DEFENDER DIRECT PROTECT YOUR HOME THIS COMPANY WILL USE YOU UP AND SPIT YOU OUT Indianapolis, Indiana
Don't know exactly where to begin, but I will say there are multiple reasons to NOT work for Defender Direct.
To summarize briefly...I worked for this joke of a company for over a year. Well, to be fair...I shouldn't say joke. Everything they do has a purpose, nothing is accidental or not specifically intended. Anyone considering a job as an installer...READ this carefully before accepting a job with Defender! Here's what you get: $50.00 per installation--up to 5 or more hours of work, potentially 2-3 per day. (Not including your travel time.) Plan on coming home around midnight frequently. And plan on managers berating your speed of installation, it'll happen, guaranteed. Oh...and let's talk about the "mileage" they pay you. Mileage is paid at the rate of $0.44 cents per mile. (oh...that's right...it isn't a straight mileage payout...they have a "formula" now because "it's just too complicated" to compile a spreadsheet for 600 employees. (according to a manager I spoke with). That's funny, I worked for another company with about double the amount of reps...not a problem for them, EVER. According to the b.s. explanation I was given, mileage is paid like this: They pay you for all the miles to appointment 1, Then they pay you for HALF the miles to appointment 2 and then an average of what everyone drove for the drive back to the office. Which is B.S...but it gets better, read on.
Ok...so this is a way for Defender to only pay you about 75% of the mileage they owe. Not unusual for a company to scam it's employees...but it gets even better. After noticing my mileage pay was a little low, I asked as to why. "They calculate based on nautical miles." WHAT!?? So now, I'm supposed to use a car that flies! Cool, can't wait till that invention is available. In the meantime, I felt pretty screwed...and the manager's response to me was: "If you don't like it, get another job." Well, I finally did...and it was the best move I EVER made in employment. Now, keep in mind this company DEMANDS you work a 6 day work week. Usually 12-18 hours per day. Consider this: If you accept this job and it turns out as I've described--how will you ever get out of it? Sundays are not a real good day to interview. (or do anything besides go to church, for that matter. Doctor visits, anything important...FORGET ABOUT IT!) What about days off? My manager knew I wanted out, and did everything he could to NOT let me have a day off. Had to lie and say I was sick to find another job...I didn't have an alternative. I would have considered staying, except I realized I made the company nearly $400,000.00 worth of installations inside of a years' time. How much did I get compensated? Less than $24,000.00. And I ranked in the top 20% of upsales (your opportunity to make more money, according to management.) I did...and still made LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE for an entire year.
This company LIES LIES LIES about everything! And what's worse...they claim to have "Christian Values", which would lead one to believe they care about their employees. THEY DON'T. Before you accept a position with this company, be sure to talk to someone who ISN'T A MANAGER and do so ALONE. You'll find out everything I've claimed is 100% accurate. I wasted over a year of my life with this giant group of LIARS. Don't do the same--INVESTIGATE thoroughly before you take a job here, you'll find out everything that manager told you is UNTRUE. And the post by the former employee...I know the guy, and he was screwed by Defender. The other post (probably by a manager)--total crap, on par for Defender. POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS: This company sells and installs GARBAGE equipment. Don't just read this post, be sure to Google "Defender Direct". You'll find very little of what you read is positive. Find another security company. Defender cares about one thing, and one thing only: Their profit margin. If you don't believe me, go to any bank. If you look at the security equipment--you'll see that it IS NOT General Electric, and most definitely not wireless. Most likely, it'll be HONEYWELL (REAL ALARM EQUIPMENT, not "toy alarm" junk by G.E.) Defender uses G.E. for one reason: Low cost, high profit! Hopefully this post will prevent others from wasting time and money with this company, on all levels.
Dave Lindsay--FOUNDER of Defender Direct, and head LIAR. How's that fourth house you just built on the backs of your SLAVE employees working out? Got lots of room for all the stuff you bought while screwing your employees and customers? Two words for you, Dave: F*** YOU.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Jay Smith
Cincinnati,Ohio,
United States of America
Direct Dish aka Defender Direct
#4General Comment
Fri, July 01, 2011
Once upon a time, the company Defender Direct decided that they were so good at selling Dish Network, that they should also install Dish Network. They set about building install crews in multiple cities. They hired one very bright guy, and said, "You can be the manager in your city!" He asked "What is the pay for that job?" They said, "The manager's pay is $3 from each install done by your crew! You will have to run a route as well." He laughed and said "Maybe I will just be an installer."
So he just became an installer, and he made twice as much as the new manager. He still tried to make sure the place was run correctly. He told them to hire people with experience, because not just anyone should go drilling into peoples walls. He told them to hire professionally looking people with decent trucks. He told them to not overwork the guys...that satellite work is more exhausting than alarm work, and if they burned the crew out, they would end up with callbacks for bad work. He told them to not worry about upsells. It just doesn't happen much in the satellite install business. "Let the guys concentrate on completing their route."
They seemed to want people with not much experience. It seemed like they preferred people who were desperate for money, perhaps facing bankruptcy, or jail for back child support. That seemed more important than experience. He said one guy was hired and showed up for work with a 24' ladder strapped to the top of a beat up Toyota Corolla. The crews were overworked and they were coached to upsell. He said he never saw anyone upsell anything though. He said none of his advice was ever taken. He remained a peon installer and kept quiet until one day, not 6 mths later, a meeting was called and abrupt notice given that Direct Dish was going out of the Dish install business. He was invited to become an alarm installer instead. He had seen alarm installers crying with exhaustion from the hours of work and the driving they did. Not much makes a grown man cry but Defender could cause it. He ran, and he ran, and he ran as far away as he could get from that company, and lived happily ever after.
The End
Big
Phila,Pennsylvania,
United States of America
Defender D Bags
#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sat, July 31, 2010
I worked for this company fo over 2 years,, 1st week i felt a twinge,, in training they fly you out to the corp office,,, then you get 4 days of "TRAINING" 4 days of Religious seminars and deceptive sales practices... Then they spend about 4 hours on how to install a Simon 3 Panel... People need to know that the Simon 3 panel was discontinued 4 years ago.... They have a Simon XT panel now Ver 1.3 that has been out for 3 years,,,,, but back to the zealots,,, True story,,,, they are a family values company and u never see your family,, work 6 days a week,,, 3 installs a day that could be 200 miles from the office and the next install was 40 miles from that one,,, work-- be at office at 7 am and work until 9 pm and then have to drive 150 miles home which u would not get paid for if your last job was a service call. If you installed equipment and there was a service call for faulty equipment,,, You had to go back to that customers house without getting paid even if it was 200 miles away .. Install -- 50 bucks no matter if it took 1 hr or 5 hours ,,,, you only made money on "UPSALES" basicially INSTALLING equipment besides the 1/2/1 and charging the customers credit card,,, This company is the worst of the worst,,, I have been at the office where the manager got the s**t kicked out of him and HE started the fight be he did not get fired,, I worked with 1 guy who was the man,,, monster upsale average 450.00 a job,,, he had 2 bad months,,, and he was fired,,, 2 months previous he was on a company paid cruise... If you dont maintain a 200 dollar upsale average per install ( basically you go to someones house and install sensors, charge the credit card on file and hope u get away with it) but I could not be that dishonest with someone.... I got let go,, never late for an install, never late for work, worked my 6 days,,, i only had a 100.00 average per install,,,, got to let u go,,,
NOW--- 45.00 per hr, real training, company vehicle, 5 days a week. 9-5 can spend time with fam..... REAL family values wonder why Defender dropped in the SDM magizine
Happy at Defender
United States of AmericaDefender
#4UPDATE Employee
Thu, April 01, 2010
I've worked at Defender for over 5 years and love it. I feel bad for some of these folks that have had bad experiences, but remember this is a Complain Board - soyou only see upset people. Defender has thousands of employees and like millions of customers... there are going to be some people that aren't happy. In a bad economy Defender has given a bunch of people a chance to makea livin and I've seen them give back to charity as well. They built over 25 homes for the poor in Mexico last year and gave millions to charity too. I don't want to disregard anyone's bad experience, but want to let everyone know that most of the people I talk to around work are very happy and thankful to work at Defender.