What do you think about Pre-Paid Legal Services?
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 6:07 pm
I haven't ever seen anyone mention them here, so I figured I would, since I was involved with them for a while.
Are they legit? Are they an MLM? If they are an MLM, does that mean they're automatically a scam?
In case you've never heard of them, here goes:
They have an actual product to sell, it's a form on insurance. For a monthly premium, you get access to several legal benefits, of which I took part of several while I was involved with them. The product works as advertised.
Their basic plan, for $26/month you get:
- free will prep
- free legal phone consultation with an actual lawyer in your town or state
- free legal contract review and advice
- free letter-writing
- free traffic-related criminal defense (from as small as a speeding ticket all the way up to vehicular homicide, the company's founder started the company because of an accident he was involved in in which someone died - or at least that's the story); the only exception is DUI, which falls under the "other assistance" category.
- 75 billable hours of criminal defense (except for alcohol or drug-related offenses)
- 50 billable hours of IRS audit assistance
- 25% off the firm's hourly rate for other assistance
-At least in TN, their sales reps must have Insurance broker's licenses from the State of TN Department of Commerce and Insurance; that's not a lie, because they made me get one when I signed up. In most states, the same is true, they gave us a list of which states required licenses and which did not, and were careful to warn us we could not operate in other states without getting that state's license as well.
Not bad, really. Here's where the MLM comes in:
- Their sales reps get paid commision off of plan sales, and if they recruit a new sales rep, they get a fraction of that rep's commisions, too, a descending amount up to 4 or 5 levels down the line (However, even after commisions, around half of the money goes to the company). All sales reps must be plan customers. Their sales training and sales brochures focus almost as much on the business opportunity as the product itself.
- To become a sales rep, you have to purchase their training class, which is around $150, all of which goes into your upline's pockets, none of which goes to the company.
Their website is http://www.prepaidlegal.com/
So, what do you think?
Are they legit? Are they an MLM? If they are an MLM, does that mean they're automatically a scam?
In case you've never heard of them, here goes:
They have an actual product to sell, it's a form on insurance. For a monthly premium, you get access to several legal benefits, of which I took part of several while I was involved with them. The product works as advertised.
Their basic plan, for $26/month you get:
- free will prep
- free legal phone consultation with an actual lawyer in your town or state
- free legal contract review and advice
- free letter-writing
- free traffic-related criminal defense (from as small as a speeding ticket all the way up to vehicular homicide, the company's founder started the company because of an accident he was involved in in which someone died - or at least that's the story); the only exception is DUI, which falls under the "other assistance" category.
- 75 billable hours of criminal defense (except for alcohol or drug-related offenses)
- 50 billable hours of IRS audit assistance
- 25% off the firm's hourly rate for other assistance
-At least in TN, their sales reps must have Insurance broker's licenses from the State of TN Department of Commerce and Insurance; that's not a lie, because they made me get one when I signed up. In most states, the same is true, they gave us a list of which states required licenses and which did not, and were careful to warn us we could not operate in other states without getting that state's license as well.
Not bad, really. Here's where the MLM comes in:
- Their sales reps get paid commision off of plan sales, and if they recruit a new sales rep, they get a fraction of that rep's commisions, too, a descending amount up to 4 or 5 levels down the line (However, even after commisions, around half of the money goes to the company). All sales reps must be plan customers. Their sales training and sales brochures focus almost as much on the business opportunity as the product itself.
- To become a sales rep, you have to purchase their training class, which is around $150, all of which goes into your upline's pockets, none of which goes to the company.
Their website is http://www.prepaidlegal.com/
So, what do you think?