Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/01/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I found my personal information on their website on June 24th. Immediately, I went to delete the page through their form, but after submitting their form on their site, the page told me it thought I was an agency and told me to email them instead. I've emailed them multiple times since the 24th about removing my information and tried their form multiple times, but to no avail. Dismissing individuals who do not want their information on their website by calling them agencies does not remove their obligation to remove personal information.I told them that if they did not delete my profile, I would create a BBB report. I know they believe this "complaints through the BBB is not a recognized platform to submit information removal requests", but the public should know how many people are being treated like this by this company. Businesses like this do not care and hide under the "it's public information" banner, but most people do not know where this "public information" even is without sites like Social Catfish making it easily accessible! We did not consent to our information being put on this site, and we do not want it there!

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/26/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Social Catfish is publicly posting my name, age, and address on their web sight without my consent. I have contacted them by phone and filled out several data removal requests over the last few months, but they refuse to remove the information. As an ****** resident they must remove my personal information.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/01/2024

  Hi Trinity,
  

  This is in regards to your BBB complaint. I understand you would like to request to have your information removed. Please note that complaints through the BBB is not a recognized platform to submit information removal requests.

  Your request to opt-out was successfully completed on July 26, 2024. On July 4, a Customer Support agent informed you that your request to opt-out would need to go to the appropriate team. The Data Privacy team received your request and responded to *********************** on July 10 in an effort to clarify information to fulfill your opt-out request. Since you submitted multiple requests with conflicting information, your response was necessary in order to complete your request. However, when the team heard back from you on July 19, you refused to provide the clarifying information in your response which hindered the teams ability to fully complete your request. After getting a better understanding over the phone, the teams were able to work together to gather all of your requests in order to verify you and complete your opt-out on July 26, 2024. The team responded accordingly to the opt-out the same day and followed up on one of your other threads, just in case, to ensure you saw that the request was fulfilled. 

  If you have any questions or require further clarification, please reply to the existing communications you have open with the Data Privacy team. Our Support team is also able to assist with general questions and are happy to help. They can be reached by email at ********************************** or by phone at ************.
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/09/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I've never contacted you guys and have never submitted opt out before. And now it's telling me i'm violating some terms. I've been contacting dozens of similar websites and you're the first company to give such hard time opting out. Remove my information before it gets escalated.***********************************************************************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/15/2024

  Hello,

  This is in regards to your BBB complaint. I understand you would like to request to have your information removed. Please note that complaints through the BBB is not a recognized platform to submit information removal requests.

  If you are looking to request that your information be removed, you will need to reach out to the company directly. We offer a couple options to opt-out or have your information removed. You may email to ********************************** or *************************************************************. If you have already submitted a request through Social Catfish, you should reference your email for updates.

  That said, the we are unable to locate any requests to opt-out from "********************". Again, if you would like to opt-out or to have your data removed, you will need to work with the company directly. 
  If you have any questions or require further clarification, please reply to the existing communications you have open with the Data Privacy team. Our Support team is also able to assist with general questions and are happy to help. They can be reached by email at ********************************** or by phone at ************. Thank you.
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/18/2024

   I am rejecting this response because:
  I can't submit my opt out because IT'S NOT ACCEPTING MY REQUEST IN THE FIRST PLACE. Stop giving me roundarounds and remove my information. For the first time I'm experiencing such unprofessional and negligent company.
  
  

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/18/2024

  Hi *****************,

  Complaints through the BBB is not a recognized platform to submit information removal requests. I've checked and the opt-out form is working. If you are experiencing trouble using the form, as shared previously, you can also email to ********************************** for your removal request. 

  There are no emails from *********************** so we can't even inform the team that your removal request is pending. Once you email *********************************** they will be able to assist from there. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/03/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I agreed to pay Social Catfish a recurring monthly fee of about $30 for a first charge of $6.87 for facial recognition search capability about a friend I've been trying to find. We met online but the website has blocked us from knowing each other's last name, phone, email, social media, whatever. The website kept getting me to "buy" more credits so she and I could learn more about each other so we could seriously know each other by a legitamite form of communication. That website had already got more than $60 from me by requesting more "credits" each time the chat with the person was leading to us knowing how to contact one another.Finally I gave up but at Social Catfish, I tried their facial recognition soft ware. I supplied 7 good different photographs. It finally provided one "exact" match. It turned out the only exact thing was her dress, which had no head on it. So I tested the software with easily recognizable photos and videos of my son and I. It turned up two (instantly) exact matches. Which turned out to be far different than exact. They looked nothing like us. The other 500+ plus images were nothing close either. And we're all over social media pages. So this shows their softward DOES NOT WORK. They shouldn't be able to scam people so easily. When I notified them and gave them a simple solution--Saying, I've bought your service within this last hour. It doesn't work, please refund my money, I got a person on Chat (document attached) and captured her replies.Bottom line. Their service doesn't work. Don't waste your money I won't challenge their legal argument, but if they are smart, they will refund my money and in the future they should try to do a better job.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/08/2024

  Hi *******,

  This is in response to your BBB complaint regarding your Image Search trial. Like most online subscriptions services, it is not policy for the company to issue refunds for trials, especially if it is used. The purpose of the trial is to allow customers to try the service for a limited time, at a discounted rate, prior to committing to the monthly subscription. 

  Upon reviewing your account and file, I understand you were looking for someone out of *******. Social Catfish sources and aggregates public data across the world wide web. Keep in mind though that depending on the country or regions data privacy laws (such as GDPR), some information *** be limited. The best coverage for data is in the U.S. and ****** but, as long as the information is publicly available, you should be able to locate records in your search report regardless of the country. 
  

  When searching for information in countries that *** be limited, we recommend the following searches for the best results:
  - Image Searches
  - Email Searches
  - Username Searches

  Additionally, our agent did her best to assist you in your search. She reviewed your search results, conducted a search herself, and added free Social searches to your account. The added searches are part of a separate plan (not included in the Image Search) in an effort to broaden the search and improve the chances of finding what you were looking for. I'm glad to see you were able to use one of the free searches! Based on your complaint here, it sounds like you were still not able to find what you were looking for. It was mentioned that the images were on Social Media so we had some assistance from our advanced team to find this information. Still they were not able to find any public Social Media profiles belonging to the person in the images. 

  That said, we will not be issuing a refund for the trial that was used. You'll continue to have access to the free searches that were added, should you decide to try the services again. These do not expire so you can use them at your convenience. Thank you for your consideration. Please feel free to reach out if we can help with anything else. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/24/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  They are refusing to remove my personal info from their site. This is a high privacy concern as I am involved with domestics. Their opt out process does not work and they do not reply to multiple emails and opt out attempts. This violates CCPA privacy act. I want my info removed permanently from their site.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/28/2024

  This is in regards to your BBB complaint. I understand you would like to request to have your information removed. Please note that complaints through the BBB is not a recognized platform to submit information removal requests. Please also note also that CCPA applies to current California residents.
  
  If you are looking to request that your information be removed, you will need to reach out to the company directly. We offer several options to have your information removed. You may email to *********************************** use the self opt out form at ******************************************, or complete the opt out process by visiting ******************************************/?id=request_optout. If you have already submitted a request through Social Catfish, you should reference your email for updates.
  
  Privacy is important to us. We have no reason to hold onto information in the case that a consumer requests that their records are removed. That said, I can confirm with the Social Catfish Data Privacy team that your requests were received on both June 18 and June 19. Please check your email. The team replied to your request on June 25th confirming removal of your records. 

  If you have any questions or require further clarification, please reply to the existing communications you have open with the Data Privacy team. Our Support team is also able to assist with general questions and are happy to help as well. They can be reached by email at ********************************** or by phone at ************. Thank you.
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/15/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have never contacted this business. There are charges showing up on my credit card that I know nothing about.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/29/2024

  Hello. This is in response to your BBB complaint. We're sorry to hear you had difficulty using our services. Unfortunately, we are unable to locate an account associated with ************************* We are also unable to locate any correspondences from you to our **************** team regarding this matter. 

  In order for us to look into this for you, it is recommended to reach out directly to the company for further assistance. You can email our team any time to *********************************** Additionally, you can give the support team a call at ************ or login to your Social Catfish account to open a chat. 

  Thank you. We hope to get the opportunity to help you with your account soon!

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/29/2024

   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.

  I believe it was fraudulent charges. The credit card company is taking care of it. My credit card has been replaced.

  Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/05/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This business was given a verbal warning to remove my information, they did remove but then they republished it. Now I am going to seek legal recourse if the business does not comply, they do not have rights and I won't report my address to the department of motor vehicles no more. SOCIAL CATFISH does not have authority and wherever that info is sold is a direct violation of my constitutional rights because I did not consent to my info being placed on here! You will remove the information at the following link and you will cease and desist your business of operation...link will be removed: ***********************************************************************************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/06/2024

  Hello,

  This is in regards to your BBB complaint. I understand you would like to request to have your information removed. Please note that complaints through the BBB is not a recognized platform to submit information removal requests. If you have submitted a request through Social Catfish, you should reference your email for updates.

  The email provided does not match any requests received by our Data Privacy team. However, I can confirm that there are no records for ********************************. In trying to replicate the provided screenshot, we still continue to be directed to the No results page when trying to replicate. Your third party, opt out company should be able to confirm this as well, especially if you are paying for their services. We've included a screenshot with the provided url for reference.

  As a reminder, the BBB is not the appropriate platform to have information removal requests completed. To ensure your request for removal is fulfilled, you should reach out to SocialCatfish.com directly. 
  We offer several options to have your information removed. You may email to *********************************** use the self opt out form at ******************************************, or complete the opt out process by visiting ******************************************/?id=request_optout.

  If you are a third party company requesting on behalf of a client, please understand we are more than happy to establish a healthy relationship with your company to remove your clients information, within reason. You can reach out to the team at ********************************** with ********* Privacy Team in the subject. Our processes are set to ensure that all parties remain in compliance with all data privacy laws and to ensure that all sensitive material is handled appropriately.

  If you have any questions or require further clarification, please reply to the existing communications you have open with the Data Privacy team. Our Support team is also able to assist with general questions and are happy to help. They can be reached by email at ********************************** or by phone at ************. 
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/07/2024

   I am rejecting this response because: I still see  my name pop up when I search, what part of "I will not be part of servers, computers, and data money scheme" do you not understand?  I did not consent nor did I sign anything to provide such consent.   I didn't even agree or consent at the local DMV or RMV office, I will check back in a day to see if it is republished and will respond back after one day.  you should be appalled that you would collect information on innocent Americans. 
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/26/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Please remove my phone number from display on your website. Your opt out system does not work and I never authorized the display or sale of my information on your website.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/29/2024

  Hi *******,

  This is in regards to your BBB complaint. I understand you would like to request to have your information removed. Please note that complaints through the BBB is not a recognized platform to submit information removal requests.

  If you are looking to request that your information be removed, you will need to reach out to the company directly. We offer several options to have your information removed. You may email to *********************************** use the self opt out form at ******************************************, or complete the opt out process by visiting ******************************************/?id=request_optout. If you have already submitted a request through Social Catfish, you should reference your email for updates.

  Thank you for sharing your feedback. I checked to see if our opt out system was working properly, I was able to confirm that it is in fact working. Upon reviewing this further, the Data Privacy team was able to confirm that your request was submitted from ******************** on 4/10/24. This request included two links which both were successfully removed on 4/18/24. Screenshots attached for reference.

  If you have any other questions we can help clarify for you, again, please contact the company directly. You can email to ********************************** or call at ************. Business hours are Monday through Friday from 9am - 5pm PST. Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/20/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Third-party service submitted an opt-out request on my behalf (who I granted permission to do so) from this data aggregator (broker) on Jan 06, 2024. It is now Apr 19, 2024 and my information is still not removed, the opt-out request has been ignored. I have since submitted directly and was "flagged" as a service (lol), requiring me to email them directly, where they will dance around the request to remove the information for god knows how long.Please see the screenshots attached for proof of submission 3 months ago, the current data (unchanged), and the email sent to them as a direct request since they have a whitelist process for services (which I'm not one, but they ignore both). I have also copied their current policy pages and conditions to a timestamped public chat so that I can diff them against anything in the future that they cite to verify they have not changed, and others have access to this information.Until my information has been removed this complaint is unresolved as they are criminals and do not respect opt-out requests whether from a service or direct (as indicated by the numerous complaints below). A response whining about "this is not an opt-out platform" or a recommendation to contact their support will not suffice, as they are unresponsive after 90 days. I have submitted two opt-out requests, 3 months apart. Remove the information. That is the only resolution that will be acceptable. Anything else is an indicator that they are avoidant and problematic with how they conduct business, and their rating should reflect their lack of conscience for people's privacy.I look forward to the resolution of this problem.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/25/2024

  Hi *****,
  

  This is in regards to your BBB complaint. I understand you would like to request to have your information removed. Please note that complaints through the BBB is not a recognized platform to submit information removal requests. 
  

  If you are looking to request that your information be removed, you will need to reach out to the company directly. We offer several options to have your information removed. You may email to **********************************, use the self opt out form at ******************************************, or complete the opt out process by visiting ******************************************/?id=request_optout. If you have already submitted a request through Social Catfish, you should reference your email for updates.
  

  Thank you for the insight. Privacy is important to us. We have no reason not to remove information upon request. The only times we would not work with a third party is when they are not compliant or breach our terms of service. Companies charging for these services would know better though.
  

  That said, before your request submitted Friday, April 19 2024, we have no record of anything submitted prior. Our data privacy team responded to your request Monday morning on April 22, 2024 to verify the data that should be removed and has not heard back from you yet. Again, if you would like for your data to be removed, you will need to work with the company directly. 

  If you have any questions or require further clarification, please reply to the existing communications you have open with the Data Privacy team. Our Support team is also able to assist with general questions and are happy to help. They can be reached by email at ********************************** or by phone at ************. Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/09/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  They will not remove my information. Every time I fill out their OPT Out page, it says teh URL is not correct .When I search my name, it never gives me the correct URL for the form Remove my data now

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/15/2024

  Hello *************************,

  This is in regards to your BBB complaint. I understand you would like to request to have your information removed. Please note that complaints through the BBB is not a recognized platform to submit information removal requests. If you have submitted a request through Social Catfish, you should reference your email for updates.

  Upon further review, I was not able to locate any requests for data removal for "*************************" or "**********************".

  That said, if you are looking to request that your information be removed, you will need to reach out to the company directly. We offer several options to have your information removed. You may email to *********************************** use the self opt out form at ******************************************, or complete the opt out process by visiting ******************************************/?id=request_optout.

  If you have any questions or require further clarification, please feel free to reach out to our support team. You can email at ********************************** or call to ************. Thank you.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/18/2024

   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.