ICS Merrill Beware of the practices of ICS Merrill Jacksonville, Florida

I used to work for this company and Wow, This is awesome. Someone is finally airing out those morons. This is what happens Management when you treat your workers with no respect.  You guys (employee's) made my day! I googled to see if the company was still around. All of this stuff is true, ICS Merrill is a rip off and a joke. The Case managers are morons. The only person with half a brain in management is John F. They will have you do the most idiotic things imagineable. They seem to think that neighbors don't speak with each other and you can just question every neighbor one day, then ride the claimant's a$$ every day for a week and not get noticed (Jeff N). They have no clue on how to run an investigation. And all the time and money they rip you out of, well theres an easy way to fix that  ; ) ; ) Ha!

I am so happy to read all of this backlash on the company that has been constantly screwing me over and putting me in danger. I wish these scum bags would lay me off instead of only giving me 10 hours a week.  I am a current employee..

   ICS Merrill Management are the scum of the earth, they have absolutely no care in the world of what happens to Investigators, It seems like there goal on a case is intimidation/ harassment of claimants as opposed to actual surveillance. In this day and age a Door knock pretty much is a red flag to a claimant, and if they dont answer once theyll have you go back again and again. So many times I had to go along with things that would burn me, but these idiots would never listen.  I hear a few of the case managers got there jobs cause they were intimate with a big boss down in Jacksonville but thats just speculation.

     They seem to think that there is nothing wrong with sending you an hour and a half each way for only 2-4 hours of surveillance when you dont get paid travel time. They want all there reports ASAP, some can take hours and you only get 16 minutes for. These people are really low, and I am through trying for this company as the most they give is a 3% raise every year which doesnt even keep up with standard inflation.  If you say anything about this, youll be accused of being greedy, and not being a team player, and you wont get as many cases.

     Anyone that is an Investigator for the company and says it is a good position and is not disgruntled probably only spends 30% of the time on case that there supposed to be there.

   This Company is simply not worth it unless you are just as much of a scam artist as the people in management.  Even the best most honest Inv in this company have to ghost some time so they get paid halfway decent for the hours that they put in.

      Do not work for this company if you are currently being recruited, its not worth it. They will tell you everything you want to hear, its all simply not true.

   Doug Merriman, John Ferrante- Why dont you low lives address the issues like you said you would in the email after you first discovered all of this on this site? Way to address the issue head on, do you really think anyone is going to email you directly regarding this? And have there hours cut down to zero?  You want to keep investigators honest, how about paying Investigators for the time they spend on cases.  

I am a former employee of ICS Merrill and I feel I need to throw my 2 cents in here.  I am not bitter, as I have left the insurance fraud industry altogether but I have to warn any future employees.  Do not believe what you are told.  You will not get 40 hours, without travelling 2-3 hours and several overnight hotel stays out of town.  If you file for partial unemployment benefits due to lack of work in the state of Virginia the company will sit on the paperwork and you will not receive the paperwork in a timely manner if you receive them at all.  I filed for partial unemployment in February and have not received one check due to the company not sending back the proper paperwork.

Also, if you are a current employee, don't bother giving two weeks notice.  I gave notice and was promptly not scheduled the final week so I lost a weeks pay.  They are vindictive, and will take it out on you if you mess up.  Also, they are afraid to be straight up with you.  The company messed up a licensing issue in another state while I was in the middle of working a case in that state.  They told me the case has been cancelled, but I found out through another source that my license was not properly renewed by the company and I cannot work in that state until its straightened out.  The case manager didn't even have the balls to tell me that, I had to find out from the person who handles licensing.

Basically, cover your a*s if you work for ICS Merrill.  Get everything in writing.  And I mean EVERYTHING!

Now that's the bad stuff.   I worked in Virginia and I am not sure about other states, but management will never tell you to invade a claimant's privacy, and the client is not billed for stuff we didn't do.  The investigators I worked with in VA were some of the best in the business and they do respect their individual licenses and will not do anything that will get their licenses pulled.  The only way final reports are altered is if multiple investigators work a file and each individual report needs to be merged together. 

So that's basically it.  All new investigators who get hired by ICS, please get the stuff they tell you in writing, be prepared to travel over 60% of the time, and cover your a*s!!!

Do not work for these thiefs they rip you off in pay and send you over an hour each way for 3 hours work. youll travel for free more than youll actually be working and getting paid. and you have to spend hours typing up reports that you do not get paid for. These scumbags are the only company I ever heard of that doesnt pay travel time. Dont believe what Wendy K tells you on the phone, do not take the job. Your better off on unemployment, these people do not care about any of there employees they will disregard you like trash. If you take the job you will regret it. Doug Merriman why dont you address the issue head on like you said you would, you schmuck, and have the pencil pushers in the office do there jobs and stop putting everything on the Investigator you schmuck.

Scott,

You are 100% correct except for the lying part.  If I were a claimant's attorney and was able to prove against your little white lies, I'd eat you up for dinner.

Good luck with that.

Fellow Spook

 I am an ex employee of ICS Merrill, and I am going to tell the 100% truth about this company, I was not fired, I have no grudge against the company. They do not DO NOT FALSIFY REPORTS in MANAGMENT while they do indeed scheme every Investigator in regards to pay. I was never once asked to lie on a report, and never once saw that my originally reports were changed besides wording and a little spicing up. . ICS Merrill never once asked me to lie on a report, I have never once heard or seen ICS bill any time that I did not work. While some of the managers shouldnt be managers at all, some are very knowledgeable in the field. They do however promise everyone 40 hours when they are hired, when each Inv probably averages around 20 per week. Which is downright wrong as people have families to support.  I was thrilled to leave the company when my old company picked up business because ICS Merrill rips you off with travel time, Repeatedly I traveled over 1.5 hours each way, for a lousy two hours pay because the claimant could not be confirmed home, and when I would say something about it I would get cut hours. ICS Merrill pays a whopping 7.15 per hour travel time, and guess what 2 hours each day is on you. So for a 4 hour case which is 1.5 hours from  an Inv each way, you will get paid a whopping 7.15 in travel time for 3 hours travel on 4 hours regular pay,  and they wonder why they cannot keep any employees, any other company you work for as an Investigator you will be paid travel time full pay no hour each way on your time which is ridiculous.  Also between sending out tapes, preparing proper forms and report writing, Investigators will also get ripped off, as there report writing pay is a joke you are allocated about 80 minutes per 40 hours, at half pay so your really only getting 40 minutes when everything will take you hours and hours to finish. And when you get your paychecks everything is not broken down so its much easier for these con artists to get ahead on Investigators. In addition, all of the things you say ICS Merrill made you do, tis all from the clients particularly ESIS. You will be forced to sit in front of houses where you will be made right away, get made trying to get video of license plates for what purposes, which is not due to ICS but those d****ebag clients. And if your allowed to do a proper investigation (IE not sitting in front of someones house on a quiet street) and you set up somewhere else, you will be forced to circle around the block every hour to get video of the house, once again putting yourself at danger.  Taking one minute of video per hour is what one client requests.  OF NO ACTIVITY What idiots. I cant count how many times I was forced to knock on doors when I knew the claimant would make me.   They(client) also request VIDEOTAPING IN A DOCTORS OFFICE!!!!  Which is against the law!!  That is how Investigators get made!! However, most Investigators are very compentent and there is pressure to perform due to lack of hours. I Repeat ICS Merrill will rip off its employees but kisses the clients asses , and will do any stupid thing that they request whether or not it put the Investigators safety in danger or not. Complete bottom feeders of the industry, but once again. ICS MERRILL DOES NOT LIE OR ALTER INVESTIGATORS REPORTS, ICS MERRILL DOES NOT BILL FOR TIME THAT INVESTIGATORS HAVE NOT WORKED. THESE ARE LIES. 90% of all Investigations in all companies have one or two white lies in reports. Thats just how it is, If an Investigator never told a white lie he would not last 2 months in this industry. ICS Merrill no more than the next company, and probably less to be honest. But management never tells Inv to lie, or falsifies a days investigation, all investigations require time shots at ICS Merrill, and I was never once ever requested to take ghost shots.

Hello,

I will not say too much as for now I am currently employed with this company and still need the job until I can find a decent one.  Economic times have my hands tied trying to care for family.

The investigators that I have worked with at ICS|Merrill have been a mixed bag.  There are as many good investigators as there are bad ones.  The pressure from management seems to come on strong after you have been with them for a year.  I honestly feel that they don't want you working much past 3 or 4 years with them.  You won't get much more in pay than when you started no matter how much or how hard you work for them.

From what I have seen so far is when they say jump you better ask how high.  Those that play ball and get the desired results without admitting how they got it or how many red lights they plowed through not to lose someone in traffic are the ones that will get what little work they have to offer to the investigators that were promised a 40 hour work week minimum. 

I personally was instructed to lie on reports from case managers in order to not lose time and money on a case that may have been too remote.  I have been told not to say that we were compromised by a claimant.  I know of one investigator that got compromised and never admitted it to his case manager after the case manager was informed by the client that the claimant's attorney called to say his investigator was confronted.  I have worked cases after one of these bad investigators pooped all over it and was compromised before my feet hit my bedroom floor in the morning. 

I have worked for some very good case managers but it has been apparent to me that they keep getting more inexperienced ones in all the time.  I mean ones that haven't got a clue how to run an investigation and won't even listen to any of your recommendations on how to run an investigation.  It's like talking to a brick wall.

If anyone can recommend any good Investigation companies to work for on a full time basis, please let me know.  I love the work I do and I am very good at it.  I would hate to have to give up my profession to work something else just so that I can make a decent week's wage.  I would prefer to work for a company that is nation wide.

As far as the company goes, I have a special CYA file on every incident where I was instructed to go along with something that I felt was unethical.  I have the dates and times in emails and in phone calls.  How far this evidence will go, who knows?

I have had my reports edited without being told, only to find out once going to court that it was rewritten by someone else and I had to tell them that in court.  Talk about embarassing! I have witnesses to this. 

THEY HAVE REPEATEDLY LOST EVIDENCE ONCE IT REACHED VIDEO TECH !!!

I have worked for some large companies and I find that the caliber of management is dwindling at this company.  It's a shame because there are some very good managers there.  It's unfortunate that they are being replaced by baffoons. 

I'm sure it's only a matter of time before someone up the ladder figures out who I am.  Hopefully I'll be gone before they have a chance to write me up or fire me for something absurd.

I can't help but think that maybe it isn't just the company.  Maybe it's the insurance industry as a whole?  Putting pressure on investigation companies to try to get the same level of professionalism for less money?  If it is, God help us all.

The phone message you get at ICS|Merrill while you are on hold talks about how "they aren't a surveillance mill".  They are.

I commend the Vice-President of ICS/Merrill for trying to do damage control on this website, but unfortunately, all the comments are true, even by Jen in Apache Junction. I quit very soon in their game and it is the first time I have ever quit a job that quickly. I am glad I got out when I did. After all the lies and promises of certain salary and then refused to pay wages, and speaking with an employee of theirs who has been with them for four years, I thank god that I got out quickly. This company would only serve a purpose for inexperienced investigators, of which I was, many years ago. You take jobs with the worst company just to get experience. I refuse to work with people that downright lie about wages, how many cases, hours, etc.

The letter from the guy that moved to Arizona to work is right on. He stated they said 40 hours and he worked full time very few cases. That is correct. They also lie about the areas where you will work. They do not have any experienced people working for them, as experienced and competent investigators will not tolerate all the lies about the pay and hours. There are too many legitimate companies out there and ICS is not one of them. The case manager in Florida seemed to be a nice lady, but she was a young girl with no investigation experience and had been a tech, never in the field.

One of their employees that had been there for four years told me that when he speaks with her, he can tell she has no idea what he is talking about. As the Vice President put it, some people are in the wrong business and she is one of them.  

The investigators who wrote in and said ICS has experienced staff, is wrong. They may have been with ICS for awhile, and that is what they are calling "experienced".But they didn't come there with any, and if they did, they must be very hard up for any job and must have very low self worth to let people treat them this way. Or maybe they are wealthy and don't need the money that ICS promises but will not deliver. I used to be desperate too but after they get some experience, they will have more pride in themselves then to allow themselves to be treated this way.       

Thanks to all the commenters for their interest in ICS Merrill. We would not normally respond to anonymous, baseless allegations, but so many of our outstanding associates are offended by the comments, that I feel compelled to respond. We welcome feedback, whether negative or positive, from all of our investigators, vendors, customers, employees and any other affiliates. But we are committed to addressing issues that are based in fact and raised by someone willing to identify him or herself. To do otherwise is usually just a waste of time and resources better spent serving our customers. Rational people recognize that comments which lack substance, detail and a verifiable source lack credibility. Our investigators take pride in performing their jobs with impeccable integrity and professionalism. We would never ask them to perform illegal activity. All of the allegations raised by Jen in Apache Junction, on this site are false. The assertion that our investigators somehow falsify their work is ridiculous, and if they were found to have done so, they know they would be immediately terminated. Their effectiveness and professionalism is rewarded with a competitive compensation package, benefits and incentive programs. As for our purported ex employee, I am sorry that your experience here was not satisfactory. Recent survey results from our group of over 400 investigators reveal that the vast majority are satisfied or highly satisfied with their employment at ICS Merrill. These are seasoned investigators with a frame of reference from working for other companies in the industry. ICS Merrill offers a workplace that is both challenging and rewarding but it is not for everyone. In closing, I would reiterate that this type of nonsense usually goes untouched. Thanks to our associates who remain insulted by these libelous comments, given their experience at ICS Merrill; an experience grounded in integrity and service excellence. If anyone has concerns about the quality or integrity of our services, the working conditions or level of satisfaction of our employees, feel free to contact me at 888-932-7364. Thanks to our dedicated employees who brought these postings to our attention.

I worked for this company for many years. I can guarantee that the rebuttal posted on 9/3/09 (Matt) is NOT an investigator for the company,  but rather someone within their good ol' boys network of management. Management loves to tout they are the biggest company in the industry,  but they surely are NOT the best. ICS is a company focused on profits and grasping as much control of the industry as possible. They are involved in "vendor management", which is basically corporate domination and control. Insurance companies should steer away from vendor management with regards to investigations.

ICS does have many experienced investigators working for them. It is MANAGEMENT who forces and pressures them to do illogical things, such as trespassing, or following claimant's into every location with a hidden camera. They also force investigators to knock on claimant's doors to verify their presence, even if it compromises the case. They are not concerned about investigator safety. I had an investigation once where the manager placed the claimant's-attorney phone number under the section for the claimant's residential phone number. They are at times overwhelmed ,and do not give cases the attention they deserve. Eventually I conducted my own preliminary investigations (using the INTERNET) because I did not trust the ones conducted by management/home office. You will only find quality service from smaller companies, and some regional companies.

 It would not suprise me if they falsified a day of investigation as you state. This is common with some companies (esspecially bigger ones). The investigator never sees the final report that is sent to the client, so they twist things if they like, knowing that only a small percentage will actually go to trial.

I left the company in 2008 because It was getting so bad. Not sure what it is like now, but I know all the ads for carrer openings are not because ICS is expanding, but rather high turn-over rate.

I have been employed with ICS|Merrill for nearly a year as an investigator and after reading this report I could not believe the writer is talking about the company that I work for. First, nearly all of our investigators are full time and have a good deal of experience in law enforcement, insurance claims, and private investigation. For more rural areas, we also have a large network of vendors who are able to handle claims in areas that we do not cover while still maintaining the same quality as cases which are worked directly by the our 400+ full time investigators, which is the largest in the industry.

Secondly, from the description of the case you provided it sounds like we more very successful at accomplishing the case objectives - to locate and document the claimant's activities so that it could be determined if they were inconsistent with their physical limitations and to ensure the claimant is not employed. You even said yourself in your report, updates were sent every day (as requested) that described the claimant's activities so an informed decision could be made about the claim.  -- As far as the possibility that the company could be coordinating with the claimant's attorney in order to produce video which misrepresents their limitations, words cannot describe how far from the truth this ludicrous and slanderous allegation could be.  As an investigator who is out in the field performing surveillance services, I can assure you that we try to avoid the claimant's attorney during a surveillance as much as humanly possible. We don't "work closely" with the claimant's attorney for any of the claims we handle, particularly during a high risk surveillance investigation. How would ICS|Merrill stand to benefit from informing a claimant's attorney that the claimant will be under surveillance on a particular day? This would result in only video which is meaningless to our clients. I can personally tell you that nothing makes us or our clients happier than when we document the claimant working or performing activities which are clearly out of their reported limitations. Not only does this make our clients happy, it very often results in thousands of dollars worth of additional surveillance hours to continue the investigation and gather additional evidence, not to mention their consideration next time a surveillance needs to be performed. I can tell you that everyone from the investigators in the field to the quality assurance manager to the CEO work hard to maintain the highest level of integrity and provide value for our customers.

Also, consider the source of this information the very attorney you are litigating against. I am sure that as workers compensation attorneys who represent disabled claimants, this attorneys office probably has more than a few good reasons to dislike both the insurance company and the investigators who prove that their case is unfounded and cost them a significant amount of what would have been fraudulent compensation money.

In your report you also describe a case in which you called the investigator and they did not know which case you were referencing. While you did not provide particulars regarding this case, I suspect that you probably called the investigator during another investigation when they did not have the information in front of them. Alternately, it is possible that another investigator had to cover due to a scheduling conflict or emergency, and the new investigators name was overlooked when the report was finalized. There is absolutely no tolerance for investigators who "ghost" or falsify video. Hourly time shots are required even with no activity and there are extensive internal controls to ensure that the investigators are always truthful and maintain the trust that our customers have come to expect from our services. I welcome you to contact the quality control manager at our corporate office to discuss the issues you described in your post so that they can be corrected and we look forward to doing business with you again soon.