Thursday, October 9, 2008

Primerica Sucks

In 2000 I setup IRAs for the two children that I had at the time (I still have those two, and an additional three lol). I put token amounts in for them, the minimum possible to open an account. I use a Primerica agent, and never setup regular contributions.

My financial situation has changed a lot since then, and I'm trying to get everything accounted for in Quicken. With the financial upheaval, I'm making sure I have my ducks all in a row.

So today I go to the http://www.shareholder.primerica.com website to manage the account. But it's been eight years, so I need to call their customer service to establish login credentials. 1-800-544-5445. They pick up the phone fast enough; so far so good.

But the CSR quickly determines that she cannot help me, as my name is not on the account. Huh? The account is in the name of my eleven year old. Nice. He's off school today, so I interrupt his Mario Karts and get him on the phone. He correctly identifies himself. He states his date of birth. He gives our previous address, which is the one Primerica still has on record. He correctly gives our old phone number, and gives the phone back to me.

So I ask the CRS "can you help me now? Am I authorized to manage the account?" She explains no, since he is not the only name on the account. "So you want me to get my nine year old daughter and have her go through the same process?" The CSR says as long as she can get through the whole identification process without being prompted by me. Because she could hear me in the background helping my son. She wants me to call the agent who I setup the account with eight years ago. Whom I haven't spoken to since.

There has got to be a better way.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

:))) Luckily your kids can speak - imagine they would require some infant to identify itself.
"Your name please?"
"Brrrm wrrm wrrr"
"Your adress please?"
"Bababababa"
"Thank you! What would you like to adjust, sir...?"
I believe Primerica products (at least the insurance ones) are not very competitive (check this exhausting Primerica discussion about their products and attitude) and I think there is always a better option, you just can't believe those sweet talks...
Best wishes
Jill

Jason said...

You established IRAs for your children?

Did they have earned income?