Instruction on how to take pictures that make scratches look deeper… Big Motor’s “unfair personnel practices by executives” and “the real relationship with Sompo Japan Insurance”!

Big Motor” has made a fresh start under the leadership of new president Shinji Izumi (54). The company has begun to move away from its fraudulent ways, but the trust it has lost among customers and employees will not be easily restored.

A young employee in the sales department reveals the current miserable situation.

The number of customers has been decreasing, and now it has dropped to about one-tenth of what it used to be. There is no word from the company about future prospects, and the number of people who want to leave is increasing rapidly. In an effort to retain them, the company has informed them that even if they do not achieve their quota, they will be paid the average of their commission from April to June for the next six months. However, how much will still be left ……. I too am wondering if I should submit my resignation soon.”

With the resignation of former president Hiroyuki Kaneshige, 71, who is believed to have caused the fraudulent structure with excessive quotas, and his son, Koichi, 35, who served as vice president, it appeared that the company was being rebuilt, but ……. A former Big Motor executive, who has also served as block president, asserts, “The pus has not yet been drained out. The “royal family” of executives, who together with former vice president Koichi Koichi were in control of the company’s management, is said to be at the root of the problem.

Managing Director Tetsushi Itsumi (48) and Director Shoji Otsuka (43) have effectively controlled Big Motor under Koichi. We hear that their intentions were reflected in unfair personnel actions and excessive quotas. One of the most egregious was the “environmental maintenance inspections. I was often in charge of driving them to and from the office, but they responded completely differently depending on whether Koichi was there or not.

When Mr. Koichi comes, the two of them make an appeal to him by pointing out the problems he is facing at the site. On the other hand, when Koichi is not around, they just sit back and let their subordinates handle things. They were the ones who looked to Mr. Koichi for work, not to customers or employees.

Koichi was even ridiculed within the company as “Conan-kun” because of his small size and pride, so having yes-men in the company must not have been a bad feeling. As long as these two remain on the board, I don’t think the company can truly improve its structure.

The outbursts of the three men also extended outside of the company’s operations.

After the environmental maintenance inspection, the manager of the restaurant basically entertains the guests, but if he doesn’t like the food at the restaurant he visits, he is subject to demotion. I was once instructed to find a place to have a drink even though a state of emergency had been declared. A manager who had booked a hotel room in Koichi’s name by mistake was demoted after an environmental maintenance inspection the next day.

Direct instruction on how to take pictures

The aftermath of the pursuit has also reached non-life insurance companies that failed to detect the fraudulent claims. Sompo Japan is particularly under scrutiny. It has been revealed that Koichi was employed by its predecessor, Nipponkoa Insurance, and that a total of 37 employees have been transferred to Sompo Japan since 2011, suggesting a close relationship between the two companies.

Amidst all this, some surprising testimonies have emerged. A former employee of Big Motor, who has experience as a store manager at a store in the Chubu region, revealed, “Sompo Japan told me that they were going to transfer the employees to a new store.

He said, “Sompo Japan gave our sheet-metal department staff direct lectures on how to take pictures to make the damage to the vehicle look bad. For example, there are cases where scratches that disappear with polishing are not covered by insurance. I was giving them guidance on how to take pictures of such things, saying things like, ‘If you take a picture from this angle, the scratches will look deeper.

There are other testimonies that deepen our suspicions about the close relationship between the two parties. A former employee of Sompo Japan, who was in charge of insurance payments, said, “Even when we found out that the claim had been padded by several hundred thousand yen, we did not have the climate to point it out.

Big Motor is a very large client of Sompo Japan. In addition, even if they had been able to detect the padding, it would have been difficult for them to point it out. At Sompo Japan, too, we were reprimanded in front of many people or at a drinking party if we did anything against the boss’s wishes, and we were forced to do miscellaneous work, which was akin to power harassment. I think it is tough to speak up in such a situation.

When we asked Sompo Japan about these allegations, the company responded that it was unable to confirm the facts regarding the instructions on camera angles because it was unable to identify the case in question. Regarding the power harassment allegations, Sompo Japan responded that it was thoroughly conducting individual interviews and various questionnaires, and that it would “make every effort to pick up the voices of employees based on the premise that they are perceived in various ways.

Big Motor’s attitude of deceiving customers and pursuing only profit is unacceptable. A thorough investigation is required.

From the August 18-25, 2023 issue of FRIDAY