I had a very brief time with Washington National Insurance Company. 3 Months to be exact. It was great, i was starting to learn the lingo, and the script. Everything was scripted, all the way down to the compliments that are given, and the way that we were to greet people. I was starting to sell little policies here and there, and even started to see my income out-weigh my expenses. We were spending nights out at the bar, and even eating at really nice restaurants without worrying about money. Then, i started to hit it big. My little $500 - 1000 policies turned into $2500 - 5000 policies. I was raking in the dough.
Sounds like the good life eh? just keep reading, the back story makes it all the better. . . .
I was having a bad week, and had one more appointment before i went home Thursday night. On that appointment, i had made the best sell yet, $8000 in premium in one home. I was on cloud 9. with the amount of commission o got off of that sell, it was going to set me up for a large payoff. It usually took a couple of days to process applications, so i checked to see the status. I noticed that there were double the amount of applications submitted than what i had sent in. I called PMA (who processed our applications) and asked what the deal was. They said it may look like double, but it will most likely disappear once they are approved. However, they did not disappear, and when i got my check, i was very surpised to see double the amount of commission i should have gotten. I called again, and i was told that it is right and that i was paid for what was submitted, so i thought maybe i hit some sort of threshold that got me more commission. That's when the hell started....
I got a call from the customer, who said that they were charged double from their account. (Washington National pushes agents to get auto-draft forms filled out so they don't have to deal with paper checks, smart for scamming). I assured my client that i only submitted the forms once, and that i would look into it. Then, he called back the next day stating that he got his policy in the mail, along with another bill. This time, for the amount that is for one of the policies that just started. He was furious and started swearing at me and calling me names, which i would only expect when over $15,000 is taken out of your account. I called PMA and they said everything was as it was sent in, but i had the proof that it was not the case. I had proof that i only sent in one of each application, not double of each.
By this time, my client had called the Department of Insurance for North Dakota (DOIND) and reported myself and Washington National for scamming him. Now i was dealing with phone calls from the customer stating that i owed him money, and from DOI stating that i may lose my license for wronful practice. That was when PMA USA actually started telling the truth, and that one of their agents messed up in the call center and submitted my applications twice, which in turn made me get paid twice. Now, i was told to pay back the money that i was given (which i used for expenses since i was not working as much from dealing with this situation) and that i needed to work it out with the client to get his money back for the overcharge. At this point, my client had already sent in cancellation letters for his policies, which meant that i was now being forced to pay back all of the commission i gained from that sale.
As you can imagine, i was furious. Not only was i having to deal with this situation (with no help from PMA or Washington National i might add), but now i was being told i need to give back my money? which i was using for expenses to try and make more, which wasn't going well i might add. I tried talking to my regional manager, state manager, even the area manager, and they all said it has happened to them and that i needed to essentially be a man and move on. That the more i work, the more money i will make, and that it might be a good idea to work an extra day out of the week to make up for what i will be losing. I couldn't put my family on hold to pay the company more money, so i left. I was told that they would keep me on the books for the rest of the year so it would help pay off the debt of the cancellation from my client, which i shouldn't be responsible for in the first place since it was the company's fault to begin with. After only a couple of months, i was sent a termination letter, stating that i would no longer be receiving any commission benefits from the company, and that i was officially off the books. This made me bad, but i had moved on already and had a good job.
Today, a couple of months after being taken off the books, when i came home from work and checked the mail, there was another letter in my mailbox. This time, even worse than being taken off the books. This one was a letter stating that i owe Washington National Insurance Company $3,176.38 per section VII(3) of my agent contract. Basically stating that from my terminaction, any indebtedness will be immediately due and payable. Not only that, they want it paid back in 10 days. The best part of all this, if they would keep me on the books for the rest of the year, the money i would have gotten from the monthly premium would actually add up to pay off the debt. But instead, they remove me from the books (which is understandable, since i quit) and request that i pay them back the commission while they are still raking in the money from what i sold, since i can check the statements to see that they are still showing up on monthly statements.
Either way, i hope they know that they aren't getting a dime from me without a fight, and from the sound of it, the only thing it is going to hurt is my credit. Which quite honestly, is terrible anyways, so fighting against someone who has nothing to lose is never a good idea. As far as i am concerned, i am glad that i got out when i did, and i do not recommend anyone working for PMA/WN, or buying from them in the future. Ever.
anonymous in mn
burnsville,#2UPDATE Employee
Sun, January 04, 2015
I could sure use your help! Lied to in MN! Have been with Washington National for a month! Did not know I was working for PMA USA and only limited products Cancer and Heart available in MN! Was hired as territory manager to service existing accounts! My manager been in industry for 9 months and is Regional Manager!
??? what do you do when your manager steals your sales (takes my lead my personal friends we wrote firstweek together and puts his writing number on only
what is the policy when you are working 4 hours from homeand your manager does not send in for weekly draw or is late
what is the company policy when you personally hand your manager an application and he sits on it for a week beoofre faxing it
what is the company policy when the manager works in another county... leaves you to the wolves and yells at you when you can't drive this township due to snow storms
what is the company poicy manager lies directly to face writes your leads himself
what is company poicyyourmanagerdemands you dig up your old clientsto convert their policies the first week during which time commission are split
what is company policy your manager gives you barley week training, if you can call it that
what is company policy your are expected to work and given no tools to work with... no access to agent hotline or a thing
I wrote business anyways... it made him mad HIS JOB WAS TO GET RID OF ME!
There is more..... The state manager DOES nothing...
I have journaled each day... sent to state manager nothing happened (they are friends)
sent to home office NOTHING
now finally I get response from state manager... he is having another regional manager (same level the abusive liar and theif!) to tell me how things are done at washington nation
btw I DID WORK MY MAPS! I was given the worst maps... also yelled at that I could not do referrals without telling him! I wrote business!
MAFIA I HAVE NEVER EVER EXPERIENCED ANYTHING LIKE THIS!! help
BTW MY MANGER YELLED AT ME AND MADE ME CRY FIRST TIME MET HIM! HE BY THE WAY WAS 3 HOURS LATE
SAID I REMINDED HIM OF ANOTHER AGENT HE HAD... THAT HAD BEEN IN INSURANCE BEFORE AND DID NOT LISTEN TO HIM
THIS GUY NEW MANAGER HAS ONLY HAD A COUPLE PEOPLE AND THEY LEFT
i DON'T THINK THIS MANAGER OR STATE MANAGER REALLY WANT PEOPLE IN MN THEY WANT TO WORK TERRITORY THEMSELVES AND GET RID OF THE PEOPLE HIRED
HOW DO I PROTECT MYSELF AND THE APPLICATIONS I HAVE WRITTEN FROM BEING SWITCHED
CROOKED MANAGEMENT WORST I HAVE EVER SEEN AND I WAS IN INSURANCE OVER 15 YEARS