Federal Financial Group & Rick Dixon World Financial Group, FFG, FFG2 Pyramid Scam - They only make money from your recruitment fees Draper, Utah

When I first wrote this I was upset and frustrated because it had taken so long for the California Insurance Department to issue my license after I had completed the requirements for licensure. It took almost three months. I was not legally able to sell insurance and earn commissions without this license.  I took this frustration out on FFG. 

After doing additional research I realized that many of my statements that I posted were not quite accurate.  Federal Financial Group is not a scam and it is not a pyramid scheme.  It is an Independent Marketing Organization, also known as a General Agency and represents  many reputable insurance companies. They make their money, like all other IMOs and General Agencies by selling insurance products and getting paid commissions from the Insurance Carriers. Unlike a MLM or Pyramid scheme, FFG agents do not make an override on any other agent.   Only those who are running regional offices can make an override; just like all Insurance General Agencies. 

FFG does charge a new agent processing fee, which is refunded after a certain level of production is reached. This can take anywhere from two weeks to six months.  The average is three months time. FFG does not use expensive reputation software to prevent web postings. You will see positive and negative comments on the web, just like most other companies, in all industries.   One of the agents that helped me when I started had just left AXA.  He was winding down his AXA business and was in the process of going full time with FFG, I assumed he was a manager, but he was just another agent willing to help a new agent. Many of the agents at FFG are full time; they do have some that work part time.  However all of their Managers are full time.

Rick Dixon was an insurance agent with World Financial Group.  He was not an owner.  He left World Financial Group over ten years ago.  The Federal Trade Commission is not investigating FFG.  FFG is licensed and in good standing with each States Department of Insurance where they do business, currently over 30 states.

Dude,

First, I never said FFG was an MLM .  A scam? Not really...Have I ever been my own boss, well yes since 1987 thanks for asking...IS FFG for me? a BIG NO.  Am I in Insurance now? YES with a real company that pays me well...in fact, I am doing so well, that I now work part time because my residuals are kicking in and I can relax a bit...I deserve it... And to end this post, I wish you great success in your business...Have a prosperous 2013!

What I have to say will be brief and to the point. I know for a fact FFG is not an MLM nor is it a scam. I think maybe you have had a bad experience with a particular person, which I can see, but this is about perception. If you didn't get what you want out of it then truly ask yourself if you put what you needed to into it. As a professional in business and an entrepreneur I can say FFG is not a scam but truly an opportunity. However, you need to be up to challenge and understand this is truly what you make of it. Have you ever been your own boss? Most people think this is an amazing job until they are nudged out of the nest to fly and realize what they must do to be successful. This is truly a unique opportunity if you really give it the respect it deserves and put the time into it to be successful. In any case I am truly sorry you were not compatible with this truly amazing opportunity but is bashing it really make you feel better? Or would figuring out what you need to do, what the true secret to being successful really is an implementing that knowledge make more sense? Best of luck in your endeavours!

Ah Paulie Paulie Paulie,

Spoken like a good little soldier.  Do you patrol these sites for FFG to make sure the company is seen is the best possible light?  I said and you admit there is a 287 fee...again I think that is absurd but they do tell you up front, on that we agree..for what I have no clue, that was never explained.  YOUR reason was because the manager must take the time out of his/her schedule/Hmmm, have you ever applied for other jobs where they said,m yes come by but bring 300 dollars and we will talk?

Paul I thin you would have made a good little soldier doing exactly what you are told to do, never questioning authority...putting your head in the sand////go along to get along...FFG seems to work for you and that's great but I am sorry it is not the end all be all for everyone else.  I think given their piss poor commission structure, agents can make a hell of a lot more elsewhere.

Now go back and tell your managers what you should say to rebut my factual statements...

Ron; Regarding your above statement whrere you claim I mentioned the $287 was "for a Manager to speak to you" I challenge you to prove your claim. Since you are supposedly an ex-employee, then you will know how to get a hold of me. Without dignifying your assanine response, I will direct you to my post above whereby the $287 is discussed along with that of having to break a sweat in direct cogruence with work ethic ( or lack thereof )

Paul

Wow,

Well here we go with the truth.

First you will pay $287.00 for what? God only knows. Paul says its because a Manager has to take time to talk with you..ok, perhaps he can pay ME for my time to speak with him too.

Second, they start you at 40% commission which is, on average, very LOW for the industry. Now before all you FFG people jump all over me saying "We give you leads" another fallacy.  YOU the agent must procure 8 leads on your own, and have your manager go with you and you split the commission with him/her.  Then after you have mastered their three part presentation and are videoed to see if you are up to par, then you are allowed to go out on your own.

Third, they say their are no quotas...WRONG.  If you do not produce $7500 in production, you will be "retrained"

Fourth, their "hook" to get appointments IS the scratch card and now, offering a "FREE Cruise!"  Awesome right?  Check it out, because yes it is a cruise but it is for a Timeshare...nice huh?  You will find out when you get there that you will spend a day getting hammered to buy a timeshare.

Does their system work for some people, yes. The managers are cleaning up the proletariat are living week to week...the last meeting I attened not ONE agent sold anything...this speaks volumes of their "success"

If you are a new agent, this is NOT a company to work with.  Personally I think new agents should go captive that way they are properly trained.  If not find a agency that is LOCAL that will spend the time necessary to ensure your success.

I hate to end on a wise guy note but I really believe the people at FFG drink the Kool aid given to them..to bad because some of the agents are great people who I know could do much better elsewhere but have been brainwashed...

I have been with this company for 2 years... they charge you $80/month while there I never received ONE lead nor one inquiry..I smartened up and left.

Upon leaving they said I must return my For Sale signs,  I informed them I PAID $35 each for these signs and if I would be reimbursed,,,,they said NO  They SUCK   stay away from this company...the owner Kevin Lanent is a rich disengaged person with no idea how agents live most of which need a second job to pay his fees...   RUNNNNNNN away

You have been in insurance for 25 years?  Really?  And some states require you to be in all 50?  Can you please provide me with the SPECIFIC  LAW that states that?  You are obviously a very unhappy disgruntled person with way to much time on your hands. 

First, I do not work for this company.  Second I DO sell insurance with a company that is licensed in38 states...did you read that??? 38, not 50 38...we have an A+ BBB rating ..so please go crawl under the rock you came from you troll

I've been with FFG from the beginning and worked with the CEO for 16 yrs. During that time I've seen people
with no insurance experience become qualified producers in the industry making a respectable income in the process. My first year in the industry, I held a garage sale just to get enough money together to buy e-o and I purchased my
"business casual" at a thrift store. Success requires sacrifice and breaking a sweat. That being said and  reading most of the comments regarding the "Hiring Fee" or having to memorize a script, I recognize most of these posts given I was the one who most likely processed the appointment paperwork.  The $287 is returned if the applicant is declined by the Carrier due to Compliance, Credit, open bks, Vectors or Tax Liens. It also returned once a production goal is met. It is not returned if the applicant did not turn in the Supplemental Documentation asked for which is clearly spelled out in the Hiring Fee Disclosures and updates sent directly the applicant. We go in the hole on every New Hire until that person actually starts submitting
business and only if it sticks. The $287 doesn't even cover the cost for our Recruiter to speak to a potential new agent , let alone process the paperwork. I don't need this job, but I stay because of the miracles I see on a daily basis.

FFG is obviously not a scam, we have been successfully helping families, businesses, individuals, agents, and financial institutions for a decade now.  We have nothing to do with "WFG" but we do apparently teach some similar principles of helping people get to financial independence.  We are not what is known as a pyramid scheme.  A pyramid is where only the top few people make money and make it from getting new people to sign up to be agents or reps of that company.  we make nothing from recruiting agents, nothing.  Our recruiting division is totally separate from the Agency side.  We also have the reimbursement program for any recruiting fees which somehow you missed in all of your "reasearch."  The appointment setting program is a totally different division as well and we (the agents, advisors and management) are.  Of course attorneys have and will continue to "look into" what we do here and they continue to find that we are doing great things for people.  That is why we still have such high ratings with the BBB and state institutions.  

You will not find very many, if any, complaints about what we (the Insurance Agents, Advisors, Counselors, Coaches, etc) actually do for consumers.  The only kinds of complaints one will see about FFG is usually just a disgruntled employee that did not get along with their manager or did not think we were serious when we say that we require an agent to be competent (memorize presentations) before we invest in them as an agent by providing leads.  It was mentioned that you lost months of you life...that is the problem.  Most agents are up and running in about 2 weeks.  

I am not sure what took you months, maybe the system is not the problem, unless you are exaggerating?  It took me 3 days (about 15-20 hours) to memorize the presentation, not a few months.  If it took me several months to do 3 days worth of work, I would be upset as well.  Managers employed elsewhere, hilarious.  All our agents are non-captive, which means that they are welcome to be appointed with whatever companies they would like.  All we ask, is that if you generate business from our leads, you run the business through our program to recoup the cost of generating those and more leads.  We don't expect a new agent to just drop everything and go full time if that is not what they want to do.  You said nobody gets by the script.  This shows how little you actually know about FFG.  The facts speak for themselves.  

We have thousands of folks that have done exactly that, old, young, whoever puts the time in gets it done and the vast majority do.   MLM?  This could not be further from the truth.  The only way to make money from something someone else does, is if you are the manager and you train an agent you would get a small percentages, about 10% of what they do, but it only goes that far.  There are no upper levels or drilling down 8 generations or whatever happens in MLMs.  This is no different than any business owner.  If you want real info, call the local FFG office, talk to the regional manager, maybe even ask to talk to an agent or two and they will give you their honest opinion.  

Hello again,

The State of California Labor Commissioner is helping me retrieve lost wages. In the meantime, everyone should be aware of the following:

1. Recruitment fees are illegal.

2. Federal Financial Group owes every single trainee back wages for training them without minimum wage.

3. I am filing a class action lawsuit against Federal Financial Group. If anyone has ever been employed by Federal Financial Group for any amount of time, please email me at classactionFFG at yahoo.com

4. I may not respond to these emails until all appropriate papers have been filed and the notification period begins.

Don't let people screw you over - insurance is a credible industry - consumers and hardworking sales agents deserve better than to be sucked into a pyramid scam. 

Read more: (((link redacted)))

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

Yes, run! Run right over and join the over 4,000 employees who are enjoying working with Federal Financial Group LLC even as we speak! :D There is very little turnover among employees at this company. We are sorry to see that you have not been happy here. Even though we try, apparently we cannot please every single person. In the rare instance that someone might be unhappy here, there are appropriate ways to express any dissatisfaction within our company - as opposed to venting on a public website. 

By the way, the script listed above is not what we are using. Period.

Perhaps scottjays is one of our competitors, which is a shame because anyone capable of earning six figures is the caliber of person we would enjoy working with: It takes intelligence and a good work ethic to be that kind of success. We like to see everyone succeed.

Excuse me while I go back to working with the hundreds of happy employees right here in my location who are busily working and chatting at the water fountain. 

I  make a high six fig income from the ins. industry for over 25 years.  Federal Financial Grp def does not give the whole truth about how their appts are made nor the exact type of product they are selling. I have seen actual appts run by so called area district manages.  Shady would be a compliment.  I have been on the receiving end of the telemarketing calls and the script posted is accurate.  The extremely bad english accent and super aggressive tactics is a big turn off.  I found out the "agency" is not licensed in all states as is required by some states.  My advice is RUN...

FriscoDisco,

Thank you for sharing your story. It is always important that all past employees have a place to share their level of success as a result of their attempts to administer our system. Those who adhere to the proven methods experience high success and stay
with the company.

We have made efforts to address your concerns with the rebuttals listed here before. We are sorry that your approach to our system did not work for you. We always strive for consistency in delivery of our system and we have about 4,000 employees who continue to do well with it. We have many employees who have stayed with the company for many years.

Again, I will attempt to address each one of your points:

In the insurance world most agents do work with several different companies. We like our agents to stay independent so that they have the freedom to select the best possible insurance to best serve their clients. 

The Federal Trade Commission has nothing to do with insurance. Period.

We have no legal cases against us open or pending.

We have an optional recruiting fee which is paid by agents if they want us to do their recruiting. It is paid on a monthly basis and we spend almost an equivalent amount on the expenses of recruiting.  

Federal Financial Group is not a pyramid or any kind of scheme. We maintain an A rating with the Better Business Bureau and we have been in business a long time.

There is no software used to maintain our reputation online. I am the director of social media and I am the only thing this company has to help maintain our good reputation online. In fact, I am requesting that you remove your complaint since it is ill-founded and appears to be lashing out due to the low success you experienced when you were not following the proven system of delivery.

Rick Dixon was with World Financial Group. He left and that speaks for itself. He should be commended and not condemned for his choice to leave.

Our company is not a spin-off of the World Financial Group. Period.

Again, we thank you for expressing your frustration and we have tried to address your concerns.  Everyone who starts a new job takes the risk of the job either working out for them or not working out for them. Thank you for giving us a chance. We hope
that your future endeavors work out much better for you.

Best regards,

Susan

For your examination, a recitation of the employee call script.

Life insurance,retirement

APPROVED OUTSOURCING SCRATCH CARD SCRIPT

Well maybe you can help me.

Hi, May I speak with Manager/ Home Owner please. My name is _______________ with IMS calling for Federal Financial Group. I am calling in regards to our Scratch Card Give-Away and your [Phone Number] has been chosen for our lucky recipient. Congratulations! If you meet our qualifications you will have a choice of ways to receive a scratch card and on the scratch card you are guaranteed to win either a 7 Night Florida Bahamas Cruise

1. Brand New Ford Explorer
2. $2,500 in cash
3. 27 inch Panasonic TV

Before hand I just want to assure you this is just a plainly promotional campaign.u dont have to sign up for anything or buy anything because we are not selling anything here
Where just trying to get our name out there in (place)for the expansion of our company  by word of mouth.

*I cant make any decision for my company..

There arent any business decisions for you to make here for your company.anyone who is qualified can have this scratch card and this wont take us 20 mins.

I'm not interested

Well, we did select your name, and you are guaranteed to win one of those 4 prizes, and there are no obligations whatsoever. You will not be asked to purchase anything on this visit. and it will not take longer than 20 minutes.

You cannot buy anything on this first visit.  If you are interested in what they have to say, you are more than welcome to invite them back for a second visit. You may ask any questions when they are there. Again they are not there to sign you up for anything on this first visit.

So To qualify you Jamie I have a set of qualifying questions for u.just to make sure that we r giving the price just to the right age group and not to minors okay?
First of  r u currently working full-time or just part-time?

Got it.

Just to say thank you for the sponsor, Federal Financial Group specializes in providing powerful tools to improve your cash flow, and help reduce taxes, which is huge for people, and also annuity and life insurance products that can possibly shave years off your potential retirement date. 

With that let's continue.


Which of the following age group applies to you?

18-24,25-39, 40,-49, 50-59, or 60 above
               
18-24
If 24 Okay are u turning 25 in the next 4 moths?if yes proceed
If no ask if married
may I ask if u r married?if yes
Which of the following age group does you husbund/wife applies
18-24,25-39, 40,-49, 50-59, or 60 above.


If 25 above
Okay with that we can qualify your Spouse as well.
Which of the range of the following household yearly income applies to you?
$40-44, ($45 above if California) 45 above
                                          
**Why do you need to know how much I make?
Federal Financial deals with financial Strategies and so they want to bring information that is relevant to you and your situation.  I am assuring you Were just trying to get a feel for who were talking to, so we can be prepared and bring information that is relevant to you.We dont need to know exact numbers at all.  We are just looking for a range for qualification purposes.


Below income
..oh what were actually looking for is your combined income with your spouse before taxes including  bonus..

With spouse also ask for the income of the spouse
And for you husbund/wife Which of the range of the following household yearly income applies for her/him
$40-44, ($45 above if California) 45 above


Not qualified
Unfortunately u didnt qualify our qualification.  Im sorry to tell you that  but if you have any questions or interest in our company u can visit our website www.ffg2.com


So (name) Were gonna hand you the scratch card next week (date)
                                          Monday    -  Wed, Thurs and Fri (no Saturday and Sunday)                
                                          Friday      -   Tue, Wed, Thurs and Fri (no Saturday and Sunday)

So on and so forth

                                               
If insists
Unfortunately the date you requested isnt available because everybody is pretty booked up that day. 
Can you choose another day for the meeting?

So when will you be available to receive the scratch card?
Is it in the morning, afternoon or in the evening.8am-9PM?

All I need to do now is VALIDATE your information.
? Read information from the Agent screen
And your name is ______________ is that right?
I have your address listed as_________and your phone number is ________________

And also May I have your Email Address please

We will be e-mailing you the Best Seller EBook: Safe Money Millionaire. It is a $14.95 value and we are e-mailing this to you absolutely free


If no PROCEED
Thats fine

MUST READ
(If appointment set):
To wrap things up,a licensed insurance professional with Federal Financial Group will bring this scratch card to you, and will take a short 20 minutes to tell you what they do as a company. Federal Financial Group specializes in providing powerful tools to improve your cash flow, and help reduce taxes, and also annuity and life insurance products that can possibly shave years off your potential retirement date. You cannot buy anything on this first visit. If you are interested in what they have to say, you are more than welcome to invite them back for a second visit. You may ask any questions when they are there. Again they are not there to sign you up for anything on this first visit and it shouldnt take longer than 20 minutes.

I just need to real quick hand you over to my supervisor to confirm this information and youll be all set.

Rm Utah
Toll free #
8665172945
If they ask for more info say "Go visit our website.  www.ffg2.com "

Federal Financial Group is an Insurance Agency that does not use MLM payouts.  Every agent earns a % of what they sell.  If one follows the program exactly as taught you will be successful. The Recruiting fee got me access to so much information and training materials it is well worth the $287.00 spent.  FFG takes care of their Agents with weekly meetings, awesome yearly convention and pre-set appointments.  As a sales gal, these are all things that motivate me to continue selling and making thousands of dollars weekly.  Signing up with FFG does not mean that you do not have to work!  It just makes your work a little easier.

Federal Financial Group is not a scam or a pyramid/MLM scheme as "FriscoDisco" has claimed.  I have worked for Federal Financial Group for over 6 1/2 years.  I have consistently made a 6 figure income ( or very close to it ) as long as I have been working here.  I am just an agent.  Not a manager.  I don't work for any other company.  I have over 325+ clients who are very happy with me, Federal Financial Group and the product I have sold them.  I too spend time learning the scrip, as he describes, but I was immediately able to start earning a great income as soon as I started running appointment on my own. I haven't had any trouble since.  The commission split is very fair considering FFG provides me with all of my appointments, at no cost to me.  I haven't done any prospecting in 6.5 years.  I have loved working for FFG and feel it been the best company I have worked with in over 30 years of employment.