American Health Underwriters All the signs were there; unprofessional method of contact, "Hole-in-the-wall offices," and the most 'slip-shod', violently unprofessional presentation I've ever seen! Misrepresentation!!! Ft. Worth Texas

BS, Birds of a feather, flock together, anyone can defend the operation, however I was there years ago, noticed the hole in the wall look as well.  Was taken to lunch around the corner by either the owner or the Joker, the face was so stretched I could not tell which it was.  But my only thought if his lips are moving they want my production, nothing more, nothing less, and would say anthing to get it.  They were not concerned about me and my income.  That was my perception at the time and still to this day, an office in bad need of an enema.

The volumes of production listed as sold are supposed to be impressive?  Well, what happened to World, what happened to Imerica?  I called and was told it was in the process of being rated by AMBest and I knew right then, this little operation will say or do anything it has to for a warm body.

Now i dealth with Jim Cashion, Gary Davis and the infamous Tommy Chilcutt. Get on medicare and retire, your reputation proceedes you

An old Joke....has sat on his butt so long the hemorroids are bleeding. 

  I went to train as an outside salesman for AHU for a day and a half in their small dump of an office they had for a while, a satellite office.The owner Jim C did the training.When I called and told him I couldn't start for a short while due to prior commitments he went off on me.He said I had a bad attitude,wasn't going to be a good closer and furthermore my hair was too long to go out and sell insurance on the streets and that he had "master closers" in his office he would be better served giving the leads to! He himself is a self proclaimed "old surfer" who could use a haircut himself.When I kind of didn't take his abuse on the phone he asked what was wrong with me, was I "on drugs"and that he should know because he had "been around a lot of that in the past".One of his" closers" in the office was a big fat ol' Country Boy with his shirttail out with yellow teeth that looked like they haven't been brushed in a week.His telemarketers looked like they just got out of the joint.I been around professional agents in the past and while they may have been scammers who didn't pay their agents, at least they played the part and dressed in expensive suits and had sharp offices(kind of like John Gotti). 

     Bob J is a very poor judge of character.  Too bad he is judging the company, American Health Underwriter's by two unprofessional agents because this company is stellar both in the way they conduct business and in the way agents are treated. Most people not in the insurance industry may not realize that ALL insurance agents (regardless of companies), are independent contractors, and since AHU is not a "captive" company (which means that a agent can write only for them EXCLUSIVELY), then the two agents he met most likely are also contracted with a myriad of companies, like most insurance agents are.  Insurance agents that are not captive are virtually policing themselves unless they are conducting themselves in such an obvious blatant unethical way, they can usually fly under the radar and never be detected, but like these agents, they can cause a great company to get a bad reputation unjustly.  I promise you, those two agents probably also write for companies like Blue Cross and Assurant, and customers of those companies feel the same way.  I am a non-captive insurance agent (10yrs), have worked as a Branch Manager for a major Fortune 500 Ins. Co., have gone back to being a general agent, and I have been writing for AHU for about the last two yrs.  I have encountered nothing but pure integrity, professionalism with the company, the staff and the Regional Manager, to the point where I have PROMISED my regional manager, Joe M. that I will ALWAYS write for AHU simply because of the way my clients and myself have been treated. Over 10 years, with most of the companies I write for, Cash is King. You didn't have a prayer to talk to an underwriter with one prominent company I wrote for, in fact, they told us that we had better NOT EVER contact them because they were too busy to speak to field agents! Bob J., I can pick up the phone and call the top underwriter at AHU and he will either respond immediately, email me, or get right back to me.  Here's an example of what happened just last week: I had a VERY prominent man I wrote a policy for here in my city in Ga. last yr. Because of a previous medical condition, they opted to put a rider on his wife for a yr. At the very last second, the man decided to not purchase the policy & wait out the rider, but someone did not notify the dental part of the contract (since the dental is contracted out by another company), so the dental went through.  Well, this yr., the man decided to go ahead with the policy & realized he had been paying for dental for a solid yr and did not know it! AHU could not guarantee they could do anything because the dental company was separate. I'll have you know that a top AHU official went to the dental company and got every dime of the man's money back! (Something he DEFINITELY DID NOT HAVE TO DO).  AHU also have superior products, the pricing is the greatest - a hybrid product with NO PENALTY FOR SMOKERS!  I love AHU. I write for Blue Cross, Assurant, Mutual of Omaha & many others, but for health, especially offering the best product for the money, it's AHU all the way baby! So BOB J., while it is fine to give your opinion, know the facts and complain through the proper channels like your state department of insurance which oversees renegade, unethical insurance agents, and do not paint all companies with the same brush. Do yourself a favor & find a reputable agent and revisit AHU, you'll be glad you did!   

I interviewed with the company in December and was impressed by their professionalism and way of doing business. They were always professionally dressed and very professional in their talk. The opportunity they were offering is indeed legitimate and actually favorably slanted towards the agents. I believe the products are some of the best in the industry.

I contracted to work for them as a Field Agent in January and have had ongoing training along with weekly sales meetings. Lots of agent support is available. I have been to the so called "sweat shop" several times. It is nothing more than personal work stations with phones and computers. (Decorated individually by their owners I might add). From what I could gather, the Agents who man the phones actually prefer this method of selling as opposed to in the field face-to-face contact. Anyone who works there is given the choice of either working in the call center or in the field.

Nothing they have said to me has been insulting, misleading or disrespectful and I am very happy with my choice to work for this company.

My only input is that I was offered a typical spam e-mail response from careerbuilder since my resume is public.

The only thing that is very frustrating to me is that in the offer, it doesn't offer a simple way to respond via e-mail or by phone to get the very basics of the compensation structure, lead structure, job details etc.

It immediately requests that you e-mail for an interview slot in which case you have to drive accross town, take several hours out of your day to enter into an interview only to find out what is assumptively true and that is that this is a 100% commission job, not understanding the splits etc.

To me that immediately smells of trying to get me in the door for what is about to be a potentially very hard road to plow.

If something is so respectable and legitimate, post the details in the job offer and let the candidate decide whether they want to invest their time into finding out more in an interview.

I can assume now that it's a typical position in sales where if you bust your hump and give it everything you have that you can make it work but that it will take several months if not longer to build your pipeline and get things going, but that basically it's a self-employed position.  Not really want I want for my life.  Been there, done that all too often when I was younger.

Following is the invite:  If it was a great position, would they randomly schedule multiple interview via an e-mail response?  Wouldn't there be some sort of telephone conversation first or something of that nature if it was something that was good.  I always go back to my first logical assumption, and that is, if it is too easy to get hired, then you probably don't want too.

American Health Underwriters / Blue Cross Blue Shield of XXX Division is expanding into the XXX Area. We are seeking to fill the position of Sales Representative / Sales Manager for our New Office in XXX. After reviewing your resume On-Line with Careerbuilder, I feel that you have the necessary qualifications to be a candidate for a position with American Health Underwriters. We will be conducting interviews on XXX, February XXth, 2010 at XX am at our New Office Location in XXX.

The purpose of our interview will be to discuss specific details such as compensation, company leads, training, and products, as well as any questions you may have. To schedule an interview for XXX, February XXth, 2010 at XX  am please email XXXX.

SALES REPRESENTATIVE/SALES MANAGER OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION: ** On-Line and Face to Face Sales with small business owners / individual / families !! ** FREE Real-Time Double Verified Exclusive Leads !! ** Immediate Weekly Cash Paid on Submission !! ** Call on Business Owners / Prospects that have requested to be Called by You !! ** Professional Company Training !! ** Prestigious Products and Services !! ** Management Opportunities are Immediate with in 90 days !! ** Bonuses and Company Trips !! ** Company Stock !! ** Average Income is $50,000 - $75,000 First Year ** Managers Income is $80,000 - $175,000 per year

Bobj,

I question the accuracy and motive of your report and description of American Health Underwriters home office.  Therefore, on behalf of the Company, I am obliged to file a rebuttal.   I have been an employee here for 6 years and an appointed agent at AHU for 11 years.   Currently, I am an officer of the Company.  From the tone of your report, it appears that you have some strong personal feelings in regard to your experience at our home office.  It is my hope that this will be resolved.

Vitals: (For public knowledge)  American Health Underwriters was founded in 1968 and is family owned and operated.  We have been located in central downtown Ft Worth at 830 Taylor St since 1984 (we are not renters, we are owners).  Our building is 12,000sq feet spread over 3 floors.  We have full 2  kitchens and 3 lounge areas on 3 floors.  Our call center occupies our top floor approx 4,000sq feet (avg 182sq feet per agent).  We also boast highly functional state of the art classroom and training facility on our 2^nd floor.  AHU produces over $50 Million in new business premium annually for our carriers.  We have 22 full-time employees at this location.  Our call center is located at our home office location.  (I assume this is the phone room to which you are referring because it is the only call center we have). 

Call Center: I submit that our call center is one of the most successful and professional call centers in the country (we are also one of the smallest).  We have 20 agents, supported by 3 managers, and fulltime IT staff, equipped with the latest model Dell computers (large flat screen monitors), Avaya integrated phone system and support technology to service potential and current clients.  All call center agents are licensed and undergo rigorous training to gain acceptance to our call center program (2 week program).   We expect a level of professionalism and customer service from our agents that go far beyond what is acceptable in the rest of the industry and we review agent performance on a quarterly basis.   Our call center opened in July2007 and our average agent has been with us for 14 months.  I submit that we are the Gold Standard in the industry. 

I am terribly sorry that your experience was not a positive one.  I encourage you to contact me for further discussion or concerns.

Serving you.

AHU sells I-Merica insurance which is a good company, however so new that A.M. Best hasn't rated it yet. But at least in Ga., they market their brand by individual one on one contact with the prospects. I have not been approached by them to telemarket as an agent in a swet-shop. Therefore it leads me to believe that only one guy, or one operation is trying that form of marketing..

Ok, I received an email from this company to set up an interview. Thanks for the heads up. I just can't work in one of those tiny little phone centers/sweatshops!! Those places are so insulting! How do employers expect people to exist like that 40 hours every week?!? It's just wrong.

Just out of curiosity, what is the 'good concept' the company has?