Our Reviews and Ratings of DD214 Acquisition Companies...

Aardvark makes several claims on its About Us page, http://www.aardvarkresearchgroup.com/about-us/, which are false:

1. "It [Aardvark] was founded in January 2007." FALSE. Aardvark has no official business filing to support this claim. Aardvark was formed 8/2/2010: Bizapedia, its domain registered 2/17/2009: Network Tools, and its first website capture 5/5/2009: Internet Wayback Machine . Aardvark's misrepresentations are designed to place it in a preferred business status, longevity, vis-à-vis its competitors.

2. "Since 2007 we have provided expedited DD214’s to over 50,000 customers." FALSE. Obviously, since they were not open in 2007, their claim of 50,000 is also dubious.

3. "We are the ONLY online Military Research Company based in St. Louis." FALSE. Aardvark merely uses a St. Louis PO Box, 11001 Dunklin Rd, #38814, for its St. Louis address. Also, there are scores of independent researchers who are both online and work at St. Louis. See: NARA Researchers for Hire.

And on their homepage:

1. "The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), in St. Louis, is the primary repository for the military personnel files of veterans of ALL branches of the military who served between 1900 and the present." FALSE/Misleading. For records after 1995, the military branches and as well as the State Adjutant Generals Offices, themselves, are the primary repositories for their respective branch military service records.

2. "We are the ONLY Online Military Research Company based in St. Louis, Missouri. Our proximity to the NPRC, and our familiarity with the process and chain-of-command, gives us unrivaled access to the records, and the ability to deliver the records you need as quickly as possible." FALSE There are dozens of online military researchers who are St. Louis based, and, again, after 1995 - records are NOT held in St. Louis. The word "unrivaled" is certainly misleading.

3. "we can get them for you faster, and less expensively than anyone." FALSE. Maybe as fast but NOT faster for records that are actually located in St. Louis, not less expensively than anyone else.

Aardvark Research Group (2009) appears to be mimicking Touchstone Research Group LLC (see previous page) in all respects, even in its selection of a company name which includes "Research Group": Touchstone was indeed founded in 2007 with over 50,000 fufilled and verifiable military record requests. Imitation is indeed the highest form of flattery.

Conclusion: We wouldn't use a service who blatantly misrepresents in an attempt to acquire customers.

This web address merely forwards you to another web address, valoans.com. While the company provides you with an SF180 AFTER THEY COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION, their intent is to provide you with their loan services and collect prospect information. They state, "VALoans.com is a private company and is not part of The National Personnel Records Center. When you submit this request form, we will send a blank form SF-180 to you by mail." Geesh, you can get that right now for free - and without filing out a form - on our previous page.

(This company apparently is no longer in business as of 2008. We have since (2015) acquired the domain name and it now appropriately points to this information website. We kept the following description to provide some guidance and tips.)
No street address, no phone number, and a WHOIS query that produces an anonymous owner for the domain. We wouldn't deal with anyone we couldn't, if needed, call or visit. Apparently, they provide you with an SF180 and fax it to the NPRC on your behalf. You can do that easily yourself and for free (see our previous page). Furthermore, their "red flag" is a red flag. They state: "No PayPal Fees. Other services use a third-party credit card processing service. They do not have their own merchant account. This is a red flag." PayPal is the most widely respected payment processing company on the Net, and they are owned by Ebay. PayPal actually provides an additional level of protection: you don't give your credit card to each merchant, particularly "unknown" merchants. And, "There are several websites that prey off veterans looking for their DD214. We are helping to prevent that from happening." "Scare tactics" always turn us off. Be a well-informed consumer!

This company uses bait and switch tactics. They promote their $79 service, but if you want your DD214 delivered by email, they up the process a whopping forty dollars ($40) to $119!! Aardvark includes email delivery in their $79 fee. However, both Aardvark and DD214 Direct are seriously flawed as far as the security of your information with their "expedited email delivery" method. Just ask Hillary Clinton about how insecure email can be when sent over the Net unencrypted. Your DD214 contains your most sensitive information, just ripe for identity theft. Only Touchstone (Reviewed on Previous Page) provides you with your DD214 via a secure encrypted download link.

Now, let's look at DD214 Direct's "expedited" service, specifically: Notice the asterisk on their delivery times on their main page, 3-10 business days days "for most requests." However, when you visit their FAQ page at https://dd214direct.com/faqs/, in almost all cases, for almost all branches, they quote a 2-4 week delivery timeframe! This is the timeframe to which you must agree as contained within their Terms of Service, bottom of page at: https://dd214direct.com/order-your-dd214/. These are only the fairly typical delivery times provided by the service branches themselves for the Government's "free" service. You might as well save your $70-$119!!, and order from the Government your DD214, ah hum, direct..ly. (Information captured May 4, 2019.)

A private company (Click HERE), puts a new electronic spin on the processing of your SF 180. Not all records are at NPRC, and if you use the Government's standard submission procedure, above, you may simply receive a letter from the NPRC indicating that they've forwarded your request to some other records facility. This will add at least days to the process, if not weeks or longer. For just $10, ezDD214.com guarantees to submit your SF 180 to the correct facility the first time. And, better yet, with their patent pending eSign service, if you don't have a printer or fax, no printer or fax is required. There's nothing to printout, mail or fax to anyone anywhere. Their entire submission process is conducted purely electronically, entirely and completely Net based.

This company sells "Authentic Military Replacement Certificates," and provides only a link to the NPRC website (the same link that we provide HERE).

(This company apparently is no longer in business.)
They state "For only $99.50, Right-To-Know will perform a one-on-one telephone consultation with you to focus our background search and find your files. In some circumstances an additional agency search determined by you may be necessary with the original request at a charge of $49.50. Usually a single agency background search is all that will be needed."

NOTE: Despite the fact that this company's BBB Membership had been revoked in October, 2009, for failures to comply to BBB Membership standards, as of today (March 29, 2010) they continue to misrepresent their membership status. They are now rated an "F" for scores of complaints. See: http://www.bbb.org/dallas/business-reviews/searchers-of-records/right-to-know-in-dallas-tx-90003982#revoked.

They will assist you in filling out the SF180 and determine where your DD214 may be located, but they don't actually secure your DD214 for you. If you can read the SF180, it has all the necessary directions you'll need to do this for free. For the same price, you could use Touchstone or Lyon to get you your DD214 in person (see HERE).

(This company apparently is no longer in business.)
charges a $25 "service fee." Their business model is similar to dd214.org, above. They clearly state: "We are unable to control process time as it is done by others. We send your application by Federal Express to the archives for processing. A complete application with all information will help expedite the process. Times vary between several weeks to several months to receive your document. There is no way for us to determine a specific process time." In other words, you complete the SF180, fax it to them and they FedEx it to the NPRC for processing. Again, you can do that yourself for free (well, you'd have to pay FedEx their standard fee) as we describe on the previous page.