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American Income Life: AO

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Avoid at all costs (my story at AIL) - Insurance Sales Agent American Income Life: AO Employee Review

1.0
30 Mar 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- You can meet a lot of people - Great experience to get scammed, so you never make a mistake to go work at non-salary based sales positions ever again

Cons

Instead of bullet points I will write my story as short as possible for those who are interested. It happened pre-Covid when I got invited to an interview where they held a presentation for about 20-40 people. They said we got lucky to be selected among hundreds of applicants. I got hired the same day and I thought that my financial struggles will finally come to an end. They promised me that if I work hard, I can make 10k a month easily. It was more than I ever made so I was extremely excited. My young family really struggled financially and we were in debt significantly- I was the only person to bring income at the time. I had to pay for a course from my pocket around $500 to get licensed (it made me (and not only me) wonder why don't they pay if they are so big and successful?). But anyway I went ahead and did that the same day. Manager said it should take a maximum of 2-3 weeks to finish. I did my course in more than a month as English is my second language and I am a slow reader (around 700 pages, 30-40 quizzes, 4-5 exams and one real practice exam taking 3-4 hours). Numbers might be not very accurate as it was back in 2019 for me. At least, it should give an idea that it does take time to get licensed. I passed all my exams in one day and got licensed quickly. They sent me a bunch of documents to sign (so they don't get into trouble legally) and I began my on site training. In three weeks time, we had about 6 clients to visit (contacted personally over 1000 people over the phone) where I sat and watched how it is done by a manager who took all the earnings for him/herself of course. "It is the regular process"- they said. "You find clients while learning, and then, when you hire people in 1-2 months they'd do the same for you"- managers said. In the meantime I had to learn-by-heart 6-7 A4 format pages of script. After all this, more than $6000 wasted on studies, gas, bills ect. (I am the only one working in the family, remember?) I finally felt good as it was time for me to do big sales and earn those "at least $10k/month" promised. I can't go into details on Glassdoor but I will tell you this. They lie. The lie to you. Some of the lower tier managers and almost all agents lie to customers too. And it is illegal to lie to customers (license suspension is the least punishment). When they tell you that it is not a cold calling job - they lie. You will spend on the phone most of your time when you start and significant part of your day when you are experienced. More than 90% people will have no idea who you are and why you bother them. All this done from your personal phone. Where you will be the one to pay the bill at the end of the month. After long 6 months in this company where I, excited, started working 10-12 hours a day earning absolute $0 and spending around $100/day on food, gas and other bills- I finally gave up. In total I made one small sale and earned a whole $48(!!!)/6 months. I went deeper into debt and had no money available to borrow from the bank. I had to ask for money my family and friends just to have food on the table and be able to pay the rent. Devastated, depressed, broke and poor I wanted to end my life. It took me 2 whole years to recover morally to finally sit down and write this story so that no other will fall into this scam trap called AIL. Thanks to my wife and province of Alberta we slowly started to recover financially and making steps to pay off our debt. Finally, paying over $15,000 in bills and expenses while earning only $48 in total, I definitely do not recommend anyone to work for any type of sales where there is no fixed salary to help you keep your pants on. If you are a student having no expenses (like living with your family)- sure go ahead and try. It only costs $1000 to start. I only wish the government will take an action to banish these type of companies and pyramid schemes so that no other lives will be destroyed.  I will post this on other social media so that people know and don't get tricked into this.

Explore other reviews about American Income Life: AO

5.0
18 Jan 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Supportive people, good environment, room for growth

Cons

No cons per se. Good company

4.0
5 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great pay, good consistent training, great management (I personally had a great management team, I know this can vary)

Cons

Fully Remote (this is a con for me as it took a toll on my health over the years), It is commission based which can be tough for some people. There was a noticeable amount of past clients cancelling due to an agent adding more insurance that was too expensive and often didn't properly explain that they were adding more.

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