowadays, online friendships are full of lies and disappointments, which is why I am happy to use the guys. They have saved me emotions, time and money. I am very satisfied with the cooperation. The guys work quickly, effectively and discreetly. I definitely recommend them!

5 stars to thses guys helped me wen I was at my broken time , fed up of cheaters , women who decide to play games and break people lives ,
She thinks she can get away with my husband, No it stops now .

The Huddersfield team helps here

These guys did very well in helping me, and deliver , they can be trusted.
Outstanding work thanku for being there .

my husband had family members that he wanted to trace. We took the step of employing Tim & the team. It was super simple, I instructed them virtually on a Sunday evening and I was told they would let me know by 5pm following day. We didn’t have to wait that long they contacted us before 9.00 am and had found them. it was both scary and exciting….. just so easy and affordable.

We are having our first family meeting very soon, after 50 + years…. All made possible by a very professional team that we couldn’t be more thankful too. I have already recommended them to friends, I have no hesitation to recommend them.

A few years back a colleague wrote to me regarding her serious health issues. Work was manic, then came the pandemic. We lost contact and I wondered if she'd actually pulled through. UKPI conducted a trace for me and I was able to ascertain that she had. That was enough for me just to put my mind at rest. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend UKPI. It's a smart, efficient, cost effective service.

A brilliant company. They were efficient, accurate and very helpful. I will definitely recommend them.

Great service, thank you. Just what I needed in the time quoted.

The person behind this company had unprofessionally pushy attitude demanding immediate payment, ignoring my reports of his payment system issues, but mainly the traced address proved to be random (I've visited it while avoiding detection and met the person who lived there). Instead of looking into my complaint, he directed his efforts into demanding multiple proofs of my visit (photos were not enough) and insisting that his search was right and I didn't know how to check.

With such attitude, I believe none of the positive reviews here are genuine.
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Response below was provided only after seeing this review on TrustPilot. Earlier unprofessional attitude doesn't assure me that the new search was any better than the first one. Further update to the response includes misleading statements.

More than happy with the service, report and aftercare. Would use again.

In Australia and super happy with the service Tim and team provided helping me find my sister in the UK. They were discreet, efficient and prompt. I am very thankful and heartily recommend them.

Asked for a background check and got an easy to interpret report back within the promised timeframe. Tim is a friendly guy who is calm and easy to talk to, just give him some basic details of your search and he'll get on with it!

Spent £275 to get information that I already knew after 5 minutes on Google. Don't waste your money.

They did an address trace for me a month or so ago. The results were 100% accurate and the details were very useful. I spoke with my Father for the first time in 20 years last night! This Christmas will be amazing - we are having him over for the day. Thank you so, so much!! What lovely people.

Brilliant, thank you. Quick, accurate and very nice people too. Would use again if I needed to, without a doubt.

I needed to find someone - they have been found and well within the time quoted, thank you. I found this company easy to deal with, efficient and very helpful from start to finish.

Surveillance was discreet and they caught my employee while claiming to be off sick! Will definitely use again.