Product Review – KnowPhone.com

I was giving a Platinum Pass membership so that I could check out the site and see how stuff works.  I get a lot of wrong number and telemarketer calls, so I’m pretty used to looking up numbers on the Internet.  I searched several of them on the site.  I was able to get the carrier name and general location, but I was unable to get actual reports.  When I tried to get the reports, it came up telling me I needed a membership to the site…which I already have.  I then searched them through Google and came up with companies, if they were telemarketers, and what they were trying to sell.

The next thing I tried was looking up my own information.  Surprisingly, other than finding my parents address, there was nothing.  I didn’t find anything on my husband or other family members either.  It didn’t find any of my email addresses, which I have four of, my marriage license, or birth certificate.The last search I ran was the criminal search.  I ran the name of a guy I went to high school and college with, who is serving a very long jail sentence for child molestation.  He pops up all over the Kaufman County records when you search through the pedo list, so I figured that he would have the highest chance of being found.  True to my belief, he popped up in seconds.

Now, overall, the site itself is okay.  However, there are a few things that concern me.  First is the issue with the reports.  I don’t know if they just had them turned off for me since I’m just reviewing the site, or if they want you to pay extra for them.  Site membership is already over $30 a month for the Platinum, which gives you unlimited everything.  That’s pretty expensive by itself without throwing in however much they would want to charge you for the full reports.

The second issue is with the information itself.  I can search for myself on Google and through other lookup sites and get all of my current info, yet I get nothing on here.  Just how out of date is their info?  The third issue deals with the price.  Why are they charging so much for the site when I can easily find the same info, some way more up-to-date, in a Google search for free?  I noticed in the FAQs page that they state “this data isn’t available ANYWHERE for free”.  As I stated earlier, this simply isn’t true.  Public records are just that, public.  You can look them up at any time you want.  My mom uses Google all the time to lookup people that she knew when she was a kid.  Granted, you do have to pay for address reports sometimes, but even those are usually inexpensive.  And most of the time, you don’t even need them.  All you have to do is look them up in the phone book.  It just doesn’t sit well with me that they would claim that.

I’m not too sure what to tell you on this one.  I honestly don’t know if it’s worth it or not.  Personally, I wouldn’t use them due to the fact that it’s expensive and that I can find the info elsewhere for free.  Aside from the Platinum plan, they have a limited one for about $10 a month.  If you’re interested in checking out the site or getting some more info (you’ll actually have to contact customer service since all there is a FAQs page with little to no information on it), you can visit the KnowPhone website.