surveillance investigator

siu investigator

claims investigator

investigator

administrative assistant

VRC Investigations

I worked for this company for about a year in 2014-2015 as a field investigations manager and the on-boarding experience was really good.  I was flown out for an interview, had a great chat with numerous people and then hired a couple weeks later. My issues with this company revolve around how it trains (or lack there of) their new hires.  Classes were small with roughly 5 people, but the 2 or 3 instructors were distracted by their own case loads and constantly on their phones and laptops handling field issues during class time.  One would think their cases would be given to somebody else while they were in instructor mode.  They would also remove us out of the classroom so operational conference calls could take place right in the middle of our training.  The course was an absolute mess and disorganized.  No tests, very few handouts, etc. There were some scenarios on how to type information into the system, but it was really weak. Very obvious these were field managers asked to instructor and not instructors asked to instruct.  Delivery skills were lacking.  There's no way a course designer was involved with the process of building it.  It was more of a "what should we talk about today" feel.  From the owners down to the administrative personnel,  you couldn't ask for a nicer group of people, but I lost my interest as time went on due to the lack of the company preparing me for my job.   The internal database used to track investigations was really old and cumbersome in comparison to similar off the shelf programs and their hourly pay tracking system was a mess which made for weekly pay reports a nightmare.  Numerous programs on the market could easily handle all that at the manager level.  I came from an insurance company background to VRC and I really didn't care for it.  The pay was lower than what their competition was, but at the same time it was good to be exposed to that environment  to know it wasn't for me.  I know there's a high turnover rate and training has a lot to do with it.  At least a couple years ago it did.

Lets start with the hours. You do not know where, when, or how long you are working until some times 12 hours before you need to leave. Most of your 40 hour week will be drive time 9.50/hr. Your on site time is 16.40/hr. You will be required to travel a lot. It is not uncommon to drive 2-3 hours and work 4 hours on site. Your millage is a rip off. Your hours change day by day. Some days you work 2 hours away at 7am. The next day your work 30 minutes away at 1230pm. However, they will not tell you until around 3pm the day before. 

If you have family, or your dating, or going to school, or doing anything else this job will not allow it. Your schedule may call for a 4 hour day and end up being a 14 hour day depending on the amount of activity. You will be placed in dangerous neighborhoods, and your not allowed to carrying any type of weapon including, mace or pepper spray. It is not uncommon to get shot at. Your raise is based on video rate and loss rate. They will not say it, but it is expected you run red lights, speed, and do all manner of illegal and dangerous things in order to keep up. Your over time is based on your drive time and onsite time. Drive time + onsite time % by total hours. If you have 60 hours in and 30 of that is driving you will be payed OT on 13.50/hr average just for example. 

The training is terrible, the management is hit or miss; some are good, some are bad. The pay is horrible, maybe 25k a year after expenses. You will drive roughly 40k plus miles in a year. Fixing your car will become expensive. Yes, they give you 100 dollars a month for your car after 6 months. If you put it this way most working as field investigators make it 1 year, some 2 years, very few make it past that. If being a PI is what your looking to get into DO NOT WORK HERE. You will have to sign a non-compete order. If you quite or get fired you can not work in the same field for a year. 

I have warned you as I was warned. Do not make the same mistake I did. Go work for someone else, anyone else.

Where to begin.

Don't trust anything you are told by management with this company. When COVID was hitting hard, the company promised everyone that they would not lay anyone off in a very dramatic impromptu meeting. This was a meeting in which we were not allowed to social distance, and we were forced to sit without breath masks next to one another. They would not start the meeting until we were all sitting next to one another in chairs, despite what the state health department was advising at the time. 

We were then told that VRC had been through a number of economic recessions, and never once had they ever had to lay off employees. This would be no different!

The company then proceeded to lay off investigators and employees in mass. This wasn't the worst part about working for the company. The managers were awful and they habitually sent out emails in which they listed their grievances concerning frivolous matters. How frivolous are we talking? One of the latest ones I can recall was a VP complaining that employees were having their lunches delivered via UBER eats. Reception was tired of receiving these food deliveries, and so they banned food deliveries and threatened to write up anyone who got food delivered.

Don't expect to get a bonus, and don't expect to move into any higher positions. Also get used to hearing managers talk badly about other employees. This company does not know how to motivate it's workers, but it does know how to pressure you into working 6 days a week and tell you that you are not working hard enough in a position where even senior investigators can't seem to keep up with the workload. 



Admins are treated poorly. Low pay and expected to do A LOT of tedious work, every day.

 HR/managers only care about themselves and field investigators. Office staff is REQUIRED to sign birthday cards/hospital cards for investigators, but if someone in admin or desktop is in the hospital, tough. 

They use PTO for EVERYTHING. You only get about .8 days per month starting out and then they are "upset" when you try and use PTO or unpaid time off. 

Also, even if you are at or above 40 hours a week you CANNOT leave early unless it's a "family emergency" or "medical appointment".

They keep hiring more staff, but there's not enough parking. People with 10-7pm shifts end up taking a hike to get to the office building, which can be scary at night.

Not allowed to talk or listen to music, but most people listen to music anyway.

If you don't do your job you can get demoted to "hospital canvass" or as it's posted on job sites, "research assistant", which is cold-calling a bunch of different hospitals, pharmacies, etc. on a daily basis. Also, admin/desktop can be "forced" to work this whenever HC is overloaded with work, which is, quite often. 

Promotions from admin are "lateral". My "promotion" came with more work/responsibility but no raise.

Basically you work really hard to do a good job and end up getting paid the same (or less) as someone who is just cruising through.

I've told so many friends, DO NOT APPLY HERE. If you don't believe me, read the reviews on glassdoor. The only joy provided by this job is from the cool co-workers you meet and when you hand in your two-weeks notice- trust me.

It is a good place to get started in the career of a PI but that’s it.  They have asinine rules and do not pay as well as the job says.  There is travel pay and Investigative pay.  Investigative pay is decent but travel pay was a joke.  They then average out both numbers and apply it to standard and overtime pay.  You’ll be lucky to make $30,000 a year with tons of overtime and you will travel all the time.  This is not a joke, you will be traveling over 30 percent of the time and it’s not just your state.  You are told about the cases on a per diem basis so you have no life and they truly do not value employees.  It’s a factory, just get them in at a higher rate and get them working with no regard to the employees safety, morale etc.  In one year expect to put over 50,000 miles on your car.  They will teach you how to do surveillance and are good at it, but it comes at too big of a cost. (Ask them what documents you will be required to sign during training which is in Texas by the way).

They do not teach you how to be a PI, they teach you how to do surveillance.  I am an excellent surveillance investigator because of their training program.  Now that I’m away from them I am a really good Private Investigator.

Summary:

Travel:  Oh yea.  Farthest I travelled was across the country by plane and by car was 8 hours.

Training:  Yes -At cost

Life:  No - Per Diem Cases.

Advancement:  Not going to happen regardless of what they say.  They just won’t.

Pay:  They will pay on time, and will pay what you work.  You never have to worry about this.  It’s just not what it seems.

Conclusion:  Only desperate people apply!!!

I started as a surveillance investigator with no knowledge of the industry.  After a few years, I was one of the top investigators.  Out of the blue, and unexpectedly, they offered me a management position in their home office.  

There have been some ups and downs since I’ve become a manager but 95% all positive.  There’s a lot of movement (expect change) within the regions, but most of it is due to growth.  The company has probably quadrupled in management staff since I was initially hired.

A typical day of work involves working alone in your office, managing your case files, reviewing reports, talking to your investigators, and talking to clients.  The majority of your case files are your files and will be handled by you 99% of the time.  The most enjoyable part of the job is figuring out problems.  The hardest part of the job is getting the clients to answer the phone or e-mails.

The health benefits are so/so, but some of the other benefits are good.  I’ve taken several CE courses and received numerous certifications, all of which were reimbursed by the company and recognized in my evaluations. 

The bottom line with this company: It’s a big company, but still has a small company feel to it.  If you’re good at your job (visiting investigators/visiting clients/getting results) and you work hard, you will be rewarded with monthly bonuses, annual bonuses, promotions, etc.  If you’re not good at your job, then don’t expect that much.

I'll start off by saying that my immediate managers for my sub-department within admin were excellent individuals to work with. Also, aside from the former team lead, my coworkers and team members were generally good workers and pleasant people. 

Middle management, on the other hand, is a disaster. They simultaneously want to micromanage but also showed no interest in trying to understand my specific tasks within the team. When additional responsibilities were dumped on me shortly after I switched teams, I had to beg for a raise. Despite always finishing my assigned work for the team and helping out in the admin queues when time allowed, I was constantly punished with forced overtime because the rest of admin was behind. They teased the possibility of remote work, but 5+ months later, management wavered and said nobody was ready. On top of that, there's little, if any, opportunities for advancement unless you want to become an investigator.

VRC is an excellent place to work. The culture is accepting and friendly and everyone that I've met in the company has been committed to one another's continued success. I have been with the company for about 8 months. There is nothing better than going into work every day knowing that you are doing important meaningful work that is recognized and appreciated. It is an exciting job with tons of knowledgeable coworkers from multiple fields. VRC is like a family. The leadership and people who work here care about each other and show it every day. Employees are not micro-managed here and they trust you to do what you were hired to do. They promote from within in many cases and that provides a great opportunity to move up for those employees who work hard and are committed to making the company even more successful. People that work here who have come from other companies often comment on how much better they like it at VRC. They have figured out how to make employees successful by providing them solid training and a lot of support. The opportunities for people to grow in their career has been seen in all areas of the company.

I worked here for almost three years and absolutely loved it up until the last year or so. This is a great place to get experience in the industry but it is not a place to stay. Favorites are played. If you are hiring on in admin, desktop, or research assistant be prepared to be micromanaged like crazy. The rules change everyday depending on who it’s coming from. The admin manager is inconsistent with training. Promotions are lateral. If you want a raise you’ll have to beg for it and threaten to quit. VPs have full control over your pay but have no idea what you’re daily tasks are and they don’t care to know. If you are good at your job you will get more responsibility/tasks on your plate with no compensation. Benefits are pretty good & once you’ve been there over a year the PTO is earned quickly. Depending on your manager, it is pretty easy to take time off or makeup time. I will say, if you have an issue - HR is quick to handle it so that’s good.

Started out with the company several years ago and I was very ambitious and excited for a career. The travelling and nailing people committing fraud was fun but it became old. But this company never appreciated their employees and there is rarely any advancement. If you are single and have no life... then this job is for you. Traveling 3 weeks is common and putting 2,000 miles a week on your personal vehicle is also common. But if you want a stable career, do not choose this company. They micromanage every single move and destroy your way of thinking creatively and effectively. They have an "open" door policy with the upper management/CEO but they do not follow through with their employees. 

If you want to make $15/hr. (with VERY limited raises) working like a dog (60-70 hr. weeks) and seeing America, then this job is for you.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Surveillance investigator 110 salaries reported	$27.00 per hour
Siu investigator 38 salaries reported	$30.04 per hour
Claims investigator 16 salaries reported	$32.00 per hour
Investigator 3 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour
Administrative assistant 14 salaries reported	$15.55 per hour

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