DEFENDER DIRECT Employer Reviews

Defender direct is a great company to work for. Meet a lot of people and see a lot of really nice homes. The company does focus on making their employees better people instead of better employees which is really nice.

This is a great place to work. The company is all bout self growth, and thats what I like abou the job. I really dont find anything hard about my current position at this job.

Just go find the review below me where the guy said he was a "Bovine Scatemist"

That guy hit the entire nail smack on the head.

PS. It's ironic all the good reviews are based out of Indianapolis, coincidentally where the company home office is.
::cough cough:: Damage Control

Would not recommend went to work to find out everyone was released not one time did anyone contact me on my day off to let me know i did not have a job....Very unprofessional and apparentley doesnt care about their employees!

Bovine Scatemist - a cross between alchemist (people who tried to turn metals into gold) and a Bovine Scatologist (someone who studies cow.. you know what)

So my job is to turn bull you-know-what, into gold.

Your day starts at 0645 with a “roo-rah, go team” meeting in your office. Unless it is your day off, attendance is required. Around 0730 you – more... will be handed a “job-ticket”- this is essentially your sales call for the day. If you aren’t handed a “job-ticket”, you can go home but are “on-call” (off the clock) until 1500 that day for a “same day” (a job where someone called in and wanted an alarm installed that day… or was bullied/pushed/pressured into by a sales agent who needs to win a contest/or get their numbers up/ or whatever…). Job times are from 0800-1100 and 1500-1900 (yes, you can have up to 2 jobs a day) and the radius for jobs is between 2 to 2.5 hrs around your office.

You drive to your job. IF the house has actually been built and exists (trust me, it’s happened) and if the customer is home and hasn’t already canceled yet- You review your “job ticket” with the customer because, chances are, it’s wrong. Sales tried to make their numbers look good and put the wrong MMR (monthly monitoring rate) on the job ticket and/or didn’t include all the incentives that they promised the customer on the job ticket and verify that you can actually use their landline (because sales never bothers to ask if it’s a VOIP or not and you can’t use a VOIP) So, once you are done correcting their errors (which may or may/not get you thrown out of the house) you are expected to put a large hole in the customer’s wall and hang the panel within 30 minutes. You do this because it’s your “anchor” and makes it less likely for the customer to throw you out when it comes to the next part.

Sales. You will do a “walk around” with the customer… making sure to point out that every window/door… EVERYTHING is vulnerable so that you can try to sell them a security system that will cost them $9000.00. You then present that “package” in the form of a “Thorough Protection Plan” you are required to fill out. Keep in mind the customer has NO idea this is about to happen and at this point you will either: 1. Get thrown out 2. Get laughed at 3. Give someone heart failure (trust me, it’s happened) 4. Get shot at (also happened) 5. Have something thrown at you (also happened). 6. Get told that “the guy/girl on the phone” (Sales and you will learn to HATE that phrase) told me it was all free OR get told “the guy/girl on the phone”(also Sales) told me I didn’t need anything else 7. Get told they were misled or 8. (And this RARELY, as in 1 out of 2000 times, happens) Get the person to agree to buy it. IF they don’t throw you out and don’t buy it immediately- you will go into the negotiation phase. Good luck with this…

This is what happens, day in and day out. You then have to check your paycheck every single day or, trust me; you will get cheated out of your pay. There are literally hundreds of Security Advisors that have gotten cheated out of thousands of dollars of their hard earned dollars each year. This is due to the fact that they have 3 people working in payroll and the fact that their IT department just graduated from the 3rd grade and have NO idea what they are doing. I have personally had to fight with them over a total of $3000.00 in a years’ time. Don’t bother emailing them about your pay issues, they won’t respond- you have to either get a lawyer or threaten them with getting one to get anything done. Don’t bother talking to HR either, they are NOT on your side and will get you fired.
Upper Management doesn’t care either… Nero fiddled while Rome burned. The CEO was literally droning on and on about her weight loss in their weekly update while hundreds of Security Advisors were not getting paychecks from week to week.

Please, please listen to me and do NOT work for this company. The average length of time with the company for Security Advisors is 6 months.. that's right, 6 whole months. This company will swallow you whole, chew you up and then spit you out. – less

seem to be unfair pay worked a lot harder than was ever paid
the most enjoyable part was making sales.
I learned how to be a great sales woman

A typical day at work was generally enjoyable, coworkers and direct management were fun and pleasant. By being an inbound call center you were able to talk to people from all over the country which was educational and interesting, and always presented a positive challenge. However, job security was always an issue.

The job itself was not difficult, however the managers and over all functions had a lot to be desired.

Easy yet challenging office job, take inbound calls and sell products. Meet company set percentage goals. They offer weekly, daily, and long term incentives, such as cash and gift card giveaways, prizes, vacations. This job taught me that when you work harder on yourself than you do your job, all other aspects of your life reflect your efforts. Managers – more... are very supportive and very fun to work with, it is definitely a very laid back environment. Co-workers are always willing to share information and are quick to offer help and advice. The hardest part of the job was definitely keeping up with the high call volumes. The best part of the job would definitely be the people you work with and the values of the company. Everyone is all for helping others. – less

Defender is not a good company to work for. When they send you to Indiana they put a lot of culture and ideas into your head but the culture and ideas do not follow through to your office. Managers tend to not care about person problems. You do not know your schedule until the day of. 10 vacation days that are not paid.

Hardest part of this job is knowing that you will never get a raise

Defender Direct is a great company to work with, however, I am not satisfied with my benefits (health insurance, vacation) and the work schedule. I also do not enjoy doing sales over the phone. I am more a face-to-face person meaning I would prefer to have an ongoing relationship with the customers I deal with on a personal level for continuation of – more... business not just a one time transaction. – less

When it comes to a company proclaiming Christain values, I'd rather see it practiced IN the workplace instead of touted at corporate meetings and conventions and the website. Going to Mexico to build houses and offering paid time for community service is just window dressing. So is offering prayer before lunch on 'Corporate Culture Day and before lunch – more... at the convention.

The proof is in the way employees are treated. Free lunch twice a month, healthy snacks (that are scarfed up and hoarded the very minute the fridge is stocked), free coffee/tea/cocoa/ice are nice. But that doesn't begin to balance the ledger sheet.

Over the last year in the call center, employees have been treated as 2nd class citizens. This began after the director was replaced.

What started out as an area that hummed with productivity quickly changed into an out of control nursery school atmosphere with employees allowed to yell across aisles to each other about non work related topics. Radios/music sources from non call center depts were allowed to play at volumes that customers could hear over the mouthpieces.

Call center employees contributed to the distraction level as well. Instead of being required to work at their cubicles, employees were allowed to leave their desks to visit friends in other departments and/or friends within their own department without being penalized for lack of available time or call processing. These conversations would often be loud and overheard by customers. If you were bothered by this and asked the noise makers in a nice manner to refrain, you would get told to mind your own business, or told they would catch you in the parking lot after work.

This kind of behavior would start up as soon as the dept mgt would leave for the day and the depthad no evening mgr. if mgrs in other depts on the call center floor were asked to intervene, they would be reluctant to do so, or would joke around with the people causing the unnecessary noise. Complain too many times, and the mgrs considered the complainers the problem.

The ethics line is a joke. If you're employed there, don't use it. Use of the ethics line will come back to haunt you. Report threats to your person? Nothing gets done to the person who threatened you.

The director of the call center, by the way, is unseen unless delivering news. He stays in his office and never speaks to his call center people in passing. Most will at least nod or acknowledge people. He does not.

Many of the call center dept mgrs are good people, don't get me wrong. They try hard to recognize the good of their employees. They are limited by little time and encourage from the director.

If this sounds like an environment you like, by all means, try this 'Christian' company. If not, stay away! – less

It takes a few months to really appreciate the great culture it seems to good to be true at first.

I worked for defender for 2 years as a technician. I loved to travel all around the US assisting other branches and living in hotels because im single. If you have a family,wife, kids,dog etc.... this is not the right job for you. Your expected to work 6 days a week with no consistent schedule. you dont know your schedule until 7am on the day of. you – more... do anywhere between 0- 4 jobs daily which includes a driving radius of approx. 200miles. I am a real money motavated person so upselling for me was a cinch. what was not tolerated was the management, lieing deceptive out for self managers. Like other reviewers stated, while at training in Indiana they preached about their motto being we dont want bad things happening to good people, unless of course your an employee. then they can lie on you in order to get you fired. Im not bitter by no means because i was fired because i know own a install company as well but i was fired twice by them. I was lied on to get me fired and that didnt stick because my upsells and installs spoke for me. The manager said i had the lowest upsell average in the branch. I wrote to the DM and explained why i had been fired he looked into it and saw that i had qualified that weeks for the tv "give away" which required a $600 upsell average. Instead of firing that manager for lieing on me instead they offered me the same job in another state branch which i took because im single and was able to do that. long story short, ive read every negative comment on this review and all of them were correct. i cant speak for the sales reps at home office but it doesnt sound like they were any better off. They have a very high turn over rate for techs. BE CAREFUL WITH THEM! – less

Incredible opportunities for personal and professional growth (service programs and volunteer activities). Great environment with lots of perks like breakfast or lunch. I had great pay and awesome bonuses and incentives.

They are great at first. Everything sounds really good, until you actually start working and a lot is expected out of you or your fired.

This company has a great culture and they invest a lot into their employees. I have never worked for a company that is so interested in developing leaders and helping employees with self improvement. And they pay very well.

The company requires you to maintain a $500 upsell average, which they keep raising every year. If you do not maintain this average you Will be fired! The equipment you need to upsell is very expensive, so, not an easy thing to maintain in this economy! What is even worse is that they also require you to maintain an install average of 90% or you will – more... be fired. That means, if more than 1 out of every 10 of your customers cancels or reschedules their appointment with you (which they can do before you even get the customers job ticket for that day) then you will be fired. If you enjoy family time then be ready to give that up. You start before 7am and can be out as late as 3am, and be expected back in the office by 7am again. You are also on call until 3pm every day. Their company motto is "Work harder on yourself than you do on your job", they seem to have left the installation technicians out of this motto though. There is also favoritism in which some techs are allowed to show up late everyday and not required to work late. If you get into a position by having a few cancellations, reschedules, or low upsales then be prepared to be near the bottom of the tech list in the office and end up many times with no work or getting customers with a low credit score that are a hard sell. When that happens...be prepared to be fired! You can also drive over 3 hours to a job that cancels, and when that happens you are not compensated, so you drove there and back on your gas money and time and get paid nothing for your effort. – less

Handle large number of inbound calls from customers. Dealing with scheduling service appts and installs for new security systems