We were vedors for Safeguard (SG) for a little over 4 years. In that 4 years time, we witnessed changes that adversely affected the vendors to the point of putting us out of business, but favored Safeguard. SG lost 2 huge lawsuits: 1 with Bank of America (BOA), and 1 with HUD. Both costing them MILLIONS of dollars. Once the lawsuits were said and done, the following requirements/changes began to occur. It was because of the following that we finally had to close up shop and find another industry to work in.
1. REQUIRING vendors to have commercial vehicle insurance and workman's comp even if the state the vendor resides and works in, doesn't require workman's comp, SG was requiring it. This is ILLEGAL. They can't FORCE a company to purchase insurance if the state the work is being performed in doesn't require it. According to our local laws, unless a vehicle has LOGOS on it, it's not deemed a commercial or company vehicle, yet they were requiring it. Both cost were found to be too costly and hard to manage since SG pays out 30-45 days AFTER work has been completed. (If chargebacks didn't happen).
2. Charge Backs for work completed MONTHS in the past were happening. Charge backs for erroneous claims too. One of many incidents that occured was, we were charged $180.00 back for 'debris' left behind. Of course, I challenged the claim and asked for the pictures that they were basing their claim off of. According to their claim, HUD found the debris. HUD vendors have to take pictures just like SG vendors do. So, I asked for the pictures that the HUD vendor took of the debris. SG sent me MY OWN PHOTOS that I took for the grass cut bid!! No debris was left behind, it was grass needing to be cut and properly bid according to SG's guidelines. Another, more recent, charge back, just happened. $800.00 for 'non-performance'. Ironically enough, this charge back happened AFTER we quit and was based on a property that we NEVER went to!!!!
The charge backs have increased tremendously, and bids were constantly being cut in huge amounts. It's our belief that these charges are happening due to the loss in the lawsuits and SG is doing anything and everything they can to recoup their losses.
3. Absolutley unattainable Contract to sign. The latest and greatest contract that SG wanted their vendors to sign had several flat out stupid stipulations. One stipulation was, any property that a vendor winterized, that property was the SOLE responsibilty for that vendor. So if another vendor, or realtor, or pissed off home owner, or vandal, decided to enter the property and compromise the winterization, the vendor was responsible for ALL damaage done!! That's beyond unreasonable!! We can't control what happens to a property once we left it. Yet they had all vendors sign that they would accept responsibility. Secondly, vendors had to sign that they, as well as no sub-contractors, could NOT lein a property for non payment. Impossible to sign if you NEED subs to complete a job because that's a legal right subs have if they don't get paid! Also ridiculous to request a vendor sign that if the vendor hasn't been paid for jobs completed.
4. Bids were being cut to 40% BELOW industry standards. SG's expectations were beyond stupid. We started to LOOSE more money than we were making due to the cut bids, charge backs and waiting on payments.
If you are a vendor currently,...CYA!! If you are thinking about becoming a vendor for SG, steer clear. There are better companies out there
I Michael Jack Stephens owns property in Bloomingdale Georgia, where someone from Safeguard Properties entered my property and removes items from said property. This home was occupied by my son. They (person unknown as of this writing) took pictures of all my rooms and my grandchildrens clothes, and the whole house.
This was done while my son was away on business. They have provided my pictures of all my property per my request to Seterus, Inc. a mortgage servering company. I now have the total proof of someone with a tattoo on his left arm in some of these pictures. The tattoo is of the devils star with a circle around it.
I am currenting in the process of getting the persons name. He or she must live in the Bloomingdale area, near Pooler Ga. and Savannah, Ga. If anyone know who this person is please contact me asap.
This is the most unheard of thing that has ever happened to me in my life. i am 59 years old. This property was not behind on payments, and is not behind today. Beware of these two companies, as of right now i don't trust anyone from either of them.
Safeguard will take you on as a new contractractor, and proceed to treat you like a slave. They make a game out of paying you. For instance, you will upload a hundred pictures to prove you did the work required, and they will send out an autoresponse saying that they will not pay you because they want a picture of the top of the roof, taken from a hot-air balloon. OK, that's an exaggeration, but it's a good illustration of the type of stuff they pull. They are not a solvent company, so they make themselves whole by refusing to pay for services rendered. It's bad enough that they try to get "winterizations" done for $60 a pop. It's even worse when you do the winterization and don't get paid at all.
These guys should be in jail for fraud, but unfortunately their contractors don't have any money to hire a lawyer.
Safeguard Properties and Nationstar Mortgage I received an offer on my home in June, 2015. I notified my mortgage company (Nationstar) that I was in the processing of selling my home and the closing would be sometime in July. As a result I did not make my July house payment, but instead used that money as a deposit on a new property. I moved to a different city and left behind a dryer and brand new refrigerator for the home buyers.
Two days after I moved out, SAFEGUARD PROPERTIES was hired by Nationstar to inspect my home. Third party contractors for Safeguard illegally kicked in a door into my home and changed the lock on the backdoor in an effort to "secure" what they deemed to be abandoned property. Prior to their break-in, every door and window in the house was securely locked. Had they needed to do an inspection, all they would have had to do was call and I would have provided a key to the property.
When my sons visited the home the following Thursday (July 23rd) , they found paperwork on the kitchen counter, the garage door kicked in, and the dryer that had been left for the buyers missing. The paperwork left on my countertop showed the furnace, refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, and hot water heater were present but the washer and dryer were not present. (The dryer was not present because the ‘inspector’ had taken it.) My son tried calling the number on the paperwork but the offices were closed. Upon leaving the home, my sons secured every door and window into the house.
The following morning, Friday, July 24th, I made a formal complaint to Safeguard and my mortgage company. At the same time, I reiterated to the mortgage company that I would be closing on my house before August 7th. I also established a claim for the break-in and missing dryer with Safeguard’s legal department. At first the legal department was unwilling to acknowledge the break-in, but after being placed on hold, the rep came back on the line, acknowledged that ‘yes’, they had broken into my property and that they would send a contractor to 'fix' my door. The contractor was required to contact me within 24-48 hours.
The following Tuesday, after not hearing from a contractor, I called Safeguard back and was given the name and phone number of the contract repairman. I called them and verified that a work order had indeed been established and that they would repair my door and frame on Thursday, July 30th, prior to closing on Friday.
I visited the property again the following night (Wednesday) and as soon as I entered a 'double locked' front door I found skid tracks where an appliance had been moved out of the house. Further checking revealed the Safeguard contractors had accessed my home using the lock they had placed on my back door and stolen my brand new refrigerator that was also being left for the future homeowners. I also found my hot water heater closet door open as if that was the next item they were going to remove. My attic door into my garage was also down which worried me that they were also going to come back and take my new heating unit installed the first week of July.
I immediately called the county Sheriff’s Office and an officer responded. We went through the house together and he told me he would complete the police report. The following morning, Thursday, July 30th I again contacted the legal department at Safeguard and told them my new refrigerator had also been stolen. The only access into the house had been via the lock they had installed on the backdoor and by someone who knew the code to the lock. I asked the Safeguard rep to please have this access stopped and she told me I would have to contact my mortgage company (which I did). During all of this ciaos, I have never received any kind of correspondence from my mortgage company or Safeguard. When I called Nationstar back I finally got a nice service rep who was willing to listen. I explained the entire scenario to him and told him I had just received an email from my buyer that due to the thefts and break-ins they (the buyers) were not comfortable closing the sale. I again asked the rep to put a stop to the illegal entry by Safeguard and at that point he gave me the access code to remove the lock from my back door.
Later Thursday afternoon, I met the investigator from the Sheriff’s office back at my home where he took additional pictures and documented the entire scenario as discussed above. He tried to take fingerprints but because of the brushed nickel door knobs was unsuccessful.
Safeguard Properties have cost me not only a dryer, a new fridge, repairs to my door and damages, but also the loss of sale on my home. This company is irresponsible and should be held accountable. My next stop is at the Attorney General’s office to file and official complaint.
Safeguard Properties Reviews
We were vedors for Safeguard (SG) for a little over 4 years. In that 4 years time, we witnessed changes that adversely affected the vendors to the point of putting us out of business, but favored Safeguard. SG lost 2 huge lawsuits: 1 with Bank of America (BOA), and 1 with HUD. Both costing them MILLIONS of dollars. Once the lawsuits were said and done, the following requirements/changes began to occur. It was because of the following that we finally had to close up shop and find another industry to work in.
1. REQUIRING vendors to have commercial vehicle insurance and workman's comp even if the state the vendor resides and works in, doesn't require workman's comp, SG was requiring it. This is ILLEGAL. They can't FORCE a company to purchase insurance if the state the work is being performed in doesn't require it. According to our local laws, unless a vehicle has LOGOS on it, it's not deemed a commercial or company vehicle, yet they were requiring it. Both cost were found to be too costly and hard to manage since SG pays out 30-45 days AFTER work has been completed. (If chargebacks didn't happen).
2. Charge Backs for work completed MONTHS in the past were happening. Charge backs for erroneous claims too. One of many incidents that occured was, we were charged $180.00 back for 'debris' left behind. Of course, I challenged the claim and asked for the pictures that they were basing their claim off of. According to their claim, HUD found the debris. HUD vendors have to take pictures just like SG vendors do. So, I asked for the pictures that the HUD vendor took of the debris. SG sent me MY OWN PHOTOS that I took for the grass cut bid!! No debris was left behind, it was grass needing to be cut and properly bid according to SG's guidelines. Another, more recent, charge back, just happened. $800.00 for 'non-performance'. Ironically enough, this charge back happened AFTER we quit and was based on a property that we NEVER went to!!!!
The charge backs have increased tremendously, and bids were constantly being cut in huge amounts. It's our belief that these charges are happening due to the loss in the lawsuits and SG is doing anything and everything they can to recoup their losses.
3. Absolutley unattainable Contract to sign. The latest and greatest contract that SG wanted their vendors to sign had several flat out stupid stipulations. One stipulation was, any property that a vendor winterized, that property was the SOLE responsibilty for that vendor. So if another vendor, or realtor, or pissed off home owner, or vandal, decided to enter the property and compromise the winterization, the vendor was responsible for ALL damaage done!! That's beyond unreasonable!! We can't control what happens to a property once we left it. Yet they had all vendors sign that they would accept responsibility. Secondly, vendors had to sign that they, as well as no sub-contractors, could NOT lein a property for non payment. Impossible to sign if you NEED subs to complete a job because that's a legal right subs have if they don't get paid! Also ridiculous to request a vendor sign that if the vendor hasn't been paid for jobs completed.
4. Bids were being cut to 40% BELOW industry standards. SG's expectations were beyond stupid. We started to LOOSE more money than we were making due to the cut bids, charge backs and waiting on payments.
If you are a vendor currently,...CYA!! If you are thinking about becoming a vendor for SG, steer clear. There are better companies out there
I Michael Jack Stephens owns property in Bloomingdale Georgia, where someone from Safeguard Properties entered my property and removes items from said property. This home was occupied by my son. They (person unknown as of this writing) took pictures of all my rooms and my grandchildrens clothes, and the whole house.
This was done while my son was away on business. They have provided my pictures of all my property per my request to Seterus, Inc. a mortgage servering company. I now have the total proof of someone with a tattoo on his left arm in some of these pictures. The tattoo is of the devils star with a circle around it.
I am currenting in the process of getting the persons name. He or she must live in the Bloomingdale area, near Pooler Ga. and Savannah, Ga. If anyone know who this person is please contact me asap.
This is the most unheard of thing that has ever happened to me in my life. i am 59 years old. This property was not behind on payments, and is not behind today. Beware of these two companies, as of right now i don't trust anyone from either of them.
Safeguard will take you on as a new contractractor, and proceed to treat you like a slave. They make a game out of paying you. For instance, you will upload a hundred pictures to prove you did the work required, and they will send out an autoresponse saying that they will not pay you because they want a picture of the top of the roof, taken from a hot-air balloon. OK, that's an exaggeration, but it's a good illustration of the type of stuff they pull. They are not a solvent company, so they make themselves whole by refusing to pay for services rendered. It's bad enough that they try to get "winterizations" done for $60 a pop. It's even worse when you do the winterization and don't get paid at all.
These guys should be in jail for fraud, but unfortunately their contractors don't have any money to hire a lawyer.
Safeguard Properties and Nationstar Mortgage I received an offer on my home in June, 2015. I notified my mortgage company (Nationstar) that I was in the processing of selling my home and the closing would be sometime in July. As a result I did not make my July house payment, but instead used that money as a deposit on a new property. I moved to a different city and left behind a dryer and brand new refrigerator for the home buyers.
Two days after I moved out, SAFEGUARD PROPERTIES was hired by Nationstar to inspect my home. Third party contractors for Safeguard illegally kicked in a door into my home and changed the lock on the backdoor in an effort to "secure" what they deemed to be abandoned property. Prior to their break-in, every door and window in the house was securely locked. Had they needed to do an inspection, all they would have had to do was call and I would have provided a key to the property.
When my sons visited the home the following Thursday (July 23rd) , they found paperwork on the kitchen counter, the garage door kicked in, and the dryer that had been left for the buyers missing. The paperwork left on my countertop showed the furnace, refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, and hot water heater were present but the washer and dryer were not present. (The dryer was not present because the ‘inspector’ had taken it.) My son tried calling the number on the paperwork but the offices were closed. Upon leaving the home, my sons secured every door and window into the house.
The following morning, Friday, July 24th, I made a formal complaint to Safeguard and my mortgage company. At the same time, I reiterated to the mortgage company that I would be closing on my house before August 7th. I also established a claim for the break-in and missing dryer with Safeguard’s legal department. At first the legal department was unwilling to acknowledge the break-in, but after being placed on hold, the rep came back on the line, acknowledged that ‘yes’, they had broken into my property and that they would send a contractor to 'fix' my door. The contractor was required to contact me within 24-48 hours.
The following Tuesday, after not hearing from a contractor, I called Safeguard back and was given the name and phone number of the contract repairman. I called them and verified that a work order had indeed been established and that they would repair my door and frame on Thursday, July 30th, prior to closing on Friday.
I visited the property again the following night (Wednesday) and as soon as I entered a 'double locked' front door I found skid tracks where an appliance had been moved out of the house. Further checking revealed the Safeguard contractors had accessed my home using the lock they had placed on my back door and stolen my brand new refrigerator that was also being left for the future homeowners. I also found my hot water heater closet door open as if that was the next item they were going to remove. My attic door into my garage was also down which worried me that they were also going to come back and take my new heating unit installed the first week of July.
I immediately called the county Sheriff’s Office and an officer responded. We went through the house together and he told me he would complete the police report. The following morning, Thursday, July 30th I again contacted the legal department at Safeguard and told them my new refrigerator had also been stolen. The only access into the house had been via the lock they had installed on the backdoor and by someone who knew the code to the lock. I asked the Safeguard rep to please have this access stopped and she told me I would have to contact my mortgage company (which I did). During all of this ciaos, I have never received any kind of correspondence from my mortgage company or Safeguard. When I called Nationstar back I finally got a nice service rep who was willing to listen. I explained the entire scenario to him and told him I had just received an email from my buyer that due to the thefts and break-ins they (the buyers) were not comfortable closing the sale. I again asked the rep to put a stop to the illegal entry by Safeguard and at that point he gave me the access code to remove the lock from my back door.
Later Thursday afternoon, I met the investigator from the Sheriff’s office back at my home where he took additional pictures and documented the entire scenario as discussed above. He tried to take fingerprints but because of the brushed nickel door knobs was unsuccessful.
Safeguard Properties have cost me not only a dryer, a new fridge, repairs to my door and damages, but also the loss of sale on my home. This company is irresponsible and should be held accountable. My next stop is at the Attorney General’s office to file and official complaint.