I think the big issue is there's no way to check otherwise. From a human factors standpoint there's 100 points of contact where a simple slip could affect you; and you would never know. You'd just sit there waiting for months. One person in our group had a document go missing and he would never have known unless he called (we all had phase II or TBNT and he did not receive anything).

You can also be routed to India if you call Sterling at certain times - perhaps that's the whole background check staff and "company" (I don't know for sure, I just know at certain times the rep is speaking to you from India. So there's a potential communication barrier.)

It seems there's got to be an electronic way to check this. Some sort of database where you log in and look for the green check marks. If there's a lag, you can then investigate. It seemed my last employer was dragging feet on PRIA. When I called they promptly "informed" me that they "had 30 days." Yeah, but you don't have to use them!