Private detective

Blave

Hi all
Mods - please move this to wherever you want to put it - I did a look around earlier and couldn't figure out where the best place for this thread was - anyways....

My mum is turning 60 in a month and she's having a birthday party and some of the things she regrets are the friends she's lost along the way - there was one woman who she was very close with but try as I might I can't find her (not on facebook) so I thought as part of her birthday present I could buy an appointment with a private investigator.

So my question is - how much do these generally cost (do they charge by hour or by work done?) and what should I look out for (qualifications, etc?)

LegacyUser

Not to dismiss your idea OP, its lovely that you want to reunite your mum with her old friends but Private Detective? It seems a bit stalkerish, is there any other way to track down old friends? Some people might feel uncomfortable knowing a dective was hired to track them down so to speak.

paperclip2

Salvation Army can often locate people. An old friend of my parents wanted to find an ex-fiance of hers. They hadn't met in over fifty years. Salvation Army found him and they ended up getting married a couple of years after they (re)met.

Blave

I may go down the salvation army route - my current fees that I've dug up from PI's are 1000 euro (ouch) and 140 euro consultation with that fee being then put into the trace which would be about 4-500 euro.

LegacyUser

Could you not subtly ask your mum about her get a few clues what she's into, if she plays tennis say you could look in tennis clubs, try phonebooks??? I thought you were going to say you were getting a detective to find this girl to have her there at your mums 60th as a surprise. Lovely idea and you know your mum better than anyone but do you think she might feel a little embarrassed going to such extremes to find someone, her friend might fine it a bit odd. However if you track the friend down and say you're rounding up some old friends for your mums party it sounds perfectly reasonable. That's just my humble, best of luck with it

ElleEm

I don't think the Salvation Army provide that service in Ireland. It would only work if your mam's friend was in the UK.

Ken.

Put an ad in the Ireland's own magazine. Lots of older folks read it.

Blave

Hmm - my mum and her friend were last both working in London together when they lost touch! Hmmm

No worries about being embarassed - my mum's a peculiar sort and is fine with the weird and wonderful!

I'll see if the UK Salvation army can do anything also - thanks for all your help guys.

ManOfMystery

Check friendsreunited too. I know Facebook has taken over as the main social networking site, but I find that a lot of older people used friendsreunited initially.