Matrix Security Watchdog Reviews 

The worst. Complete this bs or lose your job. Nice one👍

Exceptional service from Danielle Evans and the team. Their security process is seamless, reliable, and gives us complete peace of mind. Professionalism at its finest

Incredibly frustrating experience. We are now in the 3rd month of checks and they are still drip feeding ridiculous and invasive requests, that haven’t even been requested by my employer.

I don’t have any type of criminal history or a complicated work history so I cannot fathom why it is taking so long.

Information is provided and they take weeks to review it even though they confirmed to me their SLA is 2 days.

My only positive is that you can call them, unlike other companies. Although this never led to anything moving quicker and couldn’t explain why they were even asking for certain information.

Worst screening company. They don’t reply to emails. Obsessed with getting access to your bank account through a third party company I’ve never heard of. Unsure how this meets any part of data minimisation principles under GDPR. If I am unable to start work next Monday due to their incompetence and ridiculous demands, I will be progressing a complaint to the ICO.

This company adds very little to the recruitment process. I really did not enjoy dealing with them, but they are gatekeepers - so you have no choice.

I already hold a government clearance - so this whole process was a little unnecessary.

This was surposed to be a basic background check, but it turned into an inquistion. It was overly intrusive - I had to provide 5 years of tax records and a payslip - why is this necessary? It was put on me to do all the work for them - I had half a mind to send them an invoice for my time.

Awful - just awful.

I really like the dashboard and detail of information being displayed for each check.

However, it seems that anything and everything I sent via email in response to a request is being ignored completely. I have called them and the emails have been received but my case worker has ignored all of them and requested information again after almost a week.

As this background check has to be completed before my employment can start, it has become very stressful not seeing any updates at all.

Been with my employer for years, need to renew my security clearance and told that I must now register with these guys.

Unprofessional from the start. Was sent an unsolicited email that was so full of errors, so badly written that I almost reported it as a phishing attack. I certainly wasn't going to click on the button until I verified the content.

Embarrassingly the poorly written email was genuine.

So I clicked the link to create an account, entered my email, created a password, entered the MFA code sent to my phone and then the application just locked up.

The only option was to exit but then I realised that the only link I had been provided with is the 'create a new account' link which throws an error saying the account already exists.

So onto to 'helpdesk' expecting it would be really easy to provide a login email - apparently it's not easy and it has become an IT task with no indication how long it will take.

Sure I will get there in the end but the process so far has felt really amateur.

The saga continues ....

Turns out my initial problems were done to a significant outage of the Matrix systems and I was able to log in the next day after it had been resolved. Why the helpdesk were not able to advise me of this rather than giving me the run-around I don't know. I don't think the helpdesk staff were deliberately being awkward, I simply think they hadn't been told - gives you some idea of how disorganised Matrix is.

Anyway onto the next step, all went well for the first few sections but then I got to the 'liveness check'. Here you need a device with a camera, ideally a mobile phone as the app expects it to be portable. And this is where I encountered my next (still unresolved) problem. The application demands access to your camera, but in my case it reported that the 'liveness check could not be completed' and simply instructed me to check my device's operating system and fix the problem. There was no guidance of what to try, it simply expects me to have expert knowledge of the device's OS and resolve the problem myself. I did call the helpdesk, and they advised that there is an alternative option if you don't have a working camera - this is simply not true, if you don't have a working camera then the process cannot be completed. I have raised a helpdesk call (no ticket number, because they do not have an incident management system) and am still awaiting a resolution.

I skipped that section and moved onto the next. Here they want to check with your bank, HMRC, and your payroll that you are who you say. Nothing new here, plenty of companies do this, but it is the way that Matrix (or should I say Konfir) do this which is disturbing.

Firstly, you are suddenly handed over to another company, Konfir, who expect you to provide really sensitive information. Bank and HMRC checks are nothing new but, Konfir have chosen the cheap and easy (for them) route. Rather than make API service calls to the bank and HMRC, like other screening organisations do, they ask for your login credentials so that they can log into your bank or HMRC as if they were you, will full access to all your information and assets (money) once they have done so. I guess they do it this way because it is free, and easy, doing it the proper way might involve more complex API programming and/or licence/access fees from the organisations being screened. Now, I'm not saying that they are going to access your savings, but the issue I have is that with the information you have to provide, they could. In fact I suspect if I asked my bank whether it is okay to hand out my login credentials they would say "hell no".

And here comes the draconian part. What if you don't have online banking - there is an option to declare this but you won't believe the response from the app - please contact your bank to set up online banking, you must have online banking to proceed.

Same with the HMRC, it mandates that you must have a portal login to proceed, if you don't have one, which is true for most people, then you must create one.

The idea that you are forced to create online banking and HMRC accounts just for the Konfir app to work is absolutely crazy.

Again, the Matrix helpdesk told me that you don't have to do this, just select the option in the app to advise this - that is simply not true, the Konfir app offers no option but to have a online bank and HMRC accounts.

Another issue, they boast about their GDPR credentials, but my bank account is joint, shared with my wife, and no point to they check this nor seek permission from my wife to access her data.

The Matrix helpdesk don't have a clue. They say things that simply aren't true, they don't appear to have a decent knowledge of how the application works and they provide little in the way of assistance.

Terrible. I had to receive my university's counselling service to overcome the trauma I experienced with the agency. My DBS clearance hasn't cleared yet despite the fact that I work in the NHS, the agency staff stated that they don't see the evidence of my right to work in the UK. I live in this country for nearly three decades and this is what I received. I am still fighting on this.
I sent an email to the below reply stated email address, but so far still there is no response.

What is the point to applying to a company via an application form to have to then repeat most of it again to a third party. I had already proved my right to work with my potential employer etc. then to have to do it again.Terrible service requesting the same information 3 times despite it been sent. Frustrated so much I withdrew from the job offer. Nightmare. Will never apply for a job who uses this organisation to screen.

We have encountered several challenges with the current background screening process, which claims to be international but imposes UK-specific requirements on our candidates. The accepted documents list follows UK criteria, leaving candidates uncertain about what they need to provide, often having to search for this information themselves. Additionally, candidates have experienced difficulties while completing the online form. Since SW cannot assist candidates until the form is submitted, company personnel often find themselves acting as intermediaries between SW and the candidate.The process duration has also been a concern, averaging six weeks or more. Without constant follow-ups from our side, it could extend to around two months.

Efficient and professional! I needed a thorough check and Tory Bennett handled it like a star. The instructions were very clear and once I uploaded any required documentation the response was immediate. Any time I had a question about my screening, I know that I could call and quickly find out the next step. This background check could not have been better.

Having undertaken several jobs in my career this is categorically the worst experience. My own limited company was showing on my 5 year PAYE from which they wanted contact details, reasons for leaving, can the person be contacted etc. I've explained to them on 4 separate emails, over several telephone calls, to 3 different people that this was my own Ltd company I was the Director of. I provided full contract details, tax returns, proof of incorporation etc. Each time they say is fine and then 2 to 3 days later I get the same request again. This has now gone over 2 weeks and I am on the cusp of withdrawing from this process. The total time is now 4 weeks and still pending. For future job opportunities the first thing I will now ask is who the security screener and if they use security watchdog then I won't bother.

Simple and quick process with clarity on documents required. No issues with uploading documents

Quick and easy process. Screening completed effortlessly.

Very efficient and simple process throughout. Any requests for further info were well explained and staff communication was very good.

Efficient, and clear communication

Very easy and very quick responses. Great experience

I really enjoyed the process, with its simplicity and speed. I thank you for the hard work behind you and all the support that comes with it. I appreciated

Straightforward steps to complete the clearance process.