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What you get with a cheap private detective

We get it. Hiring a private detective to investigate something you’re worried about is not exactly cheap as chips. And it can be hard to understand why some places are more expensive than others. But when you’re paying for a service, price is often a very good indicator of the quality you’re receiving. Just like a steak at a cheap pub will be miles below a chef hat restaurant, the same goes for private detectives. The problem is, with private investigators, you might not even realise you’ve gotten the worst cut! We’ve put together a few of the issues that you could be facing when you just go with the cheapest quote…

What’s the worst that could happen? Well, if it’s too good to be true (read: too cheap) the worst case scenario is that it’s a full on scam. It’s quite easy to lie about being a qualified private detective. And the consequences of that lie? That could land both the private detective and you in front of a judge! Without a licence, running an investigation and surveillance is just plain old stalking. And that’s very much against the law! Also, they could just grab your money and just pretend they ran a proper investigation. Think of it this way, if their fee works out to be peanuts, do you think they’d be working hard for that money?

What else could go wrong? They could be cutting costs. To give you such a low quote, it’s likely that they aren’t staying up to date with all the proper licences and insurances. Ultimately this puts you at risk, as the liability of anything that goes wrong could end up falling to you! They could also be avoiding keeping their equipment up to date, and that means your investigation will suffer at the hands of poor footage quality, no night vision footage and other instances where they’ve missed out because they didn’t have the right equipment.

Finally, the hardest thing to spot that’s wrong with a cheap detective is their skill set. Just like any job, experience and skill can make all the difference between a successful investigation and a flop. A private detective that is lacking the qualifications, experience and knowledge of a longstanding professional will inevitable stuff up, and you’re the one who’s going to miss out! For example, an unskilled detective investigating a cheating partner might try to catch the naughty cheating moment on camera. The odds of them catching the one second they do something  are slim to none. A skilled detective will know to film the entire exchange so that the vital evidence is videotaped. Then you can capture the exact moment, and extract an image from it later.

Private investigating is not a straightforward process, and sometimes it can be hard to assess the quality of the service you’re being provided with. Could the surveillance have gone better? Could more documents or background information have been found? Could better footage have been obtained? Unfortunately, you will never know for sure, but chances are, if you paid bottom dollar for a private eye, you did not get the best outcome possible. In the end, when hiring a private investigator, you’re paying for peace of mind. And if you go with the best in the business, that’s exactly what you’ll get!

For the highest quality investigation, give Elite Investigations a call on 1300 721 715 or email info@eliteinvestigations.com.au.