I'm trying to locate someone who owes me some $$ and was wondering if anyone has ever used the internet search sites for locating people with unlisted phone numbers and addresses? There seem to be quite a few out there offering various services for various fees. Thanks for any info you can provide.

-- rose marie wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), January 28, 2002

Answers

You're better off contacting a local licensed private investigator. They will do this for about the same price or cheaper. Because of new laws, those consumer sites can't do much for you.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), January 28, 2002.

You might try reading some books on the subject as well. Have you tried sending a demand letter to their last known address with "address correction requested" written on it? If they did file a Change of Address within the last year, you can get a new address that way (that's how junk mailers know you moved if you didn't tell them). I don't know how much that will cost you, but it is not too expensive.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 28, 2002.

Here is link you can try. I know I don't owe you any money :)

http://www.whitepages.com/

Pat

-- Pat (hiddentreasuresfarm@hotmail.com), January 28, 2002.

Do you know anyone who works in a national retail chain who owes you a favor. If the person you are seeking made a purchase other than cash anywhere in the U.S., chances are the information you are seeking is in their database, if the last name is somewhat unique. I hope your person wasn't named J. Smith.

I purchased a monitor at Circuit City and the clerk and the clerk asked about the origin of my last name. When he did his thing with the workstation terminal, he asked if I had a brother named Wayne. The answer was yes. He has an unlisted number, but it was in their system, as was his address since they made a delivery there.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 29, 2002.

thank you to Pat-was trying to find an address for a business that we need to take to small claims court and only had a PO box for-found it Thanks again

-- Dale (DMDM444@aol.com), January 29, 2002.

It's alot harder now to find information since they changed the law regarding credit header info. The 'address correction requested' method that GT mentioned is a good thing to try first. It only costs you a stamp. Here's a few websites that might help, also you could ask on alt.private.investigator on Usenet(ignore the crazy people there, there's some good private investigators on that newsgroup)

http://www.crimetime.com/online.html

http://www.geocities.com/crimeanalyst_2000/

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), January 29, 2002.

P.O. Box info is easy to find. Go to the Post Office with proof that business is being conducted from the box (ad in the paper, your receipts, official stationery, etc.) and they have to give you the street address. Having the paper proof is especially important when it is just "John Doe" doing business out of the box, as opposed to "ABC manufacturing" which is an obvious business name.

The outfit is supposed to check on their box application that they are doing business out of the box, but a lot of shady businesses don't (which is also why a lot of them go to Mail Boxes Etc.- type places once they are called on it).

By the way, if you have a street address, you can always call the Post Office to find out what kind of address it is (home, office, apartment, Mail Boxes Etc. dropbox, etc.). Good way to check on those "fancy- upmarket" addresses you often see in ads. The post office was trying to stop the use of "suite" for MBE drop box addresses, because they are very deceptive to the consumer (you think they have an office presence out in Beverly Hills or San Francisco, and in reality just the mail drop is there, their physical address is in some town you've never heard of). Don't know if they've succeeded. If you're not sure, then call. Wouldn't be the first time some fancy address turns out to be vacant land.

The above was not meant to be a diatribe against home businesses or other businesses that choose to use PO Boxes or private alternative delivery services (some things can't be shipped through the post office for example) because of zoning concerns (too many delivery trucks not being neighborly) or security concerns (outdoor mailboxes are often broken into). Many states now have laws that businesses must print both addresses (mailing and physical) on all of their stationery. Most businesses that use these services are honest, there are unfortunately a few who give everyone else a bad name.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 29, 2002.

There is a small charge for Address Correction Requested if you actually get a new address (copy of it, unless the item is undeliverable, in which case you get the piece back) out of it. If you write, "Do not forward--address correction requested", you will get the entire piece of mail back (again, for a charge, but this way you can send them a cleanly addressed piece of mail--keep your first piece for court if necessary to show that you did try to contact them in a timely manner).

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 29, 2002.