Primerica Financial Services is a multi-level marketing company that sells life insurance and investments. I’ve written about Primerica in the past, questioning whether Primerica is a pyramid scheme, and whether PFS is a scam.
The bottom line is that Primerica sells legitimate products and services (life insurance and investments), but sells them at inflated prices to generally unsophisticated consumers. So consumers are overpaying, and likely buying the wrong products. Additionally, the MLM structure sucks for the Primerica representatives. Because there is recruiting with so many levels, the distributor who sells the products receives much less money than if he or she sold similar services through a traditional insurance agency or investment company.
A typical recruiting ploy in Primerica is the job interview. Representatives of PFS troll the internet for job seekers, harvesting resumes from job sites. They contact the job seekers with an offer of an interview for an opening. They give the job seekers very little information about the “job” (it’s not a job at all… rather it is a position in the MLM pyramid), con them into showing up for an interview, and telling them if they have the right skills, they may be invited to stay for an information session.
The truth is that the “interview” is no interview at all. It is simply bait to make a [possibly desperate] job seeker to show up for a potential job that doesn’t exist. Everyone gets invited to stay for the informational session, and everyone will be strong-armed into signing up as a representative.
Below is a narrative of how this went down for one PFS representative. She submitted her story to Pink Truth, a website I run about Mary Kay Cosmetics and other multi-level marketing companies. Notice how the representative not only deceived the job seekers. He also deceived the new Primerica representative, telling her that he was helping her and teaching her how to recruit people into her downline, only to keep some of the recruits for himself.
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A few of us bought into a resume site, access to hundreds of local resumes. My Primerica Regional Vice President (RVP) we’ll call “John” offered to teach me how to call them, to build my team. I felt awesome, like he had seen the potential in ME to want to spend time teaching me. Now of course I realize that I was probably the only one who wanted to learn. Sigh.. they’re so good at manipulating, or “leveraging” as they call it.. they create false demand and artificial scarcity all the time. The whole “you QUALIFIED to spend time with me” thing seems ridiculous to some on the outside, I know. I totally see it now. But believe me, when you’re lacking in confidence any morsel thrown down from the master’s table seems like a feast.
Took a few days of being put off, “appointments came up”, etc, but finally we were sitting in his office, my stack of resumes in front of him, me sitting eagerly poised to take notes. He picked up the phone and began to dial but I noticed he pressed *69 first.. what, he was blocking the outgoing #?? I must have looked confused because he said as he dialed, “people are more likely to answer an unknown number than if they see the name.” I was shocked… I thought we weren’t doing anything wrong? Why the need for secrecy? I thought everyone wanted/needed our products and opportunity.
Of course, now looking back and seeing it for what it was, I see why he wanted to hide behind secrecy. At the time though, it didn’t sit right with me. Plus, I knew I had read somewhere on POL (online website for reps) that it was against compliance to block the number. I started to say “but I thought…” and my face must have conveyed my thoughts because he impatiently rolled his eyes and cut me off, lowering the mouthpiece slightly, “look, we’re not supposed to, but I’m here to run MY business and I know what gets results.”
Just then someone clearly answered because he quickly spoke into the mouthpiece, his voice fast and sharp, “Hi, I’m looking for Amy…” I listened to the call and to him book the interview, but my thoughts were jumbled. I didn’t understand how he could deliberately break a rule like that. Especially because it just didn’t seem necessary. Why keep the name of the company a secret, wouldn’t they eventually HAVE to know? Like, you might be able to trick them into showing up without knowing the company name, but then what? Later I learned that they do “whatever it takes” to lure someone out, then rely on the hyped-up emotions stirred up by the Opportunity Night presentation to get them to sign the agreement and pay to join.
Sitting there listening, my mind went back to the phone call that him and I had, when my interview was booked. He had rushed through the call, creating the perception that he was a busy man with many interviews to call for a much-in-demand position, and when I asked the company name he rushed through that part as well. In fact, the only thing I remember from that call was his saying “Citi”… weird. I must be remembering wrong… I tuned back in just in time to hear him say, “well, have you ever heard of Citi?” then pause.
I couldn’t make out the muffled answer but saw his demeanor change to become a bit more aggressive. “Like I said, I own my own business and am looking for some sharp people to add to my team here. As far as positions, I haven’t even met you yet, how could I know what you’re qualified for?” Listening again.. I leaned forward and held my breath to try to hear the woman’s reply through the phone. Something about more information.. John said, crisply, “I’m offering an interview, that’s the first step in the process. Second is you would stay for a career information session at my office with all of the successful interviewees and then I give more information. I spend my time with people who show up.” Another pause, then I saw his face relax a bit as he gave directions for the office and set up an interview for 6:30pm that night.
As he hung up the phone I exhaled to release the tense feeling I felt, then realized I had been holding my breath for most of the call. He went on to make about six more calls, each leaving me a little more tense than the last. He seemed so angry, I thought. Like, if someone asked a question that would be fairly customary in the real world, he really would let off on them with something snippy like “well, I don’t know what you’re worth yet. I don’t even know if you’re someone I want to work with.” But then again, I thought ruefully to myself, maybe he was right and I was too soft. After all, he was the successful one here of the two of us.
Now, of course, I see it through different eyes, more objective and analytical. When you feel the need to bully someone like that, there is something lacking in you. NOT the other person. When you get that defensive and that angry, it’s like you feel the need to justify yourself so you go into defensive mode.
Now I also understand more about “success” too. He did have an office, yes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he made the money to keep it afloat. In fact, given his air of desperation in hard-booking like that, the evidence appeared to point to the contrary. I felt anxiety throughout this whole calling session. I realized, if “success” at PFS meant doing this forever, I might not make it. I just didn’t understand.. when they hired me on they told me that referrals would pour in and “we never cold call.. in fact the company prohibits it!” complete with fake hearty chuckle. Then why was he so eager to get ahold of my stack of resumes, leads I had paid for?? Didn’t add up.
That night I came back to the office a bit before 6, when the first interview had been set for. I was the first one there so I put the lights on and tidied up a bit. Promptly at six a man walked in and introduced himself and said he was there for an interview with John. I pasted a smile on my face and said “of course, he’s expecting you, he just stepped out for a few minutes” though inside I was fuming. Now what?! Did he expect me to conduct this interview? Anger gave way to fear.. what if I interviewed him and messed it up and he stormed out of here angry and calling it a scam? John would be furious with me.. I felt paralyzed with indecisiveness.
Now of course, I see several red flags in the situation. A real boss wouldn’t be furious with me for honest fumbling. A real boss would have trained me properly in the first place, not have been so blinded by potential dollar signs and a “taking care of ME first” attitude. Thirdly, in a real job I wouldn’t be so terrified that the person would think “it’s a scam” and I wouldn’t care if they came on board or not.
Fortunately, my paralysis didn’t last long. John breezed through the door and introduced himself then instructed the man to sit down for a few moments; he’d be “right with him”. He went in his office and closed the door. As the man sat looking around at the various posters and motivational items on the walls I felt that anxiety-induced tension again. What should I be doing? Talking to him? No, better not, or John would be angry that I said something wrong. I kept my head down and fiddled with my phone, then shuffled some papers in a folder, desperately trying to look busy and important. Instead my thoughts were screaming through my mind.. really, what was John doing in there?! Why keep this guy waiting, wasn’t that terribly unprofessional and disrespectful?
Sizing up the interviewee’s professional attire I again looked around, feeling self-conscious as I really noticed for the first time how cheap and tacky the office looked with its random motivational decorations and big scoreboard marking sales and recruits. I stared at it blankly for a moment, noticing how low the numbers were. It must be weekly, I thought to myself, no way that’s monthly? It’s the 23rd already, isn’t it? I dismissed the thought as finally, after several minutes, John opened his door and beckoned the man in, intruding himself again.
I got up to follow the man into John’s office but he closed the door. Now I was really confused. I thought I’m supposed to be learning here? I wondered to myself. I started to feel a bit angry as I realized that John wasn’t really interested in teaching me, he just wanted to get any recruits in that he could.
Then I felt a bit ashamed for thinking badly as I remember John’s words to me, that he would always act in my best interest as an expert in building a business. Surely a man that professional-looking would be deterred by someone as inexperienced as me in the room, I rationalized to myself. Okay, made perfect sense. I took a few deep breaths and began to greet reps I knew as they began to enter for the Opportunity Night. There were a few guests, but I kind of nodded and said hi then left them to my much-wiser business mentor so that I not blow it by saying something dumb.
Just before the session started I looked at the guest book and noticed that John had put his name beside most of the new guests, though 4 were a result of my resumes. I furrowed my brow thinking I thought he was making those calls for ME.. shouldn’t I get credit for those names? But I again dismissed the thought, feeling a bit guilty for doubting John. Surely it wouldn’t matter in the end, as long as we get the recruit right?
I was wincing to myself at times, man this guy could be a jackass. I suddenly found his bragging really off-putting. Funny thing is, the first 20 times I heard this same spiel I was envious of his life and attracted to the lifestyle he proclaimed was not only possible, but a given if one followed his leadership. Now, though, I felt different. It just all seemed very cheap and tacky, like the trinkets around the office.
I focused on a plaque over John’s head as he bragged about his family’s last vacation, noting his “highest attained income” splayed across it in huge numbers. Suddenly it occurred to me, who knows what that really means in context. What would that income really be after all expenses, office rents, etc, were deducted? Plus his wife worked full-time here too. Split between two people working full-time, it really wasn’t that impressive. Plus who knew if they actually still earned that? There was literally no way of knowing. Even asking the guy flat-out wouldn’t help, he was pretty slick and dodgy at answering direct, factual-type, questions.
I looked back to John, who had now moved on to the “hard close” part of the presentation. He had become quite animated now, telling the audience about “what all was included” for the fee. I noticed several of the new people in the front row looked very restless, like they just wanted to get out of there. I checked my watch. An hour and a half already? Oh jeez.. he told them on the phone it was a “quick 40-minute session.” Again, the little lie bothered me.
Randomly the thought popped into my head, he also said working 2-5 hours a week would mean an extra $1-2000 a month for your family but I quickly dismissed that thought. It would be too painful to add up all the hours, dollars, and gas I had so far invested into this “business”.
The evening eventually came to an end, and I watched John as he scored 2 new recruits. I wanted to be pumped but I found it hard to ignore the fact that John had blatantly lied when the professional-looking man had asked if there were any additional costs other than the $99. John said no.. yet I knew that wasn’t true. I also knew what John would say if I asked him about that one. Same thing as he told me when I asked him why I hadn’t been told about the fee to write the state exam: “we give recruits information on a need-to-know basis.. too much information would overload your mind and paralyze you from making smart business decisions.”
Once the new recruits, the professional-looking man and a scared-looking, awkward young guy who looked about 20 and was wearing ripped jeans and left on a bicycle, had left, John was photocopying the paperwork to put in the mailbag for tomorrow. I noticed that he put me as a recruiter on one of them, and himself on the other. I raised my eyebrow, curious as to how he could explain that one away. He noticed, and must have read my mind because he said in an argumentative way, “hey, I need something to show for my time too right. It won’t end up mattering in the long run anyway, you’ll have enough new recruits to train.” I nodded silently, not wanting an argument. Deep down I felt angry.. what part of this was training to help ME? I realized, for the tenth time that night, that this guy was an asshole, and that was most likely what had halted his progress in his business.
We walked out to our cars, him telling me about how successful the evening had been. He clapped me on the shoulder with a hearty “see you tomorrow for training!” and I watched him climb into his beat-up Honda civic. I had heard him talk many times about the cars and houses that the top leaders in the company owned, and had asked him when he was going to get the viper posted on his wall.
I remembered now, although I didn’t pay attention then, how defensive he had gotten as he told me he was “too wise to throw away money on a car”. Baffled, I shook my head. What’s this guy’s deal anyway? Discouraged, I climbed into my own car and went home. I wasn’t really looking forward to more training in the morning, but figured with the scared-looking new teenage recruit coming, John would at least be in his “jovial, upbeat” mood. It was sure better than his “you guys aren’t doing anything, you’re being a bunch of losers” talks he usually gave at training meetings. I shook my head, frustrated again, starting to wonder how long it would take til I would really succeed at this. Wondering if it was even actually possible.
Many years ago, I got a call at work from a Primerica recruiter. I was VERY unhappy in my job and I had been actively looking. The man told me he was a head hunter and had seen my resume on Career Builders. He asked if I had heard of Primerica. He acted surprised that I had not. He launched into his clearly rehearsed and scripted talk. I said that I was exclusively looking for Purchasing/Procurement roles as I was a buyer. I was not at all interested in becoming a sales person. He said he absolutely understood that and that his office was new and he had many openings. He specifically mentioned that he was looking for a qualified office manager and that my resume looked like I was very well qualified. I was very interested in that. So I booked an interview with him. I arrived at the interview and when I walked in the door I heard LOUD hard rock music playing. That really put me off. I walked in and saw chairs set up like there was going to be a lecture. There were 10 or so young men dressed nicely milling around. There were about 20 other people sitting in the chairs. I was looking for a receptionist or something. I ended up seeking out one of the young men and telling him I was there for an interview with Mr. Blah Blah. He introduced me to that person and I presumed we would be going to an office. He told me to have a seat and that there was going to be a presentation. I sat and as soon as the presentation started I was NOT happy because it was clearly a come sell this stuff and get rich thing. When it was over I again thought, ok so now I’ll get the interview. The dude ignored me completely. I went up to him and asked him about the office manager role. I don’t remember exactly what he said to me but I realized I’d been lied to and I was so mad that I just walked out.
I though I was going on a great interview in my early twenties when I strolled into Prime America! I wasn’t amused. There was a Prime America in the office building I currently work in, and I can’t tell you how many young, eager, looking people would pull up looking nervous right before their big “job interview”. I had to smile a shake my head every time I saw one of these unsuspecting people heading in….
I interview with a Primerica Financial guy like 15 years ago. Got a free dinner out of it, but I never did anything with it and didn’t give them any money. Ha!!!!
I have an apparent interview with this so called “PRIMERICA” today and from reading these blogs I will not be going, this looks like Kirby (the vacuum cleaner) a 10 person session and rudeness and inconsideration to those looking for a job I don’t think so…I will pass on this thanks to all of your blogs its a fraud obviously and I am not going to waste my time on this, thankfully enough I do have a real job and to think I almost turned it down, I got a phone call from this lady name Ratna Kong she was calling me from her cell phone and she told me someone recommended me to her about a position, about being a supervisor and training I knew something was wrong when I couldn’t look up her number on google or find her name or the company….thanks again
I wish i had read this before i went, wasted 20 bucks of gas to go, and was exacly has described, what a waste of my time, and i went all nicely dressed.
Thank you all for this… i guess i wont be going to that appointment today…
I also am one of the many that got called out of the blue for posting my resume online. The woman who did the “phone interview” was very nice but once I got off I didn’t even recall what the job was really about and realized she set me up in a few days for an in person “group interview”. Sounded too good to be true about the money and needless to say thank-you to everyone here I will not be going. I can feel it’ll just be a waist of my time and I would rather work for a company with a good reputation.
I also received a phone call from a guy who said had my name refered to him by someone. He said they are looking for people to sell financial products and to recruit and train new employees. After reviewing those comments I will not be going for and interview. Thank you all for saving my time and money.
Me too! I asked who the person was that referred me and the lady laughed and then said a name, and i did know someone named that but i hadn’t talked to him in a year. So then i asked him thru Facebook and he said no and now im here and im so glad i am. im so agree i wonder how they got my info.
I was actually recruited by a Primerica rep that paid the $99 fee for me. After realizing her main focus was getting recruits I began to question this whole Primerica thing. And yes the higher ups do benefit from your recruits they aren’t going hard for no apparent reason and they will convince you they are blue in the face that Primerica will help you build your own business within a business. They prey on the uninformed, they want your warm market, and your warm markets warm market.
Wow I just spent $99 on nothing!!!!!!!
They have my info and address and all kinds of info will they use it against me if I dont work for them?
I have an interview with them tomorrow. but after reading this I won’t be going. The guy recruited me at the mall and all he gave me was the address, no description of the job, not the name of the company. But i’m not stupid so i looked it all up what the job was and where it actually was and this seems to be all true. thank you for opening my eyes!
i have an intervew tomorrow too, but i decided not to go after reading, thank you.
I also just had the same call and scheduled interview for friday. The call was so unclear and left me with wanting more information. So i googled and seems like a scam i called back and canceled
I am suppose to have an interview tomorrow as well. I am unemployed and the guy on the phone made it sound so good and easy to earn some extra cash. He told me he worked with Primerica before it was Citigroup, and to hear that made it sound great because Citi is a huge opportunity in my area. I had the same gut feeling to google and see if this was a real thing. I looked up Wallace Murphy with Primerica, it showed his picture and what he was about, but after reading this I will also be canceling my “interview” as well. Thank you for the honest comments, saved me time and money.
Called a local Primerica agent in the spring of 2011. The agent was a very nice Italian-American woman who actually knew something about financial services. She had once had an office in an actual storefront on a mixed commercial/residential street in the neighborhood, but now ran her business with no outside marker out of her husband’s auto body shop. She was pleasant and I was willing to pay the $99 up front and take the life insurance exam. Primerica offers web-based learning materials and a practice exam. I studied and passed and was prepared for take the NASD Series 6 exam.
The agent kept calling me for a congratulatory luncheon at a local Chinese buffet. After dodging her for a few weeks I finally agreed and ate enough of the steam table food to be polite. Then she laid it on the table: I needed to go out and start recruiting. I mumbled something about “I’ll see what I can do” said my goodbyes, and bowed out. My angel on the shoulder came in the form of a call for a contract position at a big investment bank. I emailed Primerica’s Compliance department and was told they could not give permission for me to take the job because it would violate SEC rules. That’s legit, and I drafted up a Letter of Resignation, which included the language “This is without malice.” I didn’t have the heart to tell the agent why I quit, something I regret to this day.
Primerica’s main financial advice is the slogan “By term and invest the difference” which means figure out what a whole life policy will cost you, buy a term life policy, and invest the balance of what you would have paid for whole life into mutual funds. It’s not bad advice. But like all of these MLM businesses, it’s not set up for money to be made through only selling the product. It’s all recruit, recruit, recruit and eventually a profit will be turned when enough people are in the downline. There’s constant turnover from people like me, so recruiting needs to continue indefinitely. It’s an exhausting way to make a living. Which is why a I didn’t go down that path.
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Wow i got a callcfrom Primerica and the guy jhon who called made it soumd legit. thanks for the honest comments I we’ll be cancelling my interview tomorrow.
I, too, have an interview for tomorrow that I doubt I’ll go to now! I’ve read a ton of comments on other sites as well, and this is just not cool! There are too many of us out there that are unemployed and in search of a real job with steady income. Is that really too much to ask for?
THANK GODNESS I LISTENED TO MY INTUITION!!!!!! People have no consideration!!! We’re looking for employment & to get taken advantage of…. Just WRONG… Disgusted!!! I WONT BE GOING!!!!! So happy I dug deeper
I had an interview yesterday, and went, mainly because I was contacted about a trainer position, not a sales agent position. I decided to see if I’d be sucked into doing sales but it wasn’t mentioned…though a lot of hinky things were. Like the $1000-$2000 a month for 10-15 hours a week? Six figures in under 3 years. Blah blah blah. Now, I really did enjoy speaking with the woman and we got along great, but the whole thing did sound more like a sales pitch than an interview. We hardly talked about me and my background. Now, I did not get asked to pay anything and was told that Primerica would pay to have me licensed, but I was also told to come back for an open house to learn more about the company. I will go but the moment I feel like I’m being pitched, I’m graciously declining and peacing out. I need legitimate work…don’t toy with me.
Sam – The position of “trainer” really means RECRUITER. You will be expected to go out and find new victims to sign up for the scam.
Well im not going to my interview today. I knew something was fishy from the start.
I received a call from a woman named Mary stating that someone referred me to her and asked if I was still looking for a job. I said I was and she offered me an interview. At the time my mind was elsewhere so about 10 minutes later I called her back and asked her what company she was with, who referred me and what position was I interviewing for. She gave very vague answers, told me her secretary referred me and that she worked for a financial firm looking to hire about 20 people to work as trainers. I knew it had to be a network marketing scam so I came home, looked up her number on Google and thankfully found several sites on Primerica’s shady recruiting tactics. It is a shame that there are companies out there who still make money off these scams. It would be nice if the government would step in and help protect the people who don’t have the sense to see these for what they are. Some people are so desperate for money that they are blind to this.
Thanks everyone for your honesty! I got a call a little while again and it seemed very odd. I could barely understand the guy. He was very anxious to set me up with an interview (it was supposed to be on Monday) I won’t be going! Thanks so much!!
Wow, I have an interview set for this Tuesday, needless to say I will not be going to it! Thank you for the heads up!!!
So glad I ran into this, a man at a store who was very charming said they were looking for employees, I have had a bad feeling about him for about 2 years now and he has called like 3 times since, every time he gives me a little more information, it all seemed very fishy, finally said I would meet up this week but would google them first. THANK YOU so much for posting this.. Should have gone with my gut.
I’ve been disabled for four years and i finally got a job release in feb 2014.Since i had to change job careers,its been hard drawing my former job skills to be applied to another field.I’m currently in a job program called DVR(from the department of labor)in the state i live in.For the past 2 months,i’ve applied to many jobs thru them and gone out of my own with little success..lol.Ran into alot of companies like primerica.So now before I have the interview with any marketing/sales company,I do tons of research on the computer.Had a person contact me from bankers life and casualty say that im good to be part of his team and told me to come to his office at 6pm for the interview.Only to find out that its a presentation with 14 others,10 left after an 1 1/2 hour presentation(only surpose to be a 40-mins).i was one of the 4 and he liked me and set up an second interview.Took 2 weeks to get back to(and only got set up due to my ongoing calls to him for it)me and set up the meeting the next day-they did the same thing as primerica only they actually had a call list from the “do not call” listings they use for their referrals for me.A $99 dollar fee plus $149 for inside training upfront.I said “NO’ and that was it.My DVR supervisor gave me a reference for a job that turned out to be a primerica rep.I had to follow up this time and called her-she contacted me that nite at 9:30pm(odd time)and told me that her supervisor would call me tomorrow-he never did.A week went by and out of blue the primerica rep called me and said that she was sorry about her supervisor didnt get back to me.But this time i was ready(i did my research and found tons of very bad reviews and some good reviews from primerica corp. officers..lol lol.When we talked,her excuse was that “her supervisor is better to answer my questions and would do so when he calls”.He hasn’t called but i already know the truth(on the surface and the deep inside shadly truth)about primerica-what they represent and who benefits from their company.I need a job now and need money soon before im forced to live on the streets with my wife.I cant start a new position on empty promises and payment upfront to pay to go to work to make alittle money in the first month after i work 80 to 100 hours a week..lol.Doesnt make sense and its just a waste to put forth lots of effort,time,gas,sweat and patience to make little money just to barely live on…lol
I have just been called by a lady in Puerto Rico to show up for an interview for a job in Primerica. …Thanks to these comments I will not go….
I had an interview yesterday with the “regional Vice President”. I was referred by a friend who recently started working there. I went there with an opened mind. He mentioned the company would pay for license and classes and would like for me to start working part time for 5 hrs a week these next few months. I thought its not that bad, I currently have another job working as an assistant to a real estate agency. He signed me up…NOW, after reading all these comments I’m regretting doing so. I’m sure people are saving money, but something doesn’t feel right. He never mentioned an upfront fee, but if he does I’m done with these. It’s not the money, but once I left and processed everything it seems they pressure you to sign up and recruit other people. I have another so called meeting tonight with him. I’m just worried if I tell him I thought about it and wouldn’t want to proceed, he has basically ally information…
Im in the same position as you i dont want to recruit others and im scared with the info they have
Had a local resident from Primerica call me as I often leave my card at the nearby supermarket as I offer computer repair services. My brother-in-law has been very successful selling Insurance through a smaller company, Modern Woodmen of America. It occurs to me that if a person would want to try this kind of sales, then it would be just as easy to sign up with a major insurer such as Woodmen or Northwestern Mutual, NY Life, etc.
Before they “hire” you and you begin training (with no pay during this period) they will test your aptitude for this kind of work. It is not easy to get started, but I must say my brother-in-law is very well off today and one of the top salesmen in Texas for Woodmen.
As for life insurance itself, a small whole life policy with a reasonable death benefit can be helpful in protecting your spouse if you die suddenly. Term insurance gets expensive if you have to buy it each year, and investing in mutual funds is OK if you can ride out a bear market. What these agents won’t tell you is that another bear market is looming ahead, along with the upcoming changes in Washington.
Wow thanks I have interview Monday but I will canceled. Thanks for all the information
I’ve read just about every comment and I am not going after all. I knew from the phone call that something was wrong. The guy was a fast talker and everything sounded muffled.
My husband works for a window company, door to door, ran into a guy who says he has career opportunities available now this guy calls everyday for a week saying he wanted to set me up a job as well I seemed educated and professional so and so.. After weeks of talking over the phone we set up an appointment. The man and his wife came to our home for a supposed interview. When they first came I noticed his wife was wearing a dte coat, I asked jokingly what company is this opportunity with, Primerica or Dte? She says its just a coat she found around the house she dont work there. Immediately they sit down and start talking about investing in life insurance for our kids (whom are all under the age of 5, and was around at the time) Talking about prices and growth , im interested, fail! Not once did they mention anything about a job until an hour into this interview of them talking about prices for my family. He asked us over 50 questions, where do you want to move? what kind of car would you like to buy? Would you like to travel around the world if you got rich? Stupid questions.. I asked what does this have anything to do with life insurance, or a job? Nothing! His wife starts asking questions, social security number? id number? kids dob’s and weights,etc. They were in my home for almost 3 hours, 10 minutes before they left (which was an hour ago btw!!) They asked my husband and I for $99 each to set up (pay to be hired) and wanted $156.32 cash to start our “life insurance” said our kids would automatically get $135,000 if we even die today, This bleepity bleep bleep!! I was ready to mangle both of them Im so fed up with these lames at this time. His BTW came out his wife works for DTE because he says during this “interview” “I always tell my wife after 10 years of her working for dte she will be able to retire and be a stay at home mom like her dream and that is soon”, SO I ask, “Do you work there during the days and at which location” She tells me and says “Oh this is just my side hustle everybody has to have at least one, I used to do make up and hair, weddings and birthdays, blah blah blah. Get the BLEEP out my house before I rip our your weave!!
Very very unprofessional company. They say that you can get a refund if you are no longer interested. They are liars, they never gave me my money back, they have all my bank info and I feel very unsafe about that. I talked to the manager to get my money back and he talked to me rudely, unprofessionally, and in short form text. Calling me rude, and saying other unprofessional things like LOL
I received invite to interview…
Thanks for all the information.
I went for the so called “interview” today and was completely confused and turned off. I filled out the basic information and then realized they asked for social security and began to question him. When I walked in Spanish music was playing and the office was empty even in the so called Vice Presidents office it’s was empty and had fake plaques and stuff every where. The guy I did the interview with was bragging about how much money people made and that turned me off even more. I’m 18 I’m not looking to make that type if money like that, I’m looking for something simply to get me through college.
Anyway so he was trying to down play my job and whatnot and get his point across talking about it’s a good opportunity, don’t you want to make more money and yada yada yah. Like my parents support me and are very smart with their money. I’m not in huge need of anything, I’m just exploring my options.
The big no-no for me was that I asked him for a pamphlet, like an information sheet and he was like what do you mean. And I was like a job description of what I’ll be doing and how the company works. And this made me laugh what he said next.
Oh well I showed you the PowerPoint and video?? First off anyone can make a PowerPoint and the video was from fricking YouTube. One from a news channel and some other random one. And he was on his phone during the interview and it just all seemed so fake and phony. And he said the clients love him and are so thankful that he gets invited to birthday party’s and what not like ummmm ok I don’t care. And also when he would say how much money people would make he would wait for me to respond and I just gave him a blank stare.
Like I’m not with all the talk and I need proof. I need papers and what not. Long story short I didn’t fill out the employee application because I knew right away this wasn’t for me. He did butter me up, but I’m no fool and and the fees were ridiculous, didn’t make sense. He invited me to this thing some orientation and was like being your parents I’m sure they could learn something and I’m like did this man just insult my parents intelligence. My parents make good money and know how to save. I don’t NEED this job. Anyway so disrespectful will not be going tomorrow and glad my parents raised me the way thy did because I could’ve signed my life away. Wasted my time.
I received a call today from a lady at Primerica, stating that someone referred me, & she would like for me to come in for an interview on Friday…but when I asked who the person was that referred me, she couldn’t give me a name. Sooooo after reading all the comments, I will NOT be going
Some guy came up to me at the grocery store today and without provocation introduced himself and told me he worked helping people through financial services and teaching people what they should have been taught in school.
He also told em they were looking for “leaders” and instructed me to call him to schedule a meeting. He had been eyeballing me since I walked into the store. Once he started pitching me it was all very clear why.
I am not unemployed and actually own my own legitimate business. I did find it funny though, because it was clear he was representing an MLM based on the fact that his business cards didn’t have an actual company name, used a generic Vistaprint background, and listed him as a Financial Coach or something like that. I actually figured out it was Primerica a few minutes later when I actually sat to think about it. A few of my friends got roped into this. The people that I know who were roped in were all pretty dumb with no college education and in a dead end job. PERFECT CANDIDATES!
I know my story sounds the same as many others – go figure, right, these guys seem to work from the same playbook – but I figured I’d add mine. I got a call at work late last week from a man who said he’d overheard my conversation with another customer and was ‘very impressed’ and wanted to talk with me about a position with his company. I don’t remember the exact wording he used, but I do remember that he was vague enough to leave me feeling like he was offering work with a financial business.
Just a bit of background – I work as a sales floor employee at Lowe’s – so I was pretty skeptical to begin with. He never mentioned the name of his company, only that he was ‘impressed’ and wanted to figure out if I was a good fit – the sort of leading language I’ve seen others report that’s meant to make you feel desired and special. Our two conversations over the phone were all about me – my background, who I was, what I was looking to do – he barely said anything about what he was offering, just that he was interested in taking me on if I was the ‘right person’ for a company that was ‘looking to expand’.
Red flags went up immediately – obviously he was looking for someone for sales (ugh), and though he wanted to meet immediately he also invited me to a presentation he was giving that evening so I could get a ‘better understanding’ of what he was about. I wasn’t about to put my plans aside for something as ambiguous as that, and seeing other people talk about their experiences, I’m glad I didn’t. He also mentioned talking with a number of people at Lowe’s about how bad the schedule is here – as I realized later, he makes the rounds at stores like this, trying to entice unhappy people into a get rich quick scheme.
I did go to an interview with him – his office was eerily empty, a dark, one-floor building that looked more like a conference center than an office space. The conversation, again, was mostly about me, prompting me to sell myself as someone who should work there. And by work, of course, I mean pay them for their 36-week training course and then a monthly fee afterwards. The whole conversation was geared towards selling me on deceptively common-sense information about what I assume to be much more complex financial decisions – I have a friend who works for an insurance company, and given how much time he’s spent studying for his degrees the claim that, in a few months and for $99, I could sell my friends and family (and then random strangers after that) on insurance was certainly too good to be true.
Like he told me, eventually – this isn’t a job. They have no jobs to offer, despite making it seem that way. The most obvious illustration of this was the outline he drew for me of their organization, a literal pyramid – your work will be trying to enlist enough people that you can stop harassing your friends and family, and start luring in random people at department stores to hock insurance for you.
So I got a call from erin at primerica saying she got my resume off of cal jobs. She asked if I wanted change of career. I should have known it was a scam, who calls people on a sunday!? She also told me she was just leaving church lol. Glad I already have a good job!
Got an e-mail (I use that term lightly, he had a hotmail address) from someone saying my resume had been “passed on” to him. I googled “psfl darmouth” (included in the e-mail) and the first link was “primerica is a pyramid scheme/scam” so that was enough for me.
thanks, halifax!
I received a call from a rep from primerica. She told me that someone referred me and thought very highly of me. She gave me vague details about the company. She set up an interview for me tomorrow and told me to dress in business attire. I asked her who referred me and she said they interview 30 to 40 people a week and that my name was on a list. I had a bad feeling so I googled the address. This business is in a unmarked building near a woods, although that was scary enough I reasearched and found this. Thanks everyone for your stories. Glad I didn’t waste my time. I’m on vacation.
Like everyone else here, I also got the call and the woman said that I was “Highly qualified” for some positions she was offering. She gave me this speech about how she is the General Manager and that she was opening various locations and needed people. During the call I asked her about three times for a website link or something to see if I would like working with her but she avoided giving me the website, I had to ask her about three times till she finally gave me something, and even that was just the name of the company. At first I was very happy considering I was “Highly Qualified” for something, but now seeing all these comments just makes me sad.
I just a got a phone call this morning and let it go to voicemail from a Kim calling from Primerica in Arlington Heights. It’s a good thing I’m not stupid and always look up companies before I contact them. So once I read that it was an “Insurance Company” I immediately knew it wasn’t for me. I’ve been contacted by numerous insurance agencies for employment and have never been interested in that field of employment. Reading this gave me something to do for a little while this morning and appreciate the honesty. However the comments of one man on here did not sit right with me. He has no right to call people that didn’t go to college dumb. That’s just rude and disrespectful.
I too have an interview scheduled for tomorrow. I usually check into these things before setting up appointment or returning calls. I didn’t follow those steps due to a time constraint but thanks to your comments I know I will be making better use of my time! I will not be going and now I don’t think I’ll give them any more of my time by giving them notification either.
Thanks for the post. I got a call and they scheduled an interview for today without letting me know for what position they are hiring. Just googled to know about the company and landed on a right page.
I am actually scheduled for an interview tomorrow which I intended to drive over 100 miles to. Thanks for this website, now I know it’s a scam and I’m calling off the interview!!
I have an interview on Monday but I will not be going afternoon randomly reading all of these comments. The interview should have been tomorrow but I wanted to learn more about the company so I extended until Monday. I was told that there are many positions to be filled and I am qualified for a top one. Thanks to all who shared their experience.
So me and my friend were at the store when a guy randomly came up to us to talk about his wife’s company. He asked if we knew anyone looking for a job part-time or full-time. We both said yeah and he gave us his wife’s number and took our numbers down. She called me today asking me about coming in. I’m not looking for a job. Especially one that deals with “financial education and asset management”. Just like most of these posts, they said they weren’t looking for people who have college degrees or serious career experience. Hmmmm.. I also heard the leadership bit. I know of plenty of people who need a job but now I don’t think this company is legitimate despite the nice phone call.
I guess I get to add to the list, I received a missed call, I don’t check my messages usually and I typically just google the number and see what comes up and then once something pops up I call or don’t call… this time nothing came up so I called. The lady that answered, said Prime America, how can I help you. Of course it was muffled so I asked who is this and she repeated… I told her I received a missed called from this number and was curious who was trying to reach me, so she put me on hold. I then googled Prime America and this site was the first thing that popped up. I thought oh boy! Here we go another scam, let me play along… The gentleman got on the phone, I think his name was John, again muffled but I really didn’t care what his name was, this wasn’t going to last very long. Well John went into his little script of how he found my resume off of Careerbuilder and thought I had what it took to help the business. He asked if I have ever heard of Prime America (looking at this site at the same time) I said yes, he sounded surprised “oh you have” Yes I said. lol He went on to tell me that they were moving their business from Milwaukee to Chicago and are looking for people to help run a couple businesses here, here I thought oh boy, a sales position, no thank you I thought in my mind. Then he went on to say how my experience and entrepreneurial nature would be a great fit to run one of the offices. I right there thought this guy is nuts, I do marketing and sale support, never manged anyone in my life, did he really read my resume? In any event, I told him I was not interested and he hung up. Just thought I would share my very recent experience and thank you to the author of this blog for posting this, otherwise I may have been suckered into an interview but then again, I don’t typically work or have any experience in the financial industry and tend to stay far away as it is for positions like this or anything to do with insurance etc.
Woooowww approached at Wal-Mart totally seemed fishey he took my number no name or business card not looking forward to this call at all how rude to take advantage of people and trick them into better job opportunities I’m surprised his pick up line was to Google this company ha cause this is what I found!!!
One of their “representatives” came up to me as i was walking into Target. He was very vague. Only said that his company was part of the stock exchange and made more money than Yahoo -_-. I gave him my phone number and when I asked him for a business card he said he did not have one and went on to talk about how he makes 3-4k a week…yeeeaaaah. When i asked for a website he diverted the conversation to something else. When he called me I was busy and asked him if i could call him later. He agreed, however, I had a bad feeling about him and the conversation we had had and decided not to call him back. He called me again and I ignored the call. A legitimate company looking for new employees is not going to waste more time calling a candidate who did not call them back, particularly considering they had no information on me or my job experience or training. He called again. Finally he had a female associate call from a different number who told me I had been referred to her as a candidate from the man who approached me at Target. I told her I was wary of making any appointments because I had no information on the company. I basically got the same answers I received from the man at Target again. She essentially made an appointment for me anyway for Wed at a place in Mission Hills Ca. She then insisted on calling me on Wednesday to remind me of the appointment and said I was lucky because the vice president would be there on Wednesday -_-. It all felt very sketchy. And I’m sure it is. I am so glad to have websites like these were people can learn a little more about what they may be getting themselves into. RUN from anything to do with them. They WILL continue to call you even after you have said no. May have to change my number now….what a waste of time an effort they are by simply existing….
Got a random call for an interview for a job as a “trainer” that I never applied to. Person could not confirm how they got a copy of my resume, but asked that I bring my ‘updated’ copy with me.
I arrived at what was clearly a low-cost rental space, with walls covered in transparent attempts at making their company seem legitimate – meaningless trophies, pictures of random people posing in groups, etc.
My interviewer did not have a copy of my resume. I offered to quickly mail her one, as I had not brought one myself (I already had bad vibes, so I didn’t even bother bringing a hard copy). She asked me the most useless questions ever, such as, “How do you want to be treated if you work here?” She was also unable to give me specific details about the position I was interviewing for.
Big giveaway: when an interviewer asks you questions about who you live with, and if you have a lot of family and friends that live in the area… I mean, come on! When I laughed at her question, she assured me it was because she wanted to know about my ‘credibility’, although she failed to explain how where my family lives illuminates anything about my character… Clearly, they are looking for people with family/friends to pitch their products to.
Got a call back today, saying my interview stood out, and to come for a brief information session. Still, barely any information given. Told me to bring my social insurance number with me, because if I pass the info session they would like to start to work with me right away…
Needless to say, not going. This is a scheme.
I was in “Primerica” back in the early 90’s when it was called PFS (Primerica Financial Services). I had started in 1984 and it took me until 1990 (six years) to make RVP. I made a decent living $30,000, but it’s much harder than most people even imagine and it truly does require that you do oodles of prospecting. Also, back then Term insurance was much more novel than it is now. There is no rational benefit to buying insurance or mutual funds from Primerica today. Lever term is obtainable from top rated companies for far less money. And no-load mutual funds through Vanguard or Fidelity beat the high expense ratios and sales charges of the ones Primerica offers.
I received a call from Primerica just a few hours ago. The rep said she got my resumé through Monster and wanted to give me an “opportunity”. She kept saying “opportunity” rather than job, or career, and my attempts to get more detailed information were deflected with promises of being answered later or at the “orientation session” being held the next day. I had been suckered before into going to an interview for what turned out to be a door-to-door sales job, so I was wary of this one. Her choice of language, and orientation rather than an interview, and the location of it (nowhere downtown but rather in a rented space in the outskirts – I mapped it out) caused me to beg off, using the excuse that the location was too far for me to attend.
Afterwards I was a little bit unsure I’d made the right call – I am unemployed, after all, and work is work – so I googled “Primerica Scam”. Here’s this site. I’m no longer-second guessing my decision to stay far away from this group. Thank you for providing this information!
Over the weekend my family and I went to the Disney store to get my daughter a present and as I was shopping with my daughter my husband sort of stayed behind with my son, my husband was standing over to the wall when a pair of ladies came over to him and started saying “oh how sweet your daugther looks with the princess out fits” and how she has 7 kids at home and yada yada, my husband was clearly uncomfortable since he did nothing to start the conversation, he started to walk over my way and they followed him towards me, the older lady asked me if I was working and I said “no, i’m a stay at home mom” she seem put off by my answer and then turned to my husband and asked him the same question, to which he answered “Yes, Im a plumber” she made a coment and dismissed the reply by saying that she had a better opportunity for him to make money. He said he wasn’t interested and she stopped him by saying that she wouldn’t take no for an answer and proceed to schedule to come over to explain the details of her opportunity, we exchanged numbers and walked away since my husband was annoyed with the lady already, we bolted from the store and went home to google the name that i had seen on her sweater and we came across this post, after reading all of the comments my husband txt the lady to tell her that he was not interested in what she was offering and she responded with like three emails back to back insisting that she come over with her husband to explain to us what they do, since she was so vague at the store. My husband got upset since he was at work and called her back and said “no thanks” and she said that she could put her husband on the phone to talk to him and try to convince him, my husband heard him out and said no thanks again to which he tells me the man was not happy and cut him off and hung up on him.
I went to the orientation before with Primerica and discovered that it was a MLM. I just got a call tonight from someone who started to ask me about my resume. I answered and then asked what company he was calling from, something like Frontier Financial Industry and then he mentioned it was owned by Primerica and I immediately let him know that I was not interested. No rebuttal, just got off the phone. I had them waste my time once before and am no longer interested in doing it again.
Hey, thanks for who ever made this page! I was going to an interview tomorrow and now I know its just some bologna.
LISLE IL. lady called me said I was referred to her?, scheduled an “interview”, Something told me to google what little information I had, found your blog! Thank you, I texted her your web blog and stated I WILL NOT BE SHOWING UP. I almost felt like filing a complaint with the DuPage County States Attorney, at best make them aware. I have a job, but looking for a change, I feel bad for people who are out of work and are honestly looking for a job! And this place is playing with people’s hope?! What a waste of time?! Scum Bag Scammers! If it sounds too good to be true, mostly it is…………..Thank you again for posting!
Thank you for the information. It’s quite pathetic that all of us in the comments are forced to search out information on the web rather than hear it straight from the snakes that work for this company. I knew immediately this was a scam of some sort. Be aware, I messaged on Facebook, and the account had comments saying “Hey man, I think your account got hacked I’ve been getting odd messages from you”. My guess, these snakes hack FB profiles and are now on the prowl for new gullible recruits, or this guy probably got hooked into the company and is now using his account to get recruits. Joke of a company, I hope it goes under.
same here. Stopped at a job fair. Went for an interview/discussion today. Went well. Heavy on company info and presentation. Told my interviewer I would call him back this week with a reply. Overall sounded ok but things started to not add up. Not going to take offer with the tidbits from this site as well. (Thanks to all post-ers)
Thank you so much. I had a job interview with them, after applying to places that did not have them under it. Thank you for everyone posting. I will not be going Monday. The location seemed extremely sketchy too. He texted me the address (unprofessional) and me, being naive agreed. Cancelled the appt. Would rather wait for another job.
Got approached at a random target by a lady commenting on what I was wearing not a job. She mentioned her husband company briefly and for someone else to pass on the info. Today the husband called and said his wife said I had “people skills” and was very vague and I had to really ask what was the company after the asked me to come in for an interview. He finally mentioned he was on the phone with primerica and he was conducting an interview now Very weird so I blocked evrythhng and said no sales. I mustve been approached bc I look like a mark. I am not. And a sidenote when I exchanged info with the wife in target her android phone had an app on it where my full name showed up on her phone. I did not like that and that was a red flag.
Thanks for all these helpful comments and posts. I got a random call on my cell phone from a Primerica Financial Services rep in Charlotte, N.C. Said his office manager was trolling the Internet for resumes and found mine. Said I might be a good fit for PFS’ ambitious expansion plans in the Charlotte area. He gave lots of the same info and elusive answers reported here. I will not be following up with PFS.
OmG people you are not making a difference commenting here report it to the BBB online or phone I did . Action Affect!
NOT TRUE!!! The comments here are making a HUGE difference. The activity on this thread keeps the page at the top of Google searches for common phrases related to Primerica. That drives traffic to this page, where potential victims are getting the real story and are able to avoid the company!
Wow slimey cons
Great article, thanks for the extensive information. I just received a call yesterday and had my doubts about the process, so I immediately proceeded to research PFS and found this article.
Thanks for the info, I got a call from them this morning and promptly cancelled after reading this.
Hey guys, so I went through the exact same thing, someone on one of my social media had publicized a post saying “anyone 18 and over looking for a.job, my company is hiring.” I was interested so I messaged the person and I asked what company and what position, she briefly told me it was a financial services company and that was it. She asked for my number that way her “trainer” would contact me to set up an interview. If I had a little more information I would’ve researched the company, but there wasn’t even a specific name, I’m not sure why I didn’t consider it a scam at the time. So a woman called kim called and set up an interview with me in a city nearby. I wasent sure what to expect, all she told me was to dress proffesional and that was it. On the day of the interview, I drove to the adress of where the interview was, I expected a big company with a sign of the name or something. It was an apartment looking complex with no name, nothing. I didn’t think much of it until I went inside. I swear it literally looked like an apartment building inside with rooms separated and a dark hallway. I entered the room the woman on the phone had told me to go, there were about 20 other people in there with a presenter holding an iPad on his hand. It was a group interview. The presenter looked like 19 years old and began talking about the company and that it was called primerica. He was bringing us all down about our current minimum wage jobs or the ones that were unemployed and started to brag about how much money he made. Long story short he told us it was a company about life insurance and that we’d help families bla bla bla. From then he sent us to different people to ask us some questions. The interview asked me only 4 questions and asked me to sign a contract looking employment form and said that I need to pay 99 dollars to pay for a background check and that i need to get a license. I reluctantly agreed and was “hired” I went home that day and looked for primerica on the Internet and at how it is a scam. I went to the office the next day and talked to the “rvp” and told him what I knew..his wife was there and was furious. ..so i asked her… if it’s such a legit company why do I have to pay for my background check and why is there so much secrecy and then sign of “primerica” is most outside. She was upset and wanted to know who told me those rumors. I told her to keep my money and I left. It’s such bull do do guys. Don’t fall for it. It’s all a scam. They’re making money out of your stupidity
Just got a call myself from George saying he was with a booming company called Primamerica and he found my resume on CareerBuilder. I didn’t have time to listen to the whole message at first and wanted to Google the company before I returned his 1 and a half minute message. After reading this, I will make sure to block the number so I don’t get any calls through.
I joined Primerica and spent about 2 years trying it. I read many reviews like this before I started and while I was active. It’s funny how my perspective has changed. They talk about these bad reviews during training, saying they are written by people who tried the opportunity and failed. They make any failures out to be lazy and incompetent, unfortunately the failure rate is incredibly high. They are masters of manipulation, hyping you up to be a crusader for the middle class. What I found was that most people don’t want help with their finances and many (foolishly) refuse to spend money to own life insurance. I’ve seen people come in, get hyped up and quit their jobs, only to be screwed in a few months. It’s a churn and burn- they will hire ANYONE who can pass a background check. They need to bring in new people all the time to ‘train’ them, when all they are really doing is using up their warm market to write business. Other insurance companies do the same thing but Primerica is ruthless. I worked HARD at the business, I have had success in other businesses in my life but making money at Primerica is a joke. Yes there are people doing it, there are also people playing in the NFL and NBA, should we promise every kid the can go pro because ‘others are doing it’? I would STAY AWAY from Primerica.
those guys are motherfu***** i went to the interview and i interviewed with a guy but he was so suspicious though, when he asked me for a 99$ but it should be on a bank account not cash( so they can steal my infos) but when i told him i don’t have any money on me now he seemed Confounded and annoyed and there was three girls sitting on the other table they kinda laughed when i said i dont have the money, and so he immediately ended the convo and said i can come back tomorrow and give him the money and i said okay great cuz i actually believed him he was so convenience but and thank god i didnt have money on me cuz if i had i would give all my infos but thank god i didnt give him anything and so he ended the convo right away cuz in my opinion he knew that i would go back home and look up the company name and i will find this post and so i will never come back and give him anything and that’s exactly what happened and thank god i’ve read this post this author is genius thank you so much screw those guys
I tried out Primerica towards the middle of December. I am a young college student interested in Investment Banking and was told by an ex-financial advisor at a prestigious firm who attempted to act as my mentor to join. He was strange, deceptive and refused to answer why he supposedly “left” this well-known company which had me a bit concerned. Anyways, being a young, naive college student I listened to him and eagerly tried out the company thinking I could use them to get my Series 6 and Securities licenses and quit. I had no desire to pursue such a career related to insurance, as I prefer investing. I immediately sensed that Primerica was a Pyramid Scheme and after taking the 20-hour class, refused to take the exam and e-mailed the woman at Primerica that I was no longer interested in pursuing business with them. The following day, the ex-financial advisor disconnected with me on LinkedIn and I have not heard from him since. I was speaking with a friend who was an attorney and he agrees Primerica is a pyramid scheme and that the pair even though one was not a member of Primerica were working together in order to make money off of me. I suppose this was a good business lesson: Carefully research a company before immersing yourself in it. I wasted a month of my busy life and thankfully, I already maintain a good internship at a wealth management firm and did not leave it for such stupidity.
I got suckered into almost joining by two very good friends. They are not now and I feel a offended that they would think I was interested in an MLM style business which I didn’t find out until later. They saw my FB updates about needing a little more income to start some entrepreneurial type things I was interested in. I already worked full time for a corporate company but just needed some side income. They contacted me, offered to meet me to just talk, and sat me down at a coffee shop (they wanted my husband to come to but he wasn’t interested). They went through my Finances and sorted them all out and gave me a plan to pay everything off in a pretty cool schedule/plan. I have an Accounting degree so I already had a great handle of budgeting but this was really impressive. So, I was interested and I REALLY loved the couple and was glad to see and hang out with them after so long. But, I didn’t want to join “the business” they lightly mentioned because I didn’t really see any real income coming from this and I knew I could make more money doing my own thing if I applied myself. Come to find out the husband was the one who was really pushing me to join the business after I had TOLD them I wasn’t interested in anything besides getting my finances together and I would contact them if I wanted to buy insurance or whatever. NO, I was special and needed to join and they offered to pay my fee, the $99. The wife was still skeptical of the entire thing but being a good wife she was supporting her husband. I would see this slightly desperate look in her husbands eyes every time he asked if I would be interested in joining. He kept pushing “What do I have to lose???”, “Don’t you want one of these nice vacations??”, “Don’t you want enough money to rent a space for your classes??”, “Don’t you want to own your own business?”. I knew that kind of pushiness in indicative of something bad but I gave in anyway because like I said, I loved the couple and I really did like the financial planning part of the system. If I could teach that to other’s, that would be cool right?
I suffered through the classes only to never hear about my financial planning budget ever again because my reps had no idea how to put one together. Their higher up had done that for them. I was bugged to come to those meetings that were a complete waste of my time. I work full-time and train in martial arts. If I’m not doing something productive I’d rather be at home sleeping and spending time with my husband. They really wanted my husband to come but that still wasn’t happening. The grand kicker was the way the regional representative (and the speakers) used THE BIBLE to justify us serving a great cause? wth. No! Even the classes were weird and subpar. I would try to ask the instructor questions about the topics and he would tell me not to ask questions just memorize the material and take the test. After all of this fiasco, they have become very distant friends and I FINALLY own pretty successful and growing business now from my own hard work. Primerica pushed me over the edge. They kept touting how much of a hard worker I am and how valuable I would be to them. So, after leaving them I channeled all of that energy 110% into my own venture. I don’t go to unnecessary meetings or bother my warm market because it’s a legit service. I get to work on my own hours without having to report to ANYBODY. THAT’s owning your own business not this MLM stuff.
I have some question?
* What is a pyramid scheme exactly? Is that where you have a head honcho at the top and workers at the bottom, like, I don’t know, Walmart?
* If Primerica is a scam, how have they been in business for almost 40 years? And, how come there stock is listed on the NYSE?
* Isn’t it true that a lot of consumers aren’t sophisticated when it comes to insurance, which is why there are so many scam artist out there taking advantage of them?
* Mercedes sells their cars at inflated prices, are you going to do an web post on them next?
* Is it possible that the services Primerica provides justifies a higher product cost?
* Also, if someone wasn’t college material, and all they were qualified for is a $10-15/hr job, but they really loved their family and wanted to do more to provide for them, to where, other than another MLM type jobs, could they go?
* Finally, does it have to have an hourly salary to be job? Can’t there be commission only “jobs”?
* Oh, one other thing, if someone goes in for an interview, and they leave not wanting the job, how are they a victim, exactly? I mean, what was taken from them? A little bit of time, perhaps? I’ve been to interviews and left without a job. I wouldn’t say I was victimized.
No, regular companies that are set up with levels of management (such as Walmart) are NOT pyramid schemes. A pyramid scheme does not refer to the layers of management that you see. A pyramid scheme is an endless chain recruitment scheme in which distributors recruit multiple levels of distributors, with money flowing up the pyramid to the recruiters at the top. Unfortunately, almost everyone in pyramid schemes lose money. (Unlike in regular companies where everyone makes money, although some make more than others.)
There have been plenty of examples of businesses that looked legitimate that were not. Think Enron, Bernie Madoff’s investment scheme, etc.
Yes many consumers aren’t sophisticated about insurance, which is why it can be easy for a Primerica rep to sell them a crappy product at a higher price.
No, Mercedes is not the same thing as multi-level marketing.
No, Primerica does not offer services that justify a higher price. In fact, I would argue that their services are worse than a traditional insurance agency or investment advisor because their people are by and large far less knowledgeable.
MLM jobs are not jobs at all. Almost everyone involved in MLM is guaranteed to lose money. There are plenty of traditional types of jobs that do not require college but that pay much more than $10 to $15 per hour if the individual is willing to work hard to learn the job and move up.
Yes, there can be commission only jobs. MLM is not a job. It is a recruitment scheme.
If the “job interview” is not actually for a job, and is instead for a recruitment scheme, then the person was lied to. Being lied to in order to get the person in for something that isn’t even an interview is wrong, and therefore the person is a victim.
User “Andromeda” is obviously a recruiter that works for PRIMERICA.
A former classmate of mine saw my Facebook post that I was looking for part-time work and called me. She said she wanted to talk to me about something she & her boyfriend, someone I also know, were doing, and wondered if I would be interested in going to a little meeting at her office. She didn’t mention the name of the business at all, and her explanation of what they were doing – as others above have noted – was rather vague but revolved around financial planning. When I walked into the office with them, there were a ton of chairs positioned around this little stage, with some type of intermission-like video showing and loud remixed music playing. I sat through the whole thing and, unfortunately, was actually pumped up about it & ready to start making money! I gave them my information, and even the information from one of my credit cards (which I’m afraid that they will still use even though I’ve already called & told them to shred/dispose of the information!). I feel deceived, and I feel like my classmate & her boyfriend are being deceived also.
I would certainly warn anyone who might be roped into this to DO YOUR RESEARCH!! Even though the warning that ‘”you can’t believe everything on the Internet” is certainly true – there are sites like this that give the true accounts of people who have “been there, done that,” and you should take heed. If you’re reading from the bottom up, pay close attention to what Tom (June 2014) & Anonymous with Accounting Degree (January 2015) have to say. I definitely wish I’d gotten the name of the business and researched this before going to that meeting & giving them my personal information.
Thanks for this post. I got a call after meeting with someone from the workforce. He collects his clients’ resumes and he did it in front of me. He works for the State of Florida. He told me he has to go through clearance and apparently he is abusing this priviledge. So this person who called said a headhunter has forwarded my resume to him and ask if I would like to work for them. He said they need a financial planner. I asked for a job description. Everything else followed was muffled. I got suspicious and ask if this is an mlm company (I don’t even know why, well, I know a lot about mlm companies from the past). He said no and proceed setting an appointment for me. I ask for the company’s name and he said Primamerica. He ask me if I know this name. I said no and he sounded surprised. He told me Primerica can be compare to charles schwartz, and a list of fortune 500 financial companies.Anyway, thanks for saving a hour drive to the “interview”. I can see that people working for this company are preying on people who have not done their research. No company would ask for a $99 fee and a hundred something more to start a job. BTW, a presentation is not an interview. When you write a resume, you’re looking for a job, not an “opportunity”. If this is not deceptive, what is? This deceptive practices should be reported. What agencies would handle this kind of thing?
Im 21 and just recieved a called from them while at work stepping away from the front desk i answered to a guy who gave brief detail about everything your reading above smh not going! so annoyed blah@
I received a call and was told someone left my name and number on his desk. But he had no idea who. From what I’ve read, I think I am passing on my “interview” this week. At first I was impressed; but not so much now. I’m glad I did my research.
Well I actually went and talked to someone of those guys in the company but at the beggining I thought this would be fake because I ask one of them about the website and he started talking me about the money I’d make and he didn’t gave me anything but to be honest nobody have to pay to be hired.. Don’t believe in “Primerica”
Recently a dear friend of mine got roped into becoming a rep on the premise of “he’d be doing families a great justice helping them get their finances in order and providing them with term life insurance.” He proposed some vague idea to me one day and set up a visit to discuss. He had his “upline” with him during the visit and presented me with a PowerPoint presentation. Throughout the presentation I grew more and more skeptical. He then had a slide showing the “tiers” and potential earnings. The graph had 1 gent at the top and every subsequent tier had exponentially increasing members making exponentially less money. I asked, “how can I be that guy?” (pointing to the top of the pyramid). When I mentioned that it seems like a pyramid scheme the “upline” had a rebuttal for it immediately as they probably get hit with that comparison all the time. He then mentioned that my job was a pyramid, and asked if it would ever be possible to get to the top in my company to which I responded, “ABSOLUTELY!!! I’m currently in the process of getting out of my tiered J-O-B and starting my own tiers separate and independent of my current J-O-B. All-in-all, aside from the financial advice that I found sound and pretty basic, it was a complete waste of time. I told them that i was skeptical and would want to research before committing to any policy or any “opportunity”.
Weeks went by and I dismissed it completely, until I listened to this podcast: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/543/wake-up-now
This sounded so eerily familiar to Primerica’s tactics and MO. I then started doing research and stumbled across tons and tons of negatives about Primerica.
I then took a step back and thought, dissected the business model for my own benefit and thought what I would have to do to be successful at it (I over analyze everything from both sides). 1.) You have to be deceptive to your “warm market” (family, friends, and contacts). 2.) If the whole deal is to make money, you make more money recruiting not selling the product. 3.) Identify bulldogs in your contact list and recruit them so you can make money off those go-getters and build a strong “downline”. 4.) promote propaganda and sob stories of people getting shafted out of their whole life or group life insurance as a scare tactic. There seems to be a way to make money but you have to be highly deceptive and cut-throat, oh, and pretty desperate to make money in MLM. I could do it but dabbling in ventures that call on questionable morals is not my thing. Would people join if you were 100% truthful to them?
Here is another good read that breaks down how much the corporation makes just from recruits, and reps:
“100,000 reps times $25 a month equals $2.5 million a month from its own employees.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/citigroup-primerica-ipo-2010-4
These MLM ventures seem to prey on the 9-5-ers making minimum wage with the promise of making a six-figure income. Of course that is enticing. When I read posts in defense of Primerica they seem like they all read from a script stating the same propaganda (Jonestown immediately comes to mind). Kool-aid anyone? Most of the posters defending also seem very unprofessional and lack a certain level of education. Primerica is so desperate for recruits that they petitioned to make the Series 6 licensing exam easier. Presumably because the recruiting pool is getting less and less educated.
Out of curiosity, why not expend the same energy to become successful at something you love and be at the top of YOUR pyramid and opposed to being at the bottom of Primerica’s?
In conclusion I think it’s awesome that they make 30 million a year off active reps paying fees, from a business standpoint, of course. I would seriously consider investing in the company since, realistically, their pitch is great for the uninitiated and their motivational tactics (weekly motivational conference calls and meetings at fancy/lavish venues) work on those that take what they pitch at face value. There is certainly no shortage of dreamers and fools in the world. Oh, and I will be getting a term life-insurance policy, just not through Primerica as they do not show up on anyone’s top ten list of term life insurers. You can certainly shop around for better than what Primerica offers. Take their advise and apply it on your own people.
Tracy, I would be interested to hear any counsel you have for me, as I am planning to attend a Primerica “information” event for potential sales staffers 48 hours from now, BUT my circumstances differ from those of most posters above.
First, I purchased a single mutual fund through Primerica about 20 years ago. It’s performed nicely and I’ve never had any problem with the company from my standpoint as a customer. I therefore come to this upcoming “information” event with a favorable impression of the company’s products.
Second, it was I who contacted my Primerica agent recently, not the other way around, to inquire on an IRA rollover for my husband. It was in that meeting yesterday–and only after I mentioned that I had once considered working for Primerica–that my agent invited my husband and me to attend this upcoming “information” event.
Third, my agent told us that he much preferred to bring in people to work just part-time, and he had for his first 18 months with the company, because it takes a while to support oneself in this or any commissioned sales position. I appreciated his candor.
Fourth, I am a 57 year-old college educated woman (B. S. in business) who has stayed home with kids over the last 17 years, so a part-time position of some kind would allow me to more gradually return to the work force. This part-time position, in particular, I’m thinking might also allow me to train in a new-but-related field at little or no cost (save licensure fees).
So you see that I neither need to support myself nor expect to support myself solely via my any Primerica earnings AND you see that this particular recruiter, my agent, appears not to use the deceptive and high-pressure tactics used by other recruiters discussed above.
I don’t dismiss this reality that commissions in a MLM organization are necessarily lower than those one would earn in another sales setting. However, I’m wondering if that might be an acceptable trade-off for me, if this setting offers the gradual training and the part-time opportunity (at first) that I’m seeking?
(Of course, I would also counsel any folks I recruited to the effect that starting with Primerica part-time is the route to avoid disappointment.)
Thanks for your any advice..
P.S.–Also, as to objections from some of the above posters concerning licensure fees charged by Primerica, any financial services company must ensure that its agents are licensed, just like real estate agents (or engineers or accountants) must be licensed. That’s the nature of working in several industries overseen by a regulatory body. It appears that some above posters (mostly young) do not realize this?
Finally, in the course of mulling this decision I have read at Primerica’s own website that new life insurance agents earned $6000/yr on average in 2013, I think was the year cited. In another spot on their website, they suggest that part-time agents may expect to earn about $500/mo (which is also $6000/yr). I don’t see any suggestion there that newbies may expect six-figure earnings?
I do wonder if some above posters simply aren’t aware of either the licensure fees part of several industries and/or of the time and effort required to build a client base in any commissioned sales position?
But again, I’m still chewing on this and your thoughts on these matters are appreciated.
Tamara – I have simple advice: Don’t go. I think it’s great that you’re considering getting back into the workforce, and it’s probably a smart idea to start off part time. If you really want to sell financial products, you’re much better off doing so through a company that is not an MLM. Most of the money on the financial products you sell will go to YOU, rather than some pyramid. (The Primerica reps will tell you their payment structure is no different. They are lying.)
Remember that Primerica reps have something to gain with whatever they tell you. I don’t.
Point taken, Tracy, and thanks.
One last question: Might you also direct me to the financial services provider anxious to hire a gray-headed, chicken-necked, bifocaled old crone–whose work ethic and ethics generally are strong?!
Tamara – Most of them!!! You would be an independent contractor, so they don’t care what your age or appearance is. You get paid if you sell, and that’s all they care about. I would suggest insurance agencies and companies like Edward Jones.
[promotional material removed]
Why would you not want to help your friends, family, and referrals with this information?
You all have it wrong, you all WANT to see that this is a scam because ‘It looks too good to be true’, and it IS, if you have zero work ethic, and refuse to give yourself the opportunity to have a better life by actually applying yourself to something that isn’t a ‘9-5’. The people who give up on this business don’t understand the potential of having your own business and life. You are followers, not leaders, and Primerica is looking for leaders.
Multi-level marketing is not a business. It is a pyramid scheme.
http://www.sequenceinc.com/fraudfiles/2015/03/multi-level-marketing-is-not-a-business-its-a-pyramid-scheme/
Primerica doesn’t look to good to be true. It’s awful, and it looks awful. Yes, the company offers legitimate products. Those products should be purchased at companies other than Primerica. MLM is not about work ethic. It’s about finding suckers who can be talked into signing up for the MLM. Don’t confuse this with a real business.
Just got a call from a Primerica recruiter, who set up a alleged interview for tomorrow. Realized after I had no idea what this is, and noticed he mentioned a “group thing” which made me suspicious. Googled my way here. So glad I did. Will not be going to a sales pitch to get me to go do sales pitches to other saps. 100% commission pyramid scheme? Suck my ass. Thank you guys for posting these.
I was about to have an interview tomorrow but I cancelled it. Once reading all these reviews I called back my recruiter and asked for more details about the interview and he was vague. Then I asked about the $99 asked of you when you interview and he laughed and said are you on Google? He didn’t think to clarify my concern so I cancelled the interview there and then.
I went to the first interview today. The man who was telling me about the opportunity was upfront, and I kill myself working two jobs.
I’m no stranger to mlm. I was an Amway distributer years ago. Now that’s a successful company, but many fail. Very few people want to do the hard work that’s required to succeed. I did the hard work, but realized that I am was more ambitious than most. I dropped out because most people shop for bargains rather than invest in the business. Most all businesses fail, traditional or mlm.
Now comes Primerica. Probably not the perfect business, but everyone I know needs to improve their financial situation. I know I have to invest a whopping $99 to start my business, and another $25 a month for news and training. Can anyone who is successful in a traditional business start a business for that little of an investment? Anyone?
Before you try to pick apart or look for excuses not to be a recruit, maybe you just don’t believe it can work or it’s you you don’t believe in.
Once again, most people need financial help to get where they want to be. Most will say no, but I just want to help them get answers and maybe I can get them a solution. Some will say yes, not to be recruited, but to take control of their finances.
Mike – No matter what they tell you, MLM is not a business. http://www.sequenceinc.com/fraudfiles/2015/03/multi-level-marketing-is-not-a-business-its-a-pyramid-scheme/
So, if the concept of an MLM is to make money off of the effort of others, how is this different from a Real Estate Broker? I ask because my husband is a real estate agent and his broker always gets a piece of the action (along with everyone else in the office)… the broker recruited, hired, licensed, and trained my husband… my husband works his ass off… the broker doesn’t… how is this not a form of an MLM? And my husband just hired a newly licensed “recruit” to help him get his new business started… but has negotiated a portion of that agents’ earnings as compensation for helping him get himself established… AND this new agent will also be splitting his fees with the broker.
Andrea – You’ve misstated the “concept of MLM.” The whole purpose is an endless chain recruitment scheme. Every person recruits, and everyone below them recruits, and everyone below them recruits, and so on.
Real estate agents and brokers are not in the business of recruiting. They are in the business of selling real estate. There are two levels of people in the business, not infinite levels. The first level is the office or team level, the second level is the agents who work for the office/team. Yes, the office/team gets part of every sale because they play a part in every sale. So an agent sells a property, and the agent gets a commission and the office/team gets a commission. End of story.
You say your husband someone to be in the office and is getting part of his earnings. I think you are mistaken. I think your husband and this other agent are going to be doing listings together, so they will each get part of the commission. If the new guy lists a property himself, your husband won’t be getting part of that commission.
I see this company hasn’t changed much since my friend’s husband tried to recruit me 4 years ago. Today I received a phone call today from a “recruiter” who found my resume on Careerbuilder. The first red flag of the call was that she did not state the name of the company from which she called. She also asked me if it was true that I had management experience, which I thought was a strange question because if she had actually reviewed my resume, she would find that I indeed have about 7 years of management experience in both sales and customer service.
As someone who has worked for sales organizations for many years, I am really annoyed by the recruiting tactics of some of these folks who run MLM outfits. My friend’s husband was at least honest and up front about me in terms of selling insurance, which I appreciated. I attended a presentation and just decided it wasn’t something I really wanted to do. Primerica just needs to do everyone a favor and be upfront about the type of business it is. Trust me, there are plenty of people who don’t mind asking friends and family to buy something their selling. And if done ethically, sales is a service so don’t mask your phone pitch as “helping out people financially.” If people have to pay for your help, you are selling. Period. No way to dance around that. You should really just target people who don’t mind selling this way instead of rounding up a large number of people to attend presentations. That is a big reason why this company has so much negative publicity online (even on its Wikipedia page!).
I think the biggest tell tale sign that you are getting involved with an ethically questionable company if you have to ask who they work for or grill them on their business model. I have worked with recruiters and hiring managers long enough to know that is poor phone etiquette at best. At worst it means you have a poor product or poor reputation which is most likely deserved. I would advise this company to improve its product and recruiting tactics to avoid getting continued poor publicity. People are much savvier now a days and really hate a “sneaky” recruiting pitch.
I went 3 days ago and I had to give my info including social security number, but they didn’t asked for a credit card. I told them I didn’t had the money so the lady told me Icould go some other day and its been two days already and I’m scare they use my social security # for a bad purpose…i want to go and get the paper and ripped off so i could feel safe but idk what to do… Can anyone tell me what should I do
Yikes. So glad I read this blog – almost got scammed. Not going to the “interview” tomorrow.
This site and article is so retarded. You broke ass people who work in corporate America all work under a boss. You have a manager a supervisor and an employee. That’s an MLM just you stay broke. This fat bitch who wrote this is obviously broke as hell and can’t get off her fat ass to do anything. If this company is a scam how is it we just ran the closing bell at the NYSE? You dum assess are just to lazy to change the direction your lives are going so you stay working for toll plazas or write articles like this fat bitch. Broke people mentality. That is why the poor get poorer and the richer who work there ass off get richer!
LOL Alex. The FIT bitch (that’s me) who wrote this is far from broke, and makes a great living selling legitimate services to people who need them. I’m not recruiting people into a pyramid scheme and praying that they recruit more so that I can make a few pennies.
No, a regular job is not like MLM. People who work jobs get paid. People in MLM pay to play.
Hey Alex, this isn’t the first time and won’t be the last time a crooked company has rung the NYSE closing bell. Ringing that bell does not make Primerica a legitimate nor a trustworthy business. If you believe Wall Street has a moral compass you are sadly mistaken. Go get a real job and stop preying on innocent people trying to get ahead in life. Shove that $99 fee up your keester.
I have an acquaintance from Facebook who floods my news feed daily with this Primerica crap. She lost her job and became an easy target from a fast-talking recruiter that filled her head with a pipe dream. She gets so defensive when anyone questions her “work”. She is a mere pawn unknowingly victimizing her own family and friends. So sad.
Question … you investigate insurance fraud correct? Have you done any research on companies that sell whole life policies? Very interested in knowing how you feel about State Farm and other companies that are taking clients”savings” and withhold information to their clients so they do buisnes Is that not fraud? It is about the education of it all isn’t it?
Thanks to all for the above info. Cancelled my appointment with them. It was odd that the individual wouldn’t tell me what the position was and that it wasn’t sales.
Question – Whole life insurance is not fraudulent. It is a horrible, horrible product for almost everyone, but that doesn’t make it fraudulent. Yes, education is important. I just advise that people don’t get that education from Primerica or any other MLM.
I got a call today. They offered me an interview for customer service job and said they were looking for people who are bilingual. I tried asking where they got my information from but they said they didn’t have that information with them… I have an interview tomorrow… Not sure what to do… HELP!
they called me yesterday afternoon while I was at one of my jobs. I have an interview with them today which after reading these helpful post I will definitely not be going. I asked what company is this and how did they get my number considering the fact I haven’t applied for any job positions in almost a year. they quickly muttered PFS. Since I barely heard her, I asked about 3 more times before clearly hearing PFS, which I noticed she did not once tell me what PFS stood for. when I asked how they obtained my number they said through a referral. another red flag when up in my head, majority of my friends held the same job for years so who the hell gave you my number? also I asked for what position ? they said a position in the company. after hearing these non descriptive answers at this point I’m like yea, ok very high chance I will not be showing up. I’ve been to these type of interviews before, any job that directly takes cash from you and its not for uniforms is red flag worthy (scam).
I ran a department in a communications company that was ultimately relocated.
Not a fan of “recruiters” that will give great compliments, offer big promises with no details & make unemployed people pay 100.00 to “get started”. I understand everyone needs to make a buck. But dude. Karma. You pray upon my people and I think you suck.
I was there in the bulding today just asking ppl some jobs & met a young lady going for interview & I ask her if I can follow her to know more about the job & she was nice to me to let me follow her. When we get in rm 232 some guy said oh welcome here is the pepar to fill out, I was wondering if this is real? But, the girl I were with got in the rm first then about 6 mint or so the guy came back & say give me 5 mints for you to be in the rm. I said I’ll give you 10 mints & w/big smile he say thank you & went back to the rm. Two girls were there for the job too. So, I got up & left to find out who that company was. Thank God for the info I found out on the inernet. Thanks guys for ur time to let ppl know who primerica is. PRIMERICA pls Stop don’t west ppls time!!
They are a scam! Went here, not knowing what it was about. As soon as I seen it was a power point presentation I knew money would be involved. I don’t know why i get that feeling when a job has to take more than 30 minutes to explain itself to a group of people, they told us to hold our questions until the end of the presentation. It was nice how they fooled some people but I was ready to go after 5 minutes, it reminded me too much of cutco knives sales pitch. They told us how the “head” leader makes over $200,000 , but he comes in with a bag of mini candies passing out to only his team crew. We were all in this rinkadink room, looks like they rented and tried to make it look professional but it looks rushed and had meaningless awards on the walls. They had the chairs so close together, I’m sitting next to strangers and our knees and arms are touching, so I’m uncomfortable next to some guy. On top of that, the lady who talked to me one on one after the presentation kept trying to get me to give her more people’s names and numbers and I told her first, I didn’t know anyone. Then she proceeded to ask if I had a Facebook and don’t I have friends on there and I told her I don’t want to ambush anyone with this and she said they may thank you, I told her no and she said what about in your phone, you don’t have anyone. I told her I don’t have friends, so I’m just telling her anything so she’ll drop it but she was so persistent it was ridiculous. I finally ended it telling her I’m sorry but no and she said thank you and turned her back on me. You all invite me here to interrogate me about more people just to get mad and be rude to me. I’m glad I didn’t give them the $99 dollars, they told me it was for a background check, plus $25 a month to access your account through their website.
I can’t believe I got lured into this.
One day I am opening the bar where I work – a dive bar in a very low income neighborhood. It’s dead quiet, and a woman I’ll call Mary comes in, telling me she is waiting for someone she had met there the night before. She wanted to help this person out of her terrible job by interviewing her for a position at her business. The other woman never shows up. I’m a chatty bend-your-ear kinda bartender, so as she’s sipping her coke we start up a conversation. Like I said, it’s a dive bar and the usual clientele is pretty rough. So this nice, well-put together woman is kind of a nice change to talk to.
Our conversation goes all over the place. She is candid, very kind, open. Seems like she wants to help people. She tells me about running her financial management business in the suburbs, how she’s trying to open an office in the city, how she bought another house to take care of her ailing mother-in-law. I tell her about my jobs, what I used to do, etc. The conversation gets deep, takes philosophical turns. She seems thoughtful and amiable and I like her. Several times she mentions she is a Christian, in that mostly innocent way Christians sometimes do to feel out a stranger, trying to see if they’re on the team. As it turns out, I am a lapsed Catholic and an Atheist, but I still wear a silver communion cross so she may have been taking a stab. I don’t mind. As she’s leaving, she stops and says, “You know, I never do this because it’s disrespectful to approach people at their jobs. But I really like you. Can I get your number, and maybe we can chat?” I say sure, never expecting to hear from her again, and leave her my number. Worst case scenario, I figure, it’s a connection or something.
About a week later she calls me. I search my memory and finally remember who she is. She wants to meet at a bar in my neighborhood on a Sunday (“after church” she stresses more than once) to have a chat. I don’t know why, but I say okay. Again, I figure worst case scenario it’s a connection. Or something.
I show up on time but, honestly, a little worse for wear. I had a few drinks the night before. Mary arrives and is her same cordial self. We chat like we did before — she mentions that her daughter Mariah (not her name, but I want to stress the weird detail that the name WAS a variant of her own). Her daughter has had rough luck — a failed cornea transplant has left her half blind. Apparently she works at the bar we are sitting in, but is not in that day. She chats up the bartender who seems wary of her. Again, we talk a long time. Our conversation goes all over the place like before.
The subject turns to travel. I tell her I would like to do more of it. She starts telling me all the wonderful places her job has sent her, free of expense. In fact, in a few months they are sending her to Atlantis. Yes, Atlantis – the mythical Hellenic city submerged in ancient times. I figure it’s a slip of the tongue and she means AtlantA, but throughout the conversation she keeps excitedly bringing up Atlantis. Well, okay — Atlantis it is.
Suddenly she whips out a sheet and starts asking me questions and taking notes. My name, what I do, how much I’d like to make, what my goals are. It seems like a job interview. I play along, cause… I dunno. Why not. I still like her, she seems nice. I interject, “I’m sorry, what exactly is it that you do? Am I applying for a job?” She deflects quickly, “This is the part when I get to know YOU. We’ll talk about me and what I do later.” Um, alright. I fill out an application. Name, address, social security. I sign some kind of agreement that she mysteriously summarizes for me instead of letting me read. Something about honesty. Again, I am a little hungover and I figure well, so what. It’s a job application, I don’t have to accept even if I get an interview.
All of this is broken into ordinary conversation somehow. I forget even about the application, the conversation has turned political. She has probably picked up by now that I am a liberal, so she starts emphasizing that she is “a hippy and a Christian” whose “God loves everyone.” She tells me an incredible story about her mom leading a march for gay rights and getting pelted with eggs and vegetables. God am I hungover. I express admiration and order another coke and a sandwich. I am starting to get suspicious. I tell her my mom had me when she was 18 and I grew up poor. Turns out, surprise, she does the math and she is the same age as my mother and her daughter the same age as me. She gives me a look that says, “You could very well be the son I never had!” It seems like a con now.
Suddenly a laminated informational booklet comes out for PRIMERICA. She starts explaining an elaborate scheme to sell insurance, basically, to poor people. The examples in the booklet are for Bob and Susan Smith, ages 33 and 35. She talks about them like they are real. PRIMERICA has changed their lives. Down below is a tiny non-referent asterisk that tells us to check their claims against the DISCLAIMER portion of the book. I am not shown this. Mary clings onto it for dear life. I am promised that PRIMERICA will essentially turn me into a hedge-fund manager for Charles Schwabb in time. All I have to do is clock in whatever hours a week I want and watch thousands of dollars pour in. After, of course, buying into the company and getting my license, etc. etc. The hard sales pitch, corporato-cult speak, and grandiose promises are like a jackhammer to my sodden, achey head. I want to get out of there now.
She goes to the bathroom and I quickly text my girlfriend to come and rescue me. My girlfriend interrupts the lunch, I get the sandwich boxed. Mary wants to extend the visit. We talk for a second longer, she makes a point of showing me her expensive car and vanity plates (I realize now how often she was trying to make displays of wealth from the moment I met her). The plates say something like A-TEAM. I am now on the A-TEAM, she says, a daring-do group of “financial managers” that will change the world. She gives me, the son she never had, an enthusiastic hug and promises to call me tomorrow with all of the details. I am bewildered that a casual lunch chat turned into an application, job interview, explanation of the job (in that order), and finally my being hired. Within a couple of hours. I walk around the corner and watch her drive off, then quickly whip out my phone and Google PRIMERICA. Of course, I find that it is a scam and a pyramid scheme. I am sick thinking that I signed something that I didn’t read, gave her my social security and address. My own confidence in my judgment is severely shaken. I feel dumb.
I go back into the bar and ask the bartender if a half-blind bartender named Mariah works there. He looks at me sadly and suspect. “I don’t know man.” He frowns and shakes his head at me. I want to shake my head at me too.
I immediately texted Mary to shred my application and that I was not interested. She never called me back or contacted me again. But… I guess we’ll see what they do to me and all of my information. Very creeped out.
Thanks for the heads up! I got a call around noon from a company called PFS Investments. They want to interview me tomorrow at 1pm. After reading all of comments, I will not be going.
Thanks Again!
Just went to one of these sad displays lst night got dragged in by a friend. As soon as I saw Primerica I KNEW it was a scam. As they were talking I was looking up scam reviews and saw 160 on another website. ONE EVEN SAID THAT PRIMERICA STOLE HIS SS# BANK ACCT AND AND ALL HIS FRIENDS HE REFERRED!!!!!!! I was shocked. Then once the first lady satrted talking all I could see in my head was Wolfe of Wall Street. I listened to all the BS coming out of everyone’s mouth. One “VP” stated he made $21,000 last month. Ok then why do you work at a retaurant as a sous chef then? The “big guy” stated he made over $500,000 last year. OK if that is the case then why are you driving a 1995 Toyota Civic AND why does your wife work FT AND he also had a PT job at GEICO!!!! Please please please stay away from this scam!!!
Sobeys. Fredericton, New Brunswick in Canada.
I love my job. Simple as that. My fellow employees are a wonderful group to work with. Am a cashier – nothing spectacular, but I still enjoy it. A few evenings ago…
A customer commented to me that he was impressed by my way with patrons to our store. Said that I was really great with people. Asked for my phone number, stating that while he didn’t know my situation, he would be interested in offering me a job. Replied that I was actively seeking a second job opportunity, so without disclosing a last name I wrote down my given name and phone number. Call away, I figured.
The man called the following day (just as he had said he would do). He spoke and I listened. Apparently, his company helped a lot of families who couldn’t afford such help otherwise. Aww. I like helping people. But a million questions arose when he’d finished describing what it was he did, as he never quite cut to the chase of what I’d be doing for the company. So when I flat out asked for a job description, he said that the company was branching out from neighboring Moncton, and because of this they would require an office manager. A manager? You want a cashier to manage your office? Um… And these were my thoughts.
He couldn’t have known that I am a three time college graduate, having obtained both a diploma and honours degree, in the fields of law and computers respectively, so why on earth was this happening? Expectations low (as I am VERY cautious) I agreed to meet with him. In public. The meeting was for today, in fact. Allow me to tell you about it.
The man on the phone… was not the man at the meeting. This other guy was pleasant enough, introduced himself and politely shook my hand. We sat, and I patiently listened to his presentation of “How to be successful at selling insurance” basically. No mention of the office manager position the other man had offered, so I decided not to bother bringing it up. Bogus, obviously. Company name finally? Yes. Primerica. Where you could start off making $2,000 a month easy with only 4 clients. $99 fee was mentioned. Red flag I had been waiting for. Meeting ended abruptly, shook hands, and informed him that this probably was not for me. Came home and typed the company name into the search bar. Result was what I had expected. And now I am here. With all of you.
So, with that experience under my belt, life goes on. Have no doubt they will be in contact with me again (as they are salesmen), but polite as I am, I’m just going to be blunt, as closure is important. Something like, “I really don’t understand why you felt you had to lie to me initially. I’m not interested at all. Please don’t contact me again.” Ta da. Easy.
I mean, my pitch would have been an honest one. The good old fashioned telemarketer approach *laughs*. “For only $99 you can be licensed to sell insurance to others with us. And for easy monthly payments of only $25…” I’m really glad I came here, because they hadn’t even gotten around to mentioning the other company fees yet.
In conclusion… my review:
Lies and time wasting leading to a quick fumble at your wallet. Well, no touchdown today for you, Primerica! I am left feeling overly annoyed. But still a very nice person 🙂
It’s interesting that I came across this, especially since Primerica is also traded on the stock market. I follow their stock using an app called Searching Alpha, which is an app that has people doing analysis of various stocks. One of those analysis of Primerica showed how that it is nothing more than a game where you don’t really make any money, and it’s all about recruiting and selling over priced term life insurance. Turns out that of the top 25 life insurance companies out there, Primerica is at number 22, and they have a very small share of the entire life insurance market to begin with, even though they have more “agents” than every other life insurance combined. I work with a woman who is always trying to recruit people by taking them almost 2 hours away to hear the presentation. She also had sold Avon at one time too. The stock in Avon has dropped as well, below $10 a share. If you look at the market cap of Primerica, it is very small compared to Metlife, or even my regional bank of PNC. It’s not what you are told that is important, but rather what they aren’t telling you that really matters. And that’s why I have not fell prey to their scheme of getting people to recruit. Some of the stories and comments above have been really sad. I heard at a convention a couple of years ago that the way you know it’s a good company with good products or services, would be if you had to pay retail, would you still buy it? If you never got paid for telling people, would you still tell people about it? Life insurance is a service, and just like any other service, someone can come along and provide the same service for less money. There is more money made in consumable products than anything else. The only way to collect on a life insurance policy is to live to be 100 years old, providing your policy goes out that far. Primerica, at the very least, sells a very mediocre policy, that is also over priced for what it does. The company also restricts what you can and can not offer to people as well. If someone approaches you with any opportunity of any sort, and they are not willing to divulge the name of the company, then run as fast as you can! Those people in Primerica don’t know enough about it to investigate, and once they find out the truth, it’s really hard for them to save face and quit. Just my two cents worth. People should learn to use critical thinking skills before jumping into something like this, as they prey upon your emotions and desperation. Many, many years ago, when it was A. L. Williams, I was approached, and even attended one of their informational sessions. Even the man who started it wants nothing to do with what it has become.
Last week I was approached at my job by two people. We talked a little about appliances and after everything was said and done they left. About 20 minutes later I received a phone at my job stating his name was David. He proceeded to tell me that he called his partner about me and said I am great with people and would love for me to join their team if I was open to opportunities. So of course I gave him my number. He called me the next day and I missed his call. Then again two days later. I work retail so my hours are crazy. So today I had a random phone call and I answered it only to find out it was a woman by the name of Jerica who said that Martha that I had met at my job referred me. She really did not go over what the company was about but said we will discuss during the interview and not to worry if I was not experience because they like to teach within the company. She also said if I “fit for the position” I would need to plan on staying longer to go over more information. After reading these comments I can say I will not be showing up Wednesday at 6:15 for my interview. I feel more insulted then anything right now because I think the two I met were only there to seek for people. They are sharks looking for their next meal!
After reading a lot of these comments I understand why many people feel Primerica is a scam. But one thing a lot of people never did was actually get any information from the company about what they actually do and how they actually help people with their finances so people can actually pay off their debt faster than they are projected to, and actually reach their retirement goals. A lot of people on here say… “Good thing I found this website. I’m canceling my interview for tomorrow.” The recruiter may actually be vague in most cases when trying to get people to come check out the company but that doesn’t mean they the information you will get about saving for retirement, etc is false or lies.
So many of you cancel your interviews which I understand you feel you need to do because of what other people are saying about the company. But the way I see it, is that why should I care about what other people are saying about this company. Why don’t I just go for this so-called interview, gather the information they want to give me and make my own decision as to if it’s something I want to do or not (like Charlotte did).
My advice would be to at lease go in for the fake interview, gather informatican about the company for yourself, then decide if it’s for you or not. Because most likely many of you canceled your appointments, and during that appointment time ended up doing something unproductive anyway, like watching TV, or browsing the Internet. Gather the information and make up your own minds. Then post your experience good or bad.
Just had an “interview” today…it stated just as everyone else’s with a phone call from a lady stating “someone gave me your name and advised me you were looking for work and you have a background in administrative work and customer service” she said she wanted me for an office manager position. I questioned it but thought oh well go for it. I set up the interview, on memorial day, not knowing the name of the company. As I told others about my upcoming interview and was asked things like with who, I felt like an idiot realizing I wasn’t given any basic details. So I looked up the address and found the name of the company. Didn’t alarm me as I never heard of Primerica. So I went to the interview and when I left feeling like they just tried to sell me something and like they settled for offering me the next phase in the interview process… I thought let me do some research. Now here I am, I think I’ll be cancelling my interview for tomorrow. Shame.
Jeb – The reason why they don’t give you any information prior to the fake interview is because IT IS A SCAM. No legitimate employer is secretive about the position before you come in for an interview. Primerica is secretive because that’s what all MLMs do. Why? Because if they tell you the truth, you won’t come in.
I can’t believe you even said people should go to the FAKE interview. People like you almost deserve to get scammed.
Jeb- If you read most of these comments then you should already know that half of them was approached at their job like myself. I am a single mother of two kids and I have only been getting one day off from work. So I was going to take my one and only day off this week and go to an interview only to find out that it’s a scam of some short. I think not! I am glad that I came across this blog because rather than wasting my day off from running errands and spending time with my children, I would’ve been sitting in a UNPRODUCTIVE and pointless interview just to GATHER INFORMATION that should have already been provided to me.
Hey every body, i have a guy friend who works at a local health food store, he started telling me about 6 weeks ago about this new business he was recieving training in, he connered me today at the store, and asked if i wanted to sit in on a meeting to see what its all about; well i new something was up when every one was all cheerfull and glad to have me there, i lost count how many people said that to me in the first 20 min, Then came the brief infomercial about the exotic trip you can go on if you just earn enough points, every one kept talking about all the money and free time you can have fro your self, but never once did any say exeactly what you do to actuallu earn any money, oh ya then there was this manditory meeting you have to attend 1200 miles away, and wouldn’t you know, they started right with telling every one if you did not make this meeting you simply were not commited, Wow.. Any way after about 45 to 50 min of this i told my friend i was going to leave and research this out online, you have no idea how good it felt to walk out mid presentation, i bet all eyes were on me 🙂 you what i missed riding my bike tonight because of this….. Dont waiste your time people it is a MLM scam..
If it is such a scam, why is it that people can actually make some extra money once they are trained?
My niece received a call for a job interview yesterday. Luckily, I was sitting next to her so the moment she said it was from “Primaerica” I told her it was a scam. I had come across this blog a few months back after hearing about this scam.
One of my classmates from a dispute resolution class I had this past winter called me one night about a “business opportunity” she wanted me to check out. The fact that she had to describe it as a “business opportunity,” and not a “job” already set off alarm bells, as such language is common in many scams, but I went to the interview to see what it was all about. When I entered the address she gave me on Google Maps, no name for the building came up, which raised my suspicions even further. The building that the interview took place at was unmarked on the outside and rather desolate on the inside, and it was situated next to a masonry business past the outskirts of the nearest town, of all things. I went in, shook some hands, and sat down listening to a spiel chock-full of confusing jargon, just nodding my head and feeding their ego while I’m sure they felt like they were doing the same to me. I knew that a job selling insurance wasn’t really up my alley, and my intention was to leave the first opportunity I got, but that opportunity came when they asked me to put down $99 for an investment licensing class. I told them that I’d have to think things over, though it took a couple of times for me to say that so that they understood. My contact and I talked a bit, and she escorted me to the door, and I went on my way to run some errands that I had intended to do earlier that day. When I looked up this company, I saw that they had an aggregate rating of 1.6 stars out of 5 on Consumer Affairs, and I felt simultaneously relieved that I didn’t let them get my bank information by putting down the $99, and horrified thinking that I could have been among the many people that this company had roped into their scheme.
Goodness gracious – thank you for the comments, almost went to an interview. SAVE YOUR LIFE- DON’T JOIN PRIMERICA
I sold Cutco like ten years ago and while I had a fun summer doing it and actually made some decent sales, I would never do it again. The difference was the leadership at Cutco wasn’t as slimy as the women who interviewed me when I got introduced to Primerica. She got extremely defensive when I called her out on the scheme of things and told me “not to just Google” them. They are a public traded company but a lot of slime-balls are publicly traded and perform well in the stock market. The reality is their culture was disturbing and triggered a lot of anger in me. I wanted to light their office on fire (when everyone left of course) that’s how frustrated I was. This office in Tigard,OR reeked of people looking for people with low self esteem.
I did not quite have the similar negative experience as many posted, but mine was similar. Ever since I graduated my undergrad I’ve gotten random phone calls from shady looking companies that I never applied to. In this instance, it turns out that I did apply for a job with Primerica back in December (they had a job listing on my grad school career website)
Anyway, flash forward to last week, I get a phone call from them. They asked about my work situation and I told them that I got a job a few months ago. I assumed that would have ended the conversation. (Kind of like someone asking you out on a date and then you saying “I have a girlfriend”, they should get the hint) The guy keeps talking and says something like “we should have a discussion when you’re free about the position”. I’m generally really polite and don’t want to hurt feelings, and I knew that my current work may expire in December, so I figured I’d hear him out and then should I need work in December, maybe I’ll give him/them a call.
It was basically a skype interview, although it was a group interview (which they didn’t tell me) and nobody else in the group showed up. I’ve had group sort of discussions before, but this seemed to be more of them trying to sell me on a position (it almost felt like they were trying to sell me the products themselves) They didn’t ask me many questions about myself, so it felt like they were looking for whoever will take their job, not who wants it.
They didn’t give me an estimated end time for the interview, after about an hour (I was following the MLB Draft on the side) I told them that I had to go and they asked me about the opportunity and I reaffirmed that I already have a job and they told me that they will call me in a couple of weeks about it. I emailed the guy this morning after I “slept on it” and told him that I was not interested and this was not a fit. I’ll be moving in a few weeks anyway and as I mentioned, I already have work. They did not respond to my email but hopefully they do not call me further.
I would not call it a scam, but they are overly persistent and do not take a hint unless you are forceful. (Even then that is to be seen) They clearly have a lot of red flags, and I don’t think businesses should be allowed to run like that.
Very sad to hear all the ridiculous posts, and misleading info that is pushing people away from the company. Recruiting is not mandatory, as you can make a great income with sales (once licensed as per local regulations, which is what the 99 is for).
I’m not going to bother saying anything else since you all are just looking for a reason to not go. As for the “Author” she seems to have ulterior motives and a chip on her shoulder regarding the company.
And if your not going to show up to an appointment just say so, don’t be a child and say “i’ll be there” and not show. it takes 1 minute to call or text.
I “seem” to have ulterior motives? What might those be? I get NOTHING from writing about multi-level marketing scams. (Unless of course, you count the harassing phone calls and emails I put up with from MLM cult members.)
If you want to sell insurance or investments, you are much better off with a company OTHER than Primerica. With traditional firms (i.e. ones that are not MLMs), you will keep the majority of the commission on the sales of products. In an MLM, your upline gets a big cut of your commission. If your goal is sales, join a traditional company. If your goal is endless chain recruiting, you are scum and you belong in a company like Primerica.
My daughter was contacted by Primerica and she told them I was looking for a job. She told the lady who contacted her to give me a call the next day. (I was sitting with my daughter at the time of the call) The lady was insisting on contacting me after talking with my daughter and again my daughter told her to call me the next day. After my daughter hung up the phone I received a call from the “recruiter”. This was an immediate turn off for me. Obviously the recruiter was being paid on some form of commission so the sooner she got me in the office the better. I agreed to meet with her the next day at 6 pm (again another red flag). I ALWAYS check out a company before interviewing so after reading the above information, I gracefully declined the interview.
Thanks for the info. They contacted me last week and after the first decline the Recruiter called me back to give more information and requested that I come in for a presentation and make a formed decision after seeing the presentation. Again thanks for the information.
I just had a very recent run-in with a Primerica recruiter. I was in the middle of Target, shopping in the electronics aisle. A woman approached me and complimented me on my bag, asking me where I got it from. I told her the store and began to walk away until she stopped to ask me if I was currently employed. I am, so I said yes. I was wearing a ring on my fourth finger (it’s the only finger it fits) and she asked if my husband had a job, so I went along with it and said yes. She told me that she was expanding her business, she worked in financial services, and was looking to hire people. I told her that I would tell my friends about it but she kept pestering ME to work for her. I eventually gave in and asked for her business card, she told me she had left it in her office. I thought that was weird; if you’re going around job recruiting at Target, you should probably have a business card. So we exchanged numbers and that was that.
As I walked away, I thought it was really weird and random that this woman would just walk up to me in the middle of a Target and offer me a job. She told me she would call later that night, but it was about 2 hours after the time she originally said. I called her back to be polite but she didn’t answer. I figured that was the end of it, but she kept calling for a week after. I caved and spoke to her, trying to ask questions about the job but she was extremely vague and told me that she was having a ‘training’ next week and invited me to come along. I wasn’t aware I had even received the job, so I just agreed and figured I could back out later. Then she texted me and asked to meet her this week for coffee. I ended up getting out of it last minute once I found this blog – I had to SEARCH HARD to find out that she worked for Primerica, it pretty much boiled down to me searching the address she gave me and finding that it’s registered to Primerica. Needless to say, I’m glad I got out of that one.
Tracy did you use to do Primerica and was unsuccessful because you seem very angry with the company?
No, I have never been a part of Primerica. No, I am not “very angry with the company.” I do, however, believe it is very important to inform people about the truth behind multi-level marketing.
I received a call earlier from a rep, or whatever. I’ve never seen the number before and I typically do not answer unknown numbers but I still did to see who it was. As soon as I answered I heard someone making silly sounds and I wondered if it was someone I knew but no it was the gentleman who said he was calling me because my friend had recommended me for the job before I was a hard worker and he “wanted to know if it’s true”..we began talking for a while. I told him I was talking summer courses and I really wasn’t looking for work but I actually was (does that make sense?). I told him I usually work in the summer but this summer didn’t work out so I started taking some summer courses. I said to him I got a call for an internship two weeks ago but they never got back to me, so I was actually happy to have received that call from him. I’m an accounting student and will be taking finance courses in the near future so I didn’t mind working with a finance company. He said there would be training and that’s what my friend was getting into. He wasn’t really giving me a clear description of the job, but I still heard him out. He said there were interviews for the next three days: a group interview and all the others were individuals. We set up an interview for this Friday at 1:00. He gave me the address and phone number and told me to dress up (why wouldn’t I, it’s an interview for crying out loud). He didn’t mention anything about a resume which made me wonder. At school when we’re prepping for interviews, recruiters ALWAYS want a resume.
I googled the address and found out the company’s name is Primerica Financial Services (I don’t even think he told the name). I then proceeded to google the company’s name and before I could type in the full name I saw “Primerica Financial Services scam”, immediately clicked and was led to this page. I’m glad I did because this job sounds JUST like a job that sent me a postcard a few years ago saying they wanted me to work for their company. I found it extremely weird they had my info and I’ve never heard of them before; however, I gave them a chance because I needed a summer job. It was a sales job selling “the best cutlery ever” but in fact it wasn’t. I specially remember the leader telling us naïve teens (and adults) we were to sell these cutting tools and in order to get a sell (trick people out their money), we had to do the ‘penny trick’. We were to ask them for a penny (hoping it would be a new penny because those are weaker/thinner than the old ones), and with the new penny we we’re to use “the best cutting scissors ever” to cut easily into the penny. He said we were guaranteed to get them to buy with that trick. Well, I didn’t stick around to find out if it would work or not because I stopped going once me and my mother got a bad feeling about the company. The place where we met was super creepy, also. It was located on the northwest side of Chicago (also where the Primerica location is) in a building that was practically empty and only had a few rooms/”offices” one the 1st floor and a basement which is where we met and discussed this foolishness. I must add that I made the mistake of giving these people my SSN but it for before I figured out it was a scam.
I read the story that was provided above and a handful of the comments. I noticed $99 needs to be paid. I texted my friend and asked him what was $99 needed for, and he replied it was for my background check and two tests I would need to take before I got my license. He also stated I would be refunded once I completed a certain portion of the tests. I informed him this job sounds just like the foolishness I mentioned above, and that I will continue to research the company before I consider whether I’ll go to “interview” Friday which I highly doubt I will do thanks to this page!
I didn’t have to read much of this thread to decide that I am no longer going to the ‘interview’ that I have scheduled for Tuesday. Thank you to all those who contributed to this thread and I wish you all the best of luck in your job search!
Thanks guy- I am happy I did not fall for this prank
The reason for a lack of business card is actually the business model of Primerica. Look this up on Wikipedia, the very unusual and very unique model that Primerica uses. At first I was questioning that, aren’t you supposed to use a business card? Yes, but for other areas, not recruiting. A phone call is more personal, and taking down someone’s number to give to one’s own trainer is the model we use. Unusual, yes, a scam, no.
Yes so would you call NYSE a scam? People who invested millions of dollars and doubled their money in 2 years are scam. Oh my bad I guess money is a scam to you as well. The company with the highest growth in NYSE last year, where tesla motors had the second highest growth, is a scam to you all, who is having trouble surviving and stuck in a JOB (Just Over Broke)
Tracy is that lonely little girl in high school who no one ever liked, and was never invited to parties, probably why she hates on MLM’s so much, no one ever invited her. It’s ok Tracy we still love you. Grant cardone once said if you don’t have haters, your not working hard enough.
Tony – Thanks for your “concern.” Indeed, I was invited and liked. I simply don’t like scams. Multi-level marketing is not a business. It is a scam in which almost everyone loses money. They are lied to about the “opportunity” and I feel a responsibility to give consumers the information the MLM people will never tell them. At least then they can make informed decisions.
WOW. I was also approached at a mall with the same story. I have an appointment on Monday. For sure I am not going. Thank you everybody.
Primerica is a SCAM period. They are legal, but unethical. They use the classic BAIT and SWITCH for everything they do. Anyone who lasts with them is a masochist. It feels horrible all the time to be with them I am sure. My friend has her insurance with them. SHe is paying double for the same thing. Her husband, a mechanic, got invited to a big fancy house and had dinner there. He signed on right there because he was impressed with their house. Nevermind they had all tacky, cheap, white trash decor. Their company relies on always havinga bottom layer of sales people, they move up by getting lower level people constantly to do all the work. They get half the money of everyone below them. cattle calls they lie about and call job interviews. The recruits have to pay $100 for a credit check and training. THe credit check should be about $30. and is refundable but most people don’t know that, You can get your own credit check and if not hired, you can get a refund.
I am saddened to read this. It’s all true.
Sucker Me Not At This Time
I just got snub because I was invited to a meeting while other try to tell/sell me how to get to the American Dream with Primerica doing good things for my neighbors and family etc. It smell like a pyramid scheme and look like ones. They were put off because when they ask if anyone had any questions, I raised my arms and stated above. I will not be invited back even though the host is consider me a friend and wants me to be on her team (her words). I’m still researching the fact, yet still smell pyramid.
I’m sad to read all this because it is true. I got called on resume. I went to the interview and we just hire anyone.
Worst of the worst
I got the call from a woman saying she got my résumé from monster. And i was “highly qualified” for one of their positions. I said ok…she continued to talk balg blah blah. I asked for a camp name twice she mumbled PCC really fast so i couldn’t catch it. It wasn’t my first time hearing from Primerica. I knew to avoid them but because of how fast she mumbled the name i didnt research. I went to the interview to meet Anthony. I got there 15 mins early they kept me waiting for 30 while having a buddy conversation. I was irritated. Finally they called me in the most boring, plain, unprofessional office ever. There was two guys Anthony and some dude who looked like he snorted before he came in. I was supposed to be intervied by Anthony, i wasnt. He sat next to me while the guy gave a speech on how much money people were making and talking bad about my job. They guy even scratched his back while slumped into his chair. Then after 45 mins he told me to come back. I said ok and never went back. He been calling me since.
The funny thing about all this is that no one mentioned that Primerica is a NYSE company. Google what you’d like but do you really think Google, a company who makes money by sponsors is more accurate than the companies that investigate for the NYSE? Also this company has to be licensed in each state by the Insurance Comissioner. How likely is it that they can manage to “fool” all 50 of them? And finally the companies they represent (the likes of Met Life, Lincoln Financial, Equifax…). These companies actually have them sell their products. As far as heightened prices if this is the case how is it that their clients save money on the services? So what you are saying is that the other insurance companies must REALLY over elevate their prices. People do real research before you blow an opportunity and not this Google cap where anyone can post anything on it. Fact remains if you had joined the Primerica team and never reached any level of success you were probably not even trying and waiting for something to be given to you.
I’m not saying Primerica doesn’t sell legitimate insurance and investment products. What I am saying is that (a) the MLM structure is a legal scam that hurts the distributors/representatives, and (b) Primerica’s products generally cost more than other similar (or better) products sold through non-MLM companies. (The clients DON’T save money on services as compared to other companies.)
I retired from a 20 year career in the U.S. Air Force in 1993. At that point in time I had nearly 20 years in electronics and put out many resumes looking for TECHNICAL positions. How in the world they got my resume in a “snail mail” environment is still a mystery. When called at home, I got a vague assurance that I would be a good fit. But the point is, even then they required a fee to be “hired”. NO legitimate for hire position will require the applicant to pay for the privilege to work for the company. You are effectively a franchisee paying a franchise fee plus a percentage of your profits to the tier above you. All MLM’s eventually reach a saturation point where the bottom tiers are almost literally competing for scraps because the word gets out about the nature of their business model and they become shunned by most prospective recruits. With currently over 90,000 representatives, Primerica may have reached that point. New recruits today have to work much harder than recruits of 10 years ago to be successful and you have to be willing to push right to the limit of your ethical convictions to do it and the lines can get pretty blurred. MLM’s are legitimate but a prospectus or other similar vehicle should be required for prospective recruits just like a stock or mutual fund offering, identifying exactly what fees are involved and what is specifically required of the representative. No, I never joined Primerica and walked away. I hope this helps anyone considering Primerica or any MLM company for a career but don’t let desperation drive you to a poor career decision.
why are they still in business? this is wrong! let’s protest guys!!!!
They are in business because our government allows multi-level marketing companies to operate. It is generally “legal,” regardless of the fact that so many have no chance of turning a profit in MLM. (i.e. MLM is not a business.)
http://www.sequenceinc.com/fraudfiles/2015/03/multi-level-marketing-is-not-a-business-its-a-pyramid-scheme/
I think these Primerica idiots need to get trolled HARD. Take up as much of their time as possible, keep them on a string. Keep them going with promises of big fat contact lists. Act really dumb and make them explain things 3 or 4 times. And at the very end, drop the bombshell: You know who and what they are, and that you’ve purposely been wasting their time. LOL
LOL!
Lol thanks God I look it up and they give you such an hope like you’re about to win big smh I waist my time dressed all nice thanks God I didn’t register yet I’m done with them
A couple of days ago, I posted the following on Craigslist:
“Hello, I’ve excellent command of MS-Word, MS-Excel, and MS-PowerPoint. I’ve very good internet skills. My typing speed is about 60 wpm. I’m looking for an admin/clerical position.”
And in response to that someone wrote to me the following:
“Hello Good evening, I work for Financial Services Office. Were looking for someone to hire and train as a investment advisor for expanding finance department. Currently have a few positions available. Both part time and full time. Competitive compensation.”
He asked me to go for a job interview somewhere in a Manhattan building. I went with desperately expecting to land a job . But upon going there I saw a completely different picture. They are in fact the Primerica guys, lecturing the invited people to pay them $90 to own a business license and the usual multi-level marketing stuff. It was no way a job interview.
Isn’t it a blatant cheating? How come they are doing it without getting punished?
Any company that loses over 220,000 reps/recruits per year (Can/US) either has a recruiting issue, or a job quality issue. That fact in itself should be an embarrassment to any organization, requiring immediate action. The only logically answer as to why this trend has been in effect for years is that Primerica must benefit from this tunover. If this issue was costing them money, they would change it. If it was cost-neutral, why bother recruiting in the first place? No, the only logical answer is that they somehow benefit from this revolving door. New faces=new prospects=new recruits=new sales. Obviously the other side of this coin is that reps/and recruits don’t benefit, and don’t find enough value to stay. The company and product reputation aside, as a source of personal income they truly fall short…generously speaking. I would love to hear a Primerican respond, and don’t use the cliche, “not everone is right for Primerica”, because that realistically just points the finger back at their recruiting department!
Damn I wish I would have read this earlier. I went to the interview and I payed the $99 and they have all
My info along with my social number. What can I do to vanish that and get my money back
They will miraculously tell you that the mail has already left but i think you can get a partial refund if u push hard enough
Based on their Annual reports (which can be viewed online), the policies sold per rep currently averages out at 2.28 PER YEAR!!!!! They talk about working part time, not having a JOB, sky is the limit, yet deliver on none of those dreams. Do they mention that you will need to pay $30/month just to be able to access their online program? That you have to buy your own business cards even? By the way, based on those 2.28 policies you sell all year, your commission will be maybe $300-$500, less all your expenses. It is a one time commission, for the duration of that 10-20-30 year policy. And no, few people over 50 or 60 would renew a term policy as the rates skyrocket exponentially ($500-$800/month). So with each sale, that is one less client to sell to, forever!!! Not that it matters as essentially every three years the sales force has been completely replaced, except for the 2% who got in early years ago. It is really not an insurance company, it is a distribution company that relies on a pyramid to fund the upper class there. Its legal, yes…..but a scam in every sense of the word, that relies on cult mentality. Those that ask real questions will be shown the door shortly
I have a friend who just signed on with this company. He tried recruiting me so I took the interview mainly as a courtesy to him. It’s EXACTLY as described. I was in a group with a few other people who agreed to sign on as well. I feel really bad for them. Generally in my experience, anything that seems too good to be true usually is. My friend lost his job and this what fell into his lap. Such a shame.
Nice to know people are exposing this company! Personally I have been in the company for 4 months and I have seen what a scam it is. It is not a traditional job. It’s so much worse and you can’t get you to six figures even if you work your ass off.
According to their own reports, only 2.5% of their reps earn more than $36k/yr, tho even that pulls their stated average commissions down from $6k to less than $1k or less. Their 6 digit earners boast is misleading as its a cumulative, not annual figure. Its based on any rep earning $100k DURING ANY BEST 12 MONTH ROLLING WINDOW during their entire careers. It doesnt state that many on the list never again achieved those sales levels. And again, its only gross revenue and doesnt include the costs of doin business theyre all responsible for out of pocket!
What Primerica does, is after they sign up a new “trainer”, they get their list of friends, and the new trainer and his upline trainer go down the list of friends and make appts. to sit down with them to straighten their finances out. It is mostly about convincing them to but term life insurance of which, the first yr. payment is split among his upline. The new trainer gets nothing because he is not licensed yet. By the time he is licensed, he has alienated many of his friends, made some money for his upline, and is now expected to trick others into doing what he was duped into doing. I actually stayed with the company and received my securities license, but could not continue due to the trickery and deceit involved. If you do not mind cold calling for many hours of the day, have no problem deceiving others, are a good speaker and type A personality, you can make money although now with the internet and all the information out there it will be much harder to convince a friend to buy a 100,000 term life with you for twice as much money as they can get it elsewhere.
Like many before me, I too received a call by a young woman, Jasmine, stating that my number was forwarded as someone ambitious and hard working, seeking employment. This, by the way, was part of her voice message. When I called her back, she reiterated her voice message and went on to briefly discuss the “position” for leadership role for this company and requested to set up an interview. She asked a few questions about my past work experience as well. She said that if, following the interview, she liked what she saw, the business opportunity would be discussed further.
During our brief phone chat, she asked if I knew Primerica and I told her that I hadn’t. I immediately searched the company and came across this page.
I was left dumbfounded by all these comments. When I called her back to ask about the position and wages, she said, again, the position was a “leadership” role. She stated that it would be for the Fort Lauderdale office but that more locations would be opening. I told her I was looking for a salary based job opportunity and if she couldn’t offer that, then I was cancelling the interview because her job offer didn’t fit my current needs or interest.
At that point, she became very persistent and it immediately became evident with the posts I read on this site.
Her last attempt was to try and sell the financial services to me. When I told her I was not looking to invest in a life insurance plan and proceeded to attempt ending the call, she said “but you have a daughter”.
At that point, I hung up and laughed.
I never identified the gender of my child (which is a boy, by the way). I am grateful for the posts by so many and I am glad I cancelled.
I do not have time to deal with a scam. Like many before me, I posted my resume online for an employment opportunity. Maybe I should add “only serious, legit, employers may contact!”
I got recruited by this chick off of tinder. A company that tries to recruit through tinder is only going to do what tinder was originally intended for.
I was fresh in college, and desperately looking for a “big girl” job. My friend at the time asked if I wanted to join an informational session with Primerica and see if it was something I would be interested in. I attended and felt extremely motivated, but wanted to think about it for a few days. My friend convinced me to join, asking to partner up with me since he couldn’t get through the door. He had a misdemeanor when he was younger and it affected him getting the position- so he said. He set me up with an interview with the lead, and when I went in, it was really no interview at all. The lead asked me for $99 upfront, which I did not have. He asked for a check saying they’ll cash it when I give the green light to go ahead. It was fishy at first, but I thought the best of it. The interview ended there. I went to all of the trainings thereafter, but it was the most painful thing to do. They insisted that you MUST bring a person each informational session, often times calling you out in front of the group. It was a negative environment, no formal training, and they took all my leads. I stopped giving out leads once I realized that I wasn’t getting paid at all. I quit altogether after 2 months because it was the most draining months of my life.
this is defamation. Take this down before i file a complaint. We are not a scam and there are no fake interviews. THIS IS A BUSINESS, and youre too lazy to work for yourself or want to educate people on their finances. If you didnt get the license or actually go on the field then you know nothing. Don’t spread lies when you failed at the business. To the last comment, the most draining 2 months?? Maybe you dont know that in order for you to have a successful business, you have to work like a dog to build it. Rome wasnt built in a day. It takes time, effort and tears to build something you want. No one ever said it was going to be easy, and if you thought it was, then i dont know what to tell you. Nothing worth having is ever easy to obtain. Youre building a team of individuals to get them to the top, too. Theres no scheme, no one earns more unless you DO more. Youre just a bunch of lazy, whiny children. Ive seen success, a lot of it, and thats because we had a passion for what we do.
No, it’s not defamation. And where, exactly, are you going to file that complaint? Yes, the fake interviews have occurred.
And you say I’m too lazy to work for myself? Then why, pray tell, have I owned Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting for 16 years? I make a very nice income for myself with a legitimate business. Apparently I’m not too lazy, and I’m actually quite good at being self-employed.
Thank God I found this article. I had an “interview” scheduled for tomorrow, but something was really fishy about the entire thing. I posted thatI was looking for a job and got offered an “office position.” When I asked about the specifics of the job, they were incredibly vague and spoke super fast. Something was definitely off. Glad I saw this! I will not be going tomorrow. I have better things to do than waste my time being pitched for a scam that takes advantage of people who don’t know better.
Wow, thank you to all who posted about this company. I graduated from college last month and primerica does prey on with people who are unemployed. I finished having a fake interview last night and was literally thinking about going to that informative session. And we are educated, if we weren’t, we wouldnt have had researched about primerica.
Just got off the phone with a recruiter from Primarica, and he made it sound like he sought me out for this position.
Thing is I have a nose for pyramid schemes and multilevel marketers, so my radar was going off right away when I heard all the generalizing. When I started asking for e-mails and more information about the company. He was dodging and kept pushing the interview. I then told him I’m not interested. Looking them up, I found this thread and I’m grateful I told him to take a hike.
Legitimate companies give you details and job descriptions. Schemes use generalizations.
Awesome reviews everyone! Do not get suckered in, I was lured in by a friend that saw I was making pretty good money and figured 100 dollars to start isn’t too bad for me. So I got a call from the so called “vice president” of the company, mentioned they were seeking to hire many individuals due to expansion. I thanked the “VP” for the opportunity and ended the call. But It didn’t make sense that I was not given the company name but did get a management position for something I know nothing about. The address to the building was messaged after the call. I did not show up to the interview, after 30 minutes passed from my scheduled interview I got a call again from the VP. Told me he’s still interested, to come in today and I said I was too busy and had no time. He then scheduled me the day after, which after these comments I intend at missing again.
On a non related note, why are the people supporting primerica, speaking like assholes and calling everyone stupid and lazy for speaking their minds. Attitude goes a long way idiots from primerica, be forthcoming and maybe one day you’ll be able to be human again. peace out dawgs
Chris 1-23-16:
I was contacted by “Dianne” by phone from the Cheshire, CT office and told she was hiring people to not sell financial products, but to instead perform interviewing and other support functions, as they planned to expand with 20 offices. She identified herself as “PFS”, never mentioning “Primerica”.
I wen to to their office and was asked to fill out an application form. I first indicated, I was not interested in selling financial products and not sure I wanted to “apply”. She went thru a 45 minute pitch for their pyramid scheme. They particularly seem to prey on unemployed, with a get rich pitch.
I left indicating this was not for me, but wasted valuable time for something, from the on-set, which I indicated was not at all of interest, on her pretense it was a support job.
A long time ago one of these assholes gave me a card and took my info, sadly I was told it was a scam after I gave my info. Now YEARS later I’m getting calls from them. Just got off the phone with one of them, It took me like 5 minutes to realize who they were again.
Well! Well! I just went to a meeting last night, everything previously written by past people are true. I, actually sat through the orientation, and afterwords the deception started. I, pretended was interested, really put on an “academy award performance”. If you could imagine all the evasive answers and asking me if I want to do an application. I was livid but had to go along so as to get out of there. Only regret filled out the intake paperwork, but kept a copy intentionally messed up. They are so desperate for people. Good thing I have learned from Dr Phil! Life Code, the real world. If anyone has been approached, RUN!!!!
I have reviewed their annual reports (available online). They allow an objective summary of the facts. Since 2009, Primerica has recruited 1,502,173 people. A full 84% left prior to obtaining their insurance license. During that same time period, 243,167 of their licensed reps also left the “opportunity”. A review of their “Company of Destiny” report big earners chart, once applying the fine print written below it, reveals that only 1% at best, of all the reps in their entire history since 1977, ever broke the $50k level, once or more, during any best 12 month rolling window.(including advances). Many never repeated those commission levels since. I find it odd that a company that hypes fancy cars, unlimited incomes, and financial independence has a sales force where 99% earned less (and way less) than $50k during any single BEST 12 months, BEFORE EXPENSES. In essence, 95% of their force starves while making the top 5% rich.
This is how Primerica works. They work as a middle man for various insurance and finance industries and get people to join through ‘advice’ and ‘supporting main street.’ The so called ‘reps’ for Primerica find other reps and potential customers and they get a commission on it. However the commission is low and their training program sucks. They would contract with these companies to offer customized plans that are not offered if you the customer don’t go through Primerica first. This is a good money maker for Primerica and the finance industry in general- all on the backs of reps.
I was an ex muslim / teenager from afghanistan with 3 jobs when i got sucked into this unathecal business . I made to RVP , sold alots of policies yes made money but when my comminity questioned 35 year term beeng level term company simply forced me to step down . Please look up elizabeth warren cornering the president !!! I feel so bad and my heart bleeds how mich i lied to the community and friends and sold them something they dont stand for . And use to convince FLORIDA retirement sustem workerd to move there money with us thinking thatsba good idea and look what is the result ! Law sued and primeica paid millions of $ to keep it dl . Young people of united states and canada please pass this pages along to your friends . I was brainwashee by Islam and than when finally was free away from and than this so called ” god/family/business” cult comes along … Oh how sorry i am for my 10 years of life
I feel so used and as they teach JUST A NUMBER ! Humans are not numbers! Thats exactly the tactic used by islamic groupds Aiming on young and vulnirable ! Everyone should ask regulators to look onto all unethical part of lies of this legal but totaly unethical recruiting taliban mashine!!!! We need educate general public !
I am so ashame to be same species as John adison and glen williams . What a waste of human DNA both of them ! I hope theu chok on those miions $ they made when we went public . Please advise if any lawyers or regulators read this ! Thank you
Not an “Interview,” but a SCAM.
I had my “interview” with Primerica roughly two hours ago so i’ll explain my story while it’s fresh. Yesterday i was called by a man who said i was referred by my best-friend josh, who was his cousin. He said that josh said a ton of great things about me and he wanted to interview me for a position. He gave me the address and time for the meeting and–that’s it. I literally didn’t know the name of the company or the position until i walked into the interview. I actually had to call my friend to ask what the position was and he said “it’s something to do with sales.”
The next day I came in for the interview and something seemed a little off. There were a ton of empty chairs and he said there was just a big sales meeting earlier. He took me into his office, well his office with like 3 other employers who probably shared it, there was like 4 desks and we sat in a tiny corner desk.
The interview was about 30-40 minutes long so i’ll break it down into sections. The first 20 minutes started normal. He first asked me about past employment, what im going to school for (Chemistry major), my hobbies, etc. Then he spent the next 5-10 minutes telling me that the company is called “Primerica” and what they do is sell life insurance, auto insurance, and help people with debt. So the First 20 minutes seemed normal, but then it got suspicious.
After, he said I needed a state license to sell insurance and its a 32-hour course that costs $124 deposit. He explained I would get $100 back plus $200 after training.He then told me as part of the application part he needed my debit card now so he can turn in the application as soon as possible, but i told him not to charge anything yet. Then he explained this “3 by 3” thing where i refer three of my friends or family for this training and i get around $500 for it. I asked him if this was optional and he said “No, it’s REQUIRED.” Thats where my suspicions got ever higher. Basically, i refer 3 people and make $700. It seemed to good to be true. Then he went even further to explain that he could help my parents lower their insurance, debt, and help me pay for my college textbooks. I asked him if i got the license would the job be guaranteed and he said yes.
He kept asking me weird questions and giving even weirder examples. For instance, he said “What’s your favorite restaurant? I replied “BJ’s (actual restaurant thats very good).” He said “well if someone were to tell you ‘i can supply you with all the equipment to cook, but you would have to build your own client tale’ it wouldnt do to well right off the bat right?” i said “agreed” then he replied “well thats what i can help you with. you need your own clients to start off like family or friends. Pull out your phone.” He then asked me to write down 25 people in my contact list over 18 and he would call them for me to see if they would buy insurance and give me part of the profit and get me started.
Then i thought to myself “who the hell asks for 25 names off your phone and debit card info in an interview? I’m here because i need a different job and it sounds more like he needs me. Oh my god i think I’m being sold something. He’s spending more time getting me to do all this than he did explaining the actual job.”
I’m an extremely brutally honest person, so when he asked what was on my mind i told him the truth. i said “Look i’ll be honest with you, I’m a very cynical person. When something seems to good to be true, i have high doubts of it.” He replied “well how can i make you feel more comfortable about this opportunity?” I said “i would have to talk to my parents after all this was over to see what they think because all this seems weird.” I’m guessing he was catching on that i was too smart to be manipulated by all the “financial opportunities.” He then wanted to make be more comfortable by CALLING MY PARENTS and setting up a home visit to talk to them about all this.
I’m not joking whatsoever. Were 30 mins in this interview, he’s asked me for $124, 3 people i have to refer who will also pay $124, my credit card info, 25 phone numbers to also call and sell insurance too, and then called my parents for a home meeting. WHO calls someones parents to schedule a meeting to make them feel more comfortable to “work” for them. The interview was over after he scheduled a home visit to talk to my parent and i’m cancelling that appointment because I’m 95% sure i’m being scammed.
It wasn’t until i read all the posts on this blog that i truly realized i was being bent over that corner desk of his because so much of it made sense. I read a post of about how a Primerica employee came for a home interview and spent 3 hours trying to sell them insurance and about 30 mins interviewing them for the position.
Anyways, I’m cancelling that visit and now i’m off to the bank to change my debit card number to be safe.
Everything I’ve written here is true so please don’t waste your time on these people.
Thank you guys. I have mine scheduled in a few hours…..you saved me gas and time!
A common line you’ll hear from Primericans is that, at the very least, they will offer you an inexpensive way to learn about the financial industry. Canada recently upgraded their insurance industry testing and training standards nation wide. Only one company filed a lawsuit in a failed attempt to prevent these upgrades. Coincidentally, that same company has had the worst passing rates, by far, of all insurance trainers in the entire country, for the last 10+ years;
http://www.cisro-ocra.com/publications/LLQP%20Provider%20Results%20(Jan-Dec%202014)%20EN.pdf
Anyone who can defend the morality of the scum who works and represents this “company” is just as bad. I, as well was duped into attending an ” interview ” and I knew right away something was off. I was being complimented on how I dress, my smile and my energy,( I’m a naturally energetic person) they make you feel safe and secure while your there , but right away I was put off when they wanted my bank info. I thought the man I was working one on one with , who was soooo nice was helping me set up online banking , which is what he said , but in reality he was going into my account taking money out which he said they were not gonna do unless I signed up for the classes at a later date. I eventually had to block my recruiters number, cancel my account and deactivate my online banking … Plz anyone whose thinking of attending or believing what these people are trying to sell you, reconsider . Anyone with money who makes a good living does not discuss that in open form with people at a so called ” job interview ” be smarter than the rest of us , cancel , complain and don’t let them take advantage of you. Hope fully this site Tracy set up will eventually catch the eye of the better business or someone who will make this kind of shady business tactics disappear …
I know a couple that have reached their $100k status and are so proud of themselves, except they have no money and do nothing. They just tried taking a mortgage out for half a million and the bank denied them because “neither of them have a real job or make enough money”. This place is a joke, don’t waste your time or money on them.
I got the call on Monday evening from a woman (name witheld by me) asking if I would like to be interviewed for a position with her holdings company, Primerica.She told me she found my resume online and I looked like a good fit. I advised that I am not looking for a sales job, as all the cold calls about my resume have been for sales positions of one sort or another, and I really do not like selling. I advised that I am looking for roles in the IT field, preferably as a deskside technician. She assured me, as the regional vice president of the Dayton area, she is looking to agressively expand her reach and will be opening up 5 new offices in the next 2 years, so she needs all the help she can get. She asked if she could put me down for an interview on Tuesday.
I googled ahead of time, but only really to find the place, which, like everyone else’s experience around here, was on the outskirts of town in a rented building. This did not yet trigger any alarms for me as I had interviewed with a couple construction companies on that edge of town as well in similar accomodations. An office front is an office front, I thought. The one thing that did get me, however, is on Google Maps, the place did not have a name…. and there was one review on the place, a 5-star rating with no comments added. Oddly enough, the guy who put up the review had the same last name as the woman who called me to interview. Still, no alarms. I figured she hired her son to do her social media campaigning and he was just barely starting/lazy.
Tuesday evening came around, time for the interview…. I drove out to the location, got there 15 minutes early, so I sat in my car. I noticed other people my age, mid-20’s, walking into the office fronts around my destination. They all were wearing suits and carrying black portfolios. As I could see in some windows and noticed these people were sitting and waiting, I figured a lot of interviews must be happening around here. A large black SUV, an Excursion or an Escalade, pulled up next to me and a rather dapper-looking kid about middle school age got out as his mother sat in the parking lot, engine off. He went in to the building I was about to go into…. At this point, things seemed a bit odd. Why would this kid go into a financial holdings company, with a leather-bound notebook? As I still had about 10 minutes to spare, I drove around the parking lot to make sure I had the right address. I did. The first inkling of a warning flag went off in my brain.
I walked into the office and was greeted by a receptionist in her mid 40’s. She had a nice dark tan and spiky hair with maroon tips and very pale yellow roots. Her jewelry looked awful nice for a receptionist. She asked me who I had been asked to interview with after I introduced myself. She handed me a clip board and asked me to fill out the information requested. The sheet of paper wanted my address and a list of 5 local contacts, preferably not family. I put down my 5 usual references for jobs and returned the clip board to the receptionist. At this point, I had a chance to become aware of the atmosphere in this building. I could hear a party going on in the background and the aroma of delivered pizza hit my nose. Another middle schooler came in and went directly to the back where the party was. A very tan/slightly burnt, attractive young 20-something came in and spoke to the receptionist for a minute about her Florida trip and went to the back where I could now see more middle-schoolers, all dressed like they were ready to model for a Kohl’s back to school sale flyer. Another woman, in her mid to late 20’s like me, walked in and was handed the same paperwork I had to fill out. A couple young men were milling about in 3-piece business suits. I start to feel under-dressed in my khaki pants, short-sleeved button-down shirt and silk tie. The woman who spoke with me on the phone came to the front and asked for me.
“Al?” she asked as she reached a chubby, wrinkled hand out to me. “Yes, nice to meet you,” I replied as I stood up, my 5’11” frame towering over her by at least a foot or more. She looked to be in about her early 50-s. Much older than the crew she had working for her. She wore a black cocktail dress and quite a bit of jewelry. The receptionist and her shared a vague facial resemblance…
My interviewer brought me back to a conference room with a glass wall facing the rather short, narrow hallway connecting the reception area to the back room where the party was. Only two other rooms seemed to be in this building, a walled-off office and a copy room that was more or less a bump off the main hallway. I assume there was a bathroom off the other direction, but I never saw it. For how many people were in this office suite, it seemed rather small… At least the atmosphere was one of a party variety… My interviewer asked me a few brief questions about myself, but seemed disinterested as I told her my work history and personal skill sets. (unlike this whole description of events, I kept things brief) She told me to wait in the conference room as she grabbed the other woman who had come in to interview her. So, there we were….
We both waited for the process to start… the woman came back in and once again introduced herself and briefly gave a biographical history of her beliefs and work with the poor. She told us that her and her husband are preachers, therefore we should trust them. For the second time since I had gotten here, a warning flag went up. Like the Dread Pirate Roberts, I’ve known far too many preachers to take them on their word alone. She told us that most people in the company are able to make 6-figure incomes, but that’s a good thing, since they help people get out of debt and become financially independent. Clearly if one can do that for another, one should be able to pocket a nice income… Once she quit her little dissertation on the gap between the upper class and middle class and how the middle class can become upper class with our help, she told us to wait as she brought in the guy who had written the review for the company (5 stars.)
In walked this boy of maybe 18 in a new 3-piece suit and tie. Taller than me by a little, he had slightly bigger hand but no grip. I may have broken his fingers and I shook his hand… He started his presentation about the company, asking us how much we’d like to make. (another red flag.) He went on to explain that the company offers free financial health reports to perspective customers and that all they ask in return from the prospects is they offer up a list of 15 local contacts so they can hopefully recover the expense of this complimentary offer. Anther warning flag went up. Hadn’t I just provided 5 local contacts? He vaguely went over how after the financial health check, customers see how their asset/debt ratio looks and how he then will offer them up solutions to get out of debt and start investing towards retirement. He added that the goal for all individuals is $1 million before retirement. He told us the incredibly vague story of how he managed to get one individual from $20,000 in credit card debt down to zero and then into a mutual fund with a 9% interest rate. Now, the warning flags were popping up like crazy! What deity do these two preachers represent? Fortuna, the goddess of wealth!? I know hedge funds can guarantee growth percentages, but never can they guarantee one that high. Furthermore, in order to get into a hedge fund, one has to invest more than a million dollars out of pocket. No way was a guy with $20,000 in debt able to cough up even $500,000 after 3 years if their figures were correct. They had told me they work with middle-class Americans, ones making from 30,000 to 160,000, not people who were making anything over $250,000. This was my first piece of evidence that what they were saying literally was not adding up. And then, out of nowhere, he mentioned that we would have to pay a $100 deposit to gain our sales license and have to pay $25 per month to maintain that license. I have no idea what license he was talking about, but I definitely did not think it was a good idea to make the payments via personal check to a preacher I had just met for the first time while interviewing for a helpdesk technician position that involved door-to-door sales…
After he finished his little job show-and-tell, he walked out and in walked his grandmother, (I’m assuming.) She asked if the woman and I “interviewing” would be interested in receiving our free financial health check as well as a follow-up appointment for the orientation session so I can get out there and start making money. I reminded her I was not there for a financial health check, but rather for a job pertaining to repairing computers NOT a door-to-door 3rd-party insurance salesman. She told me, “I don’t think of it as sales, but rather as helping people; don’t you want to help people?” I replied, “yeah, by repairing computers, not by getting them to give me their money and expect unrealistic returns on their mutual funds!” “Well, don’t you want to see what sort of assets you currently stand to retire with?” “No,” came my reply, “do you have a need for an IT guy or not?” “We need people from all walks of life!” she reminded me. I walked out.
I was definitely lied to when I first was contacted by the woman. I really went in to the sales pitch thinking I was going to interview for a position as an IT guy for a small regional set of offices. As of this morning, the morning after, I wrote an appology text to my 5 references and also a warning that they may be hearing back from this company asking them to get involved as well. I never found out how I go from asking a guy if he wants a financial health check to getting a 6-figure salary. More importantly, I never found out why the middle-schoolers were there! One can only hope they were having a dinner party in the back and not a Donner Party… If this company asks you to come in for an interview, bear in mind they are only after your money. They are not giving you a job! Be careful and good luck to all other job seekers out there!
OMG thanks for this website!!!!!!!!! First red flag for me is on LinkedIn. I am so tired of these scammers connecting with you and then giving you a sales pitch. Her mistake was telling me this could be part time. I’m not looking for part time work. My resume is purely engineering, not sales. So with people like this, I report them to LinkedIn and then block them. When I looked at the girls job title, I googled it and found this site. I cant thank you enough.
I was at one of their “interviews” just a couple hours ago. It all seemed so legit at first and since this was my first interview and I’ve been looking for an internship, it seemed perfect. I talked to the women who contacted me through LinkedIn and her husband when I first got there. They explained how everything worked and it all seemed to be on the up-and-up. I then sat through the presentation which also seemed legit because the two presenters just seemed so down to earth and passionate about helping the common man (except the guy who kept bragging about his house and cars). After the presentation I went in to talk with the reps I talked to at the outset of the “interview” and we went over how the work schedule would work and they asked me what days I was available and when it got to the application portion, I hesitated. It was the first time I smelled something fishy. I told them I would have to think about it and let them know but they offered to “sponsor” me and they paid my $99 fee as well as the $25/month fee for the first month which made me feel less suspicious. What would happen if I cancelled the whole thing? They didn’t get my credit card info but they have my social security number and my other info. Do I just block them and never contact them again?
Primerica is the greatest opportunity to have your own business ever created. I can’t stand the fact that losers like yourself can’t understand it. You should be ashamed of yourself for writing an article as false and untrue as this one.
Jorge – Exactly what is “false and untrue” in this article? Are you saying that the people who did the fake job interviews are lying, and they didn’t actually do that? Are you saying that all the people who commented on this thread that they participated in a fake job interview like this are lying?
I understand multi-level marketing all too well. And by the way… in MLM you don’t “own a business.” You have a contract under which you’re permitted to shill for the MLM. But you don’t actually own anything, many times not even the right to take your customers with you if you leave the MLM.
MLM is not a business: http://www.sequenceinc.com/fraudfiles/2015/03/multi-level-marketing-is-not-a-business-its-a-pyramid-scheme/
I think Jorge is actually Donald Trump. I received a call today for just such an interview in West Chester, Ohio tomorrow. In light of this information, I will be canceling. Thank you for this information.
Wow. good looking into this before going to my “interview” today. A recruiter found me on Linked in and said he was impressed with my resume and feels I am qualified for a “position” again like everyone else I asked for more information and very vague did he explain to me the concept of this company. He kept messaging me even if i wouldn’t give him a reply and somehow found my number and keeps contacting me. When I told him I am no longer interested he kept asking me why and then called me arrogant. What a joke.
Hey guys I need some help… I wish I saw this before the meeting but I just got home from it. What should I do? They have a lot of my information? Would they use it if I don’t show back up? I’m kind of worried they have ALOT of personal information about me
This is too real. My friend joined this because the company we work at now isn’t good and this company made her feel good about herself. She wants me to go but ive been down the MLM road before and after a couple months I knew it wasn’t real. I’m scared for my friend but I want her to figure it out on her own so she can see what this really is. I hope she doesn’t see this thread because she will get defensive about this company. We will see.
Apparently these Primerica folk are misusing LinkedIn profiles for their slimy deeds.
I was just contacted by one of these clowns and told based on my “god given gifts” I would be perfect for this opportunity. Blah blah…I knew it was bs only because I have had encounters with companies like this when I was younger. Also, there is nothing on my LinkedIn profile that indicates I have any financial talent. When I enquired further about the details of this “opportunity to make extra income as my schedule permits” He responded to me telling me that I would be licensed with my state and I would serve as a “financial GPS” Lol.
It isn’t right how these companies take advantage of folks in need of employment.
If you do find yourself mixed up in something like this, please don’t let it effect your perception of yourself. You aren’t stupid or naive. They prey on our natural vulnerabilitis and at anytime any of us can find ourselves being lured in.
I’m grateful for this site and the posts here.
It amazes me that people still think they can get away with taking advantage of good people that just want to work.
I was also applying for jobs but for some reason I had chose not to go with this company. I made the mistake signing up thinking I was signing up for life insurance and trying to help a friend out that works for this company. I think this is so sad if she’s not realizing what she has gotten herself into. Hopefully she has read all the history on this company and so on.
Got a call from someone who said she was expanding her business in my state and is transferring from Texas and if I was interested in a business opportunity there. She said my educational background would be “beneficial for helping middle class people.”
I was really confused about what she was calling about. How did she get my information? Talking on the phone isn’t my strong suit so I just kept agreeing to everything and she was “very busy” but still managed to schedule an interview for later this week. I got suspicious after I asked her the company name and her voice sounded muffled everytime she said it. So I asked if she had a website to see the company information and she said it “wasn’t set up yet.” Well her “assistant” texted me the address and I like to research things so I researched it and the first result linked to a Primerica site with that address on it. Hmmm that’s odd considering there wasn’t a website…
I read through the site and got no information about what they do or the ways “they change lives” or whatever. So j just kept searching information about this company and after reading this post and threads I decided not to go to the interview. My only concern now is her calling me up again.
Yeah definitely not going to this after seeing the mass amount of negative comments. My Lyft driver actually was the one who told me I should come by his office but didn’t mention what he actually did (broken record much lol). He texted me his contact info after my ride and I noticed it said Primerica Inc. on it so I googled it to find out just exactly I was getting myself into. Glad I found this page though so I don’t have to waste my time or money
Greetings All,
As I read these comments, I am curious as to if the author took the time to do a THOROUGH investigation of this company. I believe the only way to get ahead in America is by entrepreneurship, MLM and/or Franchise if you can afford it… truth be told, if you think about a PYRAMID, you could look at your job as one. As an employee you will never make as much as your Manager and your Manager will never make as much as the company owner, right?
A lot of people like in this blog are used to trading their time for money, going from one job to another. If you want to get ahead in life be an entrepreneur. If your comfortable with just getting by (paycheck to paycheck) then by all means continue with what you are currently doing.
I don’t mean any disrespect to the author of this blog but I wonder if he/she thinks about real estate brokers, is real estate a scam or pyramid scheme as well? I ask because Primerica agents and Real Estate agents/brokers are both commission based but people have no problem with being a real estate agent right nor do they have any issues with purchasing homes that will most likely put them in HUGE debt.
I just wanted to voice my opinion. Good luck to you all on your future endeavors.
Multi-level marketing is not entrepreneurship. It’s not a business. http://www.sequenceinc.com/fraudfiles/2015/03/multi-level-marketing-is-not-a-business-its-a-pyramid-scheme/
Real estate is a legitimate industry that is based on the sale of something real. MLM, in contrast, is a scam based on the recruitment of people into an “opportunity” to recruit others… it’s endless chain recruiting and that’s a scam.
I was actively looking for a job two years ago for Customer Service position. I got a call from somebody in Primerica named Curtis. I was interviewed and he said that there will be second interview by his boss and at the same time their VP. After a day, Curtis called me for the second interview. The so called VP is there and questions were asked and at some point, the so called VP (he looks like James Ingram) said that I need to pay $99 for my financial license to be able to get the job. Either I pay on that time or I can pay after a week If I get hired and it will be part of the hiring process. I said I dont have the money (but the back of my mind I know that it is already a scam). When I ask again what is the role of being a customer service to the company, all that he is saying was that I will be talking to their clients. He also said that he can talk to me me and my wife at the same time to explain the money for the financial license. From that, I just wonder why he wants my wife to get involved on this.. Lol! So, I just said to him, actually there are 3 of them (including Curtis and a lady with a hair cover) that I will decide first and will give them a call within 24 hrs. He keeps insisting to do it that day but I firmly said i will think about it.
Good thing they never call me again. If they call and set you for an interview, DONT DO IT!!! My only piece of advise.
I just got a call from them today 3:19pm 6/14/16 for a job interview…im ill and cant work right now and its sad to see this is still going on in 2016…but im happy for this site to help spread the news…the caller left a message i did not answer i looked them up and ended up here….thank you all for your helpful info!
OMG… This is soooo true. They pitch like they are one the same level as other insurance companies. my son is “employed” there. if I say anything bad about them, he gets so upset. yet he hasn’t received a check from them in month. They have to recruit their own people. its a mess!
I received a call on Wednesday from a classmate she just graduater from high school and im still there so she told me that she works for a growing company but she didnt say which company it was she just asked how old i am and if i was looking for a job as almost every high school student i am looking for a job and i have applied in so many places but they havent call me. So she asked me to go to an interview with her manager and she gave the adress and my interview is tomorrow but after reading almost all the comments above i’ve decided that im not going and im so glad that i saw this before going.
I’m really glad I found this, but sadly the damage was already done. I ended up going to an interview, thinking that it was with a company called Coldwell Bankers, since it was in the same main building as them. It became apparent to me that it was bogus the moment I walked into a completely empty office that looked more like they were about to move out. I stayed through the interview anyways, fully knowing that I was already going to reject the FAKE position they had, but wanted to keep my commitment to the interview,and see for myself what kind of tricks they would verbally try to pull off. It came off exactly as I anticipated, money, money, money, completely scripted and complete with props and pictures. I blew it all off the moment I was dismissed. Before I knew it was Primerica, I thought I was going to be interviewing for Coldwell Bankers, who have a good and legitimate real estate reputation. So, right after walking out, I went back around to Coldwell Bankers and told them I would rather work for them, and left my information with the receptionist who was amazing, and seemed to actually like her job!
That was definitely not the job that the Lord was showing me.
Question for you, of those that dont do Primerica, what do you do?
I got referred to Primerica by a fellow friend of mine. I have never worked in the financial industry before so I did not know what to expect. I personally am more of a tech guy, dealing with machines and stuff. Also this was my first job interview, as I’m a student. So how did my interview go? Pretty much what i expected, sort of. A meet and greet with the manager and then into the position details. But it seemed scripted, as many of the topics of discussion were connected to internet sources and he had all them loaded up on the computer. Based on previous replies on this blog, scripted interviews seemed frequent. Just to note i did research before the interview. Since it was scripted, I never got a chance to really speak about what my views are and what I look for in a position as well as my strengths. The manager said he liked me, from a business standpoint of course. This is where it got a bit fishy. I barely spoke and I’m on the good side of the manager. This may be the part where it comes together to the point where people say they hire anyone. Being very analytical, I would have not had a good interview with another manager in a different company. Then we proceed to training and moving forward. They said they would need my bank information. Given my lack of experience, I was not sure if this was normal or not. I thought an in-person cash payment would be appropriate for the funds but i guess not. I said i would decide on my method of payment. Also they said they would need to talk to my parents, remember I’m a student in school so maybe it might of been valid for parental consent, but to me this was bit fishy as this may have been a way for them to start getting business off me. In addition they needed close contacts, many may know as the “warm market”. So this got more fishy. To proceed it was a lot of paper work, like basic info, bank info and contacts. So i said maybe on a follow up meeting i will do the paper work. In the end i never scheduled a follow up
All in all, the research done prior to the interview was useful as some claims from the internet with regards to fake interviews were true. Even if this is a legit company, the financing industry was never my thing. This is more of my experiences and not really bashing Primerica.
My father passed away in May. I have been in touch with the funeral director that handled the services for my father off and on. He contacted me about a week ago about a possible part time job opportunity working for him in a company that he said earns him more money than his full time job at the funeral home. I asked what it was and he was kind of vague, but I humored him and said that I would be interested, as I am in the market for a part time job given the added expenses of my fathers death. I met with him and the “regional Vice President” yesterday and he took me out to lunch after the meeting. The whole thing seemed a little off to me. The “VP” told me about the $100 fee and the test and how much money I could make working for primerica. The whole thing seemed extremely odd to me that they would be interested in employing someone like myself who has zero experience in this field. They asked me to come back for information session next week. So glad I decided to do some research before going back. Absolutely disgraceful that there are companies like this out there. Needless to say I WILL NOT be going back.
Very very glad I read this. My initial “interview” appointment was a positive experience, but the compensation structure (or lack thereof) was raising red flags. Glad I dug in deeper.
MLM never has appealed to me. I’d rather make money selling the product than recruiting others to recruit others to recruit others….
Thank you so much for sharing the information! Was very surprised to receive a phone call, as never applied for anything, still can’t understand how did they get my phone number .
Thank god for the internet and all useful information we find on it. Im sure there will be many people who won’t spend time to do the research before going but at least those who do will stay away from loosing time an money on some crooks.
I’ve recently begun with Primerica.
I was (and still am) working as a cashier when I was approached by a woman pushing a stroller. She asked me a few questions about some displays and such before asking how I liked working there. I tried to be professional and somewhat upbeat but also clear I despised working there.
She the. Proceeded with a few more questions before telling me she and her husband ran a small business. She asked if I was interested in working with them, and I said yes. At the time I was desperate for anything that could get me more money. I was making nothing doing work that was not only boring, but physically painful.
She gave me her name and phone number, but it wasn’t after she left that I realised she never said what kind of business at all.
She calls the next day and sets up a day and time to meet at an address. Still no mention of the type of work.
She then proceeds to pitch to me what Primerica does and how important life insurance is. How what they do helps people.
And since the beginning things felt off. They used what I told them about myself to further what they wanted from me. They sold me on it, and even managed to sell me on signing up for their life insurance.
Their RVP essentially told me he only worked with people who used the product and believed in it. And he made it seem like the right thing to do. Like the other RVP’s were worse off for working with people who didn’t have it. I’ve spent 175$ in total so far. 99 for the background check, 25 for the POL, and 50 for the deposit on life insurance.
I’m currently looking into anything and everything about them to be certain of all of this MLM/pyramid scheme type “business” and I am definitely getting out if I’m right.
Similar situation to how I found about this market a couple days after Christmas.
I’m a 22 year old student working as a sales associate in an Office store when I was ringing up a customer (Kristen Dunn). We had a small conversation and she claimed she “liked” my personality and gave me her card.
My current position is a dead-end job and leads nowhere so I was interested in a promising new opportunity. We set up the interview within a week and I’ve never had someone more eager and desperate to hire me.
I enter the building with a standard Primerica logo, inside it’s completely empty with only her and no receptionist. She sits me down and she gives me usual scripted mumbo jumbo how Primerica gets people out of dept through education, and how their life insurance policy covers families and how I can make $1500+ only working about 15 hours a month. It seemed way too good to be true, i was literally thinking to myself “If this is real, I can finally afford college”. Sadly, it wasn’t real.
The red flags popped up when she mentioned what the massive amounts of money people save, from paying 14 years of loans in 5 years is mathematically impossible for the average middle class consumer. In addition, how I’m going to have to pay $99 for license + $25 utilities (no other job makes me do this?).
Regardless, I thought I was really starting the new year great but I’m more relieved they taught us about pyramid schemes in high school. To all those who think you’ll make money from this, it is mathematically and logically IMPOSSIBLE for EVERYONE to make money in a business like this. You need to have a 1) calculator and 2) common sense to realize only the top percentile will make any livable income, in your head you think you’re going to get enough sales to make six figures – you’re not.
Also, Tracey thank you for your continued service on informing the public about MLM businesses.
Thanks for your reviews, Wasting time is the #1 sin in job hunting. I just received a voice message from Primerica, they had gotten my resume off of workone job site. As always, researching before contacting is saving me from MLM opportunities/
I had a brief interview with a ( PRIMERICA REPRESENTATIVE ) , right from the start i saw the deceptive BS that they where trying to scheme up. ALL THEY WANT IS YOUR MONEY …
I received a call today from a Primerica Representative about a management/ training job. It all seemed a little odd since they are a financial company and nowhere in my background is there anything pertaining to finance. I listened to the representative’s pitch and decided to do the research like many of you on here. I am glad that I followed my instincts and didn’t end up wasting my time.
To be honest, I saw a flyer on a corkboard at my university and, as a college student, the struggle is real, so I decided to check it out. The guy on the phone was super nice and seemed waaaaay too eager for me to come in, especially since I told him up front that I had no financing background. He told me to come in for an interview, and, sensing some possible sketchiness, I had my boyfriend come with me in case someone tried to rob me of an organ. When I sat down with the guy, it felt less like an interview and more like a sale’s pitch like you guys said. He kept giving me all these big numbers and saying how easy it would be and blah blah blah and all I could think was “if it sounds too good to be true, it definitely is.” Still, my poor, broke self held onto the hope that it might be legit. Then he started talking about me bringing in names of people to add to my “team” for my “business.” He told me that I would make more money by bringing in people. When I told my boyfriend about it, who is currently taking a bunch of business, marketing and economic courses (I’m a FILM MAJOR so the fact that they wanted me at all should have tipped me off), he said it definitely sounded like a pyramid scam and to look it up. So I looked up “pyramid scam” and found out it’s an unsustainable business in which the higher ups make money by recruiting poor unfortunate souls like ourselves. Then I looked up Primerica and this lovely blog popped up. Thank you so much everyone for sharing your experiences. They really helped me make up my mind. I should have listened to my gut in the beginning. I will be calling them in the morning to say that I will not be participating in this ridiculously insidious scam after all.
wow I was suppose to have a interview with a person from pfs investments . this woman I met about two years ago at my job . I was leary of it so I didn`t go to meet her . now she has been pursuing me saying she has another office and she needs someone to run it . she never asked for a resume or any back round on me never told me the name of the company until I asked her today . never said what I would be doing . so I started to get dressed for this interview but something in my mind said look it up on the internet . well I looked up pfs investments I didn`t see the address she had given me .then I looked up names I didn`t see her name under agents or anything . then I came across this site and read some comments . needless to say I got undressed put on my gym clothes and went to the gym . I am so glad I found these comments it saved me the time of going to somewhere that was not what it was suppose to be
“Louisiana Primerica”
I was approached by a husband and wife in a Neighborhood WalMart store. Mind you I’m sick w/a bronchial cough sure not looking or sounding my best. Conversation went out and he tells me he likes my personality in which I’ve been told many times over. He asked if I had a job and I said no but I need one. He said I’d love to have you come and work for me etc. He wanted to set up an interview as soon as I was better and continually called or text me to see if I was better. As soon as I was better he wanted to meet that evening or would tomorrow be better. He set me an interview for 3:30 PM, but by 1:30 I had already read these reviews 🙂 I decide I wasn’t going to go to the interview after reading all these reviews. He called at 3:22 left a voicemail asking if I was having trouble finding the office. I’m so glad I found this site.
Thank you to all for your comments!
Similar situation
I got the appointment with out know the many of the company, when I got there the girl asked to fill out a form with what I wanted as my career how much money I wanted to make ect,
She sits me down and asked If I knew who was PRIMERICA told her NO, then she told me its company who works with mutual company that sale insurances, help middle class people get out of debits teach them how to invest ect,
The red flags popped up when she said they will pay for the classes so I can get the Life Insurance, said each class is $500 dollars you will only pay $140 that for background check, finger prints and utilities
When she gave me speech about how they help people save money and so on, then she said are you ready to sign up for the classes? I asked her DO I NEED TO PAY ANYTHING TODAY, she said yes $140. I told her I will be but next month and gave me a choked faces and asked WHY, told her I don’t have the money to pay for it.
After that she was with very little interest to meet again.
This is just like Aimway, they make you sign up and promise you, you will make money fast and easy.
The crazy part it that this PYRAMIDS are legal.
As of 7 hours i have been in Primerica, I do understand what everyone is saying about it. My parents have been in these pyramid’s a couple of time’s, i guess you can say it runs in the family. As of now, i’m going to have my trainer (by the way, he always stay’s in touch, maybe was blown out of the water by some of my moral’s. but that neither here or there.) he will help me get lower car insurance, maybe life as well. i have 2 children and single. if i clock out, it doesn’t matter, they need help.(their 1.5 years, and 1 week old) yes a lot of this sounds and very well could be all bad. The fact is, it takes a good person to spread good, there are many jobs out there that are good with bad people running, working for them.
1. i don’t get paid to recruit people, i COULD get a % of what they CAN make from what their client’s get for premiums, EX. Joe get Sally a $800 annual premium, (depending on your team members rank)(entries are REP’s 25%) Joe will earn 25% of 800 =200(ONLY ONE TIME,THIS ONE TIME), (PYRAMID TIME) the remaining flows up the “tunnel” 75% (depending my rank) REP 25%, $200. remaining 50% of sally’s premium go up to my trainer, (again, depending on rank%.) DIV Rep, 60%….wait there is only 50% left over, okay then what does math tell us…….you get it yet…..they only get 50%, (PYRAMID END’S).
2. Any money i earn, or is traveled up to me, is tax free, so that means. I PAY MY OWN TAXE’S. my business.
3. We sell legit insurance, that either you already have, or might need at a price that is same or lower, with same or better customer service.
4. Number 1 only matters if you want to turn Primerica into your FULL TIME BUSINESS. I already work full time. 12 hr days and have to many days off, I have time to put into a might work job to help me out for my goals in life.
5. I have morals, I have my beliefs, everyone has their entitled opinions. But to shut down a business just because over 100 of you said it was crap and the rest followed after you did your own “research”. Never going to a meeting after invited and said you would. You have no honor in your name.
6. last and least. This may be a rough road, dead end, pain, death and not get anywhere. At least i can say i tried on something that could have worked. On have other hand, it works and i do get to help people out of debt and stay out of debt. That is my goal,
overall goals in my life as of a 25 year old with 2 children
1. transfer job locations to my home time and end up getting paid a little more + be with all my family + be happier.
2. go back into the reserves, be a military tec. (im able to buy back my active years for “mil tec” job, so when im 47 i will have 2 pension’s. (TWO not even 50 years old yet!)
3. open up my own winery making cranberry wine. (within the next 5 years)
4.praying primerica is what it is for good, help me with these to open up my next store FOR GOOD…for all you i dont believe a business can be good and their only out for my money. here is to you.
5. opening up a store or a chain of store’s with their very own factory. These places and factories will make organic as possible, vegan as possible, human friendly medication.
EX. epipen’s, and or anything that a person needs to have to live and is stupid expensive.
Sell any and all medication’s over the world. mail or store pick up. if you dont have the internet, you hear about my place. mail in a letter with your info, we will give you a call. no phone. tell me what you need and we will basically be pen pals.
I didn’t want to wright to much, sadly it got away from me. But you can throw away a full barrel of apples because a few are rotten.
please dont look me up. i cant even find myself, and i know where i am.
Oh Boy. My ex-employer was somewhat on the shady side. Toward the end of my time there, he’d told me he wanted me to set up “Primerica” as the “retirement investment” for employees. We’d discussed it before, and I’d tried to suggest Vanguard for a 401k, as I was not familiar with Primerica. I looked them up and it seemed to be life insurance, not a retirement fund at all, so I blew it off. Then a few weeks later, comes our “leadership retreat”. The first presenter is very good. The second, presents a sales pitch on a legal service. Ex boss explains that he also wants me to set that up as an employee benefit. The next person presents the sales pitch on Primerica’s services. Its neither a retirement fund, nor life insurance. What it seems to be is actually a high interest line of credit. After the presentation, the young man asks me if I have investment services or life insurance. Very happy with Merryl Lynch, thanks. Right before the presentation I actually heard ex boss whisper to the young sales man, “I thought that this would be some…low hanging fruit for you” and nods to me. Probably found out that my family is not exactly poor. But like I said, we are all set with our banking. Who invites salesmen to present at a leadership conference anyway? Two days later, I find out that he hasn’t paid the bill on the employee health insurance, the insurance lapsed, and now people are getting medical bills that were supposed to be covered. He hasn’t paid in 3 months! Wheres the money? It was withheld from people’s pay. Sorry, I am not signing any employees up for any more pay deductions if theyre not getting the services. Thats illegal. Not lying to them about what happened either. Ex boss is close with a bunch of guys who are all at Primerica around here. All in cahoots. Probably would not have been any money in the retirement funds when people went to cash out. You can get a reasonable life insurance plan as a AAA member and should deal with a real bank or well known investment firm with your money, people! Vanguard, Smith Barney, Fidelity, etc are all good.
I got a random call from a guy name nico saying that I was referred to them and they have a job opening and I could scedual a interview for me and that I should come dressed business causal and come on time because he is a busy man…. he never gave me the company name just the address and I thought it was a company I applied to on indeed but it wasn’t as soon as I got there I seen on the door primerica then I turned around and went home my friend told me about them it’s like a pyramid scam they want you to put money into their business and promises you will make money…. that’s why I’m not going back they called me 3 time to reschedule but I did not pick up the phone
I just got off the phone with some one by the name of Kelly Marie from prime America she was very anxious to have me come in for an interview. I am really glad I did my home work on this company and thank you to every one for the honest postings I will not be wasting my time with scams.
They messaged me also
I just received a call earlier today. The man calling me in for an interview was very abrupt and gave very little information, besides the address and time. I had to squeeze in questions as he was trying to hang up without providing any information such as what does PFS stand for? He said “Financial Services” then when I asked what kind of company he states the details will be discussed during the interview. I asked his name, he says Fitzgerald, refused to give a last name. So because it seemed so fishy something said google this company and see what’s it about. Now that I have read the previous comments I will not be wasting my Saturday morning to interview with PFS. Thank you! (applied for this position on Craigslist—the number I received the call from was 347-753-3377)
So I bit and went to the ‘interview’. My experience was similar most all of have shared here. I do believe my guy calls with an ‘unknown number’. Typically I don’t answer those and wait for a message.
While finding this site, I’ve come to learn there is an office just a few miles away in my hometown. My ignorance had me traveling well over 30 miles one way.
It was all a bit creepy and unlike anything I had experienced. There was some meeting in another room which cheering and whoops could be easily overheard. I imagined some movies I have seen that resemble these behaviors – that became movies because they didn’t end well.
I am not against commission based jobs and making money. It’s just that the whole experience left me somewhat unnerved.
One speaker, the VP/Owner clearly had been doing this for a while and was all about the potential money that could be earned, though was vague on the details and it seemed to me that anyone with a salary job is a ‘sucker’ in their eyes.
Reading that it is a Citibank subsidiary was a surprise; that products and services are not the best value is in direct contradiction of what was said – as I recall.
I don’t want to be one that consciously rips off or gouges people. No amount of money could fill the hole that would leave in me.
I wonder if the experiences shared here are indicative of the company as a whole or just unchecked human behavior that isn’t managed from senior corporate leadership.
I was told by a friend that if we met I would be informed about a great opportunity working from home. I wasn’t expecting this friend would come with another person I do not know and have never met. Sneaky how once she enters my house she runs downstairs and brings a male supposedly her manager. The meeting starts after like 30 minutes past I still don’t understand what I would be doing so I start asking questions about the company and I was told the company name is Prime America and how there is no website but that the company is one of the biggest companies in the world. Long story short, I sensed and saw scammers written all over their faces. Really 99 dollars for a background check and then more money was asked to start and get your license. What a waste of one hour, these scammers will not be at my house nor will I have contact with them again. Do your research people don’t fall for pyramid scams.
I was looking for work on Craigslist and came across a post for motivated “self-starters” needed for an “up-and-coming” financial firm. I emailed them and set up an interview for tomorrow. I was excited and didn’t even think to look up the company until I got a text message at 11:30pm to confirm my interview. So glad I did! Thanks for sharing and saving me the gas money!
Thanks for this wb,I,m so glad for your comments,I ask questions and yes now I now the truth,thanks.
Question: Does anyone feel “ripped off” in their current situation? If you look deeper every single business entity can be labeled as a “rip off” because essentially take people’s money for their own financial gain. Water, food, ever other necessity you can think of should not have to be provided to people “at a cost”. Wake up people, you’re just blind ?!
Tope – Trading money for honest goods and services is not a ripoff. But MLM is a ripoff because they promote a false business opportunity. MLM is not a business. It is a pyramid scheme in which 99% lose money. Recruiters lie to get people to join, because if they told hte truth about the almost guaranteed failure, no one would ever sign up.
@Tracy Coenen take a look at your life seriously baby girl because you’ve been mislead all your life and it’s time to wake up for real. “Honest goods and services” were never made to be traded for money. Do you even know why you exist? Ask God. Good servant leaders in Primerica do not “trick” people. Those are games we leave for the devil. There is no “selling of opportunity” because all we do is find out what people’s dreams and goals are in life (you’ve got to know what they are first) give them a game plan and tell them to act on it. Good things happen to those who do what God has asked of them. Tracy you can’t help others unless you help yourself first. Turning people away from God will eventually turn you away from Him and all his promises for you. Do what’s right. Peace and blessings to you.
So upset.
I just went on a interview yesterday June 22nd
I was approached by a lady who came shopping in the store I work @ now. She gave me her spill . I called and told her straight unless u give me more info about the job I won’t be doing the interview.she sounded upset and threw me a few crumbs more about this fake company BS stuff . I went on the interview and I still didn’t really know what the hell it was really about. They have my info and I am
concerned . I was so mad I couldn’t sleep just thinking how deceiving people can be! I need a new job BAD I don’t need too be wasting time on BS it was so ridiculous. I wasted time I dint have wasted my energy got myself siked up for NOTHING! Warning any company Rep from anywhere that is vague with answering your questions ?
DO NOT give them the time of day AT ALL.
I have followed this blog for quite some time. Many years ago I was involved with Primerica. It has been at least 15 years. I will say that the highest ranking person I worked with has now been involved with the company for over 30 years. You would think that this would be BEYOND retirement for people who are setting themselves up with residual income. I looked him up a few months ago. His home was nothing to envy and neither were the cars in the google image when you looked up his address on google maps. With all the information on the internet available to everyone, it is crazy to me that people do not at least look up the people and businesses they are considering getting involved in.
This guy has spent 30+ years of his life working for a company that promises VERY SIZABLE returns but delivers very little. Had he invested his 30 years with any number of other companies, he could be retiring with tons to show for it.
I can promise you that he wakes up every morning wishing that he could go to work like normal people and not have to deliver that line of BS at the PFS opportunity meeting tonight. He works VERY hard for his money and does not seem to be producing a lot of it. The problem is that he had been doing this for so long, he has no other value in the marketplace. Puffing up a business opportunity does not translate into real business skill. He has dedicated his most productive working years to a system that will never be able to deliver what it promised. 30+ years. What a shame.
I also know another person who has been doing it for 10+ years now and he doesn’t make much at all. He has not even achieved the top position. You can say all you want about how great the company is, but when a top RVP in a MAJOR metropolitan area of 30 years is sucking it, something is very wrong. He just missed the Pyramid Gravy Train by a couple of levels. Almost made it, but nope!
What a crappy thing to give your life to.
Watch out especially for Melissa Allen- highly unprofessional, rude- and will say anything to get someone to an ‘interview’.
The PSF “Representative”‘s testimony at the beginning is full of holes. *69 doesn’t block the outgoing number. It calls back the last received call. That’s just the first of many. Let people make their own decisions.
OH BOY!!!!!
To all of the above comments and “so called” pros in the MLM companies, to each their own. Telling people they are lazy and that you are filing complaints, get real and get a grip.To the guy who posted the “God”, stuff, God also put greed as a deadly sin. The guy who stated the *69 comment, yes that does call back the last call, so why tell someone that you are blocking a call and why are you calling back a number that you already talked too?!?!? Hmmm, makes you rethink a few things. My biggest issue with most of these posts is the fact that the reps are approaching people in random public places(i.e., work, grocery shopping, launder-mats, job seeking seeking sites, etc.) I too have been approached by reps from Prime America (while at work at 12:00 am) about this great job opportunity, that I have a great personality, outgoing, would fit right in yada, yada. They tried to get me to come to a meeting next Monday with the VP, but with my work schedule and doctors appointments for my two disabled children, that wasn’t in the cards, so they tried to get me to show early for work tonight and I again said no, so they set up a meeting at 1:30 am tonight after I finish work. What legit company does that? None that’s who! I already know about Prime, as this isn’t my first go around with them or companies like them, so I am just going to humor them and then as gently as possible (not) let them know this is not for me. But for all of you out there who have fallen for this or maybe thinking about it, remember this, When a company asks you to pay for getting any piece of paper, fees, approaching you in odd places,etc., think before you leap, do your research for other companies selling the same product and see how it is or isn’t done, then make up your own mind.
Hope this helps and good luck to those who have gone forth with this and now have regrets and for those who “saw the light” before it was too late 🙂
So excited that I had an interview yesterday!! NOT!! It’s a good 3 hours of my life that I will never get back. My experience started with responding to them through Zip Recruiter. I got an email from “Mark” that he’d like to set up an interview. GREAT!! We finally nailed down a day. Just needed to set up a time. I emailed Mark back asking if 10 am worked for him. 24 hours later he still hadn’t responded. I sent him a follow up email to try to nail down a time again. He finally emailed me back saying that 10 works great but I would be speaking with David because he was busy busy busy! (OK, he didn’t really say “busy busy busy”, but now that I think back that is the impression that he gave me.) He gave me the address and I had the phone number now. I was thinking it was odd that I still didn’t know the name of the company. WHY DIDN’T I GOOGLE IT??? Lesson learned. I showed up for the interview and no one knew who I was supposed to be speaking with. We finally found David. WHEW!! I had to fill out some kind of assessment that would tell them which management training program would be best suited for me. After I finished that, “David” came in and started his pitch. I felt like he was trying to get me as a customer…not interviewing me for a position. He had pulled out a 4-6 page “brochure” that explained why everyone needs their services. I had really lost interest by the time he had gotten to the bottom of the first page. He told me about how his grandfather started the company and now his whole family owes everything that they have to Primerica. All of his uncles work for Primerica…even Uncle Doug!! Blah blah blah blah. At this point, his mouth is moving but I really don’t care what is coming out of it. Why didn’t I say, when he was at the bottom of page 1 that I didn’t think it was the right fit and move on??? Well, at approx 11:00 he got a phone call that he “had to take”. He stepped out of the office and I could hear him sound like he was talking to either a customer or another interviewee. When he came back in the office, he explained that there just happened to be a presentation that night that he’d like for me to come to. I nodded my head in agreement and the “interview” was over within seconds. I think that phone call was probably someone in the office calling him to tell him that he was at an hour and that he could go ahead and wrap it up. You know…that phone call that you set up when you’re going on a date so that you have an easy escape if you need it?? It’s funny how quickly he wrapped everything up with me once he got that call. He didn’t even walk me to the door, shake hands with me, give me a business card…nothing! Needless to say I didn’t invest the time and effort to go back there for the presentation that night.
A man named Jack has recently added me on Facebook, first thing I check for with people I don’t know adding me is their friends list, their “About” section and the consistency and validity of their posts to make sure they’re real and not some spam account. Well he cleared my somewhat strict prerequisites and I accepted his request. This morning I received a message saying he was looking for 7-10 people to fill various roles in his office and wanted me to let him know of candidates. I told him I may know a few but what roles does it involve, what type of work, is there anywhere I can view more information? He responded saying he was looking to mainly fill 2 roles one of which was a representative and the other being someone he could train into a management role. He then asked if I, personally, was keeping my career options open and I said yes. He asked me for my number so that he may call me later, I provided it, and then after he decided to instead just ask me to come see him tomorrow. I told him I work 3rd shift and that I can try. He said to meet him tomorrow at 3:30 pm at the address he provided which was a Suite building. I asked him if I should bring any specific documents with me and he abruptly said no and that he simply wants me to come in and talk with him first, also adding there would be some forms one of which would include qualifications I have and work history. I proceeded to ask him how he could make me a job offer without a resume and he gave a decent answer saying that he cares more about the character of a person and that a resume is just a piece of paper yada yada. I told him that’s respectable and that I’d let him know once I had a more sound judgement of my availability. He said either way he’d be expecting me tomorrow at 3:30pm. As cool as this possibility sounded, it just seemed way off, I had many red flags that popped up and wanted to inquire on them, one of which I did, but figured I’d investigate a bit first. Here are just some of the things that threw me off, he contacted me on Facebook, very informal. He not once mentioned how or why he chose to contact me. I literally have no experience in asset management, financial businesses or management positions. He didn’t even tell me the company name, I found it on his profile when I scoped him when he requested to add me, that he was a regional vice president for Primerica. I thought why in the hell would a RVP of a business contact me, someone with no experience or info out there advocating I have any in such a business and/or roles, and on Facebook!? Needless to say I found this thread and won’t be putting anymore thought or effort into it. Thank you all for clearing my skepticism up, time to block Mr. Jack.
I was approached this past weekend while at work where a lady chatted me up, telling me that I had the “right personality” for an up and coming business based out of another city. She said they were just getting established here. The hairs on my neck stood up when she spoke like this, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to hear about the position. The second warning sign was she didn’t have a business card, but rather took my phone number down on a notepad and advised her business partner would call me. Said business partner called me on a Sunday afternoon. What professional business calls on a weekend? I returned her call on Monday and it was all very vague. More about my “terrific personality”, she was very specific that I had to dress professionally, no jeans or sneakers, and was firm while speaking to set up the informal discussion. The final weird thing was if she felt like the discussion went well she would invite me to a formal interview where I could ask questions. Naturally, none of this sounded normal. I Googled the address and found out it was Primerica. That’s how I found this site. So glad everything that I was concerned about has been confirmed. I’ll text the woman tomorrow to cancel since she made it clear that she had her phone on 24/7. I can see her answering it even in the middle of the night to talk me out of cancelling. My time is precious and sitting down even to waste her time won’t be worth it. My only concern is these two know where I work. How fun.
First of all idiot Pyramids are illegal! I know quite a few very successful business owners who started at the bottom in primerica now earning very incomes and building great businesses with great people and you can’t do that working for someone else! And they came from very humble beginnings working 9-5 jobs now they are free and independent! I respect that! The problem in this country is the mindset and victim mentality nobody makes people stay small and closed minded!
Yes, Orlando, pyramids are illegal and MLMs have very carefully crafted their companies to APPEAR not to be pyramids. They pay lots of money to attorneys to help them navigate the laws and create something that looks legal.
http://www.sequenceinc.com/fraudfiles/2013/02/is-multi-level-marketing-a-legitimate-business-method/
Nearly everyone loses money in MLM. Those who participate have bought into the lie that they own their own business. In reality, they own nothing. The MLM company has all the power and they just sit there and watch the money roll in while their distributors lose.
The company is not a scam. It’s a legit company, but it’s practices are garbage. I have just cancelled my policy after 20 years because they increased my premium by 370%!!!! It went from $53 per month to $197!!
And they didn’t even give me a heads up. And they didn’t really seem to give a sh&* that I was cancelling.
Stay away!
A lot of people here who are unapologetic in their refusal to show up to a meeting they said they would go to after doing “research”, coming down on agents about “ethics”.
Shock.
I really appreciate the above.
I’ve just arrived in America from overseas. I’m looking for a job, and someone who lives near me tried to recruit me to this. He invited me to go to an event of some kind, and I agreed. I was a little suspicious, and thought it was strange he didn’t tell me the name of the company, so I asked him. He told me, and when I Googled it, I found this.
So I cancelled, and avoided an unpleasant and wasted evening. Many thanks!
I got a phone call today for an interview and reading all this is really got me thinking twice
PLEASE READ, HOPE YOU SEE THIS! IT SOUNDS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. All the money being made in the quick amount of time. Im going to trust my grandpa on this one. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” very dumb. the whole time during this first meeting it was very tense and uncomfortable. Everyone was extremely nice. It sounded awesome until I really started to think about it.
HOPE THIS HELPS
SCAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
PLEASE DONT GO
Pretty amazing comments from everyone here. Primerica IS A PYRAMID.
Waste of time. Dishonest people.
I thought I had a job interview today where the man switched to trying to get me to be a Primerica rep. I told him I wasn’t interested, but really wish I could report him to someone.
Ok guys,here’s my story: I work two part time retail jobs and am seeking to leave both for one full time position. Three days ago, a pair of women came into my store to purchase some items. One of them asked out of the blue, how i like my job. I’m rather candid so I mentioned i was a bit dissatisfied but hey, it pays the bills. Nice people, very cordial. They both return later that same evening and buy more merchandise. The women who spoke on their first visit asked what I’m looking for in a career and mentioned I was very impressive with customer service. She gave me her number and asked to call claiming she was a “hiring manager” .. I called her back a couple days later and she scheduled an interview for this coming Monday. She stated the name of the company, “Primerica” and stated they deal in ” financial services “…. Currently my interview still stands, I was apprehensive since I’ve worked exclusively in retail but excited to explore a new field of work. I decided to research the company ahead of time and it lead me here… Might i ask the opinion of those whom have dealt with this company: my experience thus far, sans interview sounds eerily similar to some other accounts I’ve read here. Should I in fact back out? If I attend, will I experience a pressure tactic laden recruitment presentation? Looking for any advice to be offered before the impending interview.. Thank you guys.
Im a server and i waited on this guy and his family. At the end he asked me for my number and said he had a wonderful opportunity for me because he loved my customer service,attentiveness and bubbly personality and he thinks i would be great for his company. He called the next day and asked to me come to his office so we could talk more. Came to the appt. He gave his spill bout himself first then went on to explain how things work. You need to pay 99.00 for a background check and need my sos and license. All the things he was saying sound good. Because who wouldnt want to make money a % off ur recruits even when your not there to make the deal.We scheduled another appt. So i can give him people that i know and love names so he can call up and make appts with them to show how to sale them life insurance and close the deal. But I’ve been coming up with excuses why i cant meet back up with him because things just didnt seem right after i left that 1st meeting. Im scared after reading all this that i fell for this scam and now he has all my info. But cancelled my credit but should i worry because of the other info that he has still since their a pyramid scheme. And he also lied and said that the manager at the store that night was meeting up with him also but come to find out she doesnt even know him let alone talked with him about the business he trying to recruit us for.
Does anyone know of other companies besides Primerica that are employing these same tactics? I was contacted by someone from “Freedom Financial Services” out of Charlotte, NC. Everything I am reading in these comments sounds almost exactly like my experience with them.
I spent an hour on the phone with “Vice Presidents” in three different areas. None of them could answer my question(s) without talking themselves in a circle. When I stated that this was just short of a pyramid scheme and that my last interview with the company (5 years ago) resulted in someone wanting me to buy over $100 worth of licenses, they had nothing to say. However, when I suggested that my previous experience would leave me worthy of positions like “Business Analyst”, I was informed that those positions were only available in the corporate office located in Georgia. If the only business positions are in Georgia, what do they expect people to believe they would be doing where they live?
Anselm of Canterbury, this still goes on. Check this out:
https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/comments/8ctzhz/almost_answered_a_job_scam_they_yelled_at_me_down/
Luring young grads seems to be low hanging fruit for these guys…mostly because these hungry go-getters that don’t know any better. Ironic, since recent grads are the least likely to be able to afford to pay to get into this crap.
does anyone here even know what a actual pyramid scheme is?
I was approached by a company rep today at my job. He actually asked my associates, first, if I was a good manager, and then introduced himself to me. He said he worked for a brokerage firm and was looking for managers for several offices he is opening in the area. I asked him if he was headhunting and he said, “No, I’m actually early for a business meeting and your personality caught my attention. I think you’d do well and I’d like to have your number and have my secretary call you to set up an interview. I was so flattered! I AM a great manager and I have been offered legitimate opportunities in the past, so yes, we exchanged numbers. BUT, there was something not quite right about him, too smooth. So, I googled the company…and here I am. Feeling like a big dummy and annoyed with myself for giving the man my personal number, not to mention the fact he knows where I work and may come back and try again. Ugh.
Many thanks to this website and all those who have contributed toward it. You’re good people and will, no doubt, save other people from being duped.
I was approached last night while grocery shopping at Star market. The VP “Mr. Harrison” sounded very legit. I had met him before but never followed through. After reading all these comments i’m convinced now. I told him i was not looking to sell door to door or force anyone to sign up for gimmicks, which He reassured me that i would not be doing. I have been invited to go to their local stoughton office for the meeting where i would be taught getting out of debt tactics while making $$; spoke about how his son was making 37k a month, his other son having a house built blah blah blah…. Wow!! i’m gonna go here them out this Saturday and let them waste their breathe.
I got a phone call from someone telling me the company was called PFF. I was unable to find much of anything online until I got the address for the interview. I dug and dug until I found PFScareers.com which is the new recruit site. Primerica’s site is for the people they con into buying insurance. I still plan on going to the interview, knowing full well that it is a scam. At least this way, I can practice negotiating for a higher pay level, and interviewing in general.
I received a phone call yesterday and on my mobile phone, which despite the fact that I am looking for a job, I only mention in cover letters or to recruiters who approach me on my landline. The caller introduced himself as the vice-president of a Hudson based company and told me that he had found my resume online and that he is looking to expand his company and is interested in adding some people to his team. He knew that I lived in close proximity to his company and asked me if I was still interested in finding a job. Hence, the dance around questions began.
Whatever I did, however I asked, he would not tell me what positions he was trying to fill and that was a big red flag for me.
Employers are not evasive about what they need. They know what positions they are trying to fill and what each position entices and don’t beat about the bush when asked about that.
At one point, this person even chuckled, seeing that I would not let go of the questions pertaining the job description or title. Eventually he told me that he was not offering me a job, so I was even more puzzled. He kept repeating that they are teaching people how to use their money, but without really saying anything else. I kept asking what my role would be and he kept replying that he didn’t know, that he could not tell from my resume what I could do and that he was not offering me a job. At one point I capitulated and however intrigued I might have been over the absurdity of the whole situation, I only wanted this conversation to be over and I did bring it to an end elegantly, by saying that I appreciated the time that he had taken, making the call and am sorry that I cannot help him with what he wants, given that I don’t seem to understand what that might be. After hanging up with him, I found this wonderfully put together article and took the time to go through most of the comments as well and found pretty much everybody in agreement that this is a scam. For the person who did have a comment pro Primerica, I am adding this link:
https://www.bbb.org/us/ga/duluth/profile/financial-services/primerica-inc-0443-6985/complaints
It looks like even the Better Business Bureau has a number of complaints lodged, about this company. Many of them, have a question mark still attached, which makes me wonder if any resolutions were achieved in those cases.
Over dinner, I told my husband about the phone call and what I had found online about this Primerica and learned that he, as well, had been lured to their office a few years back, when he was looking for a job and after sitting in their presentation, he realized that it was a pyramid scheme and walked out without looking back.
I have one question, how on earth such a place can exist for so many years, without drawing the attention of authorities?
Well, all insurance agencies and brokerages have the pyramid payment style. Please name some that don’t. The only thing that bothers me about Primerica is being captive and not having the flexibility to sell other products. Income is limited and since they, were at a point in time, only selling term life, there whole pitch was buy term invest the rest, which is great considering their term to is age 99. So if you keep your premiums paid, your family will receive the benefit. So there really wasn’t an option for riders. Over 8 years ago but never did insurance with them. Just went through class. Now I have my 2-15 and I’m not going to waste that on just Primerica products.
Tameka – All insurance agencies are NOT pyramids. In Primerica, the game is recruiting into infinity. In a legitimate insurance agency, there is a general agent with agents under him or her. End of recruiting. But even better, in a real insurance agency, the goa is to sell insurance. In Primerica, the goal is to recruit.
No one says where these happened tiothem, and i would like to know where they live, and how many people in that area experienced the problems written about here. I am considering doing Primerica, but I am first doing my due dilligence. The woman who contacted me on Facebook messenger, just asked if I had a financial advisor, and I said yes. Then she talked about the opportunity to make money, but it was NEVER presented to me by her; or any of the other Primerica reps that it was any kind of a job interview. I met with her, and liked what I saw. She has put no pressure on me, and she first spoke to me about the companys functions, as if I were wanting to be a client with them,m and then we discussed the business end. I experienced nothing like the others that you have told us about. I’d really like to figure out if it is the company that is the problem, or just some of the people in it. So far, my experience has been very positive.
Tameka Bell, How did they make you feel captive? The business when presented me, gave me th opportunity to sell other things, like Legal Shield memberships. (Formerly pre-paid Legas Services, membership I have had for 16 years. Primerica also works with affilitates insurance agencies that deal in home and catr insurance, even selling home security systems. Look into those; and if the person you are dealing with only goes to the one service and being a rep,, find another Primerica person to help you.
I was approached by a Primerica representative at a job fair on a military post on Nov 28. The rep asked my questions, saw I am a good person who likes helping people, and told about Primerica’s business of helping people. He made it seem like that was the main focus of the company. I remember hearing negative things about Primerica, but that was in the late 90’s. Had forgotten the details but Tracy Coenen’s information on many posts about the 99% failure rate of MLM’s, despite Primerica’s legitimate products have me thinking.
I was looking to start a part time business. The rep is a West Point grad, and seems like a good guy. He handed me a flyer that said Primerica was waiving licensing and application fees for active duty and veterans in November 2018, but I can’t find anything on it on the Primerica website. A page comes up that seems to refer to that but it quickly goes away and the main Primerica website comes up. Another flyer announces two meetings. “Unlimited income potential”. Comprehensive training, licensing and certification program. Criminal background checks required”. Flyer also says “we cover the business ownership & part-time opportunity”.
The individual is a Regional Vice President and he did talk about “passive income”, which alerted me. Never realized Primerica was an MLM until reading what Tracy has posted.
Asking for comments. The rep was upfront, has his Primerica advertisements with him at the event, and never tried to make it seem like it was a “job”. It was clear this is a business. He says he has Series 6, 63 & 7 broker’s licenses. After reading the “warm market” info in the above posts, am kind of leary. Tracy says this is about recruitment and getting people to pay the initial and monthly fees. Have worked as a broker before, was in an MLM in the 90’s, and I just don’t like being cutthroat and lying to people. I do work very very hard. Are there good people in this business?
Primerica is an insurance company. You have to have an insurance license to work. 85% of people cannot pass insurance test. 90% of Primerica income made by 304K student training recruits that will never be licensed. Average salary is 6K per year less than McDonald’s. Over 3 Million people exploited over the last 15 years. Unlicensed workforce gets average 1,250 a year kickbacks from recruits and percentages from sales without license. If you have a 6, 63, and 7 series…. Go some place were you won’t have to exploit people looking for a real job….
You are not your own boss if you have to hand over your personal contacts to your Primerica rep and get no pay for having to attend their training and info sessions.
Primerica is NOT an MLM, it is, however, a Financial Service company that allows people to run their own business. Yes, you must be licensed, for life insurance and securities. It unfortunate that anyone that has been told that they’re having a “job” interview and later feel that they got “taken”.
Yes, Primerica is an MLM. Multi-level marketing. People are recruited into downlines.
I joined Primerica in 1999 for about 5 minutes. My “up line” still owes me $500 he borrowed.
i joined primerica, i drank the kool-Aid thank god i did!!!!!
I have been with Primerica for almost a year. I saw the company 15 years ago and I am SO sorry I didn’t jump at that time! To all you haters and doubters – Primerica is NOT a business for sheeple – it is a bonafide business opportunity that requires hard work – many people can’t do it – that’s why the rewards are so great if you persist! To those who did not get what they expected, please ask yourself if you did what you were told, if you persisted, if you actually did the work. The answer, I am CERTAIN, is NO! You cannot fail if you do the work. To those who have met up with someone who promised to help them financially, the supervisor was there to help you if the rep quit – because, as I said, this takes work and if you can’t stand the heat you need to stay out of the kitchen. I’ve been self-employed all my life – and, just like real estate, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. Also, to those who think it’s a pyramid scam, we are a NYSE company and have an A+ rating with the BBB. In order to be on the NYSE, you have to be vetted. Pyramids are illegal and would NOT be listed on the NYSE. Also, MLM companies are notorious for overcharging and under performing. Primerica has the BEST products for the least amount of money in the industry! Forbes predicts Primerica will do to financial services what Amazon did to retail! We have 40,000 new clients each month – if you joined and didn’t work, you’re not one of the people who make money with us! Kudos, Anthony Pinto, your attitude will make you very successful! Just don’t give up!
If you have been invited to an interview, I can tell you that someone cared about you. They offered you the opportunity to make extra money – about $200/hour extra…as I said, the only reason someone didn’t make money in Primerica is because they didn’t work.
I am saddened to see this website because the information given is totally inaccurate and people will listen to this guy instead of researching on the GOVERNMENT websites to see that Primerica is an amazing company! If you believe the internet only posts the truth, you are dreaming!
One person wrote that she heard people cheering – YES we do that because we support the people who are working and we give accolades to them. Unlike working at a job where, if you do something great, your boss yells at you because you make them look bad. Nobody in our company will stop you from being great and doing great things for people.
Don’t listen to the nonsense – check out Primerica yourself! A huge amount of life insurance agents have their life insurance with Primerica because we sell the best product for the least amount of money – and we know how to show you what you are getting so you won’t be fooled by a scammer. Our entire crusade is to teach people how money works – we want to educate the clients so they don’t get fooled by people like Citi – we broke away from Citi when they were doing the wrong thing – Primerica works from the highest ethical standards.
Denise – It’s sad that you’re promoting this scam. It’s also sad that what is posted here is TRUE. Time and again, we see these lies and unethical tactics used to lure people into Primerica. We’re not talking about a rogue recruiter here and there. We’re talking about widespread abuses such as this.
Success in MLM is not tied to how hard you work. Each year, millions of people work hard in MLMs and do exactly as they’re taught, and they still lose money. Why? Because MLMs are pyramid schemes in which 99%+ are guaranteed to fail. It’s not a business, it’s a scam.
Primerica is a brokerage not a MLM. I’m not sure why the internet continues to say PRI is MLM. It seems the main issue was the lack of transparency by the Primerica reps when discussing the opportunity and the tactics used to get in front of the prospect. There are 125,000+ representatives so it’s safe to assume there are some bad apples. Representatives are independent contractors with people working any where from sometime/very part time to very full time. It’s entrepreneurial in nature and that needs to be discussed and made clear. There are also barriers of entry ex: background check and licensing. A person with certain negatives in their background cannot work in the industry. Primerica is regulated by the SEC and FINRA. I can see where some think the avenue of recruiting equates to MLM but I’d argue that’s simply due to lack of knowledge. Having professional licenses paid for by a company and given the tools and resources to build a book of business on a part or full time basis is a wonderful opportunity for the right people. It’s too bad that a few bad experiences have been compiled in one area and deterred people from seeing if this career was really for them.
LOL Stacy. People keep saying Primerica is MLM because it IS an MLM. People are recruited into multiple levels in the pyramid. Multiple levels = MLM. Everyone knows it’s MLM even though the company avoids the term like the plague.
MLM is:
– not a business
– not entrepreneurial
– not something good to be involved in
If you want to sell insurance or investments, do it with a real company, not a scammy MLM.
[…] are applying for a job, you might not notice that you are actually being offered something else. A forensic accountant has written about how Primerica hides their recruiting as a job […]
Hello Tracey,
If they are MLM why have they been charged? I read most of your posts, and there seems to be a lot of hate on for this company. Primeamerica is a legit insurance company. They are a publicly traded company on the NYSE. Other Mutual Fund/insurance companies invest in them. it is clear that it is not a typical job if you build a business with them based on the comments. But it is however a business opportunity…and lets face it other insurance do not function internally much differently. No one hands you a silver platter without some work. I like to hear about the successes to…what did you find out about those that succeed at this? 90% failure…that is high percent…where did you get that number? Anyway sort of brings out the negatives in the post. After attending a couple of the information sessions myself. It is not a MLM or they would have been charged and gone the way of most MLM. There are bad people in ever field of work, the financial industry is no different, which is why they have strict rules in place. Again why have they not been charged if they are doing something illegal?
The business of Primerica Reps is recruiting other reps. The business of real insurance agents is selling insurance. That’s the difference.
MLMs are legalized pyramid schemes. Our government allows them to operate. That’s why they haven’t been charged.
Reported to Primerica Legal. You are describing practices that are barred from current procedures, and the law. The outdated nature of your claims constitutes libel until corrected.
Hilarious response. Thank you for participating. 🙂
Very glad I googled this company and found this blog. Was hit up on LinkedIn and I’m not looking for a job but still wanted to search out what “crazy” company was messaging me on LinkedIn again. Wow was not expecting it to be such a rabbit whole. As someone who’s in commission sales- I feel bad for people who fall into companies like this one. There’s so many good jobs out there- don’t go this route. Thank you for the blog Tracy. Appreciate it!
I’m here to see how this turn out…(Micheal Jackson Thriller Popcorn Meme)
So I just got out of a “presentation” not an interview. My old coworker had me sit through a lecture for her (I thought I was just helping her) then he asked if I was interested. I said yes just to help her out. I thought I would be the one filling out my own application. He made me give him my SOC over a zoom call, he was filling out an application for ME! I’m so stressed out now because I couldn’t come up with a lie to excuse me from that call. I gave him my actual SOC. He then tried to get my bank account info right after and I just barely made it out of that. What should I do? I didn’t want to be rude to him with my best friend trying to work there but it just didn’t sit right with me. I should be filling out my own application. Now this guy (who knows if he actually works at Primerica) has my SOC. If anyone can reply below this with advice I’d really appreciate it 🙁 He also has my first middle and last name, DOB, email and phone number. I just hope it was a legit employee just trying to recruit more people.
I was in college when they reached out to me about coming there to work. I was not familiar with them, so I went in for the so-called interview. What a joke. I realized what it was after that meeting immediately. Thank goodness I didn’t fall for that crap.