Anybody Involved in Pre-Paid Legal &/ or Pyramids

[f8nacn]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Also, being friends with people in pyramid-type jobs is incredibly annoying.

I have several friends who are involved in MLM jobs and they are the most down-to-earth people and trustworthy people I know. Once they learn of your disinterest, they will not badger you about purchasing their products and/or becoming an owner...

Dont know what kind of friends you have to make a statement like that.

[tunatartare]

Good for you then. I had a friend who was involved with that. He tried to pitch his product to anyone he knew, every chance that he got. Most of us had no use for his product as it is, and when he badgered us about it every time that we talked, a lot of his friends eventually stopped speaking to him. He has since left that, but some of our friends are still wary of speaking to him.

[shinerbock]

Being annoying is quite different from being a dependable or worthy friend. Most of my friends (there haven't been many in this situation) who were involved in such things would give up a lot to be a part of it, and we'd have to deal with the bitching and the sales pitch. Basically I wanted to tell them that being involved in a pyramid scheme does not make them an entrepreneur, and that they should take their college degree and use it. I feel the same way about web design companies...Sure, it works for some, but the field is incredibly crowded, just suck it up and get a job.

[Kimmie1913]

Originally Posted by kddani

This is a really interesting subject that I admittedly know nothing about.

But as an attorney, I really wonder about some of the ethical and professional responsibility affects that this sort of thing can have...

I am an attorney who worked for the Pre-paid legal firm in MD for about a year 5 1/2 years ago. It was no different than working in any other law firm. And your professional responsibility is never going to change regardless of how the business is coming in. National PPL contracts with local firms to be on call to provide legal services. The firm provides the very limited group of included benefits and then charges for the rest. The additional services are to be discounted off of whatever the firm usually charges. When I was there, clients automatically were entitled to letter/and or phone calls on matters ((but limited to two letters or calls on any one matter) and a will, also access to advice 24 hours a day. Also defense of simple traffic violations (speeding tickets) was included. If the traffic charge was more severe (usually DUI or some other criminal moving violation) then there was a charge. Everything else had a charge. Some simple matters (divorce with no property, consent custody agreements, bankruptcies -before the law changed) had flat fees. Everything else was discounted to $325 an hour.

The firm (not the attorneys in the firm) were paid a per member per month fee for participating in the program. The attorneys were paid as they would be in any firm with- i.e. salary and bonuses. If a matter was for fee there was some fee sharing. Also the attorneys had to each work a phone shift on the 24 hour a day help line. This is where members called when they needed a letter or a will or a question answered. It was also a lead generator for the matters that required a fee.

People used to get pissed off all the time about the limited scope of free services. We would track those complaints to help the company identify the dishonest sales people who actively misled about what was covered. One guy used to go to the criminal court building and sell to people awaiting arraignment and lie and say criminal matters were included. They were not.

I could see if you absolutely had no way of figuring out how to find an attorney why it would be attractive but if you had the ability to find an attorney on your own through a referral from a friend or family member, it seemed like a waste.

[ProspeKt]

SouthernSweet you obviously misunderstood what I meant by "5th from the president." Thanks for you insight tho.

This is not a career for me nor is it my main source of income. I'm still a student and real estate is my job. God and education are my priorities. Nevertheless, the recent profits that I've received from this company have been overwhelming to say the least.

I definately agree that people in network marketing can have character issues. That is something that I discovered when I got into PPL. However I think for the most part those are the ones who take it on as a serious career. If I didn't have a lil wisdom and discipline, i'd probably be overtaken by the rapid swelling of my bank account, drop everything i was doing, and succomb(*sp) to this as well. God forbid tho.