Sterling, A First Advantage CompanyReviews of sterlingcheck.com

Sterling only started contacting me for information after two weeks. I have international employment experience in Hong Kong, and they didn’t know that Hong Kong and Mainland China are two separate jurisdictions governed by different authorities. After a long delay, they incorrectly asked me for Government ID from Mainland China. They were also unable to verify a well-known company in the U.S. They tried to call my former manager but couldn’t reach her because she had immigrated. And just because of that, they flagged my prior experience as unverifiable.

The biggest pile of rubbish that ever existed Had previously submitted my documents for DBS check before a buy out of Deliveroo, all my existing documents miraculously disappeared and am being forced to use a system that cannot even recognise a UK postcode Rubbish rubbish rubbish

Worst ever experience. I had already supplied a lot of the information required to my prospective employer. Then had to upload a lot of this information into the Sterling program. The process took 3 hours initially. I am certain they had all the information they required. Then more emails and requests followed to the point of harassment. I am still receving emails demanding information I know I have supplied. Honestly this process is supposed to streamline the vetting process but honestly it has made it harder.

Over a month to get references sorted. They had limited understanding of contractors and writing to accountants etc for references. They have written to banks I’ve worked for, umbrella companies, agents who got me the contracts, (well they said they have but when I call them they say they had no emails at all from this company) HMRC information PAYE given and they are saying I’m not cooperating and now want bank statements. I’ve ruled out joining a pension company on permanent basis as it’s been 4 weeks and they are still nowhere near getting references done.

The most dreadful and infuriating platform ever! Absolutely nerve wracking! The user journey is horrible, the form is spectacularly bad (no error message, it doesn't save, it blocks you, you don't know why...). So then, trying to call many times yet the line doesn't even work!!!

Such a crappy experience. I've never felt so upset. I have no clue as to why these people are in business with such a crappy software they use for their app. Makes it impossible to enter dates and the names of employers. The only way I managed to submit a damn thing is by lying just to get past their stupid flags. On top of all that, when you call their customer service number; they say please reach back at normal business hours. It's 10:40 Am! What the hell is wrong with you people? Trust that Trust Pilot. I swear by Heaven's footstool and by God himself that my experience has been an absolutely atrocious one.

Checking on this company after my own horrible experiences, I wasn’t surprised to find that it is popular specifically because it costs less for client companies than most of their competition. However, bottom-dollar usually comes with bottom-of-the barrel quality, and companies need to recognize that before signing on with Sterling. — In my recent experience with two of their service sites for background checks and information verification, I found that accurate data entry is nowhere near the Sterling strengths, as they’ll literally list a college course completion as being 5 years before you even started attendance. Or past employers will be listed with dates up to TWENTY YEARS off! Trying to enter or correct info is a nightmare, with site connectivity/ operation simply dropping if you hit the “Next” tab at the bottom of page. And, as if their site being slower than dial-up internet weren’t bad enough, you may have to enter and re-enter the SAME data 6 or 7 times before it finally saves. . Oh, and customer service? There is none, as everything is automated, including their listed phone support service. You’re looking at a minimum of two days response, usually just in the form of a new link sent for your info entry process. (Yes, their site drops you — only on 2-3 pages into their 22-page required process — and then you can’t automatically get back into it.) So, the “twenty minutes” their site says it will take at the start is really more like 8 hours of the most frustrating and slow website design you’ll ever encounter. Literally, it takes longer to finish their required online data entry than it takes for them to collect your background results… which will be wrong because you couldn’t fully enter or edit your info on time. . And, it doesn't get any better after that, as the rest of the Sterling processes on other sites/ links will also be bad. Like where you’re asked to enter citizenship, you won’t find the United States or the United Kingdom among their options. Just entering a telephone number, finding your country code is difficult, and then you have to enter the area and the actual telephone number all in separate (slow) data boxes. And, OMG, just avoid entering dates if you can, because the site won’t let you just TYPE a date, instead giving a calendar for the current month… and making you go backwards month-by-month to provide a date. . Think about that. You going to enter your 30-year old wife’s date-of-birth in such a system? . Absolutely, the worst system I’ve ever seen… and I been around since before the internet. .

My background check has been going on for almost a month. I have received around twenty TWENTY requests for documents, also for documents I already sent. My passport photo (always the same) was ok then it was not then it was ok again. My bar association badge was not “a valid document to prove I was a lawyer”. Then there was a gap in my employment but in my declaration there was no gap at all. Then they asked me for the payslips of my last employer ALL FOURBYEARS WORTH OF payslips. To this request I refused to give any additional proof as two days before I even sent an official statement of the social security stating that I was still working for my current employer and providing a start date of said employment. Ridiculous, long, unprofessional. They deal with high profile candidates who do have not the time to deal with their useless requests