US Fidelis has just announced that they laid off more workers this week in an effort to cut costs.  They started with over a thousand employees and are now down to five hundred; they claim customer support and current extended car warranty contracts will not be affected by this downsizing. US Fidelis has been in the news for quite some time now; none of positive, except for their own late night advertisements. Here is a brief rundown of what has been going on:

• US Fidelis has an “F” rating with the BBB
• Class action lawsuit against them for unethical business practices
• Sued by BMW for $200,000 for illegally using their trademark
• Sued by Missouri Attorney General for unethical marketing
• Settlement with Verizon because US Fidelis was behind telemarketing cell phones

Personally I’m not surprised that they are laying off hundreds of workers after reading all the shady business practices they have been implementing. If you hear it from the owners though, they are just victims of the economy and bad publicity. They are not doing so bad though; multimillion dollar homes and vacation homes around the world, fancy cars and boats. Seeing such an extravagant lifestyle they are leading makes one wonder why the company can’t afford to cover more claims…

If you would like to read more about what has been going on with US Fidelis check out this local news story.