This one might get ugly...
It’s been my (at least) two-decade policy to not write bad reviews. That means, if I didn’t like a business or organization, I wouldn’t review them. In my more than 20 years of blogging, I’ve only written sincere, positive reviews on businesses and organizations whose work or products impressed me enough to want to point you in their direction.
But, I’m sorry to say, Spokeo has broken my streak and I feel obligated to do a ShoutOut as a warning, rather than a bravo.
Spokeo has a website that allows users to look up addresses, phone numbers and other information on people of interest, to the user. In my case, I’ve used them only a few times and have only ever been charged a one-time, inexpensive fee, per use.
Recently, a number I had for a contact was no longer valid, so I went to Spokeo in hopes to get an updated contact number, which I ended up not even needing. I paid (I think) $1.99 for the one time lookup and thought that was the end of the transaction.
Surprise...
To my dismay, I (thankfully) got an alert on my mobile, informing me Spokeo had withdrawn their first monthly subscription fee from my account.
I didn’t (intentionally) sign up for a subscription. I’ve used them less than five times in 15 years. My alert was correct. They’d withdrawn funds amounting a little over $30.
When I contacted them to let them know there’d been some sort of error, and that I had no intention of signing up for indefinite access, they agreed to refund me half of what they’d withdrawn. That didn’t satisfy me because I said their record should show that I’d used the service only once and thought I had paid the one-time fee, but not subscribed for further use.
At first, they only wanted to refund me half of it, but after some further explaining about how I felt their account sign-up process seemed fraudulent and deceptive, they refunded me all of what they’d withdrawn, since February 2026.
Deceptive?
In my conversation with their customer assist-agent (Courtney 1965, who sincerely rendered excellent service!) I let her know I’m in habit of being very careful in online business interaction but that I truly didn’t remember seeing any area to select signing up for a Spokeo account.
When we finished our conversation, I ran a check on them to see how they’re standing with the Better Business Bureau and was relieved to not be the only one who’d had the same experience. Seems LOTS of folks have had the same issue with them.
Google’s AI breakdown had Spokeo’s BBB rating as an F, however, the BBB site has them at an A-. I’ll give Google credit for having their number of filings pretty close to matching, though. There were nine complaints filed in February 2026, all listing the same issue I had with them, multiple times being listed as deceptive and fraudulent activity regarding an account agreement and monthly membership fee.
A developing trend
Because I’d not used Spokeo a lot in the past, I had never had any trouble with their service on the occasions that I did. I was surprised and disappointed in what I had determined in the past to be an ethical, quality business. In my research though, I saw a trend into the dark side that began just a few years ago.
In the last three years, the BBC has received 596 complaints from Spokeo customers with 204 being resolved in the last 12 months. They’d received nine complaints in February 2026, and all appeared to have encountered the same trouble with them I did.
Disappointing. So is the A- rating Spokeo currently holds with the Better Biz Bureau.
10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. Luke 16:10 KJV
The Wrap!
Now for some GOOD news!
Couple months ago, one of my cousins and I began collabing on a book project. In the doing, I encouraged her to consider having a go at blogging.
Thankfully, she agreed!
She’s still new at it but she’s a fast learner and now has several posts published. Her writing hits like enjoying the drizzle of a Spring rain with a great cuppa coffee on the front porch, with a couple fresh-baked cookies.
Yup... That’s her style.
Hoping you’ll make a point to visit her site to see for yourself. Here’s her linked site address, EverydayCourageBlog, and thanks ahead of time!
That’s it for this one...
Shalom, shalom from Posey County, Indiana!
Angelia
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