There is big trend towards working at home. In fact, more than a trend, it’s becoming the new normal. But, the work-at-home landscape is not always easy to navigate… It’s the wild west of the internet with all types of outlaws trying to make money by scamming others.
In this Allegis review we’ll talk about them being a scam (spoiler alert; Allegis is not a scam), and provide some insights about Allegis Transcription such as pay, complaints, etc.
Disclaimer:
Please note, I am not a member or an affiliate for Allegis Transcription. This review has been researched with information and/or testimonials that are available online in the public domain. Any recommendations and/or conclusions are strictly opinions and may not to apply to, or agree with, all persons or situations. See full disclaimer for more info
What is Allegis Transcription?
Allegis Transcription is a transcription company (obviously 🙂 ) that operates primarily in the property and casualty insurance market.
They’ve been transcribing recorded statements in the insurance industry for more than 20 years and rather than relying on in-house transcribers, they hire independent contractors which is beneficial for both Allegis, and for freelancers who work from home.
Is Allegis a Scam?
No, Allegis is NOT a scam.
However, the work-at-home and make-money-online industry is so saturated with scams, legit companies like Allegis often get lumped in with them. The assumption is that everything online that makes you money must be a scam.
The other reason companies like Allegis get confused for a scam, is that people misuse the word scam.
For example, they may go in with the belief that transcribing is an easy way to make money online. You just type out words from an audio recording, right? How hard can that be?
They didn’t anticipate poor audio quality, difficult to understand accents, poor grammar, people talking over one another, and so on…
It ends up taking longer to transcribe than they originally thought, and since transcriptions companies typically pay by the number of words (Allegis pays by the page) or audio hour (not work hour)… their pay is much less than expected.
Rather than admitting the job is tougher than they thought, some just call it a scam and move on.
In general, Allegis hires experienced transcribers so this isn't an issue… but when someone says it about one transcription company, the industry as a whole gets dragged into the mud.
There will always be people not happy with the pay, but like any work at home transcription job… the more efficient you become, the more you can earn. Allegis is no different and they are not a scam.
How Much Does Allegis Transcription Pay?
Allegis doesn’t list a specific pay rate on their website because rates are proportional to the client contract.
Also, as mentioned above… the amount you can earn with Allegis depends on how fast and how accurately you can transcribe.
According to the company director, the pay per hour can range from $13 to $17.
Being a home-based transcriber is not about getting rich, it’s about lifestyle and independence. We often refer to these as work-at-home-jobs, but really… they are work-anywhere-you-want jobs (within reason of course. Transcription work requires a comfortable and distraction free environment with internet access).
Also… when you consider you don’t need to spend money on fuel, parking, lunches out… or maybe you no longer need a vehicle at all… that $13 – $17 an hour can potentially go a long way.
Allegis Requirements
The first requirement may put you out of the running…
Allegis only hires US based transcribers.
Don’t head for the door just yet though… you can check out this list of more than 200 work at home gigs and side hustles which includes a couple dozen other transcription companies you may be interested in.
If you are a US resident, these are the main requirements.
- Windows computer and internet connection
- A comfortable over-the-ear headset is recommended (the better you can hear, the faster you can transcribe)
- Distraction free environment with a comfortable chair.
- Compatible foot pedal
- Compatible and up-to-date antivirus.
Suggested Foot Pedals (compatible with Allegis software)
- VEC Infinity (Models IN-USB-1, IN-USB-2, IN-OS9)
- Sanyo (Model FS-56)
- Olympus (Models RS23/RS24, RS27/RS28
- Philips LFH 6212 / 2310 / 2320
Suggested Antivirus (compatible with Allegis Software)
- Symantec End Point
- Avast
- AVG
- Avira
- Bit Defender
- ESET NOD 32
- Kaspersky
- Linux
- McAfee
- Microsoft Security Essentials
- Norton
- Panda
- Trend Micro
- Vipre
- Webroot
Other recommended items…
Since your pay is dependant on your ability to be quick and accurate, a few other items you may find helpful are,
- Quick access to an online dictionary and thesaurus
- Grammarly (can help you quickly proofread your work before submitting it)
- Ergonomic keyboard
- A short distance between your work-space and a rich full-bodied brew of perfectly hot coffee 😀
Allegis Transcription Reviews
Like any company, people have a few complaints about Allegis but overall… it’s rare to see a company with such a high percentage of strong reviews.
Having not worked for Allegis I can’t say for certain they’re the best out there, but many reviewers seem to think so. Accurate or not, that claim ranks them among the better ones.
There are some legitimate complaints but none that you wouldn’t find with other transcription jobs. Things like poor audio quality for example are common with other companies.
Another complaint is that they hire too many people and there isn’t enough work to go around. I’ll touch more on that in a moment, but generally companies like Allegis do this because of fluctuations in demand and employee turnover (which is why they use freelancers).
According to Allegis demand can fluctuate by +/- 20%.
No increases in the rate of pay is another common complaint, and Allegis addresses that as well, explaining that company rates are proportional to customer rates which (like contractor pay rates) remain constant.
To look a this a different way, a variable pay scale doesn’t necessarily mean a higher rate of pay for the experienced… to be financially viable could just mean that they reduce the rate for new contractors.
Overall, despite the few complaints… transcribers are happy working for Allegis.
How Much Work Does Allegis Have?
Mentioned above is the complaint that Allegis hires too many transcribers, and as a result, there isn’t enough work to go around.
This relates to another common compliant… that Allegis does not offer paid time off or benefits.
If you’re going to build a work-at-home/side-hustle life, it’s important to recognize, and shift from an employee mindset to an entrepreneurial one.
You are an independent contractor… a freelancer. Allegis does not pay for time off or provide benefits because you don’t work for Allegis. Instead… you are a contractor and Allegis is YOUR CLIENT.
Think of yourself as a business that provides transcription and other freelance services. As a business, you’re NOT looking for employers. You’re looking for clients (customers) to buy your services.
And, like any business… you need more than one client. Allegis is just one, and they are only going to buy your services (transcribing) as needed.
To make a living as a transcriber and freelancer, you may need several clients, and you’ll have to balance how much work you can take on (or turn away) to provide a level of consistent service that your clients expect.
And… as a business, you’ll need to provide your own benefits, time off, and pay your own taxes.
Final Thoughts
Working at home can be tremendously rewarding. The key to success though is treating it like real work.
With all the get rich quick schemes and false promises of making money online, it’s a common misconception that work at home gigs are all about coffee shops, yoga and pajamas.
On the extreme end you have “gurus” promising mansions and Maserati’s.
Transcription work is not easy. It's not a coffee shop lifestyle (at least not most of the time).
But, it is a valuable skill to develop and Allegis is a great place to earn money at home and hone your skills.
You can learn more about transcriptionist jobs by checking out the Allegis jobs page.
I hope this Allegis review was helpful and if you have any comments or questions, please share in the comments section below.
Thank you for your research on freelance transcription….as a seasoned medical transcriptionist, I’m happy that you have educated the reader…everything you have written is accurate. There is only one area I can expand on…
And, that is, there are company employees that will route certain favorites easier work…which means others ultimately receive the more challenging dictation, which decreases the number of document pages you are able to transcribe. Bring retired, I am looking for a part-time job, so a great deal of the negative responses do not affect me…like insurance, paid-time off, etc. Again, thank you for your honest comments and your research.
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience and insight. It’s very much appreciated 🙂
Can a Chromebook be used to transcribe for Allegis?
This transcription job would be a new thing for me. I am attracted to it for its flexibility and working from home. I would like to give it a try.
Reading all the good reviews, I like to be a part of your Team.
Thank you.
Jeanette
Hi Jeanette, the best place to begin looking for Allegis work is on their [jobs page]. Hope that helps 🙂
I am a current IC for Allegis , and this is a wonderful company to work for. I have worked for numerous transcription companies, but none with the flexibility Allegis offers. As to the bad audios that people have complained about on Glassdoor, this is the norm whenever you are transcribing audio files, and the statement that almost “all of their files” are horrible is not true. As to work holds, I have only ever experienced one, and it only lasted for like a day or two, nothing major. Their pay rate may stay the same, but I have also been awarded “monetarily” for going above and beyond my requirements. And my page rate is much higher than with any other company I have ever worked for. So, yes, they do try to give little perks to their IC’s, even though we are not technically employees. Overall, this is a great company to work for, and I highly suggest looking into it if you are an experienced transcriptionist.
Hi Denise, thank you for the great review. Nice to hear that they do offer some perks and treat their transcriptionists well.
Appreciate your insight,
Jay
how do allegis pay? I’m curious, I’d really like to work for them but I don’t believe in paying via Paypal because of that 3.9% Paypal tax!
Hey there,
Thank you very much for your thorough review on Allegis transcription. It came quite in handy for me. 🙂
I see in one of the screenshots on your post, one user complains that they don’t compensate you for the extra effort you put into into the projects you work on.
Does this have a huge impact on your earnings and time spent on the projects, or I should ignore it and join the program?
Please give me your expert advice on this.
Hi Dave, the extra time can have in impact yes, which is why I always recommend you look at yourself as a business… not an employee. You are providing a service.
A business requires some up front investment (time, money, or both) and you also need more than one customer/client (which Allegis is). As you get better at what you do you’ll become more efficient at the task which will increase your profits, and you’ll also gain insight into the market value of your services. As you get more experience you’ll learn which companies are profitable to work with, and which ones are not.
Transcription is a valuable skill (especially when it comes to medical or legal transcription) so it doesn’t benefit these companies to pay so little they are constantly running through people. They must provide quality service to their clients (if they want to stay in business), so they need to maintain a solid roster of quality contractors.
Having said that… I wouldn’t stick to transcription. As a freelancer you should venture off and invest some time into other areas and provide other freelance services as well. Artificial intelligence systems are getting exponentially better and unfortunately, transcribing is one of those jobs that’s an obvious target for smart software systems.
I dont want to challenge your answer, but I do want to say that yes AI is getting better. With that being said, that also opens more doors for editing. The reason I say that is because AI is NOT as good as the human far. People do use it, bit they dont like going back and fixing all the mistakes. Ive been training for medical transcription and will be also for legal. Within my course we talk about speach recognition. The problem with it is training the technology to yoir speach pattern and getting the homonyms right. Speach recognition is not smart enough for these things yet. So for quite some time transcription still be here and theres also the possibility of editing the text which could take just as long to edit than it would to transcribe. I did enjoy your post. Off I got to apply.
Hi Brittany, you make a great point. I agree, currently AI is still behind and editing will be a big part of the process (I hadn’t considered that).
My concern about AI though is that it’s advancing at such an unpredictable rate. Not necessarily general artificial intelligence like we see in movies, but narrow and task specific AI that’s only good at one thing, but is exceptionally good at it. It’s hard to predict when we’ll see that coming into this industry but one of the fastest growing areas of AI is speech and text recognition which has the potential of wiping out not just transcription jobs, but many others as well.
You make some great points though, thank you for reading and for your insight, I really appreciate it.
Jay