Ah well, time for me to tell my story; if only I'd found this website (or the many others like it) before accepting employment from American Income Life. First off let me start with this: make no mistake, AIL is a multilevel marketing scheme. They are rated A+ superior, yes, however this speaks only to their solvency, not their business ethics. Yes, the stock profile is better than average, but they make their money by cashing in people like you and me.
Not only is AIL the most unprofessional company I have ever worked for (I have worked for two small businesses that operate in the owners home, both were leaps and bounds more professional than AIL), but it is without a doubt the least ethical (by again, leaps and bounds). I paid an expensive price for my naivety (at this point, I have $9.67 in my checking account and 37.40 in my savings account. I spent over two grand for this job, stupid me); my hope is that others can avoid the disaster I suffered by finding my story, and the story of others, online.
Forget what they tell you in the job description about 'helping people' and being a 'manager trainee program.' Here is the job, mislead people on the phone to get them so schedule an appointment, enter their home under false pretenses, and then emotionally manipulate them as much as possible to try and get them to buy life insurance they may or may not need.
Now, I understand that emotional manipulation is an intrinsic part of advertising and sales, however, this is not the part that is really despicable. It's the 'entering people's homes under false pretenses' part. You are going into someone's home, having just short of lied to them about why you are even there; that act is not moral. And then on top of that, your job is to assault them with underhanded sales techniques until they cave and buy a life insurance policy. In this job, you are essentially a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. They just want any excuse to get their foot in the door so they can sell someone. I am not capable of doing that, so I quite.
They tell you that you won't have to work hard... I was working up to fourteen hours a day, and I was working seven days a week. I should mention, I did that willingly and was never late (my manager was almost always late), and I barely slept for about three weeks. I am not afraid of hard work; I worked my way through college for a BS in math. Twenty to thirty hours a week at a job and college full time is hard work. So please understand, I left the company because I could not reconcile the business practices of this company with my conscience, not because they wanted me to work hard (though strangely, they kept insisting that the job was 'easy, ' and 'you only had to work smart, not hard').
When I quit, my GA was very professional. I handed her a letter of resignation, and she said, “Okay. I'll need your leads so we can reconcile them.” She was fine about it (I imagine she'd been through someone quiting about a million times before). But then, my SGA wanted to see me (I presumed for an exit interview). He basically just berated me for a while. Looking back, I don't really see what the point of that was. He had always had a lot of hope for me. I think he could tell that I am a hard worker. Also, I passed the state exam the first time, which no one else I encountered at the office had done (most took it about three times, some more). So, perhaps he was just angry to lose me. I tried to remain professional, he didn't stop the verbal barrage until I used the phrase, “bait and switch.” I used it to describe what they do in people's homes (basically, “here are some free benefi-BuySomeLifeInsurance!!!) Wow, just thinking back, what an absolutely horrible experience, and it gets even better.
Now that I quit, they apparently aren't going to pay me my first pay check. Or they aren't going to pay me the full amount anyways. When I went out with my “leads” (more on those later) and my manager did the closing, I was supposed to get paid for those. Now, they're basically making my commission a lot less because I quit, which is illegal in the state of Maryland. So, just to get my pay check (my minuscule conciliation price of $700) I have to file a compliant form in district court. Yes that's right, just to get my pay check from this company, I have to take them to court... awesome (sarcasm).
Please anyone reading this, just save yourself the misery and stay away from this company. If you want to do sales, great. There are many non-MLM sales jobs out there for you, where you won't have to be a scum bag. If you really want to sell life insurance, great. There are many reputable companies out there to work for that won't screw you over.
Phew, so many things to talk about with this company. Next, lets talk about those “leads.” They aren't actually leads. Leads, would be people who maybe wants to buy life insurance, these are not those people. Your “leads” might as well be a random sampling of the population. These poor people are those who have requested no cost benefits through there union. How is that related to, they want to buy life insurance? It isn't! Basically, AIL strikes a deal with a union to provide minuscule no cost benefits in exchange for getting a salesperson into the home of some union member. If I were in a union that dealt with AIL, I'd be pretty upset.
It's strange, but I went through different phases with this company. They had me so sold on them at first (how naive I was). I was ready to work hard and sacrifice. By the end, however, I could see right through my SGA's bullshit. When he was verbally assaulting me for my 'exit interview, ' half the things he said didn't even make sense. In a way, it was sort of sad. It was amazing, in only four and a half weeks time, I went from idolizing my SGA, to feeling sorry for him.
On a side note, it's interesting, I read one comment about how a new-hire's car was nicer than their manager's. That was the case for me too, and I was just a working student! And another odd thing, my SGA was all about God. I think he was basically using “The Secret” as a motivational tool for his employees. Please keep in mind, I'm not saying it's odd that he is very religious, that is completely common and normal. What's odd is how he sort of forced it on me (and everyone else). Throughout the office, there are messages on dry erase boards about how 'though God all things are possible.' What things are they talking about? Ripping people off to make band? I'm no deity, but I'm pretty sure swindling people is wrong. Not to mention, the SGA makes almost a million dollars a year on his MLM empire. I'm pretty sure I remember something from Bible school about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter heaven. I'm just saying, I think this definitely qualifies as irony. The other thing where he really pressed the issue was when he said that God was the only thing that could center you. It was a very awkward moment in the training class for me, because he made everyone in the room say that God centers them. Firstly, I personally believe that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. I happen to not believe in any sentient creator being. He rode me until I more or less said that I believed in God and that God is the only thing that can center me. I should have seen a red flag at that point. I think I was just still so sold on the whole thing. But, I digress.
Looking back, I don't know how they ever fooled me. I guess I just wanted to believe that there was some sort of short cut to wealth. And perhaps, if one has no concern for integrity, then there is. For me however, no paycheck is worth that. That is a bit comforting to know, but I still don't know how I'm going to pay my bills this month...
So please, please, learn from my mistake. Don't work for American Income Life. I know the job market is tough right now, but save yourself the indignity. |
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112 days ago by 
