A few weeks ago, a brother called me out of the blue and asked me if I was interested in working for him. He told me he had his own business and was looking to "expand." He told me I "was a special person" with "good qualities" and "capable of going places." He said that "a lot of people end up working for someone else instead of themselves and are stuck in debt. They have no hindsight. they can't see a better way."
I was vaguely interested and then he asked me, "Have you ever heard of Primerica?" I responded that I hadn't. He wanted me to attend an "interview" on Wednesday evening at 7pm. I responded that I have classes then and couldn't. I said I would try to find another time later.
After another couple of weeks, he called again, and repeated the exact same conversation with me. I had "good qualities and attributes and I could go a long way." I asked him about the job and he was very cagey answering my question. I did not know what my job title woule be, my salary or what I would do. He gave me no details except to say that Primerica was part of Citigroup and were the number one business in America. At this point, I still didn't have time for an interview and told him I'd call back later.
The third time he called me, again, he said exactly the same lines! He sounded like he was reading a script. I told him that I would attend an interview and we set it up for 7pm.
What I didn't know was that I would be going to a "seminar"
I arrived at the location and went upstairs. I signed in and what I saw surprised me. A whole room of people all sitting in chairs. A red flag went up and I sat down and watched the 1 hour presentation.
If any of you aren't familiar with Primerica, it is basically a dubious pyramid multi level marketing company. Supposedly, they "help families" by consolidating people's debt, refinancing their mortgage and buying cheaper life insurance."
Working just 8-10 hours a week for this company, I could earn $1000 by finding two families willing to buy the whole Primerica suite of financial products. I could even be a vice-president.
Another red flag went up when we were all told that to join, you would have to pay $199 up front for training to get your license. This of course, they said, "would be reimbursed."
The whole seminar reminded me of a service meeting. The speakers spoke in exaggerated tone, and one guy passed a picture around of an old guy with two blonde babes by him looking like he was enjoying life. The speaker said that "when I saw this picture of that old guy making lots of money, I realized I could do this."
Apparently we were told that there is "no cold calling."
Seminar ended, and the brother asked me what I thought. I told him I'd think about it, but made up my mind to go on the net and see what came up.
My, was I surprised. Primerica use similar indoctrination methods to convince you that you can do this and they are extremely aggressive about recruiting. If I joined I would have to give out the names of family and friends for references (thinking background checks), but what they do is call them and get them to join up. From people's experiences of working for Primerica or attending their seminars, they have a pretty bad reputation.
Meanwhile, this brother called me again and wanted a decision. I told him no, he asked why, and I said that "there business practices were unethical." I also said that he was dishonest with me about the interview which was nothing more than a seminar. He said, "I was only trying to help you." Previously, he said that "we can't help everyone, those who are on welfare or aren't employed." I thought so much for helping families. He asked me if I could make a decision not to work for Primerica based on what I have read, and I told him, "that there are so many bad experiences out there, they can't all be wrong." By the way, if I signed up for Primerica, this brother would make a cut of every lead I came up with.
Theoretically, you could work for Primerica 40 hours a month, and make less then minimum wage. And your "business partner" gets paid more than you do and makes a cut.
He then proceeded to tell me that what I had read on the Internet was "filthy dirty lies," with no evidence to substantiate his claim. He got very heated and said that "attacking Primerica was attacking me because I am the company." He then compared what I had read to what the Society tells about reading negative websites on Jehovahs Witnesses.
It ended on a neutral tone, with him saying that "it's better that you don't work for Primerica as you don't have the qualities we would want."
This was a few weeks after he tried to boost my ego saying I was "a special person with good qualities who he is looking for."
If you do a search on Google, you will find many stories of people who worked for this company and how they were harassed and told to go to meetings. There is a lot of similarity between their methods and those used at the Kingdom Hall.