- 915
I’m posting this to distance myself from Pinney Insurance on this forum.
Quick Summary: I sent $4,000,000 of premium to Pinney Insurance over 6 years and they terminated my contracts and kept all my overrides due to me- estimated around $40,000 over the next 12 months.
Here’s the timeline:
1) On 1/16/2017 Pinney terminated my contracts. Completely fine as I can take my business elsewhere. I asked them twice to pay me on my inforce business overrides (contractually owed to me) and got no response for 2 weeks.
2) On 2/3/2017, the day after I was supposed to receive the check I was getting for 6+ years, they told me they weren’t going to pay me on any of the inforce business.
3) On 2/10/2017, I wrote this post to distance myself from the Pinney Organization: Pinney Insurance Review [BEWARE] – SellTermLife.com
4) They sent me a cease and desist 3 hours later based on libel.
5) My attorney responded that we reject their demand to cease and desist and to indicate what was libelous (everything was truthful). As of posting this, there has been no response.
6) Instead of responding to my attorney, Pinney Insurance wrote this rebuttal calling me unethical:
https://pinneyinsurance.com/selltermlife-review-dont-be-fooled/
If interested, I encourage you to read my review and Pinney’s rebuttal above so everything below makes sense.
You’ll see that a 40+ year old BGA has some stretches of unprofessionalism that sneak through in that rebuttal and you'll get clarity as to why at the bottom of this post.
I want to avoid going counterpoint for counterpoint, so I’ll just clarify a few main points from their rebuttal in an attempt to show you why you shouldn’t work with Pinney Insurance.
Clarification #1: Our Contract
Pinney States: “The contract he referenced is from 2011, and was written specifically for his personal business.“
False. This is a recruiting contract. (1) Exhibit A and C of the contract is my EZlife service agreement where they created my own EZlife portal at rootezlife.com to recruit agents. If creating that website for my agents isn’t proof enough that this a recruiting contract, (2)Here’s a snippet of the contract that clearly talks about my “duly-licensed agents”.
(3) On top of that, this was paid as a hierarchy contract for 6+ years. The attorney’s I’ve spoken with say that’s all that matters in this contract. Pinney acted as if this contract was in place for 6+ years and conveniently acted that it’s not when it’s time to part ways.
Pinney States: “We were paying a non-contractually-obligated override on Jeff’s largely passive recruiting efforts (consisting of an occasional blog post, podcast, or referral to one of our brokerage managers).”
False. I just demonstrated it was contractual.
Also, 90+% of the business was from agents I’ve developed, mentored and trained. Overrides are the only form of payment I’ve ever received from developing these agents. I’ve put my time and efforts into all of these agents and was paid on their success in placing business.
I helped the agents build websites, generate organic traffic/leads and build an online life insurance business. I referred them to Pinney solely to process their business.
I just looked at my last override statement with Pinney and 90% of the agents I’ve helped (and continue to help) on a consistent basis and all would back me in this. To say this was “passive” is a lie to make their decision look better.
I think Pinney is referring to agents that came their way from my promotion of them on my website and this forum which were never credited to me and I was never paid on them. I talk to agents all the time who said they used Pinney Insurance based on my recommendation and I have never heard of them - so that passive statement is 100% wrong...Pinney was not paying me on that, nor did I ever ask to be paid on those because I didn’t feel as though I deserved to be.
This is the main reason I’m publishing this here. So those agents that frequent this forum that do business through Pinney Insurance know what kind of organization they’ve become.
Pinney States: “With zero business, there are zero contractually obligated overrides”
According to their stats, I placed over $600,000 with them in 2016 and I posted an image in my initial post to prove that. Not zero.
I know they’re talking about me individually, but I haven’t produced much in 2 years...with anyone, yet they’ve gladly accepted my downline’s production. I’ve focused 100% on developing other agents, digital marketing and using my leads to help agents build their own business.
The previous 30 days to termination, an agent working one of my websites placed $35,000 in business with Pinney. Another agent placed a $36,000 case with Prudential. Both agents will verify if asked as I work with them on a regular basis. That’s on top of the other business submitted here through EZlife (during the previous 2 weeks to termination) and the full pipeline of business.
Zero business? C’mon. Another lie.
Clarification #2: Agents Pinney Did Not Pay
All you need to know is that 3 other agents feel they were wronged by Pinney enough to file wage claims. They’re spending their own valuable time and money to recover commissions they believe they are owed. No matter what excuses Pinney gives, these aren’t amicable separations. I make the 4th. This is becoming a trend.
Pinney talks about losing long-time partners and agents to me as a reason for terminating a brokerage director. That’s because I actually worked closely with these agents and helped build their business. They’re loyal to me, Pinney never have that relationship.
So let me be clear, we used Pinney Insurance to process business. They are a processing center. Other than processing applications for agents, they did nothing to help my agents generate leads or grow an online business like we did for them. We never recommended or used their CRM Insureio and Pinney never provided any other value beyond processing business.
Pinney’s tragic flaw is believing they are more than a business processing center. They are not a digital marketing company or a tech company as much as they try to be one.
Re: Pinney “called most carriers and told them never to work with him (former brokerage director) and tried to smear his name.”
This is 100% true and he had to work hard to repair relationships at several carriers. It had nothing to do with a competing service or offer and everything to do with telling life insurance companies never to do business with him.
If called upon I could produce the names of the people at the carriers who he had to smooth things over with by telling the truth and character references within the industry that stood up for him. It was intentional and the most vindictive thing I’ve ever seen.
Pinney’s rebuttal here is deflecting what actually happened by focusing on something else.
Re: Calling Me Unethical
Those are empty words from a 40+ year old BGA who hasn’t demonstrated any real proof.
You know what’s unethical?
- Not honoring your contracts and paying commissions on inforce business.
- Writing libelous statements about me and twisting the truth.
- Upon terminating my contracts, telling life insurance companies that I agreed to move my hierarchy when I DID NOT. This is highly unethical and grounds to terminate a contract. Here’s proof.
Bottom Line
This is a he said/she said situation from the outside. I get that. I’m calling them unethical and Jan and Ryan Pinney are calling me unethical.
The difference is I’m providing as much proof as possible and Pinney is just sending me cease and desists and spreading falsehoods about my claims.
That rebuttal article was written by Ryan Pinney who is a consistent speaker with MDRT who doesn’t write any life insurance according to the CA Dept of Insurance (check for company appointments here, there are none). Furthermore, he was convicted of “attempted threat/use of a dangerous weapon” and was denied an insurance license back in 2004. This is all public record on CA DOI website. I think this track record speaks for itself.
I’m rolling in the mud in a lose/lose situation but I cannot stand by and continue to have my name tied to Pinney Insurance knowing how they have treated me and other agents/staff. That’s why I’m posting this here.
There are plenty of BGAs that can process your applications.
Again, I can no longer recommend the Pinney Insurance organization.
Quick Summary: I sent $4,000,000 of premium to Pinney Insurance over 6 years and they terminated my contracts and kept all my overrides due to me- estimated around $40,000 over the next 12 months.
Here’s the timeline:
1) On 1/16/2017 Pinney terminated my contracts. Completely fine as I can take my business elsewhere. I asked them twice to pay me on my inforce business overrides (contractually owed to me) and got no response for 2 weeks.
2) On 2/3/2017, the day after I was supposed to receive the check I was getting for 6+ years, they told me they weren’t going to pay me on any of the inforce business.
3) On 2/10/2017, I wrote this post to distance myself from the Pinney Organization: Pinney Insurance Review [BEWARE] – SellTermLife.com
4) They sent me a cease and desist 3 hours later based on libel.
5) My attorney responded that we reject their demand to cease and desist and to indicate what was libelous (everything was truthful). As of posting this, there has been no response.
6) Instead of responding to my attorney, Pinney Insurance wrote this rebuttal calling me unethical:
https://pinneyinsurance.com/selltermlife-review-dont-be-fooled/
If interested, I encourage you to read my review and Pinney’s rebuttal above so everything below makes sense.
You’ll see that a 40+ year old BGA has some stretches of unprofessionalism that sneak through in that rebuttal and you'll get clarity as to why at the bottom of this post.
I want to avoid going counterpoint for counterpoint, so I’ll just clarify a few main points from their rebuttal in an attempt to show you why you shouldn’t work with Pinney Insurance.
Clarification #1: Our Contract
Pinney States: “The contract he referenced is from 2011, and was written specifically for his personal business.“
False. This is a recruiting contract. (1) Exhibit A and C of the contract is my EZlife service agreement where they created my own EZlife portal at rootezlife.com to recruit agents. If creating that website for my agents isn’t proof enough that this a recruiting contract, (2)Here’s a snippet of the contract that clearly talks about my “duly-licensed agents”.
(3) On top of that, this was paid as a hierarchy contract for 6+ years. The attorney’s I’ve spoken with say that’s all that matters in this contract. Pinney acted as if this contract was in place for 6+ years and conveniently acted that it’s not when it’s time to part ways.
Pinney States: “We were paying a non-contractually-obligated override on Jeff’s largely passive recruiting efforts (consisting of an occasional blog post, podcast, or referral to one of our brokerage managers).”
False. I just demonstrated it was contractual.
Also, 90+% of the business was from agents I’ve developed, mentored and trained. Overrides are the only form of payment I’ve ever received from developing these agents. I’ve put my time and efforts into all of these agents and was paid on their success in placing business.
I helped the agents build websites, generate organic traffic/leads and build an online life insurance business. I referred them to Pinney solely to process their business.
I just looked at my last override statement with Pinney and 90% of the agents I’ve helped (and continue to help) on a consistent basis and all would back me in this. To say this was “passive” is a lie to make their decision look better.
I think Pinney is referring to agents that came their way from my promotion of them on my website and this forum which were never credited to me and I was never paid on them. I talk to agents all the time who said they used Pinney Insurance based on my recommendation and I have never heard of them - so that passive statement is 100% wrong...Pinney was not paying me on that, nor did I ever ask to be paid on those because I didn’t feel as though I deserved to be.
This is the main reason I’m publishing this here. So those agents that frequent this forum that do business through Pinney Insurance know what kind of organization they’ve become.
Pinney States: “With zero business, there are zero contractually obligated overrides”
According to their stats, I placed over $600,000 with them in 2016 and I posted an image in my initial post to prove that. Not zero.
I know they’re talking about me individually, but I haven’t produced much in 2 years...with anyone, yet they’ve gladly accepted my downline’s production. I’ve focused 100% on developing other agents, digital marketing and using my leads to help agents build their own business.
The previous 30 days to termination, an agent working one of my websites placed $35,000 in business with Pinney. Another agent placed a $36,000 case with Prudential. Both agents will verify if asked as I work with them on a regular basis. That’s on top of the other business submitted here through EZlife (during the previous 2 weeks to termination) and the full pipeline of business.
Zero business? C’mon. Another lie.
Clarification #2: Agents Pinney Did Not Pay
All you need to know is that 3 other agents feel they were wronged by Pinney enough to file wage claims. They’re spending their own valuable time and money to recover commissions they believe they are owed. No matter what excuses Pinney gives, these aren’t amicable separations. I make the 4th. This is becoming a trend.
Pinney talks about losing long-time partners and agents to me as a reason for terminating a brokerage director. That’s because I actually worked closely with these agents and helped build their business. They’re loyal to me, Pinney never have that relationship.
So let me be clear, we used Pinney Insurance to process business. They are a processing center. Other than processing applications for agents, they did nothing to help my agents generate leads or grow an online business like we did for them. We never recommended or used their CRM Insureio and Pinney never provided any other value beyond processing business.
Pinney’s tragic flaw is believing they are more than a business processing center. They are not a digital marketing company or a tech company as much as they try to be one.
Re: Pinney “called most carriers and told them never to work with him (former brokerage director) and tried to smear his name.”
This is 100% true and he had to work hard to repair relationships at several carriers. It had nothing to do with a competing service or offer and everything to do with telling life insurance companies never to do business with him.
If called upon I could produce the names of the people at the carriers who he had to smooth things over with by telling the truth and character references within the industry that stood up for him. It was intentional and the most vindictive thing I’ve ever seen.
Pinney’s rebuttal here is deflecting what actually happened by focusing on something else.
Re: Calling Me Unethical
Those are empty words from a 40+ year old BGA who hasn’t demonstrated any real proof.
You know what’s unethical?
- Not honoring your contracts and paying commissions on inforce business.
- Writing libelous statements about me and twisting the truth.
- Upon terminating my contracts, telling life insurance companies that I agreed to move my hierarchy when I DID NOT. This is highly unethical and grounds to terminate a contract. Here’s proof.
Bottom Line
This is a he said/she said situation from the outside. I get that. I’m calling them unethical and Jan and Ryan Pinney are calling me unethical.
The difference is I’m providing as much proof as possible and Pinney is just sending me cease and desists and spreading falsehoods about my claims.
That rebuttal article was written by Ryan Pinney who is a consistent speaker with MDRT who doesn’t write any life insurance according to the CA Dept of Insurance (check for company appointments here, there are none). Furthermore, he was convicted of “attempted threat/use of a dangerous weapon” and was denied an insurance license back in 2004. This is all public record on CA DOI website. I think this track record speaks for itself.
I’m rolling in the mud in a lose/lose situation but I cannot stand by and continue to have my name tied to Pinney Insurance knowing how they have treated me and other agents/staff. That’s why I’m posting this here.
There are plenty of BGAs that can process your applications.
Again, I can no longer recommend the Pinney Insurance organization.
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