Complaint Review: Primerica - Toledo Ohio

First of all let me say that because of the posts on the Rip Off Report coupled with the huge body of claims and allegations made by so many people on the internet I called my bank and stopped payment on my $200 check to them to start the employment process. Although I have not totally dismissed Primerica as a possible source of income, I am about 99% suspicious of them; OK, 99 1/2%! At this point I am willing to meet one more time, but have assembled some hardcore questions for which I need satisfactory answers before I'd become involved.

They explained their compensation program and its different tiers and led me to believe that I'd be making about $1000 a month in a part time status. I could double my percentage (25% raised to 50%, and then even higher) by recruiting only 3 people and meeting a minimum sales quotient, both from my own work and then also from the work of my recruits.

The pay, however, is not where my red flags come from. I did my orientation in their office, a crappy run down office on the second floor in a two story office building. There were barely any desks, wooden boards on half size filing cabinets, lots of chairs for meetings, several VCR's and phone wires strung across the floor. An ancient Pentium 1 computer (possibly a 486) was the only computer in the office for inputting the FNA's. The place looked like they had just moved in, or were moving out. Supposedly there was a new suite of offices down the hall that were being renovated for them, but it seemed strange to me that a company owned by the largest financial conglomerate in the world didn't have desks, or computers, or couches, or artificial plants, or typewriters, or a telephone system, etc. etc. One of the new recruits was even offering them an older computer he owned but no longer used for the company's use in the office, and they were accepting! Everyone wore casual clothes, no suits. Personally, if I were recruiting a room full of people to work for me I'd wear a suit to impress them-to motivate them. At least a shirt and tie.

The woman who recruited me, let's call her Miss J., said she found my resume online at Monster.com, where I had posted one (if someone wants me who am I to deprive them?). She told me she had just started with the company and was still learning the ins and outs. The pieces started falling in for me after my first "orientation meeting". Here I was, my third meeting, my first serious meeting, and there's 30 of us in a room. They split the group- about half including Miss J. go to another room for their second orientation meeting and the rest of us are there for our first. Before we split, the leader, Mr. D., shares with us that he's new to the area, compliments people on their accomplishments and talks about Miss J. making her first big sale, receiving a check for $1,200.00. Red Flags galore! At our first meeting together Miss J. had told me about her success converting her sister over to Primerica at one of her very first appointments- rewriting a loan for her saving her $50k over the term of her mortgage. So now this made me really think...she's told me she's been with the company for three weeks, she hasn't yet completed her certification, already knows how to prospect for recruits on the internet, has made 2 big sales, and is going only for her SECOND ORIENTATION MEETING in the next room? Add to this the shabby office, complete lack of technology, casual attire...how many red flags can go up at one time? Then the kicker...there is no Miss J. (name withheld, I'm not sure exactly why, but does it matter?) in the local phone book nor is there a Mr. D. (the franchise owner). Were most of the 30 plants at that meeting? Were only a handful of us actually there to "sign-up"? A quick call to my bank stopped payment on my check.

I'm 47 years old, have never worked for anyone except for myself, am very comfortable with sales and speaking with people and saw brokering Primerica's services as an opportunity to pick up some extra income to pay for my kids' upcoming college tuitions. Who can argue with their logic? Get 100 people to give you $200 each. Take their $20,000 and set up a really nice office where you can recruit another 500-1000 people. Sell some mortgages, and some term insurance; rewrite some loans. Move Miss J., the eternal newbie, to the next office in the next town, where her upline can continue to grow and her downline make money for her at the actual average $5000 salary paid to a CFP per year (or ACFP if they never get certified) where she can continue to prospect on the internet, and other places to find new recruits. Let her new upline write some more business...or not. What does she care at that point?

Personally I have no problem with Amway, or Primerica, or multi level marketing, or pyramid schemes and I certainly don't have a problem with selling, busting my butt and working 7 days a week...I do it now. If the work is legitimate and I can earn money from it I'm instantly mildly interested. The problem for me is that these Primerica people have too many things they're out there covering their butts for while I'm out there busting mine...

Hope that helps someone....

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