Complaint Review: Insphere Insurance Solutions - Internet Internet

 For anyone out there seeing this website after a job offer or considering making a complaint about a specific experience, I'd just like to take this time to clarify a few things.

Let me just explain the way things are structured here and how I believe the majority of these complaints materialize.

Insphere is a Brokerage. All of us, each "Salesperson" with the company, is a non-employed, INDEPENDENT, contractor. Every one of us handles our customers and our business in our own way. The management at this company is eager to teach, train, and mentor; they encourage us to handle our business in an ethical and morally correct fashion.

However, that does not mean that the average starting agent will necessarily follow suit. There are, and will always be, a couple of "bad eggs" in any field. Personally I meet with all of my clients face to face, explain whatever product they are interested in with full disclosure, and let them make their own decisions as to what products work best for them and their family. This IS what Insphere teaches and encourages. No scamming, no "Hiding" products.

As insurance agents, we are paid by commission. This is the standard in this field, nothing strange there... But, as a way to make the transition easier for starting agents, the company pays "Advances" upon a sale, instead of allowing the residuals to pay each of us monthly. The average advance is only 8 months of commission, for example:

If I sell a product which gives me $50 monthly in commissions, and am advanced 8 months, I get a paycheck the same week, for $400.

Now, this is another thing I've seen a lot of complaints about on this site... "Charge-backs." IF you write a policy that does not stay on the books as long as you were advanced commission for it, the negative balance is tracked on your "Back-end" account. Unless you write a lot of bad business, this back-end account will gradually bring itself back up over time, turning from negative to positive. This is when you begin to receive your "residuals." (The monthly commissions for all of your standing business.)

We make our own schedules. There are no sales quotas. There's nothing that forces you to do the right things to fuel your business. And, let's face it, it's very easy to FEEL like you work all the time if you focus on the little details, even if you never do the required activity that really does generate business. So, typically, someone signs with the company, very new to the field, writes a few policies, gets very comfortable, and stops doing the less exciting activities that actually keep the business rolling. This is where the problem starts-- Money stops coming in, the new agent panics, writes a few policies that don't meet the underwriting requirements because they need to make money fast, and the client drops all of the coverage if one or more company declines them. This means that the back-end account takes a big hit, (so now, yes, the agent DOES owe the company money,) and when the agent repeats the same behavior over and over, eventually the company HAS to let them go (Think about it, if the client stops paying, and the agent's already received their piece of the pie, the company is losing money.) So now, the agent, who could not make themself walk into a small business and introduce themself, or hang up a flier, or make a few phone calls, has a debt that they need to take care of. It's black and white really, there's nothing unethical about it.

I personally have not made much money since signing with InSphere. BUT, I know WHY I didn't make anything, (I didn't work much,) and I had other means of income at the time which left me comfortable regardless. I know several agents who break a hundred grand every year, and they are no different than you or me. They're average people, one worked at FedEx, one was a pastor. No real business training of any kind.

If you sign with this company, and really do the activity that they recommend, you'll make what they say. It's a numbers game, folks. If you call 40 people, you'll contact 5, schedule appointments with 2, and sell 1. These averages are tried and true. If you call 400 people a week (about 20 hours of phones, not really much work,) you'll make 10 sales, every week, CONSISTENTLY. If you treat your clients right, you'll be rewarded with referrals, and not have to dial half that number to make the same income.

Don't write off this company just because someone else had a bad experience. This is the most rewarding job I've ever had. I am in the business of HELPING people, and I make great money doing it. If you've been treated the wrong way by an individual agent, just keep in mind that it's not Insphere that wronged you, it's the specific agent who handled your insurance needs.

 I "worked" for Insphere for 8 months. That was enough time for me to accumulate almost $18,000 in credit card debt while toiling for Insphere trying to make them money. They didn't want us working for anyone else, so we had to devote all our time to Insphere.

Come to find out after I left that this is common practice for this company. Lure the people in, get them to write up all their friends and family members, then matriculate them out.

Most will leave on their own, but some are asked to leave.

Now they are coming after me for advances they say that I took - depsite the fact that they already filed taxes and issued a 1099 form to me indicating the money that I was paid out by them.

They are threatening to sue me and are assuring me that they will ruin my credit.

I want to see this evil organization stopped before they ruin any more lives.