Complaint Review: Primerica - Citris Heights California

I remember A.L. Williams. The structure of this company is pyramid, essentially speaking. To be successful, you have to be able to recruit others in and get to be RVP and above. It's impossible for everybody to be successful because you need an infinite pool of people to pull from which never will exist in our world. Only the ones near the top of the pyramid make the big money. The commission from product sales is very meager and other means of income must be resorted to. Unfortunately with this company it also does a lot of lying and deception.

I remember A.L. Williams. The structure of this company is pyramid, essentially speaking. To be successful, you have to be able to recruit others in and get to be RVP and above. It's impossible for everybody to be successful because you need an infinite pool of people to pull from which never will exist in our world. Only the ones near the top of the pyramid make the big money. The commission from product sales is very meager and other means of income must be resorted to. Unfortunately with this company it also does a lot of lying and deception.

I remember A.L. Williams. The structure of this company is pyramid, essentially speaking. To be successful, you have to be able to recruit others in and get to be RVP and above. It's impossible for everybody to be successful because you need an infinite pool of people to pull from which never will exist in our world. Only the ones near the top of the pyramid make the big money. The commission from product sales is very meager and other means of income must be resorted to. Unfortunately with this company it also does a lot of lying and deception.

I remember A.L. Williams. The structure of this company is pyramid, essentially speaking. To be successful, you have to be able to recruit others in and get to be RVP and above. It's impossible for everybody to be successful because you need an infinite pool of people to pull from which never will exist in our world. Only the ones near the top of the pyramid make the big money. The commission from product sales is very meager and other means of income must be resorted to. Unfortunately with this company it also does a lot of lying and deception.

There are a lot of people out there who have been misled and brainwashed by Primerica and its idiot representatives. Some of the rebuttals attacked the person who recently talked about her college degree and not wanting additional training, accusing her of thinking that she is better than they are. It is apparent that she is a little stronger or more observant than Primerica's defenders and representatives because whe was not taken in by them and didn't naively believe all the crap they tried to shove down her throat. Primerica's defenders/representatives are a little sensitive because it is widely known that the company is not completely reputable; that is one of the reasons they must operate almost underground (not because they are avoiding advertising costs, as they claim). Why not attack the company for what it is? It is a scam. They are purposely vague, and purposely misleading so they can mold the weak-minded, gullible people they snare. They don't want intelligent people who will ask questions and react to all the red flags. They want clones who will blindly and resolutely do as Primerica tells them. The bottom line is you have to sell, but they will not come out and say that because most people cannot sell. They are an insurance rep now underwritten by Travelers, apparently. Travelers is at least the 4th or 5th company to underwrite Primerica's policies. That in itself is a red flag. Sure, they may offer other 'financial products', but their main product is insurance. Not that insurance is a bad product, but many people don't know much about insurance, and there is a stigma attached to insurance and insurance salespeople. Primerica's reps are trying to sell insurance and other 'financial products', but they know very little, if anything, about what they're selling, so the consumers are uninformed and mislead. Unfortunately, the customers don't find any of this out until after they have purchased a policy, and they try to get the policy serviced. And the ridiculous part is that Primerica really believes that even in light of being misinformed and misled, the customers should still be convinced by the rep to make the purchase! They believe that you should tell the customer as little as possible, sprinkle around a little BS, but just convince them to buy! I will not even BEGIN to address the inferiority of the products that Primerica sells. The largest portion of their 'financial products' are overpriced, underperforming rip-offs, plain and simple. With Primerica's 'prospecting' tactics, most people run away screaming. As anyone who is legitimate in the insurance business knows, a reputable agent does not have to prospect. Primerica's representatives are poorly trained in the art of selling, and know very little about the insurance industry or the financial services industry. They offer the least training possible (usually a weekend crash-course with a self-described insurance expert) so their reps can pass the Life, Accident, and Health portions of the insurance licensing test and start selling and bringing in money right away. The funny thing is, they lead the trainees to believe that they are becoming licensed insurance agents, and that is not entirely true. They also mislead potential customers into believeing that their reps are financial advisors. This is completely untrue. Also, most people cannot be 'trained' to sell; either you can or you can't. This makes no difference to Primerica because the more blind, uninformed followers (reps) they have, the more money the company makes. Helping people get out of debt and moving toward an early/easy retirement is a bunch of propaganda crap. Who is becoming financially independent? Not the entry level reps. Most people do not realize how small the commissions are on insurance policies and other 'financial products' (such as the ones sold by Primerica). Talk to any REPUTABLE insurance salesman, and find out how many policies have to be sold per month to become financially independent. Believe me, I know. Not only did I sell insurance for some time, but my current husband is a REPUTABLE insurance salesman in a family-owned agency, and we are FAR from financially independent. What Primerica also hides from its victims is its past affiliation with A.L. Williams. Does anyone remember A.L. Williams? Does anyone remember the scandal with and the investigation by the SEC after they tried to run a rival company called Amerishare Investors out of business? Why do you think A.L. Williams and his company disappeared off of the face of the earth? Primerica is the same company. They were actually the parent company of A.L. Williams. I (very much against my will) was exposed to this company 15 years ago, just before I got married. My then-fiancee and I were intelligent and strong-minded enough, however, to see these people and the company for what is really was (and is), so were not sucked in by them; not that they didn't try to get us. They were unrelenting, calling us several times a day at home, leaving many messages on the machine, saying that they will keep calling until we agree to an appointment, dropping over, etc. The idiot that was calling us was actually the friend of a family member of my then-fiancee. I must point out that the family member DID NOT give the rep any info about us. This rep took it upon himself to try to recruit us because we were young and just starting out. He also felt that just because we were young, we were naive enough and as stupid as he was to believe all of the hype and crap; and of course, he wanted to use us, all of our young friends, and my large family to make money. This idiot came to our wedding, UNINVITED, to try to recruit us AND to 'prospect' for himself! That is the honest-to-God truth! Their tactics have not changed, as I still get these idiots contacting my current husband and me after obtaining our resumes and/or personal information from legitimate sources. We are contacted by them on a regular basis. They have covertly (illegally?) obtained information on my husband through insurance licensing information sources in our state, since my husband is a licensed insurance rep and they would LOVE to snare him because he would need no training whatsoever! He could just start making money for his imbecile 'uplines'! They are predators that scan resume resources and other employment resources then contact candidates with the false offer of a management position. However, there are no details given about salary, benefits, location, etc.; only about this "awesome oportunity". If the company is so reputable, why are they constantly contacting people to try to dupe them into signing up? If it is a true employment opportunity, why do you have to sign up? When you do sign up, what exactly does that get you? Funny, that their reps cannot answer these questions. The 'interviews' are nothing more than rally sessions where the weak-minded representatives try to get other weak-minded people 'pumped up' about all the supposedly WONDERFUL things Primerica has to offer. They count on the crowd contagion factor. After that, they will bother you non-stop. They will harass you and try to force you to reveal the personal information of friends and family members that they will later try force you to contact and make appointments with so you can sell to them (they call them references at the beginning of the reeling-in process). They want you to 'prospect' and 'recruit' by calling everyone you know (the rep I was bothered by came to my home and DEMANDED that I get out my address book so he could sit next to me while I made phone calls for appointments!!), or just dropping by their homes to "drop off some literataure". The popular training tactic is to leave you car running so your victim will believe that you have just 'dropped by' and that you are not pressuring them, when in fact you are. They even want you to 'prospect' in public places like shopping malls. Primerica also heavily promotes that 'rah-rah' attitude about the company because they want to hide the truth. They don't want their reps revealing the truth. It's all a smoke and mirrors thing. So, the defenders and representatives of Primerica can continue to whine and cry and object to what people are and have been revealing about the company and its tactics, but the bottome line is that all the negative stuff (and more) is true. They have to operate covertly because they don't want to reveal what is really going on. They have to rely on weak-minded, gullible people because most people can recognize what is really going on, and they know what the deal is. The few people at the top of Primerica who are rich and financially independent have become that way by deceiving a lot of people, selling out and selling this crap of 'the dream' to many, many gullible and financially desperate people in this country who are willing to and need to believe it.

Go to this link: http://www.citigroup.com/citigroup/business/index.htm There you will find all the businesses listed that are under Citigroup's "umbrella". Citibank is one. Primerica is another, Travellers, Diners Club, along with others. Whatever weirdness is going on with Primerica, this woman did not lie to you when she said Primerica is a part of Citigroup. It is, and that's the truth!