Safeguard Properties Safeguard Properties stealing from it's vendors Internet, Internet

31st of Oct, 2011 by User469040

The following shall constitute my opinion and beliefs of Safeguard Properties, based on my personal experiences: VENDOR BEWARE!! Safeguard properties is the poster child of corporate greed. It's "success" and growth is on the backs of the vendors that they are stealing from to line their own pockets. We were naive to believe that we could circumvent some of the complaints we read from other victims by being ultra detailed and careful, learning and giving them what they are looking for upfront, providing top quality work and by following the good old simple golden rule. BUT.. when the company has no scruples or integrity - it does not matter what you do to try to please them, they will LIE,CHEAT and STEAL at every opportunity they can think of. One thing I can say is that they are creative at finding new ways of picking their vendor's pockets. Here are some of our experiences: Popping new orders onto your worklist with no warning, that are already late and then calling or emailing you to threaten that if they aren't done by a certain deadline (usually within 2-3 hours) that they will be reassigned and YOU will be assessed a "chargeback" or fee for reassignment. Spontaneously removing orders from your worklist with no notice, after work is completed but before you have had a chance to bill it and refusing to pay you for the work done. Giving you verbal approval over the phone to complete work (that they insist you call from the field to obtain) and then denying to pay you for the work when you bill it - stating that it "was not authorized). Randomly assigning chargebacks on "faulty work" with no notice or opportunity to address the issue. Refusing to reverse chargebacks when you prove that work IS complete and sufficient. Outright lieing to you about sending and paying someone else out to correct said faulty work and charging you for it, yet failing to provide proof of this when questioned and confronted with proof of the fact that they did not. And still refusing to reverse the chargeback. Refusing to pay you for work that is attempted but unable to be completed for reasons that are out of your control (such as someone else already having completed the work, or being unable to dewinterize a property until the city makes plumbing repairs at the street etc... ) Sometimes a trip fee is offered that is so low it does not even begin to cover costs, sometimes no pay at all is "approved". Insisting that you provide hours upon hours of free administrative work, return trips, redundant reports, obtain 3rd party bids etc..etc... then threaten you with more chargebacks or loss of work if you dare ask to be paid for this extra work. Insisting that you do THEIR QC reports and other administrative work that is outside of the scope of the workorders and even threatening to hold your pay checks from prior unrelated work if you do not do it. Insisting that you allow them access to inspect your office, your vehicles, your equipment your files, your staff, meet with you for unpaid "training", dictate your hours of operation, dictate your procedures, dictate your coverage area, dictate your fees, do not allow you to decline work without penalty etc.. all while you are SUPPOSED to be a sub-contractor NOT an employee. Every employee you make contact with tells you something different, and when confronted with a discrepancy - deny ever telling you anything. Changing the rules and pay structure whenever they wish and with little to no notice - with no opportunity to decline the work without penalty. Saddling you with overly cumbersome problematic and redundant photo and online reporting requirements that take longer to complete then the actual work itself (again at no extra pay to do so). Sending nasty threatening emails and calling daily for status updates EVERYDAY even when you have already provided those updates online as they insist you do, but then never read. Scanning every invoice submitted for any little thing they can find to dock pay, cutting your billing and paying only what THEY decide they want to pay you even despite your photos and documentation to prove. (i.e. removing 10 CY of debris, they will only pay you for 6 no matter how many photos you provide to prove 10). Sending us a notice "effective yesterday" that all work will be now be reviewed by a live person in the field and if ANYTHING is found unsatisfactory -charging you for the field reviewer's pay. (can't prove this yet, but wouldn't put it past them to tell the field reviewer that they will not be paid if they don't find something wrong!!) Refusing to pay you for work completed - just flat out, with no reason offered and no response to your inquiries as to why invoices remain unpaid. Issuing "chargebacks" on work that you never billed them for to begin with. Insisting that you return to a property and complete work free of charge that you never billed them for to begin with, and threatening to have you pay "a chargeback" to have someone else do it if you refuse. Putting deadlines on brokers to sign off on the vendor's work before the vendor is even done with the work at the property - resulting in either a charge to the broker if they dont, or a charge to the vendor if the report is unfavorable. I could go on and on, I am remaining anonymous not because these statements are untrue (this is what we have personally encountered of our own experiences) - but because I do not trust this company to not do something crooked and backhanded out of retaliation. I believe that their tactics are nothing but a shell game or pyramid scheme- that they scam their vendors and brokers by pitting them against each other, charging one vendor to pay the next vendor etc.. I wonder how Safeguards clients feel about these tactics! It only leads me to believe they are giving high fives and kudos to each other while they roll in the bail-out money and trumpet their record profits in press releases and brag pages.

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