Complaint Review: Safeguard Properties

Lordy all these comment complaints - If the contractors doing the job right  they should not be any issues whatsoever!

 Just FYI Account managers never call you back when you have proof they have not paid you for something. Everytime you call them it is always your fault. I do not get any other problems from any other Field services. MCS, A2Z, First American Field Services are the great to work with. There are too many complaints about this company something has to happen. Safeguard always claims they have found someone to work less than you and they cut you back still expect the same results for less money. 3 dollars an inspection when it use to be 5 every other company pays 10 to 45 an inspection.

In Illinois we have been treated the same way as AZ above -- Tried to be forced into cuting pay in half due to the " volume " of work in our area.  We currently have been through this situation 3 times since last August.  Please keep in mind that we have never been below 95% on time in the 3 years that we have inspected -- Covering 3000+ inspections per month. We have the emails from our regional to prove our %

SPI called us to advise that they wanted us to be part of their  ' Millenium " contractors. We immediatley denied this - and they advised that they would be seeking out vendors to become 1st in our area.

3 months later, our orders dropped to 1/2 -- Called to see what was going on.  SPI stated that orders dropped.  Upon further investigation by my team-- There were new companies names on the sign in sheets during the slow times -- they hired another contractor.

2 Weeks after orders dropped I got a call from my regional who wanted 1000 orders taken care of immediately -- We did them in 2 days. Guess the other guy couldn't handle it!


The senario above has happened 3 times in 1 year ( not to mention this past year at xmas when the orders dropped to 25) , and we continue to be the fall guy after the bargian companies fail.

Overall, If the inspectors who have been asked to reduce rate would JUST SAY NO, the industry would not get a bad taste in it's mouth over these corp. money hungry  b**tards. 

I have been with safeguard for about 3 yrs, as an independent contractor in Arizona.3 managers have told me I was one of their best inspectors, good detailed reports with plenty of supporting documentation and photos, I have also carried a 98%accuracy rate when only an 85% is required. last year my E&O insurance was increased by my carrier from $700 to $1100, the reason was not that i have claims (I had zero claims in 3yrs) but that Safeguard as a whole has had such an increase in claims that all inspectors share that burden.  A year ago, Safeguard instituted a program called Millennium in the 5 worst states for foreclosures, basically they hired other inspectors at $3 per inspection ( i get $6 per house) and gave them unlimited amount of inspections in my territory. I noticed that my workload was cut dramatically in certain zip codes of my territory. I was also finding door hangers on some of my first time vacants that the envelope was empty, no letter inside. some times the door hangers were hung on door knobs over utility shut off notices of obviously vacant properties that they marked as occupied. the $3 millennium inspectors in my area were cheating, not taking time to put the right bank info on the letters and putting them in the envelope (we deliver for 10-15banks/mortgage co). this way they could just hang the envelope, take the pix and move to the next house. they mark everything occupied so they only need to take 1 pix instead of the required 5 on a first time vacant. by leaving so many of these behind the vacants would then rotate to me eventually and i had to do all the work they avoided. Eventually my work load was lowered from 150 houses at a time to 50 because after doing my work for $6 per house i would not lower myself to do more houses for $3. Well, now they have outdone themselves...today, me and other inspectors in Arizona that have not lowered our prices or standards were cut to 25 houses per day. basically holding the inspections back until we cave and do them for $3 per house or just quit. the real kicker here is that this lowering of our workload just happens, we are never sent communication and are only told of the cut in workload if we call them to ask is there is a problem, emails are replied back to me as Call you regional...they evidently wont put it in writing. Safeguard also changed the pay terms from (them to us) from net 15-20 to Net30, this means you get paid 30 days after an inspection instead of 2-3 weeks after you complete inspection. This change was made without one word of communication to the field, just a paycheck for half of what i expected and a couple weeks later they did it again and now the pay is at Net30 day. I called accounting to see if there was an error & was told "upper management made the decision"...I am sure Upper management knew months ago they were going to do this but still ...not one word of communication until phone calls to the company were made...i think they keep this out of the written word to keep it out of publications, at this point this is my word against their "word"... So i am at the point that i need to decide to do twice the work for the same money and get my workload reinstated or do 25 houses a day and go on food stamps. Quality, timeliness, loyalty went out the window so Safeguard could make that extra $3 per house off the sweat of the inspectors.I refuse to compromise my integrity and quality to do twice the work to make sure the executives at Safeguard keep jets and beach house at my expense.Until these unscrupulous things started happening, I loved my job, now it is just a job.  Thank you for your time, One Hot inspector in AZ (it was 100 degrees in October in AZ the other day) 

This is intersting to here.It appers to be a problem only on PPO and REO side of the services?

I have been a Feild Inspector with this company for a year and 1/2 now. It took almost 4 weeks to get my first paycheck.It was only a few dollars shy of what i had worked a 4 weeks back. Since then, My wife as kept track of invoices and we find that we always get paid for our work within the 4 week time frame. Sometimes we do recieve payment for PHAN's or PSP2's that come 5 weeks later. but we've always been paid for everything.

So my paycheck is based on the work i do.Sometimes i can see a 900 check, sometimes i can see a 100 check. Sometimes i have recived checks for 6 bucks.But that cause i took a vacation 4 weeks ago and only covered two inspections.

The only problem i would really have with safeguard, and a lot of the FI jobs offered out there. IS the pay is just a little to low for todays cost of living. I get paid 3 per house. and they expact me to cover a terriotry that is sooo big it requires me to hire atleast 1 sub.So i have to pay them.I only take .25 off the top for adminstrative time at the office doing payroll and makeing sure she gets work. She deserves atleast 3.25 herself to cover gas and car expense better.

 PLus, they make pay 750 for E&O insurance. and then say i have to add them on there as well which cost another 350.00(Close to this anyway) anywhere i go.ANd they dont compensate you for this. I only complain about this cause somtimes it sucks.

What i mean is, when i break my commision pay down to the hour. i find that on somedays/weeks. i make between 20-25 per hour. which is better any 9-5 office job. and thats just for driving around checking on the occupancy status of homes delevering letters and making sure vacant homes havent been vandalised.

And then there are Days/weeks when in only seem to make between 3-6 an hour.

For the most part i pull in 10-15 an hour. which is not bad.considering the perks.

my own hours. sleep late if feel sick.take a anyday off i want to take care of errands.as long as i get my inspections completed by the due date.I like the flexability of this job so, im not complaining.

But, i do agree that they need to re-struture how they pay there employee/contractors.higher pay for the riseing gas prices. and if there going to make us pay out of pocket to have there name on an insurance,they should componsate that inital amount. and they need to pay higher on FI's so that we as contractor can pay any subs we have under us better, or they need to get rid of the SUb system all together.

I submitted this on another thread, but it looks like this thread is picking up more steam, so I'm copying it herea;

We have been performing property preservation for Safeguard Properties for about a year now. We currently have several invoices that are 90 days old, and they have recently begun to generate "chargebacks". A chargeback is when they try to give you a job (usually out of your area with a due date of tomorrow), and then, when you contact them through e-mail, voice mail, and status report to tell them you can't get to the job within the time frame specified, they charge YOU (the contractor) $50 to pay for their "cost of reassignment". This is clearly illegal.

Contractors are not employees. Because they don't receive a wage or a salary, it is the contractor's option whether or not to accept a job. If the contractor notifies Safeguard that he/she can't do a specific job at a specific time, then it's Safeguard's job to find another contractor or go back to the client.

It is also important to note that Safeguard is in the habit of trying to get their contractors to do free work. They love to send out memos advising their contractors to complete work ahead of time, and then bid the work after the fact. Do you think Safeguard will ever accept a bid for work that's already been done? No, they never have. They are also fond of asking you to do work over the phone, promising a work order which never arrives. If you try to invoice the work without a work order, then you don't get paid.

This hurts Safeguard clients by disincentivizing the people who are doing the actual work. When contractors are not paid fairly, they are left with no choice but to skimp on work, cut corners, or get out of the business. When contractors quit, the client is on the hook for trip charges to pay a far-away dude to come into town. If no far-away dude is available or the client wont pay the trip charge, then the work doesnt get done at all.

Seriously, Safeguard sells itself as a cheap one-stop-shop for its clients. But who needs a one-stop shop that doesnt get the job done? Safeguard requires its contractors to carry their own insurance, so they are really adding nothing of benefit to the process. Banks and real-estate agents would be better served by hiring local contractors directly.

Jeff,

   As I stated above, we have worked with Safeguard for several years and to be COMPLETELY honest with you, have had bigger problems with other national companies.  I am not an "a*s kisser" as stated above by another contractor, I just believe that everyone needs to run their business the best way they know how and take responsibility for their own actions.  I would be willing to speak with you regarding Safeguard, since you seem to have some reservations.  If you are new, you just have to understand that everything comes in time.  If they say that the invoices are 'net 30', don't expect to be paid in 15 days- they already said that it may take up to 30, ya know?  It's just about personal opinion who you like and who you would like to work for.  No, their people are NOT the nicest, I have agreed with that for years, but bypass them and go to managers.  Their company set-up, rude people and all, is still better than some other large national companies. 

To the other contractors- I just don't like when people don't do everything right on their end and then want to complain.  You sound just like the people being evicted saying that they did everything right and that the bank is just stealing their home- give me a break!  You are not a victim!  There have been times when one of my office staff has misread a work order, misinformed a field crew, and we did not get paid for work done, there have been times when damage wasn't reported and we had to pay for it or fix for free- it happens, but it doesn't make them what you are saying they are!  Maybe spend more time in the field/office working on your business and less time complaining on the internet!

We are into our 3rd week ONLY with Safeguard.  I'm already seeing signs of what people speak of on here...throwing us about 40 maid refreshes...asking us to hire people already.  Yet we are not out of credentialing period and have put money into this venture that we need to see some paychecks before we hire anyone! 

How can we guarantee that we will get paid all of the money owed to us?  ARE there any happy contractors out there getting the money they deserve?  I'm reluctant to put another dime into this venture right now after what I'm hearing.  I know we wont get every workorder done with their un-realistic expectations...will they take money away from you even if you do all the work?  You better believe if they dont pay us..there will be legal action.  We don't work like that...hell nobody should.

Any feedback is appreciated!

We are into our 3rd week ONLY with Safeguard.  I'm already seeing signs of what people speak of on here...throwing us about 40 maid refreshes...asking us to hire people already.  Yet we are not out of credentialing period and have put money into this venture that we need to see some paychecks before we hire anyone! 

How can we guarantee that we will get paid all of the money owed to us?  ARE there any happy contractors out there getting the money they deserve?  I'm reluctant to put another dime into this venture right now after what I'm hearing.  I know we wont get every workorder done with their un-realistic expectations...will they take money away from you even if you do all the work?  You better believe if they dont pay us..there will be legal action.  We don't work like that...hell nobody should.

Any feedback is appreciated!

Glad to see others that have the same views of Safeguard Properties, Iwas a sub-contractor for a short time and only lost a few grand. In all the years I have never been treated so poorly by any business associate ever! The nasty emails,phone calls, and mistakes that thier property specialists would send me were completely unacceptable. Anytime I would notice a mistake I would either be told to complete the project anyway or get scolded like a child for not completing the order in time. The people that work in that organization are miserable humans who pass on the anger they receive from management onto the subs out in the field. When I finally decided I had enough, they convinced me to complete the last three projects that I was assigned, I agreed and guess what - I received three checks for $1.00 each - these people are evil!!

You know what miscellaneous contractor, we been doing this alot longer then since 2002 and things gradually get worse each year, so you ought to get off your high horse and quit kissing a*s!

My company has been in this industry since 2002 and has been working with Safeguard since 2004. We have never had any of these problems and I have never heard of such things from other contractors. ALL of the national companies get behind on the pay, or let something slip through the cracks from time to time, but come on. This is why you, as a company owner, should be on top of your books- you should know at all times what is outstanding and who to contact in order to get an answer to it. ALL of the national companies say that your invoices will be paid "net 30", but it just simply is not always the case. There may be a time at the end of grass cut season where it looks like we are owed a large sum of "unpaid" grass cuts, initial secures, REO trashouts, etc., sometimes up to the sum of $30k, but I guarantee you that it doesn't look like that come the end of the year- no way. I, as a business owner, would never allow that. I don't know if Safeguard is the only national company that you guys are working for, but we have worked with almost all of them, and I will guarantee you, once again, that Safeguard is not the worst out there. GUARANTEED! I have also attended many Safeguard conferences and there are literally HUNDREDS of happy, well paid contractors also in attendance. If you are not being paid for work performed, maybe you need to look at yourselves- you can't blame others for your mistakes.

So now we start receiving checks in the amount of $0.00 when we earned that much more then that. Why do we have to fight for every penny we earn? We get all these chargebacks for properties they give you no time to complete, they are sent as rushes, and if you get 50 at once hard to get to them all at once. Accounting at Safeguard Properties are the biggest morons on the face of this earth. We have lost our transportation, our building for our supplies, and probably going to lose our house next.....if any contractors out there see this, please I urge you to fight this beauracracy. We all deserve the money we busted our behinds to get. We were supposed to get almost $2,000 but the check was all chargeback for properties we werent supposed to have anymore. This has got to stop!

It appears that what Safeguard Properties is doing by not paying its contractors is Internet Fraud. All of the communications regarding pricing, invoicing, adjustments, work orders, ect. are done either through Safeguard Properties vendor web site or through e-mail. If you are a contractor who has been scammed by Safeguard Properties this apparently constitutes internet fraud by the FBI definition. I would encourage any contractors who have been shorted payments for services provided to Safeguard Properties to file a complaint on the FBI website under "Internet Fraud", the link is:

http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm

Good luck, we all deserve our hard earned money.

It appears that what Safeguard Properties is doing by not paying its contractors is Internet Fraud. All of the communications regarding pricing, invoicing, adjustments, work orders, ect. are done either through Safeguard Properties vendor web site or through e-mail. If you are a contractor who has been scammed by Safeguard Properties this apparently constitutes internet fraud by the FBI definition. I would encourage any contractors who have been shorted payments for services provided to Safeguard Properties to file a complaint on the FBI website under "Internet Fraud", the link is:

http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm

Good luck, we all deserve our hard earned money.

It appears that what Safeguard Properties is doing by not paying its contractors is Internet Fraud. All of the communications regarding pricing, invoicing, adjustments, work orders, ect. are done either through Safeguard Properties vendor web site or through e-mail. If you are a contractor who has been scammed by Safeguard Properties this apparently constitutes internet fraud by the FBI definition. I would encourage any contractors who have been shorted payments for services provided to Safeguard Properties to file a complaint on the FBI website under "Internet Fraud", the link is:

http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm

Good luck, we all deserve our hard earned money.

It appears that what Safeguard Properties is doing by not paying its contractors is Internet Fraud. All of the communications regarding pricing, invoicing, adjustments, work orders, ect. are done either through Safeguard Properties vendor web site or through e-mail. If you are a contractor who has been scammed by Safeguard Properties this apparently constitutes internet fraud by the FBI definition. I would encourage any contractors who have been shorted payments for services provided to Safeguard Properties to file a complaint on the FBI website under "Internet Fraud", the link is:

http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm

Good luck, we all deserve our hard earned money.

Tell your fellow contractors, Safeguard Properties is shorting contractors on pay for work performed and sometimes not paying at all. I have only lost about $1,000 to them but that is more than enough to make me furious. It seems like high time for a class action lawsuit against Safeguard Properties. Not that I like to operate that way, but Safeguard has us against the wall.

I used to do work for safeguard properties as well and i too was not paid for alot of work i had done either and had the same run around about when id get paid. I had even received a work order from them one morning to do a lock change on a home that we were changing locks on w/ in the hour when i called from the property to give a status update over the phone i was told that the property had been taken back by the owner over 2 weeks ago this after i had changed the locks so then on top of this i never got paid for the lock change because safeguard due to their own mismanagement didnt get paid. but this is just one of the numerous occasions that i never got paid i luckily was smart enough and lucky enough to get away from them w/ only losing a couple thousand. I really hope someone will take them down as they have numerous people. They make their money off others misfortunes so wouldn't it be in their best interest to not pay their contractors so they too may lose their homes which in return results in more money for safeguard!!!!


jason
wabash, indiana