Services · 17 November 2019

What is the cost of detective services? We check the most popular rates

Ostania aktualizacja 7 March 2023

Investigation services

What is the cost of detective services? We check the most popular rates. Much is still widely known about the detective’s profession. And it is not because this profession is shrouded in a special secret – it is simply quite niche, and its details are not interested in too many people besides those interested. Thinking about using a detective but you think he may not be affordable?

The contract is the basis for settlement

The basis for the final settlement is the contract that the detective office from Wrocław writes to the customer at the very beginning. A decent contract should contain:

  • the subject of the contract, for example observation (including who), gathering evidence (for what) and so on;
  • description of the principles of cooperation between the client and the detective’s office (including frequency and manner of contact, detective’s responsibility);
  • the price of the service (a predetermined whole or, for example, an hourly rate);
  • mutual confidentiality rules;
  • the time the detective bureau has to complete the order;
  • conditions under which the customer may withdraw from the contract without incurring additional costs.

The contract is a legally required condition for commencing detective activities. Without writing it down, the detective agency can at most take an estimate of the cost of the case and how much time it can take.

Observation of people and places

Usually carried out in secret, with the use of professional and technologically advanced equipment, allowing for the preparation of photographic or video documentation. At the end of the day (or after completing the full assignment), the client receives a detailed written report describing the course of observation, as well as supporting evidence in the form of films or photos.

An hour of observation usually costs around PLN 150, sometimes even less. Of course, the specific time of observation start and end will be included in the reporting report, thanks to which the client will have the basis for detailed settlement.

Divorce cases

Often, people watching is one of the divorce assistance activities, but assistance with the entire divorce case is a completely different matter. The valuation of divorce assistance is usually an individual matter, which depends on more factors, mainly in terms of the guilty verdict (gathering evidence of treason, determining that the other party is irresponsibly taking care of the child and so on).

Sometimes, for a divorce case, it is also necessary to determine the child’s father. Discreet collection of genetic material and taking it to the laboratory for DNA testing costs about PLN 6,000.

Location of people

These include determining both the stay and the place of work of a person. Usually, for each service, the detective sets the delivery time and an adequate price for it; for example, determining the place of work of a designated person with a weekly deadline costs a minimum PLN 1200, as does determining the place of residence. It costs twice to find a person’s whereabouts, the search period is also extended – it lasts up to a month.

People search

Although these are most often matters for the police, many families are also deciding to use detective services. The cost of finding a missing person is PLN 7,000, much less than for people who are in hiding; here the price ranges from 20,000 to even 25,000 PLN.

People are also looking for kidnappings; very often the family decides not to use the police help because of fear for the life of the kidnapped person. In this case, the cost of detective assistance is up to PLN 50,000, and the scope of work includes locating the place of detention, negotiating with the kidnappers, as well as freeing the person.

Parental kidnappings are another type of kidnapping. Locating and freeing a child abducted by mother or father costs about PLN 15,000.

Computer forensics

This category is primarily used to recover data from cell phones, computers or other storage media. You can recover, among others, message content, call history, deleted videos and photos. The price starts from 1000 PLN for one device.

Detective services also include searching the computer for any spyware installed – there is also an amount of PLN 1,000 per computer.

Offers for companies

Although the use of detective services is associated mainly with individual principals, quite often detectives also help companies. These are primarily economic matters, such as debt collection, verification of potential business partners or candidates for employees (whether a given person is certainly who they claim to be), detection of wiretapping and monitoring, prevention of unfair competition.

Debt collection cases are priced at around PLN 3,000, verification is about PLN 2,000, while wiretapping detection is a more individual issue; room valuation is based on the area – a search of a square meter for detection of monitoring or wiretapping costs about PLN 30. In turn, the detection of similar equipment in one car is a price within 1000 PLN.

Individual pricing

It is also worth remembering that, in fact, each case is different. For this reason, detective services are often priced individually, and the prices listed above are purely indicative.

Many detective bureaus do not give prices at all, even approximate – mainly in cases such as confirmation of mobbing in the workplace, discrimination, harassment and so on, especially since in most cases it is also about obtaining materials that can later be presented in court. The lack of top-down amounts is due to the fact that without detailed data on the case, it is difficult to determine the methods to be followed.

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