Should I become a Farmer's Agency Owner?

Hello,
I was an agent for Farmers for 20 years. Farmers does have a recognized name for selling policies to consumers. Many such consumers buy the name and really do not know what stands behind the product. Just as many people become agents and really do not know what they are getting into.

Should I Become a Farmers Agent?
No. No. No. You will be victimized by lies, poor customer service, poor prices, and incompetent management. Farmers actually wants to hier as many agents as possible knowing that over 80% will resign or be terminated during the first 2 years. Of the the 20 % that survive, 80% of them will be resign or be terminated during the next 3 years. You will have about a 4% chance of making it past 5 years as an agent and a 96% chance of failure. When an agent leaves, the policies written with the company stay with Farmers at 1/2 commission paid to the agent. Farmers actually makes more money when agents leave as compared to them staying.

If you are lucky enough to be within the 4% survivors, you would think your life would be great, right? No it is not. You will continually have to deal with uncompetitive prices, customers attrition, lies from management, and termination threats from management. They do this intentionally to make you resign. We a survivor agent resigns, the policies convert to 1/2 commission paid (to the newly assigned agent) and Farmers makes more money that they did before.

It is all a plan and it works for Farmers. They do it over and over.

When a Farmers agent resigns (assuming they want to continue their profession as an insurance agent), almost all become independent agents. Within the independent agency system, the agent is unincumbered by the Farmers contract. As a independent agent, you have at least a fair chance of success. Hard work will be rewarded. You will not have to deal with the incompetence, lies, or sabotage.

why did I not see this website before I had my Final interview with the DM and 2 other guys??!!! Is this also the case in VA and MD, or just in West coast? Pls pls I need an expert to answer, I'm relocating my Family in 2 wks bcuz of my decision 2 be an agency owner.
Thanks a bunch!

Should I? -- Here is what I can tell you from my experience:

I am currently a reserve agent, very close to being a career agent. IT ONLY GETS WORSE -- THE "TRAINING" IS A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME< INAACURATE AND MOSTLY OUT OF DATE. All I am seeing is discounts being taken away, premiums screwed up and billings sent out for policies that have been paid. Is this normal course of business for Farmers? FROM MY EXPERIENCE THIS IS THE NORMAL COURSE OF BUSINESS -- WITH 850 POLICIES, I HAD TO HAVE 3 FULL TIME STAFF PLUS MYSELF TO KEEP UP WITH THE BILLING AND SERVICING ISSUES -- I SHOULD HAVE ONLY HAD TO HAVE 1. GENERAL RULE OF THUMB ON PERSONAL LINES IS 1 AGENT AND 1 CSR FOR EVERY 1500 POLICIES. I have worked for other large companies, but this is beyond anything I have ever experienced in the past. I thought the training so far has ben a waste of my time, but my DM promises that it will get better after I become a career agent. SEE ABOVE Is this the truth or just a big smoke screen? SMOKE SCREEN -- FARMERS MAKES THE MOST MONEY WHEN AN AGENT CAREERS AND THEN DOESN'T MAKE IT THE FULL TWO YEARS.I also sell some other insurance products besides Farmers, how crazy are they going to be when they find this out? PER YOUR CAREER AAA YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SELL ANYTHING BUT FARMERS PRODUCTS AND HEALTH INSURANCE. FROM WHAT I HAVE HEARD ACROSS THE COUNTRY IF THEY FIND OUT YOU ARE SELLING OUTSIDE LINES THEY WILL TERMINATE YOUR CONTRACT WITH NO PAYMENT TO YOU, AND THEN THEY WILL TAKE YOUTO COURT AND SUE YOU FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT. I WAS TOLD I WOULD BE ALLOWED TO SELL OUTSIDE LINES IF I MADE MY DIAMOND LEVEL SUBSIDY, AND THEN THEY CLAIMED THEY NEVER MADE SUCH A PROMISE WHEN I ACHEIVED IT. I HAVE SEEN THEM SPENDING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO SUE AGENTS OVER $30-50,000 IN PREMIUMS -- HARDLY SEEMS WORTH IT, BUT THEIR ATTORNEY'S ARE MAKING A LOT OF MONEY.Let me know your thoughts.

Good Afternoon,

I have reviewed your resume, and would like to speak with you regarding a career opportunity.

Farmers Insurance is expanding and our Brookfield AgencyPoint is currently interviewing for a limited number of openings. Our state-of-the-art AgencyPoint offers the extensive training, support and resources needed to begin a successful career with Farmers.

Some noteworthy information regarding our position and company include:
· Award-winning training, ranked #1 in the industry (Recognized by Corporate Exchange USA and Training Magazine).
· Comprehensive benefits which include: health, vision, dental, and retirement options
· Competitive new business and renewal commissions, a variety of bonuses and a strong financial support program.
· Offering over 60 products and services, including auto, home, life and financial services, plus business insurance, boat, motorcycle, RV’s and more.
· Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is the 3rd largest Property & Casualty Insurer in America and growing! Established in 1928, with over 14,000 agents and 20,000 employees nationwide.

Please contact me via phone or email for additional information and to arrange a phone interview. I look forward to speaking with you soon.



Just got this in my email today. I called and set up an appointment and then came online and stumbled across this. Now here is the funny thing, I am an avionics technician, I have a degree in computer science yet I get an email to work as a sales agent for Farmers, I told the DM that i had no customer experience, I was actually playing a video game during the phone interview not really paying attention and this DM still talked me into setting up a in person interview after signorine her over the phone. Good thing I read this!

Hi .
Thank you for the information.
I am supposed to start training next week.
I just signed the agent agreements on 09/08/11.
Can i back out of it still?
I will appreciate a response to gonzalike@yahoo.com if possible.

Carlos

Farmer's recruiting technique sounds like Multi-Level-Marketing aka a scam. And it looks like Farmer's even uses the same language. They hire you to sell as many of your "natural market" ie friends and family, ie. free warm and friendly leads that want to help you, not because Farmer's is their best choice for insurance, then have you do as much free telemarketing as they can, then move on to the next sucker. This is an old Nazi POW camp interrogation technique, isn't it? Separate one of the prisoners, feed him some better food and promise him better treatment and try to get him to roll over on his buddies, but convince him that he's really not rolling over, only just to torch him in an oven in the end. Ziech Heil Farmer's, what a bunch of bum, bum bums!

I just interviewed today...alot of what you state is exactly what I was told in the interview. I make good money now but was attracted to the "potential" of $250,000+ per year. Yet something just didn't seem right. So I left the interview and went to the Web...and here sits this information confirming my suspicions. I am both thankful for all of your posts telling the truth but now I am also just pissed off!! I now realize that this is a cleverly crafted multi-level marketing scheme covered by the blanket of financial security...as I interviewed the DM KNEW that I would not be successful and everything he was stating was false. What a shame...we are still in a recession and jobs are scarce...Farmers would allow me to walk away from 15 years stable employment knowing I would eventually lose everything and end up either in foreclosure or homeless unable to find suitable employment all for 30-40 policies...then dump me!!?? Very clever pyramid...shame on you Farmers...you are intentionally ruining people's lives for 40 new policies. I am a peaceful man but you are playing with people's livelyhood...be careful in your business practices...

BOY, AM I GLAD I FOUND THIS SITE! I have an appointment next week. I will NOT keep that appointment. I'm vegan and I don't like Kool-Aid (literally and figuratively)! I will send an email tomorrow respectfully canceling. Thank you all for your candor.

If Zachary Tabler in Cleveland contacts you...run!! I have never met someone so unprofessional. Farmers should be embarrassed to have him as a representative. He guaranteed me a salary, the changed the story to a subsidy/loan after I signed up and paid for insurance classes. He tries to pump you up to sign with him, then is never available to his new agents. When he does spend time with the new agents it is to threaten us about performance. He threatened to fire 2 new agents for missing a quota and said he could get their insurance licenses suspended by the state. His only form of motivation is threats and lies. I honestly was completely blown away by his unprofessionalism. I've recently went independent...I would just warn people, if you decide to join Farmers...select you DM carefully ...Zachary Tabler with Farmers Insurance in Cleveland is probably one of the worst.

If Zachary Tabler in Cleveland contacts you...run!! I have never met someone so unprofessional. Farmers should be embarrassed to have him as a representative. He guaranteed me a salary, the changed the story to a subsidy/loan after I signed up and paid for insurance classes. He tries to pump you up to sign with him, then is never available to his new agents. When he does spend time with the new agents it is to threaten us about performance. He threatened to fire 2 new agents for missing a quota and said he could get their insurance licenses suspended by the state. His only form of motivation is threats and lies. I honestly was completely blown away by his unprofessionalism. I've recently went independent...I would just warn people, if you decide to join Farmers...select you DM carefully ...Zachary Tabler with Farmers Insurance in Cleveland is probably one of the worst.

I posted a resume on career builder and I was contacted by Farmer's insurance in Scottsdale, Arizona (Ed McMahan is the DM). I have always had a bad feeling about the farmer insurance policies but I decided to meet with them anyway. I was told the same thing as many of you were (Most agents average about $130,000 per year, you will be your own boss, we will GIVE you $70,000 while you get on your feet, etc). I actually passed my L&H and P&C test and I got licensed by the state of Arizona. I am currently working full time and going to school so it took me 2 months to get these licenses. I have a stable position and did not want to chance that with this "opportunity" . That is when I found this site and I just sent an email to the reserve field manager and told him this is not a fit for me. I want to say thanks to all you for your insights.

They make sound like you'll make good money, but after you start, you notice that to make that "good money"
there're afew things that have to be done in order to get that money, they start giving you some subsidy
but only if you get so many policies, they can help you with staff but only if sell certain amount of policies.
IF YOU MAKE IT TO CARRER AGENT, THEY START CHARGING BACK THE SUBSIDY YOU GOT ON THE FIRST FEW YEARS.
SO AFTER YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE IT, YOU START PAYING THEM FOR ALL THE " HELP"
THEY GAVE YOU AT THE BEGINING AND THEN THEY START PUSHING YOU TO SELL MORE, NO MATTER THEIR RATES,
THEY REMIND YOU TO SELL BASE ON VALUE NOT PRICE.WE ALL NOW PEOPLE WANTS TO PAY LESS MONEY
NOT MORE.
AND THEN AFTER YOU GET CLOSER TO PAY THEM BACK, THEY WILL FIND AN EXCUSE TO GET RID OF YOU,
NOT PAY YOU YOUR LAST COMMISIONS AND KEEP YOUR CONTRACT VALUE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE YOURS.
(MINE WAS ABOUT $56,000)
SO IF YOU MAKE IT FOR 5 YEARS LIKE I DID, WORK LIKE CRAZY AND PUT OVER 80 HOURS A WEEK YOU'L END UP WITH NOTHING.
IF THAT SOUND GOOD TO YOU THEN GO AHEAD, JUST KEEP IN MIND THAT AFTER A FEW YEARS YOU MIGHT END UP WORST THAN
WHEN YOU STARTED WITH THEM.
GOOD LUCK.

DON"T DO IT, RUN THE OTHER WAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN... NOW

I just got a phone call asking if I'd like to become a Farmer's agency owner. Since I've put my resume online, I've only received phone calls from insurance agencies. I started doing some research just to see what the job entails and found this site. Thank goodness it popped up near the top of my search. It looks like people hate farmer's and my girlfriend actually works in the claims department at Farmers. It sounded like a great opportunity but after reading some testimonials, Farmers looks like a terrible environment to work in. Thanks for building the site.

Hello Everyone,

So I get this call to contact Farmers because they have this great opportunity for me. So I called them. They wanted me to come in but I said no thanks, that I wanted to find out what was all about on the phone first.

This lady comes on the line and after pulling her teeth she told me the skinny. First, I had to ponny up $250 to get trained on line concerning auto, property and life insurance. Then that I had to pay $65 per test. All this would take me about 30-60 days of effort on my part, that is on my time and on my money with no money from them.

Once I passed the tests, I would be a "reserve agent" for 90 days in which I had to sell on my own a minimum of 4 auto policies and 4 life insurance policies. That I would get 10% commision on the policies but no money to survive on. Then, I may be considered as a "real agent" or whatever they call them.

So, I said excuse me. Are you telling me that you want to give you 60 days of my time, my money, sell you 8 policies and live homeless and go to a soup line? I said to her, excuse my English lady but that sounds like a shitty deal to me, no thanks. Then I hanged up!

Now, I wasn't even excited about the deal even before I called them because I don't believe in the sky is the limit deals offered anywhere, but I wanted the details.

Well, now I know with facts. The thing that bothered me the most is that she told me all this like it was quite a deal.

These people are taking advantage of the desperation a lot of people are in, due to the economic times. Say no to this scam and I will tell you why.

Because it steps on your dignity. Nobody ought to work for free. That is called slavery. We are Americans of the 21st Century and you can't "con" us that easily. If you have a Farmers insurance policy, cancel it. I for one, don't, never will.

My post is 100% honest and it just happened this morning. So they are still pulling the same scam.

Thanks for this site. It opened my eyes.

We Americans deserve better, have earned better. What do you think our soldiers die for? For the freedom to starve or be conned by these crooks?

Think again!

Wow. If you're getting to the bottom of this thread and are reading my comment hoping this isn't true even though you have that feeling in your gut that makes you look online for this kind of thread in the first place, it's true. Same story, same incentives, same process. My DM also verbally sped through the interview quickly, only to stop and highlight the more enticing details, like salary, benefits, et al. I was confused by the subsidy shit as well, only to have him point out big numbers when I asked about the options rather than clarifying. I just got out of a subsidy like draw system at another company and did not feel like getting hemorrhaged for my earnings again. Fingers crossed my other job opportunity in CA real estate pans out. I'd take a recession depleted market opportunity over snake oil pyramid schemes any day. I hope most of you are here to read up like I did, not to post horror stories. Godspeed.

So I initially received an email after posting on careerbuilder.com as well as going to farmers.com looking for an adjuster position. I received an email about an agent position and the income potential and I was impressed. I thought to myself "surely they are mistaken, why would they give ME $67,500 gauranteed first 2yrs) and more after". So I replied to the email that was sent to me because I figured it must have been my strong sales background that made them respond to me. So again..replied to the email tht listed 2 DMs names here in Houston and asked me to reply with my resume..the one you supposedly are reaching out to me for. They said they tried contacting me "a few mnths back via email"..email is check from my phone about 30times a day..so I knew that was a lie but benefit of the doubt right...well I have an interview set for this Thur and while i was looking @ a different company in Houston as potential scam I just thought I'd entertain myself and look up Farmers..but surely they arent because they are a reputable company..boy was I wrong after reading all this. So I have an interview Thur and the guy who is interviewing me says we will also discuss other positions that I am eligble for...Oh and I failed to mention the guy who called me to interview with HIM is different from the guys who emailed me stating they were DMs..that being said...is this the only scam in the business or should i go and hear him out about the "other positions" as well?

Farmer's has been spamic on my email... yaholes!!!

I, too, recently received an e-mail promising wealth. Having been suckered into solicitous occupations before, I decided to research it a bit and found this site. Many thanks for sparing me a lot of woe and apparently money as well.

I have been leading sales teams, and many other businesses through the years. Recently a friend of mine finally sold me on getting into insurance. I had looked into many different companies. I chose Farmers because it seemed to be the least amount of risk (financially) to get started. So, I called a DM in my area and set up an interview.... (So here is where I went wrong and I urge anyone who is thinking of joining Farmers to do research and ask the 'right' questions up front), In our interview the DM painted a great picture, for some reason we really connected. I was impressed. I had been involved and managed sales teams for years, and I really felt this DM of Farmers was being genuine, this DM actually helped my decision on joining Farmers....

BUT, back to where I went wrong. I didnt ask the RIGHT questions, so here is a list of questions you will want to ask your DM in your area if you are seriously planning to join Farmers, after these questions are answered you could be not only saving the DM's time, but more importantly... yours as well.

Interview questions

1. "How much is the cost of going to get my license? Classes, Test, Etc. Also what are the chances of passing my exams the first time? Is there a fee to take the test again if I fail?"

(Answer, this can range (Farmers will require you to get you P/C, Life/Health and Code of Conduct license right away before they even consider hiring you) but the cost of 40 hours each on line or in class for P/C and Life/Health, 12 hours of Code, taking the test and hopefully passing is around $500 (out of your own pocket, Farmers does not pay you ANYTHING to get started. It is all on you), also consider your drive time and gas, maybe extra classes). Also, yes, there is a retake fee evrey time you retake the test w the State. (this is in CA)

2. "What is your average retention rate in keeping Reserve Agents, let alone Career Agents, etc?"

(Answer, out of all the research I have done and in being in my office, my conclusion in this matter is about 85-90% leave with in the first 9 months to a year, or very soon after that. Why? It seems to me that after you hit your quota, you then will be extremely pressured into hitting even a higher quota and so on, also the cost of doing business does not seem to fall in line w the profit you may sell unless you are a super selling machine).

3. "What is your plan to sit down with me as my mentor/DM and train me on every step?"

(Answer, In the interview I did ask this, and he said i'm here all day unless selling in the field....So, after I started he was in, but didn't have time to spend with me. Although my DM at the time was very quick to reply to every text I sent him, he was always extremely booked up to go through a one on one training)

4. "How much will I need to really invest in my business cost wise, what should I expect to spend on overhead this first year?"

(Answer, now this is where the DM really got me, The DM said, you can rent space in our office, you can rent any room for super cheap and use this office as your own. I thought, wow, ok great! Once I came in, every desk was filled and only space ava was in the conference w other agents (talk about CHEESY boiler room)...So, that was a no go for me).

5. "Mr/Mrs DM, I really need to know what type of management style works for you and has worked w other agents?"

(Answer, now this question may seem brash, but let me tell you, this is an extremely an important questions. The DM's answer will tell you a ton in that you know what to expect. In my situation, I have been in sales long before my DM was in sales, I had managed in two fortune 50 companies, now i'm not saying I am any better than the DM was, but I am saying that I really didn't need to be micro managed. I had the yearning to succeed and the will to do so. When I started in the program, my DM's attitude completely changed. I mean 100%. I almost wrote to the state director, but I knew it wasn't worth it. My DM turned into a used car salesperson mentality. It was crazy, the things that were said how they were said not only to me, but to others was almost as a god complex. I couldn't believe it. I finally left.



These are just some of the questions to hopefully help you if you interview. Do I regret the loss of time in this process, yes, but I do not regret learning from it. I feel Farmers is not a scam, but I do feel the way they run it in some of the districts, does come across this way. Make sure you really connect with your DM, build a trusting relationship. Earn each others trust. Work hard if this is what you decide to do.

Farmers also has this contact list they want you to fill up in their system, it could be that they want you to add 500-1500 contacts, now this is the scam part. I never did that, why would I ever leave that many contacts with a company that has the type of turn over rate it does?? Do all the work and leave it for someone else or let someone else see it? No way! I also found that after you do sell your quota as a reserve agent, then it becomes very very rough.

My last thought for you to think about is this, we were told that your book of business is yours after you sell 50 polices, BUT only AFTER 50... So, if this is true, with the rate of employees leaving, what do you think happens to those 50 policies? They give them to Sr long time Agents along w all your contacts...And you have nothing to show for it. Just think about that. That was the tipper for me, I am now involved w the Independent side.

At this point posting this seems redundant, I am more doing it to get it off of my chest now...

In August 2011 I signed my contract with Farmers, I had worked as a CSR for a Farmers agent for a year and then went on to sell home insurance for a company I will not name here... 2 years later, and with a great deal of seasoning as a salesman I decided it was time to take the leap. Now I knew some of the complaints about Farmers, but I had watched this agent successfully navigate through the shitstorm that is working for this company. I figured why not me? I know what I'm doing, I'm excellent at taking care of my clients... (they still call me for help when they have a problem, even though they know I'm done with this black hole of a career!).

Just a few highlights from the last 12 months...
-6 (yes 6!) rate increases to both home and auto, all in the name of "rate stability", seriously doesn't rate stability mean they eventually stabilize and stop going up?
-Went through 3 sales managers, Farmers requires that you constantly work to "better yourself" in the corporate structure, so excellent sales managers are forced to move up or resign so new unqualified morons can take their place.
-Was trained how to "game" the underwriting system that is in place to gain a competitive advantage.
-Repeatedly reminded how the center is behind you, when NONE of their representatives ever follow through on their promises.
-Given 21st Century leads (garbage) to quote and use to build an agency...

My last sales manager had never even run an actual agency, in fact most haven't, they have to sell 40 P&C and 4 Life in a 12 month period... this is supposed to help them understand our challenges, yet they don't service the policies after the sale. The sale is the easy part! He kept sitting in front of me and telling me my production wasn't enough, that I needed to quote more... I'm processing 20 quotes a day, running all around town trying to canvas everywhere and cultivate a reputation... he wanted 50!!! When I asked him how he expected this to be done when Farmers provides access to 9 free leads a day, 3 of which are new and 6 are at least a year old, and I was told commitment was the key. Ha!

When Farmers purchased 21st Century they told their agents it would enhance their book of business, I took that to mean we'd be absorbing the business... Oh not so, we are now in direct competition with them and their agents... in fact unbeknownst to most agents, while we can pick at the leads they don't sell, Farmers is taking our contacts and quotes and giving them to 21st Century behind our backs!!! How can you trust this company when its clear they don't actually care about the values they espouse on a daily basis? Never mind the fact that 21st auto is an inferior product...

The final straw for me was after I moved out of the agency training center, I started hearing from other new agents on how to "game" Farmers underwriting. To survive these guys are actually finding ways to rate and rerate and change discounts until they get the price they want. I asked my DM about it, wanting to know why Farmers talks about doing the right thing but then looks the other way while people fuck the business and guarantee more rate increases... his response... "You should get on the bandwagon or get left behind." Wow.

The final straw was on a policy that didn't process in time, (or as they say fell into the blackhole), I was taken off subsidy for 3 months... what little commissions I did make Farmers took to pay back the "loan" they were giving me and for other costs I now had to cover. I tried to continue but ended up going back to work for the agent I started with, even he is struggling with the rate of attrition by the sudden rate jumps. Apparently this is how they operate as they expand eastward.... move into a new state and screw all the other ones so they can give the lowest rates possible, get a piece of the market share and then repeat the process.

I will go independent once I'm out of the financial hole this company put me in. The name of the game is options, if you really care about the clients and not making truckloads of money it is the only way to go... at least with a few companies in your pocket you can protect those who trust you and move them if necessary. You won't believe how many of my customers would spend 5 minutes apologizing to me personally before they cancelled because of the rates...

Run like the wind people... you can do better, you deserve better, and its out there!

Thank you all for the great posts. I did a stint with United American, and I fugured they were just dirt bags. But it turns out I am right, the whole industry is dirt bags.

I had an appointment for Tuesday next week, I shant be going.

thank you all again.

Thanks for the info!!!

RUN AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whatever you do, please dont work for them. As many posts here have stated, they are not a good company. They dont treat their agents wwith respect nor do they train them. I worked so hard for a year with them, and did ok. But even when I was reaching my goals my DM was presuring me all the time. He even told me I might not have a job. The billing system simple does not work. Dealing with that was hard enough.

After a while, I had enough of their horrible treatment so I left. I soon came to find out that I have to pay them back $4000 dollars!! Since then, my credit has been runied because I have not been able to pay this back. They promise so much stuff and never discussed everything clearly.

Please dont not become an Agent with Farmers. trust me, they will ruin everything. Best of luck!

indeed save your money!! i was Championship agent during my Career agent period and worked for this company for 20 years. This company sucks soooo bad. They only accept new agents with excellent credit and then encourage them to destroy within a matter of 12 months. Their idea is ''borrow as much as you can now to start your business and then later when you are making $100k year at the end of your 5yr career plan youll have no problem paying it back.'' the problem with that is i know over 200 former/current farmers agents and only a handful of them make $100k/yr..i personally have friends that agents in montana, south dakota and wyoming where their rates have doubled on home and went up so much on autos that they have lost 50% of their clients..my own experience as agent left my impeccable credit slaughtered and a felony on my perfect criminal record. after a close review of my entire book of business, i found that nearly all of my clients ( which were about 50% family & close friends) were being overcharged, some for over a year. farmers refused to give them the full credits that they derserve. their billing system is shit and their claims adjusters were so rude to my own clients that it was absolutely embarrassing..even accusing one of my clients of having driven her minivan around for several days with no windshield...can u imagine??!! i feel they continually overhire agents & saturate their districts with no regard to how hard they are making it for current agents to get business, their dms are not former agents in most cases, and their dmms are fresh out of college with no insurance experience at all. the whole company is a crock of shit and the career program is designed for failure. on top of it all, the dms get bonuses for new agents, most sales for life & p&c, etc and write fake policies to win..ive seen agents & dms write life policies for their pets with fake socials & comp only on totalled/randomn vehicles. the customer service that is supposed to provide agent support sucks too. no one that answers knows what they are talking about and if you dont write the persons name, date, time & what was said - it could cost you thousands or dollars or even your agency. many agents even up having to pay thousands of dollars on customer accounts out of pocket for system & customer service center errors that farmers NEVER accepts responsibility for. that is exactly how my own career ended as i tried to pay for my clients out of pocket and didnt have enough money but had to hurry up and aca their payments as they were driving around without insurance due to farmers error and farmers didnt even care. wish i had never encouraged anyone to buy insurance from such a loser company. also the subsidy talked about earlier means that they pay you like $1500 month for the 1st 2 years if you are making all their goals which i had no problem meeting due to my experience but each month HALF OF YOUR SUBSIDY IS A LOAN. nice huh??! to be able to do the career program, you better have about $60k spending money to use for advertising, farmers errors, and leads to make it. and when i say 'leads' i dont meaan their program 'take the lead' which not interested prospects, its only compiled info - and usually inaccurate. betteryet, just become an agent with a insurance company that doesnt make you start your agency from scratch - because there is alot of them around to choose from! believe me, you dont need to work 100hrs a week to hope to make $100k/yr to find out 5yrs from now, you should have just said, no thanks.

Thank God I found this site !!!

I also received the e-mail after posting on careerbuilder. Funny how the only ones that rush to contact you are insurance companies.

I called them and set up an appointment for tomorrow. Obviously after reading these posts, I will not be attending.

I wil never work for Farmers or own of their policies. This company should be ashamed of their business practices.

Pittsburgh Agency Point - This is a scam. They hire 20-25 agents every 2 months. Out of the 60 agents I saw in 6 months only 10 are left after a year. They offer 3000 per month but you will be cut off the first quarter you miss quota. They will keep your commissions. They will put you in collections for the 18,000 they paid you if you lasted six months - all the time keeping commisssions off what you sold.

They have no risk, 2-3% of agents will make it three years. Not good odds. They claim 85% success rate - not even close. Even if you make it the first year, cancellations due to poor service, irregular billing, terrible claim service, and competition will eat you alive because you will have to replace all those customers and add new customers to keep up with quotas.

I took this because I was hard up. It is hard to resist a 3000 paycheck when you are broke in this economy. I can not believe dangling this carrot in these times is even legal.....

Wowwwww i am so shocked right now. I have an interview setup tomorrow morning and I just would like to say thank The Lord I found this site. So unbelievable. You are all absolutely right. What a scam. Here the DMs Facebook that I had an interview with and you can tell by his posts that this job is a scam



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2012 09:49PM by administrator.

I read this forum 5 years ago before becoming an agent and thought these are a bunch of angry people that didn't make it.

Well 5 years later I can tell you this is not the case and what is written here is sadly true.

Hope you learned enough not to have joined, former agent terminated after 25 yrs and lost a lot of friends Bill