Opinion of Parker and Associates in Meridian,MS

jm31md · 04-11-2009, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by nbahai

Haven't written anything for those bastards in 2 years. I just received a letter stating that I owe them $900+ in chargebacks. Bulls**t!

I just received a similar "collections" letter from them as well saying that I owe them $90 for chargebacks/miscellaneous expenses. I know it's not much BUT the fact is I've never written any business for them AT ALL, NONE, ZERO, ZILCH!! The only paperwork I've ever submitted to them was, with great regret, the agent contract which was in 2007. I have never even ordered any appointments while under them either..so I'm trying to figure out WTF is this crap?!

What have you done to resolve your issue with them?

DW43004 · 04-12-2009, 01:56 PM

PARKER&ASSOCIATES AND GREAT AMERICAN MARKETING IN CLEVELAND ARE THE SCUM OF THE EARTH...RUN FAR AND FAST FROM THESE SCUMBAGS

UNITED INSURANCE GROUP IS NOT A WHOLE LOT BETTER..DENNIS THE MANAGER IN OHIO IS A REAL LIAR AND JERK!! YOU CAN ALWAYS TELL WHEN HES LYING...HIS LIPS ARE MOVING!!

Originally Posted by Slim

I did not believe what I originally dug up on my search of pa. There were some good things about them so I gave them a shot to work some dual eligible leads. My entry to the MAPD market was excellent experience , but with pa I found terrible leads, and lack of follow through when asking them to terminate my contract. I've not pushed the termination deal. Would recommend no agent sign on without termination clause mentioned for agent side not just company side. Bait and switch with commission is bad also. Often on recruiting the commission is mentioned but when you have bought your leads the withholding is mentioned. Some BS aboutescrow. Should mention it upfront. I do not want to downgrade anyone but this company is terrible in my humble opinion. The main recruiter I dealt with is anyway. We will leave it at that. I documented everything . From leads I ran. To online reporting to everything. The online site was also pitiful. 3 days I wasted. Glad I did not waste more. Thanks to what I read here , I did not waste more. One sale out of 16 was good but did not even try getting commission. Tell me about leads? The first was not available on arrival , others did not have decision maker present, one had no medicare card 2 others at least had employer insurance (Union and School). About 3 or 4 were able to present to . One man I could have presented to but on my follow up appointment after I threw in the towel on the company , the decision maker was not there. So, I cut my losses (timewise). One other sale had just been written up and canceled because the lady canceled w/ the same Carrier days before I arrived and wrote her. That may have been possible to deal with but pa said they own their 4 US call centers and are in control of their telemarketing and know they get good leads. I take people at their word too much I guess. That is my fault but when one FMO says we will work out credits and leads are as represented, you get spoiled. At least I did . P&A GA tried to tell me the leads telemarketed are just to get you the appointment. If that is so (i do not want to get into a lead discussion on this ), then you are wasting your money on a pro telemarketer . Don't charge me for the lead because I can get the appointment on my own. ut especially don't tell me about your 4 call centers and why you have them is because you can control your leads and get good quality and and not rehashed leads. One of the leads had a policy since last year with Carrier. I can understand checking an agent out and wanting service oriented professionals and being money motivated from the telemarketer and janitor to the manager but I do not like to be mislead and then not have any support or consideration by a GA or whatever he is , that seems to sit back and push email buttons all day to get you signed on with other carriers. Luckily i just took one carrier that i know of and maybe i can get out of them and go directly with the company . If you get any offers from pa you would be better off doing something else. This info may get in the wrong hands and be to my detriment but it is the kind of thing (with less detail) that I reported and received no satisfactory solution. When I agreed to go train w/ some manager in the field and meet long distance away i had to cancel and he said no problem but the lady who was trying to help said oh now i cannot help you to terminate as originally requested and can't help you with anything because all was contingent on you getting back in production. I had legitimate reason to cancel but the concern to help me get the right outcome was immediately disrupted when I asked a simple question was told do XYZ and I said no I will call carrier and find out in 2 seconds which is what i did and then told the lady instead of rescheduling me to go meet manager in field just stick with my original letter. The only reason I did not stick w/ original request to terminate in first place is because i gave benefit of doubt and because the lady said if this does not work just let me know and blah blah. Made me think there was no problem with the follow through and desire to do what is right. Oh well. SOme things just happen . That is my opinion and experience for anyone who wants to be recruited by Parker and Associates of Meridian or anywhere else. They ruined it for the whole company with me .

DW43004 · 04-17-2009, 11:52 PM

Run Fast And Far From P A

Cenla Agent · 04-18-2009, 11:34 AM

Just say no.

xrac · 04-18-2009, 02:45 PM

From everything that I read one would conclude that Parker and Associates have figured out how to steal and not get caught. The law enforcement community and the state insurance commissioners aren't interested because it is only the AGENTS who are stolen from. How they steal is by not paying renewal commission and by fraudulent chargebacks.

Lute · 05-07-2009, 08:55 PM

All of the above happened to me as well. They started the escrow ripoff many months if not years after I contracted with them so it could not possibly be in the original contract.

They paid Humana renewals for a short while and now they have "lost" record of them. They request proof of sale which I have because I kept records that could be supplied to them or Humana and could be tracked by their Medicare numbers ect.

Never received so much as a deck page on the E & O but got a business card from the supplying agency. Guess where the company is located? Meridian MS, that's where. Now you don't think they might be a wing of Parker do you? Noooooooooo, of course not.

Never used their leads. But I know from others they resell them over and over and over.

BTW I have been googling away and can't find anything about a class action lawsuit. Does anyone know any information on it?

Derek

Cenla Agent · 05-08-2009, 02:08 AM

Originally Posted by Lute

Guess where the company is located? Meridian MS, that's where. Now you don't think they might be a wing of Parker do you? Noooooooooo, of course not.

They've given Meridian, MS a bad name. Whenever I get anything from Meridian that is insurance related, I usually assume it's from them or a related company and throw it out.

That's too bad if there are any stand up marketing organizations in the city. IIRC most of the stuff I get from there is related to MA. I think I may have gotten something about Final Expense once.

nbahai · 05-08-2009, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by Lute

All of the above happened to me as well. They started the escrow ripoff many months if not years after I contracted with them so it could not possibly be in the original contract.

They paid Humana renewals for a short while and now they have "lost" record of them. They request proof of sale which I have because I kept records that could be supplied to them or Humana and could be tracked by their Medicare numbers ect.

Never received so much as a deck page on the E & O but got a business card from the supplying agency. Guess where the company is located? Meridian MS, that's where. Now you don't think they might be a wing of Parker do you? Noooooooooo, of course not.

Never used their leads. But I know from others they resell them over and over and over.

BTW I have been googling away and can't find anything about a class action lawsuit. Does anyone know any information on it?

Derek

I don't think there is a class action lawsuit but I'd bet there's a lot of agents who would sign on and there's got to be an attorney out there who would like to take those creeps on.

jdeasy · 05-08-2009, 09:07 PM

Originally Posted by nbahai

I don't think there is a class action lawsuit but I'd bet there's a lot of agents who would sign on and there's got to be an attorney out there who would like to take those creeps on.

There is, in fact, a class action lawsuit in the works. I was deposed for it last fall. As were many others. I can give anyone the contact thru pm's. I was told to not put the contact on the board.

Lute · 05-09-2009, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by jdeasy

There is, in fact, a class action lawsuit in the works. I was deposed for it last fall. As were many others. I can give anyone the contact thru pm's. I was told to not put the contact on the board.

JD,

Could you PM me with the info? I tried to PM you and was told I did not have enough posts to PM. Needed 20. Never heard of that in any forum.

Thanks in advance.

Derek

nbahai · 05-12-2009, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by jdeasy

There is, in fact, a class action lawsuit in the works. I was deposed for it last fall. As were many others. I can give anyone the contact thru pm's. I was told to not put the contact on the board.

Could you please PM me with the info as well?

Thanks

THEINSURANCEAGENT · 10-18-2009, 04:35 AM

Hi..how Were You Able To Go Direct?

Trmy05 · 11-04-2009, 09:59 PM

Parker and Associates have remote offices in Ohio Atlanta Mississippi and a few other places they hide under different co names. I work for one of these remote offices in Ohio. I am new to the insurance industry and I have been suckered in by the false promises of this company. They truly are thieves and are so good at never directly answering your questions. If you ask for things in writing you will flat out be told no. This place is a nightmare. There is well over 50 insurance agents that are willing and ready to walk out of this place everyday, the only thing that keeps us coming back from day to day is the thought of not being able to provide for our families. We are told that they will hold our appt for at least 6 months but thats really not even guarenteed. We were required to sign a 2 year non compete order in which they said it was only to protect there current leads and enrollments. I read this paper over and over again and I did not see anything wrong with protecting their investment. They said they wanted to make sure that we did not steal their current clients only to find out this non compete order actually means we will not take any of current or future clients. Future clients!!! I have had enough of this companies BS and Im ready to leave so I decided to talk to my supervisor only to find out this 2 year non compete order means that since parker and assoc does business in all 50 states for med supps, ma, mapd's, and pdp's they can and will come after us if we write business in any of these states accussing us of stealing their FUTURE CLIENTS!!!! I wanted to look over this agreement I signed over 3 months ago so I requested a copy and I was told flat out NO!!!! I have never heard such crap before in my life. If anyone has any suggestions for me please help. I need out of all this mess.

Sincerely,
TRAPPED

jdeasy · 11-04-2009, 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by Trmy05

Parker and Associates have remote offices in Ohio Atlanta Mississippi and a few other places they hide under different co names. I work for one of these remote offices in Ohio. I am new to the insurance industry and I have been suckered in by the false promises of this company. They truly are thieves and are so good at never directly answering your questions. If you ask for things in writing you will flat out be told no. This place is a nightmare. There is well over 50 insurance agents that are willing and ready to walk out of this place everyday, the only thing that keeps us coming back from day to day is the thought of not being able to provide for our families. We are told that they will hold our appt for at least 6 months but thats really not even guarenteed. We were required to sign a 2 year non compete order in which they said it was only to protect there current leads and enrollments. I read this paper over and over again and I did not see anything wrong with protecting their investment. They said they wanted to make sure that we did not steal their current clients only to find out this non compete order actually means we will not take any of current or future clients. Future clients!!! I have had enough of this companies BS and Im ready to leave so I decided to talk to my supervisor only to find out this 2 year non compete order means that since parker and assoc does business in all 50 states for med supps, ma, mapd's, and pdp's they can and will come after us if we write business in any of these states accussing us of stealing their FUTURE CLIENTS!!!! I wanted to look over this agreement I signed over 3 months ago so I requested a copy and I was told flat out NO!!!! I have never heard such crap before in my life. If anyone has any suggestions for me please help. I need out of all this mess.

Sincerely,
TRAPPED

Contact the law firm, Grasch and Gudalis in Lexington, Ky. Ask specifically for Brian Gudalis. The number; 859-253-9506.

They would like to hear from any Parker and Asses agent. They gave me permission to share the contact info.

Check them out on the internet; graschlaw.com

They are legit.

VaDwayne · 11-05-2009, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by Slim

I did not believe what I originally dug up on my search of pa. There were some good things about them so I gave them a shot to work some dual eligible leads. My entry to the MAPD market was excellent experience , but with pa I found terrible leads, and lack of follow through when asking them to terminate my contract. I've not pushed the termination deal. Would recommend no agent sign on without termination clause mentioned for agent side not just company side. Bait and switch with commission is bad also. Often on recruiting the commission is mentioned but when you have bought your leads the withholding is mentioned. Some BS aboutescrow. Should mention it upfront. I do not want to downgrade anyone but this company is terrible in my humble opinion. The main recruiter I dealt with is anyway. We will leave it at that. I documented everything . From leads I ran. To online reporting to everything. The online site was also pitiful. 3 days I wasted. Glad I did not waste more. Thanks to what I read here , I did not waste more. One sale out of 16 was good but did not even try getting commission. Tell me about leads? The first was not available on arrival , others did not have decision maker present, one had no medicare card 2 others at least had employer insurance (Union and School). About 3 or 4 were able to present to . One man I could have presented to but on my follow up appointment after I threw in the towel on the company , the decision maker was not there. So, I cut my losses (timewise). One other sale had just been written up and canceled because the lady canceled w/ the same Carrier days before I arrived and wrote her. That may have been possible to deal with but pa said they own their 4 US call centers and are in control of their telemarketing and know they get good leads. I take people at their word too much I guess. That is my fault but when one FMO says we will work out credits and leads are as represented, you get spoiled. At least I did . P&A GA tried to tell me the leads telemarketed are just to get you the appointment. If that is so (i do not want to get into a lead discussion on this ), then you are wasting your money on a pro telemarketer . Don't charge me for the lead because I can get the appointment on my own. ut especially don't tell me about your 4 call centers and why you have them is because you can control your leads and get good quality and and not rehashed leads. One of the leads had a policy since last year with Carrier. I can understand checking an agent out and wanting service oriented professionals and being money motivated from the telemarketer and janitor to the manager but I do not like to be mislead and then not have any support or consideration by a GA or whatever he is , that seems to sit back and push email buttons all day to get you signed on with other carriers. Luckily i just took one carrier that i know of and maybe i can get out of them and go directly with the company . If you get any offers from pa you would be better off doing something else. This info may get in the wrong hands and be to my detriment but it is the kind of thing (with less detail) that I reported and received no satisfactory solution. When I agreed to go train w/ some manager in the field and meet long distance away i had to cancel and he said no problem but the lady who was trying to help said oh now i cannot help you to terminate as originally requested and can't help you with anything because all was contingent on you getting back in production. I had legitimate reason to cancel but the concern to help me get the right outcome was immediately disrupted when I asked a simple question was told do XYZ and I said no I will call carrier and find out in 2 seconds which is what i did and then told the lady instead of rescheduling me to go meet manager in field just stick with my original letter. The only reason I did not stick w/ original request to terminate in first place is because i gave benefit of doubt and because the lady said if this does not work just let me know and blah blah. Made me think there was no problem with the follow through and desire to do what is right. Oh well. SOme things just happen . That is my opinion and experience for anyone who wants to be recruited by Parker and Associates of Meridian or anywhere else. They ruined it for the whole company with me .

Please use paragraphs as it makes your post much easier to read.