TO ALL READING, especially thise who have succumb to the Primerica Scam.
This passage also came from a rebuttal to another Primerica REP, Kevin from Oklahoma, but in order for all to view, I've created a new posting. Some of what you read may be directed directly to Kevin. If you are a Primerica Rep, you might want to replace Kevin's name with yours as you have fallen into the same trap. If you haven't read Kevin's posting please do so. He is speaking from inexperience, just as many of us have before.
I did not read the passage comparing Primerica to the holocaust, and even though I loathe Primerica, there's obviously no real comparison. Perhaps one can find an occasional similarity, for instance, many Jews were not aware they were being led to the gas chambers, but in fact thought they were going to a shower house. The comparison is that many new Primerica reps perceive Primerica as the shower house, when in fact it's the gas chamber. You are led to believe that Primerica is the answer to you and your family's prayers. That you will find happiness through your association with Primerica. The Jews were taken from there families, raped and murdered. Their road was tragic, unconceivable to most, and in the end, after months of false hope they were executed. They had no chance. The difference with Primeca though is that for a while you do in fact find happiness. You feel an overwhelming sense of importance.in fact Sigmund Freud said it best: that we as humans seek one thing more than any other. We seek a 'feeling of importance.' Can any one reading this deny that you do not seek this? Kevin's lengthy passage led me to believe he does and now he thinks he's found found it. Let me make this very clear for you, IT WILL BE SHORT LIVED. You my friend unfortunately cannot see this clearly, YET, and it's not your fault.in no way is it your fault. I speak from personal experience, Kevin. From one educated man to another, please heed my warning and take steps to exit Primerica now, before you learn for yourself, what I learned the hard way.
Let me explain further. Yes there are many people in Primerica who truly want to do good for others. BUT, let's be realistic, everyone who joins Primerica does so for a reason. The majority of those who join do so for financial gain. AND everyone who has ever been recruited into Primerica has been led to believe that they can be wealthy working for Primerica. That is far from the truth. A very large percentage of people who join never make enough money to be wealthy. You can definitely make some money, no doubt, but it's the way the money is made that drives the ethical people away. A pretty good friend recruited me into the business a couple of years ago. I fell for it hook, line and sinker. I was in a similar situation as you, and I was looking for a greater sense of importance. Not to mention I thought owning a Primerica business would be the way to go.
I, like all the rest before me and after, was recruited the same way. Led to believe that I was 'THE CHOSEN ONE.' Someone who could be a great PFS leader and make an impact on the middle class family. Ding ding ding ding. The alarm should have gone off right then and there, but it didn't. Here I was, as financially uneducated as a slug, no real business sense and I was being told I was the one. Plus the opportunity meeting I had attended was in a hallway next to an elevator. We actually had to get up when people used the elevator. DO YOU GET MY POINT?
Everyone they recruit is told the same thing. But those who have been in then business for any amount of time know without a doubt, they are telling the potential recruit a BOLD FACED LIE. I was there. I am an ethical person who found this out and made the decision not to stay. You PFS REPS are brainwashed, as a PFS'r I know you hate that word, but it's true, they are brainwashed into thinking that what they are doing is actually right. They are taught to justify their techniques of recruiting everyone and anyone. They say and I quote, "How can we discriminate or differentiate between those that are capable of being successful and those that are not?" "We just have to recruit everyone we can and let the chips fall as they may." What an incredible line of Horse - .
I was at a seminar once and heard Cheryl Bartlett, NSD from CA speak. She for word said, you need to recruit everyone and follow up with them until they BUY, JOIN or DIE. Yes that's exactly what she said. Does that familiar Kevin? Didn't you tell the Rep on the phone that you weren't interested and that were joining the Air Force. Weren't you surprised to get ANOTHER call from him the very next day?
In reality, once you tell them not to call, they're not supposed to and can be fined for doing so. The point here is, you were surprised by the phone call, the REP that called you planned to call you again even though you had told him not to. He basically disrespectfully disregarded your request and called you ANYWAY. How does that make you feel? That's what Primerica Reps do, remember I was one and I did it.
I have lost the respect of friends and family members because I believed I was doing what was right. I thought Primerica was so good that I was willing to harass others to push the business. YES that's right, harass. And I really didn't realize what was occurring, right in front of me. I have since regained the respect I had once lost, but only after apologizing and explaining what I had learned and how Primerica was in deed leading thousands down a path of no return. I believe that I am a very ethical person with morals and good values.
Primerica literally forced me to be someone I was not and before I knew it I was in the same boat as the rest, traveling down swollen rapids, any minute about to be capsized by an unforeseen wave.
Kevin, and all reading this, I'm not putting anyone down. I'm writing this to make you aware of what you are not aware. I know you have heard this before; People don't know what they don't know. This works two ways.
New Primerica recruits don't know what they don't know. Are you aware of what a chargeback is? Are you aware that if you ever leave Primerica that the RVP will hunt you down to claim any money you had charged back to you when clients cancel their accounts. Are you aware that you will be required to spend Saturday mornings or some other chosen morning to give up each week? Not to mention you'll be made to attend the Opportunity meeting every week. Are you aware that if you miss a meeting you will be chastised and if you continue to miss the meeting you will be viewed as a non-conformist and an outcast. Are you aware that the same thing will happen to you if you miss a 'Star School' or Fast Start School'. Are you aware that the RVP can change the schedule around his time or schedule meetings on a whim and you had better make them if you are a team player? Are you aware that you'll be forced to pass off high interest loans to your clients as if they were good, all the while knowing they could search elsewhere for a better deal? Are you aware that the FNA is really nothing else but a colorful packet purposefully geared to do two things; recruit you and sell insurance to you? Are you aware Primerica recruits in order to get to your warm market and to recruit them and sell insurance to them? If you fall off, so what, at least they've tapped into the people you know and haven't really lost anything.
HAVE YOU THOUROUGHLY READ THE IBA (CONTRACT)? Again, have you thouroughly read the iba? IF YOU HAVEN'T YOU NEED TO, TRUST ME. Only after I had left Primerica and was faced with a chargeback balance did I realize just how helpless and defenseless I was. The IBA is a well-protected document and often times RVP's won't let anyone take them from the office to review it before making their decision. The IBA was written, edited, rewritten and reedited by Primerica's lawyers to ensure Primerica is protected. Let me repeat, to ensure PRIMERICA is protected.
The company does not care about the individual reps, but of course it's own interests are of great concern. I left Primerica over a year ago and I still get mail from them asking me to repay a chargeback.
Here's another tad bit of information. There is a book out there called the ABC's of Financial Planning. It came out, coincidently, this time two years ago during our annual convention in Georgia. We were introduced to the book because on page 212, if my memory serves me, there was a blip about Primerica. The authors praised Primerica for being the only company to meet all 15 of their standards of a viable business. The first thing we all thought was, WOW, did I make the right decision or what. Here were two guys basically telling me that I was in the right place at the right time and that my decision to join Primerica was the best decision I had ever made. How fortunate was I.
Right after we learned of the book, thousands of PFS reps lined up to buy the book and sales sky rocketed. Let me let you and everyone else in on a little secret. Believe me or don't, I have the inside truth. I learned later on that one of the two authors was a personal friend with some of the higher ups in Primerica and the inclusion of Primerica in this book was done solely to boost sales of the book.
What a marketing ploy or should I call it a scam? What better way to make a Million and a half bucks, quickly and painlessly. Let's market our book to 100,000 plus Primerica reps that will buy anything that they think will boost their business. They're sitting on some beach somewhere, sipping margaritas and laughing it up. How ingenious you say, I say they couldn't have acted anymore selfishly if they tried. Guess what. I bought one of the books. How was anyone to know though?
Kevin, I could go on and on and on. I personally delved deep into the Primerica products and learned things that many are not aware of. Things that would scare clients away if divulged. I'm not asking you to take my word, you and I do not know each other so what real right do I have to tell you what to do. You will soon find out for yourself what I'm talking about and you too will realize that you were promised a Pipe Dream that for many will never come true.
I wish all you the very best. Those with ambition are rare. Do not think for a second that you made a wrong decision by joining Primerica, just an uninformed decision. Primerica Financial Services are the ones to blame for the practices they continue to promote.
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