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  • Report:  #167382

Complaint Review: Primerica Financial Services - Nationwide

Reported By:
- Victoria, British Columbia,
Submitted:
Updated:

Primerica Financial Services
primerica.com/public/ Nationwide, Canada
Web:
N/A
Categories:
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?
Most of what I've read about Primerica Financial Services here focuses on their recruiting tactics. Having known a down-on-his-luck laborer with learning disabilities who was recruited by them, I can attest that he did not achieve the "fantastic" success and freedom the recruiter offered.

My own experience with PFS, though, has to do with the way they aggressively targeted me and fellow students in a women's employment skills course I attended some years ago. They were invited (or invited themselves?) to give a free workshop session to the group on "financial planning".

There was _some_ general financial content covered, but the majority of the workshop was spent convincing the dozen or so econonomically-disadvantaged women there that they were irresponsible and putting themselves and their families at great risk if they didn't buy life insurance immediately. Furthermore, it was not *any* life insurance that would do, but Primerica's product.

I was a young single mom at the time and was affected by their presentation, so agreed to talk to their salesman. He came to my house the following week, and was visibly upset when I wouldn't sign anything on the spot to purchase insurance.

He called again a few days later, and asked if he could drop off some additional information while he was out on a personal errand. When he arrived, he had his pregnant "wife" with him.

He excused himself to the kitchen to make a cell phone call, and while he was absent, she told me a long sad story about how she'd been a single mom for many years before meeting the rep and that she "knew what I was going through". She quickly began reiterating how important it was for me to protect my family, etc., etc. by buying insurance. This set off my alarms. I was certain then that I was being "worked over" mercilessly.

When he returned, I informed him I wasn't going to buy the insurance. He basically berated me, insinuated that I was stupid and naive, not to mention irresponsible. He was, again, clearly annoyed, and just began repeating, "Come on, don't be silly. Come on!"

I must have said "No" about a dozen times before he conceded that our "appointment" (my flogging) was over.

I found out later that several other women in the group were pursued in much the same way, one including the wife, and that this rep's "specialty" was targeting single, low-income women. Now that I have my own business degree and experience (I was 21 at the time)I understand the mechanism behind his hard-cell tactics and am not surprised that he was successful in his "market".

I do hope he has reformed and/or has a lot of trouble sleeping at night, but I doubt it.

A formerly poor mom

Calgary, Alberta
Canada


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