No Records Found

This post is to report a service review. On Saturday, December 11, 2010, I,  [name omitted] an American citizen engaged the online services of the the following website: http://criminalbackgroundrecords.com  whose parent company is identified as INFORMATION ENTERPRISES, INC. I  purchased a Colorado instant background check on myself  for $24.95 USD using Paypal to pay them.

Being that I definitely do have a misdemeanor record, I suspected some clause in the Terms Contract which would leave me to some disadvantage for the inaccurate results I received. According to the above website’s Terms of Use, they will typically not provide refunds when No Records are Found:

…VI. REFUND POLICY

CriminalBackgroundRecords.com does not give credits or refunds for any of its furnished reports even when no records are found. We incur costs for every search we conduct on behalf of our clients and therefore offer no refunds for any of our completed reports (orders providing search results with or without criminal/public record data are considered completed transactions).

CriminalBackgroundRecords.com will not issue a refund for the following:

• Customer made a data entry error
• Customer made a mistake placing an order
• Record sought was not retrieved because it fell outside of the search coverage outlined in our product descriptions
• Criminal record was sealed (in case of juveniles etc.) or record was expunged
• No Criminal Convictions were found (we do not return arrest records)

Refund or Credit Availability
If you place an order with CBR and you do not get back the record results that should have been returned to you based on the coverage stated in our search descriptions, you are eligible for a full refund for your order.  Before you place an order, it is imperative that you read the search description of the state or states you are performing the background check in; to ensure you understand what you are purchasing.  If the description does not include coverage of the area you want searched, OR records pulled do not go back as far as you want, OR certain conviction types that you are looking for are not pulled (like misdemeanor or infraction offenses) do not place the order, as you will not get the search results you are looking for.

Again, the search results I received (didn’t receive) are  incorrect as I know for a fact that I have a court/case record for two misdemeanor charges from 2003 which are still part of Denver County Court Records as I have verified on the Denver County Website (free) Courts Record search.

According to criminalbackgroundrecords.com search description for Colorado:

Colorado Courts Record Background Check:
This criminal courts record check includes felony and misdemeanor records from all Colorado counties, with the exception of Denver County misdemeanors. Search results show the defendant’s name, alias names, date of birth, state identification number, physical description, county case number, county, disposition date, verdict, verdict date, fine, status type and probation time. The beginning data dates for the courts vary between 1977 and 1995. Broomfield County was added in 2001. The data is updated daily.

Denver County Court Search:
The Denver County Search includes misdemeanor records and some felony records. Search results show the defendant’s name, date of birth, state identification number, physical description, county case number, county, disposition date, verdict, verdict date, fine, status type and probation time. Criminal records date back to October 1975 and General Sessions records date back to May, 2001. Last updated February 2008.

Colorado Sex Offender Report Check Description:
This sex offender report includes high-risk offenders. Results may show offender’s name, physical description, address, crime and crime location. This data is updated monthly. Persons convicted of certain sex offenses on or after July 1, 1994 must register. Depending on the severity of the original offense, registrants are required to be registered for 5, 10 or 20 years. Free National Sex Offender Check Included.

According to the above service coverage outline -description, the search results for the website in question’s search services should have provided the two misdemeanor charges of 2003 which happened in Denver County.  Again the only results the service provided me was ‘No Results Found.’

I have a case number provided from the Denver County Website to verify the record does exist.

No, the charges have not been expunged as I was not a minor, and being misdemeanors in Denver County from 2003, Yes,  they clearly fall under the Search Coverage terms outlined above.  I’ve overlooked the data I submitted to the website has no data entry errors for my name, birthday and social security. Therefore, technically, I believe I am due a refund for inaccurate results provided. I will notify the website of my case and expect them to provide some excuse not to provide a refund as is their clear policy.  That is the reason why I have created this post: To notify and warn others of the inaccuracy of results for the mentioned service/company, so others will be aware of the potential inaccuracy if planning to use the website’s services.

I advise anyone seeking to do a background check on themselves or anyone else to not use a service that requires you to pay first before verifying whether or not they can locate a record. I should have verified that they could locate a record, then paid.  The website in question here was unable to locate a record (even though one exists) and have already been paid with a No Refund Policy, having the advantage over customers.

In any case, I will update this page with any reply/response I receive from the company. In the event that the website in question gives me a refund, or not as I expect, I will rightfully update this post.

Stay Tuned

The following essay was initially completed for a College Writing Composition and Theory essay assignment at Bangkok University International College:

Amazing Thailand, the Land of Smiles—such is the tone of promotional brands for the place I have called home for some seven years. Long before I ever stepped foot in Southeast Asia–for as long as I can remember–Thailand has carried appeal and charm abreast my youthful psyche. In the days as a young and curious boy growing up in/ around Denver, Colorado, I would indulge in Southeast Asia picture and geography books for hours at a time, day dreaming about a distant yet ever so familiar paradise out yonder the great Ocean; A dream land that would eventually become reality.

Entering adult-hood physically and legally in my long-anticipated dream land, the motherland of many of my ancestors, present reality concurs with fruitful visions of days past: Thailand truly is an amazing country that regularly brings a smile to my face. Depending on one’s mindset, it can be the absolute worst and best place to be living, but for the most part, it falls somewhere in between. Thus, it is a complicated task in defining the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ aspects of living in Thailand—at least to be universal for everyone, for my experiences and impressions may not be in sync with others. Nevertheless, a reckonable attempt to do so is as follows.

Personally, my favorite, yet at the same time, least favorite aspect of living in Thailand is the fact that I’m always immersed in a rich-yet-poor, cognitive-yet-idiotic, detailed-yet-broad, lax-yet-strict, hot-yet-wet, logical-yet-illogical and predictable-yet-surprising culture and society that one can never seem to get two full grasps of understanding on.

As mesmerized foreigners, we yearn for another piece of the sweet pie, for it’s so easy to fall in love in Thailand—whether being with people, sounds, attitudes, food, fashion, language, art, or whatever else it is that draws us to this enchanted place, there is an abundance of love and life to be embraced, if only one maintains an open mind and heart.

Yet as soon as we think we have had our filling, the whole world comes crumbling down–hungry eyes staring down on an empty plate; Just when you think you know what Thailand’s all about, reality finds a way to knock you upside the head and convey that you actually know nothing at all. While such phenomenon reassures one that he or she truly is an alive and evolving human being, it can also be a de-heartening reality to cope with at certain times, particularly when the cloud of homesickness engulfs in the initial years of Thailand assimilation.

With persistence and perserverence, eventually, the sky clears, and ‘home’ becomes a blurred reality in the waves of sub-consciousness: Time marches on. Some move on, others continue to stay. Those who have stayed have accepted that they can only ascend baby steps at a time, yet must be prepared for the major falls that are most guaranteed.

For tripping and falling are eminent catalysts for ultimately striving to summit the seemingly unconquerable mountain of Thailand. Anyone who spends a considerable amount of time in the country is shocked when LOS takes on a new meaning: The Land Of Surprises. While tourists and guidebooks charm curious minds about simplicity and happiness every where one turns, an accustomed and convicted eye eventually begins to scope out the intricate layers beyond the smile, and suddenly, reality makes a quantum jump; What one once believed to be beautiful, becomes ugly, and visa versa—what once was knowledge becomes confusion, what once drained, energizes, and so on.

Being a proud Thai American who strives to harness minimal complaint about my motherland, my position and filter for Thailand is clearly biased. However, there is some universal wisdom to be found in what is attempted to being conveyed in this short essay. Our reality is what we make of it. What may be wonderful for some turns out to be horrible for others. In Thailand, this fact is no exception.