[NEohioPAL] Resources for researching agencies and other businesses

[Michael A. Miller]

Recently, I've seen a handful of requests posted for feedback on certain agencies that seem a little too enthusiastic about recruiting talent.

Nothing beats sharing personal experiences, but the baseline resources I use when researching any business are:

The Better Business Bureau (I understand it's possible to request reports in addition to searching the site)
The Attorney General's office of the state(s) where the business is based or where the business operates
RipOffReport.com
I also check out civil and criminal court dockets at http://cuyahogacounty.us or even by municipality if available (other counties have open records online, too.  Lorain County, for example, allows limited free usage of its website before asking for an annual fee---I thinks it was $15 last year).

Ohio.gov has a "Business" section where you can check UCC filings.  This often discloses the full name of the corporation or parent company and the name of the owner or statutory agent, which, of course, allows for another layer of research.

Even if you find a website for a company or a parent company and it looks vague with little or no contact information, that's a pretty telling thing.

If nothing else, I Google the name of the company or person with quotation marks, then add the word "scam" in the search window.  Google has a new search engine called "Knol" and there's another new one called "Cuil.com " that might yield fresher information.  There's also a new search engine that was profiled in The Plain Dealer a few weeks back that's called something like CriminalSearch.com (I can't remember the proper name but it shouldn't hard to track down) if you're apprehensive about doing business with a certain agent or other  individual.

  
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