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:04/27/2023

  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 used and cancelled my acount in 1 day. I never returned to the site becuase it gave me the same results as Google. The day I cancelled I received an email acknowledging that I canceled the account.
  Three days after I cancelled my account, I was charged for Unilimited Photo Searches that I did not request or order. I am looking for my $26.99 back.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/09/2023

  Hello ***** -

  Thank you for reaching out. First of all, privacy is extremely important to us. Even though the law (CCPA/CPRA) limits consumers to 2 requests every 12 months, we continue to work with you to ensure a complete opt out. You have made 17 requests and we have followed up with each and every request to ensure accurate removal of records, and in most instances never received a response from you. Understand, that you have also sent 5 different name variations and in any public records system, those are treated as separate people. We've removed the information that you have provided in the past. In fact, when we received this complaint, we had one of our managers reach out directly to ensure we had the proper information in order to removed your records. Again, we didn't hear back from you. The screenshot that you had sent doesn't have any identifying information. In the report, there aren't emails, phone numbers, age, social networks or any other information. We have also removed that record. We have 2 levels of removal to ensure completion. One, is a manual removal process and the second is an continual, automated removal based on provided information from the consumer. Because that page was blank and didn't have any contact information, social media, emails, phone number, etc, the page wasn't flagged. Regardless, we have removed the page. We're happy to continue to work with you if you see any other records. We have double-checked our system and don't see any records with your name. If we don't hear back we will consider this closed. Please let us know if you need anything else. Thank you. 

   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/10/2023

  Hello ***** -

  
  

  Thank you for sharing your feedback on your experience and the opportunity to address your concerns. We took a look at your account and you were issued a partial refund on 4/12/23. You had signed up for two separate accounts and canceled one of them on 4/8/23. You then signed in to the account again on 4/27/23 and canceled the other plan the same day. You then later contacted customer support and at that time our rep issued a one-time courtesy refund of $13.49. Looking into your account, you ran many searches (20 in total) and received a lot of information. The information included image results, emails, phone numbers, and other contact information that is not easily or not accessible at all through Google. If you need clarification on the results that you ran, we'd be happy to help walk you through them. If you want additional assistance, you could please reply with a few days and times and we'd be happy to follow up.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/27/2023

  Type:Billing 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 tried to find information on a guy that was dating my daughter. No information was found so they told me I needed to sign up for another search which would be more money. I said yes still no info found I then canceled before recurring monthly payments were taken out of my account. I got an email that stated "socialcatfish.com is canceled and will be no longer taking recurring payments." I took a picture of that email and considered it done. Now 4 months later I find out that they have been taking $26.99 out of my PayPal account for 4 months. I confronted them and they said I had two accounts with them and only closed one account. If they were not trying to trick people out of their money, the cancelation notice would of stated that they would still be taking money out for a different account. It stated "socialcatfish will not be taking recurring payments" but they lied because they continued to take the money out They only gave me one payment back. I payed over $80.00 for no results and was only searching for one person.
  I feel like they purposely tricked me.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/09/2023

  Hello *****. Thank you for sharing your feedback on your experience and the opportunity to address your concerns. We took a look at your account and it looks that you had signed up for two separate services. One, the Image Search plan and the other the Social Search plan. You had signed up on 1/20/23 and canceled just the Social Search plan four days later. You didn't notify customer service until 4/26/23 and at that time, one of our representatives issued a one time courtesy refund. Each and every month, we send receipts and even send a reminder email before we bill you for the initial subscription. You had sent a PayPal screenshot and in your PayPal account, you would have also seen that there was the active subscription. As a final courtesy, I have also refunded one additional payment. We thank you for being a valued SocialCatfish.com customer and hope that you come back and use our service again. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/11/2023

  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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/24/2023

  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 am a resident of the State of California, dealing with privacy - harassment issues. I have sent 30+ requests for deletion of my info. I have OPT-OUTs online from Social Catfish following website instruction prior to 2019 always received form emails falsely claiming my case is resolved.
  
  My info has not been removed and is being sold online & to 3rd parties. They are making $$ & putting me in harm's way. This is a Violation of CCPA . No one read time to read my emails, or check out the attached links/screenshots I supply
  
  Social Catfish is a registered Data Broker with the California State Attorney Generals Office - ht******************************c********************* If others wish to also file a complaint.
  
  MY PERSONAL INFO IS STILL ONLINE FOR SALE - See link below to my SC report dated 24 April 2023, selling for $5.73.
  
  I have evidence of request for deletion from Aug 24, 2019, July 29, 2021, Sep 29, 2022 & Sep 4, 2021 entitled Re: ********** Opt Out Request & assigned Request ID *********** & Sep 29, 2021, my Oct 1, 2021, response that my case was NOT CLOSED & it's the 10th request for removal.
  
  Again on Mon, Mar 7, 2022 at 8:58 PM I made Re: 2********* Opt Out Request & assigned Request ID #***3. Than again on Aug 20, 2022 at 11:56 PM told my CCPA request ticket was closed - https://s************************o********************18732 -
  
  On Aug 21, 2022 I made Re: 31*******A Access Request & assigned Request ID # ******.
  
  I have keep detailing my details, current & former addresses, email addresses, relatives names, DOB, Name variations, social media user names, phone #'s etc. Social Catfish also sells the wrong info of other people with my name - this is insanity.
  
  Social Catfish violates of Cal state & federal privacy laws My RIGHTS as a California resident to be constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy.
  
  I want to talk with a human being who has the authority to deal with this complex issue to ensure this aneixty nightmare ends.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/09/2023

  Hello ***** -
  Thank you for reaching out. First of all, privacy is extremely important to us. Even though the law (CCPA/CPRA) limits consumers to 2 requests every 12 months, we continue to work with you to ensure a complete opt out. You have made 17 requests and we have followed up with each and every request to ensure accurate removal of records, and in most instances never received a response from you. Understand, that you have also sent 5 different name variations and in any public records system, those are treated as separate people. We've removed the information that you have provided in the past. In fact, when we received this complaint, we had one of our managers reach out directly to ensure we had the proper information in order to removed your records. Again, we didn't hear back from you. The screenshot that you had sent doesn't have any identifying information. In the report, there aren't emails, phone numbers, age, social networks or any other information. We have also removed that record. We have 2 levels of removal to ensure completion. One, is a manual removal process and the second is an continual, automated removal based on provided information from the consumer. Because that page was blank and didn't have any contact information, social media, emails, phone number, etc, the page wasn't flagged. Regardless, we have removed the page. We're happy to continue to work with you if you see any other records. We have double-checked our system and don't see any records with your name. If we don't hear back we will consider this closed. Please let us know if you need anything else. Thank you. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/08/2023

  Type:Customer Service 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.

  You are not responding to my requests. You are not removing my information.
  Do you even operate as a company?
  How do you even manage simple things like removal? I want my information gone from your website!
  ********************************************************** ****************************************************************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/09/2023

  Hello ****** -

  
  

  Privacy is extremely important to us. We have removed the records that you had sent over.
  
  For quality assurance, we also checked our records and we don't have any record of you making any previous requests. Did you make the request through a third party or directly through our website? We typically handle removals within 24-48 hours so if you made a request directly through us, it would have been handled quickly. 

  
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/19/2023

  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 paid for 2 separate types of searches and neither of them provided any information. I have submitted 2 requests for a full refund. When they were denied the service agent gave me the excuse that the profile photos didn’t report anything because the photos were not in public spaces. I included myself and I absolutely know that my photos are in news articles in public spaces. I don’t think that this site is accurate or in anyway helpful. I deserve a full refund.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/30/2023

  Hello ****. **** from our team had actually reached out after reviewing a call with you and one of our representatives. She left notes that she went through the image search and other results with you and that you were satisfied. We do realize that with your initial call with us, the rep didn't go into detail about your results. We have already provided additional training so that this won't happen again. We are under the assumption that you do have your results and are satisfied with them. If there are any additional questions, we are more than happy to answer them. Otherwise, we will consider this closed. Thank you for allowing us to assist you and for being a valued member of SocialCatfish.com.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/31/2023

  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.

  
  

  Thank you, the issue was satisfactorily resolved.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/27/2022

  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.

  Site refuses to remove my personal info from their database. Instead, they hide behind a claim that "Our systems have detected automated use of our site that breaches our terms of accepted use" after the complex multi step process has been followed, including the reCAPTCHA challenge that proves I am a person and not an api or other automated script! A phone number was offered but they are closed (non-holiday Tuesday <7PM in company's time zone) -- not acceptable. I tried both Edge and Firefox. I want all my personal data, associated with this profile, removed:
  ******************************************************* People don't have time to follow-up, explain, and go through all the drama they are requiring to complete my legal right to have this information removed. By making this process difficult and requiring follow-up, they are ensuring their lucrative database stays full of information existing laws require they remove.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/13/2023

  
  
  Hello *****. We've already deleted your information. We couldn't find any submission or request for removal under his contact information other than a call after business hours where you didn't leave a message. We would never deny removing someone's information. Can you please send a screenshot of where that happened so that we can look into your request more? Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/22/2022

  Type:Customer Service 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 contacted these individuals, a few days ago, on a secondary e-mail, they accused me of being a "third party" and a "spammer" and forced me to message them on a "verifiable email" (probably so they could harvest more of my info.) , even still, i did and they seemingly are now not going to honor my opt out request. I don't feel comfortable putting all my info on here. But, what i want is simple, i want a particular email & phone number removed, so a reverse email search and reverse phone number search won't bring up my info. The initial e-mail i contacted yall on is: *******@tapi.re ... please, check my request and honor it.... i also, opened the same ticket / sent same e-mail through a "more verifiable" email address. I have a stalker problem and i'm trying to opt out / choose to NOT HAVE YOU SELL OR TRANSMIT MY PERSONAL INFO. When my request has been met, please, reply here. Thank You

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/22/2022

  Hello. Based on the email provided, the request was denied because a temporary email was used. We don't have a way to verify your request. We sometimes require additional information in order to verify someone if there are multiple people with that information, the information doesn't match the request or there is a potential for fraud. Additionally, the information that you provided to the BBB doesn't match the information that you had submitted through your opt out request. The name doesn't match along with the email and the address. Because of this, we need to deny the request. We have provided a screenshot of the results that were requested by this email to be removed and we ask the BBB to please redact the information and only use it to verify the information that we provided above.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/30/2022

  Type:Customer Service 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.

  The company's opt-out form will not allow me to remove my data. Delete my data, including those under my maiden and married names of ***** ****** and ***** *******.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/06/2022

  Hello ***** -

  
  

  It looks like you had already successfully submitted your removal request and it was completed yesterday. We have attached proof. Please let 

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/06/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 1*******, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/20/2022

  Type:Customer Service 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.

  On 8/29/22 I submitted the removal request form and was told to wait 14-21 days. Day 23 and my info is still showing.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/13/2022

  Hello **** -

  
  

  Your information has been removed based on what you have provided. Please let us know if you need anything else.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/31/2022

  Type:Customer Service 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.

  On 8/2/22 I completed a form requesting the removal of my information from social catfish and have waited the "2-3 weeks" quoted for removal time and my information is still active on the website as of today 8/31/22. For tracking purposes I completed the opt out request with the email address: fcf****************com

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/26/2022

  Hello Blessing -

  
  

  We removed your information. We had actually previously followed up because we received thousands of requests and had some questions about your request from the same email domain the request was submitted through and we never received a response. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/27/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 1*******, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. However, SocialCatfish did not follow up on my removal request. I have one email from SocialCatfish on 08/02/22 with the link to confirm the removal I submitted and no further communication has been sent to my email. Thank you.