First Advantage Reviews 853

This is the 3rd time I have had to use 1st Advantage (Sterling/IC.me). For the applicant this is the most frustrating background check company! Responsible employees complete this type of onboarding after hours to not abuse current employer. Yet, 1st Advantage has no customer support on weekends or evening! The chat bot does not work after hours. There is no way to even email a person to get assistance! The applicant should not have to reenter all their data!

I am try but not working and not understand

Worst experience ever. Honestly, I don't even know how this company is still running. Inefficient.

Company has automated background verification steps in a very poorly manner. They cycle same asks for 5 times to show to the client that they are working hard. The system they have built is more innocent than a kindergarten student. The distinction between a certificate, diploma, license and degree is not recognized by their system or staff. How can they improve- remove junky software, employ educated staff, you are playing with people's career. Shame on you.

Foolish questions, requests that make no sense, slow turn around.

i m trying to contact customer care but i did not get any solution of my issues .Still my waiting but i dint understand what going on with my file .i do not know why your process is to much tough

Thank uapreciate u

What's wrong is you can not speak to a human. I have been talking to this AI thing for over an hour. My problem was not solved. The time between responses is too long.
It took too much of my time.

I received a voicemail asking me to verify the employment of a former employee. The message was barely understandable as the person spoke too quickly. It took me about 10 times replaying to write down the details. When I called to complete the validation, the automated system kept disconnecting. I feel horrible for any applicant who was denied due to the shortcomings of this company. There are much better companies in the market that do not make former employers work so hard to complete validation. If you are a company that uses First Advantage, it is definitely worth your time to understand how poorly they operate on the other side.

Poor communication service waiting for ages to get on board but there communication system is shit they didn’t tells the problem why you’re stuck in application

I'm not sure if I completed the background check

they never let me know whether the check has completed or not. found out from uber that it did not accept despite everything was rightfully given. it spoiled my work.

It's 2026 the age of everything digital and when things go wrong human intervention is required, can you get help NO!

I have mixed feelings about the support I have received the first person I spoke to over the phone was brilliant, the next four were unhelpful.

I have worked as a Uber eats courier for five years 10 months, I was born in the UK in 1978, I have a British passport and a full UK driving license, I have a UK Bank account.

So you would think my background check would go through quickly and without issue. THINK AGAIN!

I'm unsure how it happened but apparently my passport photo was blurry, normally if the system cannot get a good image it will prompt you to re do the image before allowing you to proceed to the next step.

Not in my case, everything went through and the background check was completed with a mark " consider".

This happened on 29th January 2026 since then I have been back and forth trying to sort this out, first advantage agents work from home ( Lord knows where) phone lines are very bad, too much background noise.

I find it hard to believe that the support agents can't escalate this issue to someone higher up than them. Even they are aware UBER does not have a phone number to call!

My account is now on hold and I'm losing a lot of money.

Please do better!!!

They are so unprofessional, they keep asking you your past employer and everyone you know the same dam questions over and over again 🙄they must be super cheap that's why companies keep using them but is super annoying 😡

This is the worst service ever. Had a background check backed up for a whole month. They don't actually try to help you with anything they just give a random answer just to get you off the phone, I'm sick of it.

I work in recruitment and have used them for a few candidates for our clients, they always push back the completion times customer services is none existent truly truly terrible would next use them again

My background check with this company has been pending since November 13, 2025, and it’s still not complete today, February 3, 2026. I’ve even submitted the necessary documentation that I had to obtain myself. It’s incredibly frustrating that it’s taking so long to verify my former employment. I’m very disappointed, and my orientation for a hospital public safety officer position has been pushed back for almost three months now.

I submitted a pre-employment background check with First Advantage on December 8, 2025 and as of today February 3rd., still no report. My employment start date was January 12, 2026, but it was delayed due to their processing.

Despite multiple follow-ups through their chat system:

I was promised escalation to a supervisor or case manager, but no confirmation was provided.

First Advantage claimed documentation was posted to my portal, but nothing was visible.

I was disconnected from chat twice while requesting confirmation.

They repeatedly gave vague timelines like “24–72 business hours” and “priority status,” without verifiable information.

Even after 8 weeks, the background search remained pending.

Eventually, they admitted the case was routed to an internal case manager, but no reference number or verifiable documentation was provided. This lack of transparency and repeated delays put my employment at risk.

I am sharing this experience to highlight the significant delays, poor communication, and lack of accountability in First Advantage’s background check process.

Horrible experience from a candidate prespective. THey expect everything to be cookie cutter. I have a complex problem with my background check, which isn't uncommon in the US. THere is no phone number to contact them. They only offer a chat. So I was sent over seas via chat and they had trouble understanding. This is the worst custoer service I have ever experienced

Poor at best! The automated status check does not work. no phone status option is possible to speak with someone. checked status via chat and they told me app was not submitted when it was submitted one week to the day, MONDAY. furthermore explained that I was sent followup wed after I submitted on MONDAY. THAT SHOULD HAVE TOLD THEM IT WAS SUBMITTED OTHERWISE HOW ARE THEY ASKING ME QUETIONS. I SUSPECT THE AGENT DOING THE WORK CHANGED THE STATUS BECAUSE THEY WERE TAKING SO LONG. I would bet ,y bottom dollar on it, meanwhile I cannot start my job. POOR SERVICE!