Working at Direct General Insurance — Reviews by Employees

This company sucks from the word Go! I fully expect it to shut down soon....we aren't even writing business in Florida now because they have suddenly opened their eyes and saw fraud all over the state! In the words of Jim Dickson our Regional "we were one of the last companies to join the fraud fighting bandwagon" We suddenly got a clue and quit writing business.......Gee what a concept! So let me get this straight, we are losing money and now we have STOPPED writing business?? No one could seem to get a game plan to fight the fraud other than to close down an agents office?? this place is sinking faster than the Titanic!!!.....I agree with an earlier comment "you are promoted based on who you know, not what you know"...There is a fat pig running the pip lit department that is as rude as all get out and nothing is ever done about her. Im filing a department of Insurance complaint on someone as we speak......Oh and we suddenly closed 9 agents offices statewide without one word to the agents......nice thing to do before the holidays!

Please do not apply!

Greetings,

I spent 4 1/2 gueling years working for this company. This was my first job out of college and I accepted it with hopes of starting a career. That was a big mistake! Direct has completely turned me off from working in the insurance business altogether and I have changed career paths completely. Working at Direct I felt overworked, underpaid and even worse not appreciated at all. Management likes to pretend like they actually care about the employees who do the real work but they do not. The expectations are not only impossible but lets add ridiculous while we're at it. Management continued to implement new policies, and procedures whithout testing them out or thinking them thruough dooming the adjusters to ultimate failure. They continued to lay people off and even more people quit on a weekly basis with no replacements. Then they had the nerve to say that we were overstaffed. Direct is a sorry excuse for a company, because they treat both their employees and customers like crap. I recommend that if you are reading this and unfamiliar with the dealings of this company that you don't do business with them. Don't become a customer or an employee because once they have you in a contract all hell will break lose. They don't keep promises and the customer service is horrible. They use this prehistoric computer database that has to be older than me. Not to mention slow as freakin malassas!!! And also the office equipment never seems to work. There are files and paper everywhere. Such disorganization!!! This place was a nightmare and I am so glad to be free. I don't care how bad the economy is, if you are so stressed out and overworked that it affects your health, and family life then no job is worth that. I wish them luck because a company like that will probably not survive to much longer.

I call my self a survivor!!! It is that bad.

The people from claims have no idea that it is not just them. They are complaining about no raises and new office furniture being bought. Sales also has no raises. But that really only applies to those in the offices. Sales managers got company credit cards with huge monthly credit limits very few questions on what is charged, motels for them and company paid for, meals paid for and not talking dollar meal, alcohol like $75 in beer and $150 in reasturant's a week, free car for personal use (many have no personal car), gas cards, and so on.

Sales numbers are down. Guess what people have left the state, the economy sucks, and there is an OUTDATED sales model. ONLY AUTO. Many people like to get all the business in one place and stop. Management tells you things like Put flyers on car windows, stand in the HOT PARKING LOTS and pass out cards and flyers. Oh yeah and since you are BAD anyway and it is your fault sales are down, you have to SEND me a TEXT message with pictures with proof. There are also a number of reports that have to be done weekly, daily, monthly, etc. So the sales manager can check off on their list they got them and throw them away.

Attendance. Oh where to start. You are hourly, but not allowed overtime, but offices are open longer than 40 hours a week. You are often the ONLY person in the office that takes cash. OH yeah the offices do get held up and robbed. That is another matter and again the company most likely will make it your problem. You have to take your PTO/Holidays and days off, find some one to keep the office open yourself. Then you get in trouble for your numbers being low that month because you took a week off if you were able to do the rest of the things.

REPLACE REPLACE REPLACE all the time. Just my question is. WITH WHO??? I have seen at least a third of the people in my area go. No one new. The numbers go down, phones roll to call center, etc... It is your fault and their will be action taken to guess what REPLACE you too. They did lay off people this year too. Never a good sign that after loosing a lot of people and not replacing they still lay off. Yet the spending continues at the management levels.

Oh and the sales management what a joke. There they have replaced insurance people with people that managed the cell phone kiosks in the mall. I am not talking one or two of the sales managers. All that they have replaced over the past year or two around the country. Now that sends a LOUD message. NO ONE HERE IS GOOD ENOUGH TO MOVE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will not be long before those in sales are standing in the mall asking. How do you like your car insurance? That will be better than as already expected to do it in a hot parking lot, at least the mall has ac. They even had a VP that they hired from guess where. A cell phone place that lasted about 2 weeks.

Times are tough, if you value your sanity and safety stay clear of here.

I worked at this company for just over a year, handling claims. This company is horrible. They made major structural changes without thinking them through. Then everything started to fall apart. Instead of trying to clean up the mess they made, they just told the adjusters to just do their job and do it right. They kept calling the mess growing pains. It felt like someone quit or got fired everyday. And they never replaced the people that left. I remember taking 26 new claims one day and still get unassigned claims the next day. When I talked to my boss about not being able to meet unrealistic expectations, the answer was always that it was my fault because I didn't know how to manage my time wisely. I worked from 7 in the morning until 8 at night some days. Then I worked on Saturdays and Sundays, but could never get caught up. My diary stayed 100+ past due. I asked to be demoted down to a clerical position, and was told that I basically had the position, but when my supervisor and the human resources person got upset with me for taking a half day off, they would not even consider my application for the open position. That was my punishment. The human resources person knows absolutely nothing about human resources and was probably a receptionist in a hair salon before coming to work at Direct. There's no opportunity for growth because most of the adjusters are too educated, experienced, and knowlegeable to work for this company. Management is made up of dummies, who know absolutely nothing about how insurance works or running a business in general.

I have worked for Direct in claims for a long time. I have always been able to keep my head above water until this year. We have lost so many employees the building is empty and at one time we had almost out grown it. We are getting more claims than we can handle accuratly most of the time your trying to just move it along to get started on the next new one. The one's who quit were so overworked when you recieved thier file it was so screwed up it takes and hour just to figure out what is going on with it and that would be about 10+ diaried with in the week on top of your 150+ pending exposures, 200+ on diary and the 5+ new claims per day. Mgt is so worried about numbers that the quality of the files are going down which will effect any raises (if we get any) and customer service. They send an email to give us 3 more floating holidays that we can't take because if you do you will have to work weekends just to catch up. You get docked for your rental paid out usually due to the 5 supplements, total losses take forever and is so time consuming and when you turn it over it take 2 to 3 weeks to get the check cut which effects our closing ratio, but what bothers me is the adjuster is the one accountable why is that? Why is appraisal dept not accountable for taking a week to look at a vehicle? why is salvage not accountable to follow up on the paperwork or issuing the check when they send the paperwork they have the title issue the check. They put more work on us the support staff we had here to help enter SR1 for Ark which take 30 minutes to fill out, they helped us pull estimates and entered into the notepad which for some reason the macro got even longer and other things they did to help us were laid off. They want BI settlements, but with the new que all I am handling is PD most of those are total losses and by the time I get approval copy of title and letter of guarantee half the day is gone and haven't touched my diary to even see what I can settle. Work my pending?? when do I have time to do that with all the phone calls for rentals, total losses, estimates and the million letters that have to be sent if our printers are working. I have always enjoyed my job (until recently) I love the people I work with and will stick it out hoping some changes will be coming, but I am disappointed there are no raises (everything is going up but our checks) and no potential to grow. Heres hoping mgt will make some changes, so we can get back to doing our jobs the right way and not just rushing thru it. * Note* settleling a BI claim takes a minute, Negotiating a claim may take a week or more.

Let me start off with saying I have been in this industry for a long time and have worked for other companies. I agree that Direct does have some maturing... they are a young company and are still working on the flaws to improvement the claim enviroment. PTO could be better but there are several companies that are in the same boat as us with 12 PTO a year plus a floating holiday. Yes we are salary and dont get paid overtime but the great thing about salary is that if you have a doctors appt, you can take off an hour or so early and not have to make it up. If you are hourly, you would be required to make up that time or be docked that PTO. The claim volume isnt any higher than other companies and the expectations are very easy to reach once you know what they are. Some companies require 1 hour contact or same day...but Direct only requires 24 hours and then a 3-5 day follow up. I dont know any company that is that relaxed. Also employees have a more laid back schedule...we dont have set breaks and our lunches are easy to change if needed. And if you have to get up and use the bathroom, you arent asked why. Adjusters are allowed to have cell phones at the desk and even use them at their desk unlike other companies that wont allow you to. As for the company christmas party, this is being provided with the money that the adjusters raise from the all week jeans weeks. The company doesnt put any money into it. And as far as no raises, it would be nice to get a raise but.. Direct is one of the only companies that has not had any lay offs. Almost every major company has had lay offs and people forget that. Would you rather get that raise or keep your job? I'd rather have a job. But the only people that understand that is the ones that have experienced a lay off. I agree that there are plenty of people that are working there that should not be adjusters. And those people are lucky that Direct is so forgiveable and they still have a job. Other companies would have fired them along time ago. Those that are complaining about the work load and expectations would not be able to cut it at any other high end standard company and thats why they stay and just complain. These people need to suck it and and do their job properly or leave. No one is making them stay and I for one would be happy to see their negativity leave so that the rest of us can do our job in peace.

Accepting work with this company was by far, the biggest mistake of my life. It ruined my health and my relationship with my family. Quitting the company without another job even in this horrible economy was the best decision I ever made. My health issues went away and I finally got to know my family again. I spent more than 12 hours a day working, at least 6 days a week. I was always good at my job with this company, so its not like I am just a whiner and someone that couldnt do the job. But when the expectations became unrealistic for me, I knew it would be a nightmare for others. The management staff is the biggest joke. PM is the dumbest person I have ever met in my life. You are threatened with your job daily. Supervisors have to look for reasons to write people up. Its just a vile, cancerous place and I wouldnt wish my own worst enemy a job there. I dont care how desperate you are for a job, you are better off without one than to have one with this company.

I absolutely HATE my job! The office management team are complete idiots starting from the top down. My manager PM cannot even speak appropriate English. I sit in our meetings and listen to her use words you cannot even find in the dictionary. It is the most unprofessional company I have EVER worked for in my life. They constantly threaten you with your job. You cannot go to HR because she doesnt care. There is no one there who cares about the employees. I will be glad to finally get out of this place and work for a decent insurance co who doesnt encourage employees to under pay customers!!!

pretty seriously bad work environment and a lot of ill will but its just a job. I've been to worse, I've been to better. At least it is somewhat stable but I have to admit that after two years I am looking elsewhere.