By instructing SPS Investigations to proceed with a case on your behalf, you are agreeing in full to all of the terms listed below. These terms are here to protect you (the client) and us (SPS Investigations).
SPS Investigations is providing this site on an as-is basis and makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to this site or its contents. SPS Investigations also disclaims all such representations and warranties. In addition, SPS Investigations make no representations or warranties about the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the information and related graphics published on this site.
The information contained on this site may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. All liability of SPS Investigations howsoever arising from any such inaccuracies or errors is expressly excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law. Neither SPS Investigations nor any of its directors, employees or other representatives will be liable for damages arising out of or in connection with the use of this website. This is a comprehensive limitation of liability that applies to all damages of any kind, including (without limitation) compensatory, direct, indirect or consequential damages, loss of data, income or profit, loss of or damage to property and claims of third parties. Use of this website or any of the services described on it signifies your agreement with these terms.
Services SPS Investigations shall provide the following services (“Services”) to the Client in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement: Services include, but are not limited to, Tracing, Surveillance, Background Checks, Asset Location, Pre-employment Checks, Missing Person(s) Location, Process Serving and Matrimonial Matters.
Delivery of the Services
Start date (all services except tracing): SPS Investigations shall commence the provision of the services at a time agreed by both parties (general services). Trace instructions are exempt from this clause and carry their own terms as per the trace instruction form
Completion date: SPS Investigations shall complete/cease to provide the services either when the objective of the services has been achieved or when SPS Investigations deems fit.
SPS Investigations will not be held responsible for the loss of the subject of any surveillance operation due to weather, traffic or other uncontrolled conditions.
SPS Investigations will endeavour to provide all of its services within the shortest amount of time possible. On some occasions, a trace may take slightly longer than the quoted time. If this occurs, the client is still bound by the terms and, as such, our fee is still payable.
Under certain circumstances, will offer you the option of having daily surveillance updates. On these occasions, we or our agents may not provide full written reports. We will advise you of this upon receipt of your instructions or as soon as it is operationally possible.
On some occasions, it may not be possible to provide photographic evidence during a surveillance operation. This will mainly be due to close quarter surveillance. However, we will, where possible, endeavour to utilise covert body-worn equipment in these circumstances. This cannot be guaranteed, however, and you will be notified of such an event as soon as is operationally possible. Should a subject of surveillance be lost at any stage of a surveillance operation, SPS Investigations reserves the right NOT to issue any refunds, either in part or in full.
A background check and or asset check is not an exact science and, as such, we cannot guarantee the provision of details relating to every element in the fee quote as provided to the client. Due to the nature of these cases, we do not know the exact level of information that can be obtained until we initiate the case. As such, should every element not be available, we do not offer refunds in part or in full. If a client requests an Enhanced Background Check, they are aware that any additional elements offered are done so on a “gratis” basis and, as such, do NOT form part of any agreement between the client and SPS Investigations. Furthermore, we use the data supplied by the client when conducting ALL investigations, background checks or otherwise. And, as such, should the client provide false or wholly inaccurate data from the outset or withhold critical information, we will not be held responsible for the content of any reports provided by us. It is the Client’s responsibility to provide accurate information concerning the subject of any investigation. The Client should also note that Background Checks are based on available intel and discreet enquiries where possible. If elements are not available, they will not be included in our report.
The timescales quoted for background checks should be taken as a guide only, as some cases may require more time. We cannot guarantee completion of a background check in the time quoted, but we will always do our very best to meet these timescales. Should the client withhold any information, they should note that this can affect the accuracy of the report and the details contained therein. Furthermore, should the client provide inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable information, we cannot issue a refund of the fee, either in full or in part.
In the event that a retrace is refused and a refund requested, we reserve the right to charge an administration charge of £25.00. This charge will apply unless agreed otherwise. In order to invoke the terms as detailed here, if a client considers a trace result to be inaccurate, they MUST provide us with VERIFIABLE evidence to support their claim that the traced address is incorrect.
Should the client incur costs as a result of travel, Court fees or other costs in respect of a trace result or other service provided by SPS Investigations (upon instructing SPS Investigations) the client agrees that SPS Investigations will NOT be held responsible for these costs under ANY circumstances.
If, for ANY reason, SPS Investigations is unable to deliver any service within the quoted or agreed timescales, SPS Investigations cannot be held responsible for any additional costs incurred by the client. By instructing SPS Investigations, the client is agreeing that, should the client incur any costs once the case has been reported, SPS Investigations is not held responsible for said costs, whether they be travel expenses, court fees or other related costs. Furthermore, should the client instruct an alternative agency due to any delays on the part of SPS Investigations, SPS Investigations will NOT be held responsible for ANY additional costs or expenses incurred by the client.
All person trace reports will contain the following:
CURRENT address of the individual, names of anyone else at the address and a mobile and landline number where available.
In addition to the above, we will also provide, where available, employment details, businesses owned and date of birth, if not already provided. These additional items are FREE of charge. Please note that we CANNOT guarantee to provide the additional (where available) details and these do not form any part of our contract with you.
Should a client provide inaccurate or unverified information as part of their trace instructions that result in a negative trace, we will not offer any refund of fees paid.
We will not discuss ANY details of a trace report until payment has been received IN FULL. We have a thirty-day retrace or refund guarantee in place and, as such, do not provide “proof” of a trace, in any form, until the report is submitted after we have received the full fee as agreed, prior to us taking a client’s case. If, for any reason, a client claims that an address trace is incorrect, they MUST contact us IN WRITING with verifiable evidence of their claim. This must be within THIRTY DAYS of the completion date. Any claims made outside of the thirty-day period will be deemed invalid and will not be covered by the thirty-day refund or retrace guarantee. If a telephone number, mobile or landline is provided as part of an address trace or as a stand-alone service, we do not and cannot guarantee that the number will be live when the client calls it. However, it would have been checked as live at the time of completion. We will not be held accountable if the number is no longer live when called.
Employment traces
Our no-fee service is NOT extended to employment traces. An employment trace is an exact trace, based on the details provided by our clients. As such, our agents search every available employment dataset and make discreet enquiries in person. If an individual is employed, we always obtain the details.
Limitation of liability
Subject to the Client’s obligation to pay the cost of the services to SPS Investigations, SPS Investigations’ liability in contract, tort or otherwise (including negligence), arising directly out of or in connection with these terms or the performance or observance of its obligations under these terms and every applicable part of it, shall be limited in aggregate to the cost of the services.
To the extent it is lawful to exclude the following heads of loss and subject to the Client’s obligation to pay the cost of the services, in no event shall SPS Investigations be liable for any loss of profits, goodwill, loss of business, loss of data, loss of costs pertaining to any action the client may choose to take against a subject of any investigation undertaken by SPS Investigations or any other indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever.
Nothing in this Clause will serve to limit or exclude either party’s liability for death or personal injury arising from its own negligence.
Term and Termination
These terms shall be effective on the date hereof and shall continue until the Completion Date.
Either Party may terminate this Agreement upon notice in writing if the other is in breach of any material obligation contained in this Agreement, which is not remedied (if a remedy is possible) within 7 days of written notice from the other Party so to do; or
A voluntary arrangement is approved, a bankruptcy or an administration order is made or a receiver or administrative receiver is appointed over any of the other Party’s assets; or an undertaking or a resolution or petition to wind up the other Party is passed or presented (other than for the purposes of amalgamation or reconstruction); or any analogous procedure in the country of incorporation of either Party; or if any circumstances arise which entitle the Court or a creditor to appoint a receiver, administrative receiver or administrator; or to present a winding-up petition or make a winding-up order in respect of the other Party.
Any termination of this Agreement (howsoever occasioned) shall not affect any accrued rights or liabilities of either Party nor shall it affect the coming into force or the continuance in force of any provision hereof which is expressly or by implication intended to come into or continue in force on or after such termination.
Law
The Client agrees that the Client is solely responsible for complying with any laws, taxes, and tariffs applicable in any way to the services contemplated herein.
The Client will hold harmless, protect, and defend SPS Investigations, its subcontractors and agents from any claim, suit, penalty, tax, fine or tariff; or any failure to comply with any such laws, taxes and tariffs.
Legal Notice
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in these terms, neither SPS Investigations nor any of its employees or agents warrants that the services will be uninterrupted.
In no event will SPS Investigations be liable to the Client or any third party for any damages including, but not limited to: service interruptions caused by Acts of God, power failures or any other circumstances beyond our reasonable control, any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential, punitive, or special damages arising out of the operation; or inability to provide the Services, failure of any service provider, failure of any telecommunications carrier or failure of any sub-contractor, even if SPS Investigations has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
This agreement constitutes the sole agreement between SPS Investigations and the Client regarding any services provided by SPS Investigations.
Payment
Ordinarily, we will accept payment of fees by credit card, debit card, charge card, cheque, direct debit, bank deposit and electronic transfer, but we reserve the right to refuse any payment method if we have reasonable cause to believe such payment may be dishonoured.
The customer may not withhold payment of any invoice or other amount due to SPS Investigations by reason of any right of set-off or counterclaim that the customer may have or allege to have for any reason whatsoever. All payments, unless otherwise agreed, are due within 7 (seven) days of SPS Investigations advising the client that the case has been completed. We will not discuss the contents of our reports in any detail until the fee due has been paid in full.
You agree to pay all fees and charges (and applicable taxes) incurred which relate to the provision and/or use of the services, in accordance with the rates and Terms and Conditions established from time to time by SPS Investigations. Any and all amounts payable for services shall be payable in advance and SPS Investigations shall not be required to refund to you, in whole or in part, any amounts paid or prepaid for use of any Services, unless otherwise agreed.
Unless you notify SPS Investigations in writing of any discrepancies or unauthorised charges within sixty (60) days after they first appear on your credit card statement, PayPal statement or carrier bill, they will be deemed accepted by you for all purposes, including resolution of enquiries made by your card issuer. You release SPS Investigations from all liabilities and claims of loss resulting from any error or discrepancy that is not reported to SPS Investigations within sixty (60) days of its first appearance on an invoice, credit card statement or carrier bill.
ALL fees are to be paid WITHIN SEVEN days of the invoice date, unless agreed otherwise PRIOR to us taking the case. Furthermore, ALL fees are payable BEFORE we send the report – this is mandatory and is non-negotiable unless agreed by prior arrangement.
Any fees not paid within the agreed time will attract further charges payable from the fee due date as below:
- To trace or confirm a client’s address prior to proceedings: £450.00.
- Cost per email/letter to pursue the debt: £60.00.
- ALL legal costs at the prescribed amount.
- Bailiff and High Court Enforcement Officer visits will be charged at their prescribed rate per visit.
- Any other costs incurred by SPS Investigations in pursuit of the overdue fee will also be charged.
** Should the client be based outside of The UK, additional charges such as Lawyer fees and ALL disbursements will be levied against the client. WE HAVE FULL INTERNATIONAL CAPABILITY.
All costs will be due in Pounds Sterling.
If a payment is stopped or cancelled once we have started the Client’s case or sent the report, we will, without ANY notice, issue Court Proceedings for recovery of the debt and all associated costs as above.
SPS Investigations do not offer refunds unless agreed at the outset of any investigative work undertaken by SPS Investigations. If a trace provided by SPS Investigations proves to be inaccurate within 30 (thirty) days of us notifying you, the Client, of the trace being completed, we will reserve the right to either provide a FULL refund or initiate a retrace until such time that ALL avenues have been exhausted, without a further charge being made by SPS Investigations. Should a client obtain the required address from a third party within 30 days or thereafter, we reserve the right not to issue a refund of the trace fee. If a client obtains alternative or contradicting results from a third party at any stage after we have completed the case, a refund will not be issued in part or in full of any fees paid to SPS Investigations. Furthermore, we will not be responsible, under ANY circumstances, for expenses incurred should a client travel to a traced address, use an alternative company for the same case or a case involving the same subject of enquiry, or instruct Bailiff/High Court Enforcement Officers.
Once a surveillance case is confirmed as booked by SPS Investigations, as we have to pre-book and pay the operatives that are assigned to the client’s case, cancellations cannot be accepted under any circumstances. Should a cancellation be received once the assignments have been confirmed or commenced, all outstanding fees and balances will be liable for payment by the client. Should more than one session be booked, and all sessions not taken within three weeks of the booking, all outstanding balances will become due for payment immediately. ALL sessions must be confirmed within SEVEN DAYS of the initial session being tasked. ALL communication in this regard MUST be in writing so we can maintain file continuity.
All traces are based on a “Deceased or Alive” service. Should the traced person be deceased, we will, where possible, provide any evidence of such. On some occasions, evidence is not made available to us, in which case, you will be referred to the relevant Register Office.
If a client withholds any relevant case detail or information when instructing us, which later becomes available. we reserve the right to cancel any and all agreement/s between us and the client. Furthermore, any payments made will not be refunded.
If at any stage after we have been instructed to conduct a trace, the client instructs another agency for the same trace or cancels the trace instruction, we reserve the right to charge a cancellation fee of £95.00, as we start to accrue costs from the outset. We take all person trace cases on a ‘no success, no fee’ basis (and incur costs as soon as we initiate a trace instruction). Therefore, should a client insist on cancelling a trace once instructed, we reserve the right to charge a fee of £95.00.
All fees are payable in full before we will send the client any details relating to the report, reports or part thereof. This stands unless prior arrangement is between the Client and SPS Investigations.
Some fees may be payable in full, in advance. We will notify you of this upon acceptance of your instructions.
SPS Investigations will provide at least three forms of payment to the client. These will include Visa/Mastercard, bank payments and cheques in Pounds Sterling. Should any of these forms not work for the client, it is the client’s responsibility to ensure that the fee is paid by any of the alternative methods, SPS Investigations does not accept any responsibility for failed payments of any type.
Default In Payment
In default of due payment of its invoice, SPS Investigations may, in its absolute discretion and irrespective of any other rights, maintain an action against the customer for the invoice sum upon which interest shall be payable at the rate of 2% per calendar month, or part thereof, from the date of the invoice until payment is received.
The customer shall indemnify SPS Investigations against any legal costs which it may reasonably incur to recover the unpaid invoice sum.
We reserve the right to instruct debt collection agencies in the event of unpaid fees. ALL costs incurred will be passed to the Client. Once a trace has been confirmed as completed, the full fee is payable. We will not allow cancellations once we have completed a trace.
Cancellation
In the event of cancellation of any Service by the Client prior to the Service’s commencement, the Client shall be responsible for all costs incurred by the company. Payment of these costs becomes due immediately. With the exception of a trace, where a cancellation fee of £95.00 is payable.
If more than one day of surveillance is booked (session), we have to retain an operative. The operative has to be paid so they are available to take your task when called upon to do so. As such, if you wish to cancel at any stage after booking, we cannot refund any of the fees already paid. Furthermore, if an operative is placed on standby for a client and the surveillance is booked or paid for in advance, we will only keep the operative on standby for a period of 7 (SEVEN) days from the date of the first session. ALL days paid for MUST be booked and confirmed within this timescale (SEVEN DAYS). If the days are not confirmed within this timescale (SEVEN DAYS), the client will forfeit all fees paid and the operative will no longer be on standby. All fees are as quoted. If we provide a fixed, set fee, a refund in part or in full cannot be given where part of the case is successful and part is not.
Complaints
Some investigations are not an exact science and, occasionally, we may get things wrong. If we do, please let us know by sending us an email or writing to us at our address, which is shown on our contact page. WE DO NOT TOLERATE ANY TYPE OF ABUSE. If you are abusive in any way, we will refuse to communicate with you.
All complaints MUST be made in writing to our office address or by email to: Centralmailbox@spsinvestigations.co.uk and MUST be accompanied by ALL supporting evidence.
All complaints will be dealt with within 7 (SEVEN) days unless otherwise notified. Any client who posts to social media or other “review” sites concerning a complaint made to SPS Investigations, before we have concluded our enquiries into the complaint, will forfeit their right to a refund, retrace or otherwise. Please ensure that you direct any complaint or query on a case report directly to us as above.
Reports and Your Details
Please note that we will only retain a copy of any reports provided for a period of 31 days from the date of reporting. We will only use your details as supplied to us by you, for the purpose of contacting you or, in the unlikely event that you fail to pay an agreed fee, for issuing legal proceedings against you.
These terms and conditions shall be governed by English Law and any dispute arising out of or in connection with the same shall be determined by the English Courts. By instructing SPS Investigations, you are agreeing to be bound fully by these terms. You should note that, if your case transpires to be illegal, or in breach of any laws, restraining orders, injunctions, police complaints, stalking laws, safeguarding issues or similar, in any way, we will reserve the right to cease all communications with you and will, if requested, provide the Police, upon request from them, FULL disclosure. In the case of any legal issue, we will NOT make ANY refunds, either in part or in full. We reserve the right to contact a subject of any investigation, at any time, to conduct due diligence if deemed relevant by us. If a card refund is issued by SPS Investigations, once issued, we have no control over the time it takes to show on your account. The refund is processed by Payment Sense. If the refund does not show after 21 days, please contact us. All assets’ checks are conducted against consented consumer data and other OSINT sources. We will not access bank accounts, credit cards etc. or access any illegal sources. ALL Asset checks and other investigations are conducted within the scope of The Data Protection Act 2018 – we do not and will not disclose any details that are not available via the sources mentioned herein.