Subsidy and poor management

I was brought in as an agent into Farmers Insurance January 2011. There were so many problems that it was just tiring and sad to watch my clients go through such hardships as a result of the company. Even as their agent I was powerless in a lot of situations to help them.

The problems:
- The agent customer service is HORRIBLE!! What I mean by this is that as an agent, you get a customer service number to call when you have system or policy issues. You get a different person each time who give you a different answer for the same question.
- The system is archaic and highly unreliable. An example would be running a quote for the same couple, same vehicles, one day it is one number, the next day it is a different number - for the exact same information. This happened quite often.
- The management....well, needless to say whenever I asked a question, especially in the beginning, the response I always got was to call the help desk. This even included running quotes for the very first time! I was never actually trained on how to use the platform, so I made many calls into the no-"help desk" to try and resolve questions that should've been answered in the office.

There are so many other problems, including slandering by the agent who took over my clients - as verified by a relative who called into the office for a policy change, after I left and this new agent treated them so horribly and slandered my name so bad that my relative called me very concerned. I also found out this new agent told several of my clients to cancel their policies or he told them he wouldn't help them. This has resulted in three months of chargebacks in addition to the subsidy.

The subsidy - that's a whole other issue and where I REALLY need the help.
I was informed that the subsidy is not income unless it is no longer in the "loan" state, i.e. wiped away (by meeting criteria where the company rewards you with not having to pay it back). I was sent my 1099 this year and it has my commissions plus my subsidy all as income. If they expect me to pay it back, why is it listed as income as it is not income but an "interest free loan" as stated by my former district manager multiple times.
I received the statement to pay back the subsidy, but I cannot get a hold of anyone at the included customer service number to find out the various way to send them the subsidy back. It 99.9% goes to voicemail and I have never received a call back. The one time I finally made it to a live person, she transferred me to the generic voicemail again! My concern is I was told by my former DM that they will attempt to garnish wages, send me to collections, etc. But how can they when I can't even get a hold of them??

>>Is there a lawyer who can help with this? I do not want Farmers Insurance to ruin my credit when they have already ruined a lot more.

I resigned on my own accord due to the various problems I faced as an agent through them from the company itself. I will be talking to my tax accountant in regards to my 1099 reflecting incorrect information and that Farmers Insurance will not contact me back.

My recommendation is that if you choose to be an Insurance Agent, go to a different company or go independent. Farmers Insurance is all about the PR and not about the agents or their clients.