Primerica/MLMs

[failos]

Anyone sick of these damn things? I absolutely loathe salesmen, and it seems like everyone is peddling some kind of snake oil these days.

One of my closest friends got duped into Primerica (MLM life insurance) by his girlfriend, and a part of me dies every time I hear them talk about insurance and owning your own business. So I was tricked by them to attend one of those recruitment meetings and it was like walking into an episode of the Twilight Zone. I wanted to smash my friend's face for bringing me to that "meeting."

They sell term life insurance under the guise of helping people and changing lives. They have all these bullshit statistics and claim they are the best life insurance with the best product, the best company, and produce the most millionaires. It's very cringe worthy stuff because my friend truly believes he is helping people by selling them shitty term life insurance.

The dude is becoming a cancer amongst our circle of friends because he keeps trying to recruit people he knows--even reconnecting with old friends from HS under false pretenses. His "boss" convinces him to devote his evenings to recruiting or research--but it's actually a ploy to keep him isolated from people outside of the pyramid scheme.

This guy was never like that, this whole thing has changed his personality and it's very disturbing.

How do I convince him to drop this shit?

I've tried a number of different ways to convince him, but it's not working.

(not my friend, but all these people talk in the same bullshit, esoteric way)

Edited August 22, 2018 by failos

[the dude abides]

I had a friend fell for a similar scam (Equinox MLM) back in the late 90's.  Annoying as F*ck.

We also tried to convince him it was bullshit, but to no avail.  Ended up pissing all of his money away, and some of his parents $ as well.

Haven't spoken with him since.

[Tank]

back in the 80s primerica was called A. L. Williams, and 4 or 5 of the guys in my men's chorus were into it. we heard the same nonsense about being millionaires by 30, and how one hot shot in the company bought a $185k ferrari with cash, and how this guy bought a killer house, and on and on and on. They tried to sell to us in the group on occasions, too, but they always came off as snake oil salesmen. one of the older guys in the group approached me and started giving me the sales pitch, and i flat out told him i couldn't afford to do it - i was 24 and making $14k/year. he looked at me and said, and i quote, "you know, I used to say that, too." GRRRR! annoying as can be. 

the only positive that came out of it for any of us as a group was that we got to sing at three of their west coast conventions, including the year they were at caesar's palace in las vegas (that was a surreal experience to sing for their worship service and then see them all explode like minions as soon as the meeting began, yelling and screaming and standing on chairs). Fortunately for our group, when we sang for them in San Diego, one of their members was really moved by one of our songs and donated $25k to us, which was enough for us to get into the studio and record our first album.

of the 5 or 6 guys that were into this, not a single one of them became a millionaire, and only one of them lasted beyond 5 years with the company.

[halomatt]

I have a friend from high school who went balls deep into Primercia right out of high school.  At 30, he had his first million.  Then he got the hell out and did other stuff. 

He's had three different careers since then and the one thread is that he's the most positive, upbeat person I think I've ever met.  He loves life and Primerica was the vehicle that helped him pursue his interests without fear of failure and unemployment. 

Otherwise, Primerica sucks.

[wopphil]

When I was in law school I had a neighbor who got involved in ACN. After repeatedly informing him I had no interest in getting involved, I agreed to go to one of their evening meetings in the hope of getting him off my back.

Anyone with half a working brain could see right through the b.s. A bunch of people overly excited about nothing. Many people who very obviously lacked intelligence and didn't inspire any degree of confidence.  My favorite part was when the speaker was concluding and said something like "if anyone has any questions I'd love to talk with you, but if you are going to be negative or critical, I'm not going to waste my time and let you try to bring me down." In other words, if you intended to ask how the "business" actually worked, he didn't want to talk to you. 

[failos]

Thanks guys. I think I’m just going to stop trying to convince my friend to leave Primerica. He’s never going to listen to me over his woman, so it’s futile.

[Angel Dog and Beer]

I had a good friend that sold Amway products back in the day. Dude was a natural salesman, should've went with Primerica instead. 

[the dude abides]

There used to be a poster here that was way into MonaVie.  Can't recall his name.

Curious if he remained with them or got out before it folded.

[UndertheHalo]

I love how some of these primarica people put out job listings like they’re actually interested in hiring someone.  All these pyramid schemes are the same. 

 

[UndertheHalo]

1 hour ago, the dude abides said:

There used to be a poster here that was way into MonaVie.  Can't recall his name.

Curious if he remained with them or got out before it folded.

Oh that was the açaí thing right ? Lol. 

[the dude abides]

5 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

Oh that was the açaí thing right ? Lol. 

That is correct.

[T.G.]

I have a legitimate business opportunity I'd like to tell you all about, but first I need a small donation on my GoFundMe page.

[JAHV76]

47 minutes ago, True Grich said:

I have a legitimate business opportunity I'd like to tell you all about, but first I need a small donation on my GoFundMe page.

Is this for the minister of Congo that needs to export funds using my checking account?

[T.G.]

No, my scam... I mean business is much more legit.

[Tank]

8 hours ago, Angel Dog and Beer said:

I had a good friend that sold Amway products back in the day. Dude was a natural salesman, should've went with Primerica instead. 

my brother had a large group of friends and a couple of them sold amway. there ended up being a big whopper of a conflict over it within the group and a few friendships were lost over it.