I engaged with Seco Investigations and Security at the end of April, 2014. The owner, Jim Vuchsas, met with me personally and seemed like a caring person. Engaging with a lot of interesting stories about his days a police detective. This is where anything good I can ends because at the end of the meeting he collected a large retainer without explaining that this inital meeting would be a billable event. In other words, the coffee I bought him at Starbucks cost me several hundred dollars.
I met with one of his people a short time later. This gentleman was also quite nice and courteous. However, he was just not at all equipped to do the work that I needed. Again, there was no mention that this "visit" would be a billable event. Mr. Glavan sat on my couch, chatted me up, walked around my home a couple of times and relieved my wallet of several hundred more dollars again with no disclosure as to what amount would be billed and what "service" if any was performed because what I needed he was not able to do. A few days later, I reached out to Mr. Vuchsas who let me know that he had been unable to locate a specialist in computer security and hacking prevention but he would keep looking.
On May 28, 2014 a "Work Product Report" was generated outlining that some basic work had been done and in aaccordance with one small part of my request. Said report was delivered to an email account that I specifically instructed NOT be used with a hard copy mailed to another address I asked not be used. Nice work Seco Team! Whereas, they did not do much, at least they delivered the fruits of their "labor" to the wrong mediums alerting those I was investigating to the investigation. Still no mention of cost not line-by-line and not a running total..... simply nothing about the money was mentioned.
Fast forward 60 days, it's now around mid to late July and I call Mr. Vuchsas to let him know I am back in town after almost a two month unforeseen diversion to Northern California. Mr. Vuchsas was kind and professional and seemed to generally care about my well-being. Since I had not been heard from during that time, naturally I expected he would want to know what had been going on. Not wanting to hust his feelings, I made it seem that I was unable to make contact with him or his team during that time. In truth, his services had proven so utterly useless that I simply gave up on him and his services. Remembering that I had made a large retainer payment, I was really calling to get it back minus what I though would be a few hundred dollars. I asked about the accounting summary I had never seen, he said he would get it right over to me. Crickets ensued for the next 2 or 3 weeks. No accounting, no nada. So I called the offices to learn that Mr. Vuchsas had fallen ill. I asked for a call back from whomever handles the business while he is away. No call back that week. I called again. No call back that week. On my third attempt I was less than nice because I had a bad feeling my money was as gone as Tyranasaurus Rex. The office person advisded that Mr. Vuchsas had a check coming my way but had no idea what the amount was....... hmmm, get this, the check number was readily available but not the amount. Uh oh. Yup, out of $3,500 paid in, I got $700 back. I finally got the accounting with my check. Two visits to my home, one being the initial consult and the other being more PR than anything. There was other paperwork done (background checks on three people) but these I could have easily done myself for 1/3 the SECO cost. I received about $400 worth of service when all is said and done. The good news is at least he has not returned a single call since I got my paltry refund check. I am suing him and SECO team for a full refund but I would have gladly settled for a compromise had the courtesy been extended.
SECo Investigative and Security Sevices Reviews
I engaged with Seco Investigations and Security at the end of April, 2014. The owner, Jim Vuchsas, met with me personally and seemed like a caring person. Engaging with a lot of interesting stories about his days a police detective. This is where anything good I can ends because at the end of the meeting he collected a large retainer without explaining that this inital meeting would be a billable event. In other words, the coffee I bought him at Starbucks cost me several hundred dollars.
I met with one of his people a short time later. This gentleman was also quite nice and courteous. However, he was just not at all equipped to do the work that I needed. Again, there was no mention that this "visit" would be a billable event. Mr. Glavan sat on my couch, chatted me up, walked around my home a couple of times and relieved my wallet of several hundred more dollars again with no disclosure as to what amount would be billed and what "service" if any was performed because what I needed he was not able to do. A few days later, I reached out to Mr. Vuchsas who let me know that he had been unable to locate a specialist in computer security and hacking prevention but he would keep looking.
On May 28, 2014 a "Work Product Report" was generated outlining that some basic work had been done and in aaccordance with one small part of my request. Said report was delivered to an email account that I specifically instructed NOT be used with a hard copy mailed to another address I asked not be used. Nice work Seco Team! Whereas, they did not do much, at least they delivered the fruits of their "labor" to the wrong mediums alerting those I was investigating to the investigation. Still no mention of cost not line-by-line and not a running total..... simply nothing about the money was mentioned.
Fast forward 60 days, it's now around mid to late July and I call Mr. Vuchsas to let him know I am back in town after almost a two month unforeseen diversion to Northern California. Mr. Vuchsas was kind and professional and seemed to generally care about my well-being. Since I had not been heard from during that time, naturally I expected he would want to know what had been going on. Not wanting to hust his feelings, I made it seem that I was unable to make contact with him or his team during that time. In truth, his services had proven so utterly useless that I simply gave up on him and his services. Remembering that I had made a large retainer payment, I was really calling to get it back minus what I though would be a few hundred dollars. I asked about the accounting summary I had never seen, he said he would get it right over to me. Crickets ensued for the next 2 or 3 weeks. No accounting, no nada. So I called the offices to learn that Mr. Vuchsas had fallen ill. I asked for a call back from whomever handles the business while he is away. No call back that week. I called again. No call back that week. On my third attempt I was less than nice because I had a bad feeling my money was as gone as Tyranasaurus Rex. The office person advisded that Mr. Vuchsas had a check coming my way but had no idea what the amount was....... hmmm, get this, the check number was readily available but not the amount. Uh oh. Yup, out of $3,500 paid in, I got $700 back. I finally got the accounting with my check. Two visits to my home, one being the initial consult and the other being more PR than anything. There was other paperwork done (background checks on three people) but these I could have easily done myself for 1/3 the SECO cost. I received about $400 worth of service when all is said and done. The good news is at least he has not returned a single call since I got my paltry refund check. I am suing him and SECO team for a full refund but I would have gladly settled for a compromise had the courtesy been extended.