August 1st, 2005

Filed under:
Mixed Bag
74 Comments »

You’d Be Wise to Avoid Freedom 55 Financial

We’ve just finished writing a lengthy letter to Freedom 55, owned by London Life, describing their widespread incompetence. I’ve CC’d a number of people within the organization, including the CEO, who has the unlikely name of Raymond L. McFeetors.

I’ll spare you the tedious details, but suffice it say that Freedom 55 Financial did their very best to prevent us from giving them our money. They wasted our time with a half-dozen calls and a face-to-face meeting. They failed to explain their byzantine organizational structure. I received calls from no less than three different organizations–Freedom 55, The Cooperators and Benefits by Design. Worst of all, they advised us to cancel our previous insurance before our current plan was approved and in place.

I know that insurance companies are a racket, but Freedom 55 Financial exceeded my expectations in bureaucracy and general ineptitude.

UPDATE: Because people keep asking for it, here is the letter of complaint we sent. I’ve anonymized it using names of characters from The Sound of Music. Enjoy.

Dear Ms. Schneider,

On Monday, July 25th we spoke about Baroness Laderhosen Inc’s extended health and disability benefits, which had been unsatisfactorily dealt with before our account manager, Rolfe Von Trapp, left for holidays on Friday, July 22nd.

As I explained on the phone, myself and my colleague, Sister Berthe, met with Mr. Von Trapp at your Vancouver offices on Thursday, July 5th to sign final documentation. Furthermore, we gave Freedom 55 a cheque to sign-up for a Freedom 55 extended health and disability plan for Baroness Laderhosen Inc. At that time we were told that everything was in order and that our health plan would begin on August 1st. Mr. Von Trapp advised me at that time that I should cancel Baroness’s existing extended health benefit plan with ManuLife.

Despite knowing from the start that two of the three Baroness employees are married, Mr. Von Trapp called me on July 12th to say that because of the “high family content” we would have to complete medical forms. This delayed the process and Mr. Von Trapp then left on holidays without informing us whether our medical benefits would start on August 1st. In fact, they will not start on August 1st and we no longer have coverage by ManuLife, so we are without coverage.

Our experience with Freedom 55 has been unsatisfactory in the following ways:

* When I signed up with your competitor, ManuLife, all that was required was one form and a 10-minute phone conversation. Conversely, Mr. Von Trapp set up far too many meetings, called me at least five times and required a face-to-face meeting to initiate the benefits plan. As a small business owner this process took far too long and took away from time I could spend with my own clients.

* From the start of the process, Mr. Von Trapp was aware that myself and my business partner, Herr Zeller, are married and so should have had us complete the proper forms before telling us that everything was in order and advising me to cancel our current insurance. By not doing so, he further inconvenienced us and put our insured status at risk.

* Mr. Von Trapp� should not have left for holidays without advising us that we would not be covered on August 1st due to his administrative error. He assured us that we would receive an answer regarding our status before his departure. We did not.

* Ms. Schneider told me on Monday, July 25th that this was Freedom 55’s problem to solve and that a new representiative would sort out the problem for us.

* The new representative did call us; we were then contacted by Benefits by Design who told us that our benefits would not start on August 1st. No one from Freedom 55 followed-up with us to find out what had happened, or to apologize for the time that we spent tracking down this information after Mr. Von Trapp� left on holidays.

* We were forced to deal with three different agencies—Freedom 55, The Cooperators and Benefits by Design—through the course of this debacle. The relationship between these organizations was never made clear to us, a fact which only compounded our confusion and frustration.

We now have no health coverage for this month and will not be using Freedom 55 for our benefit plan, or recommending Freedom 55 to anyone. In fact, we will go out of our way to describe your organization’s incompetence to our friends and family, and encourage them to spend their money with your competitors.

Please return my cheque along with a written letter of apology. Having spent far too much time on this matter, I do not wish to be contacted by phone by any representatives of Freedom 55. All further correspondence is to be by mail.

Comments: 74 Responses so far

Heather
August 3rd, 2005
1:38 pm

Bore me with the details…I have a policy with them (well one that was started for me when I was a child but is now all mine).

I’m curious to know more about your experience.

[Reply]

Darren
August 3rd, 2005
3:03 pm

Heather: Send me your email address (darren at darrenbarefoot dot com) and I’ll send you the lengthy, angry letter we sent them.

[Reply]

Pat
August 13th, 2005
8:27 am

This week I asked my mortgage broker for a referral to an insurance broker and he passed on two, one of whom was a guy named Amadeus at Freedom 55 in Vancouver. After reading your brief comments I’m pretty sure I’ll be calling the other referral instead, but I’d be interested in your experience with f55 if you’d be willing to share it.

[Reply]

Sam
August 15th, 2005
7:36 am

Hey Darren, this is interesting. I recently purchased insurance from A Freedom 55 Financial advisor, I would like to see the letter you wrote to them. Cause the guy i talked to was pretty cool and informative. He new his staff.

[Reply]

Angela
March 3rd, 2006
12:38 pm

I stand by Freedom 55 Financial as the knowledge and level of service I have received has been nothing but outstanding. It’s unfortunate that you had an incompetent person to deal with…..but I assure you….there are some good apples out there!

[Reply]

Gary Reply:
May 7th, 2009 at 11:19 am

It is not Freedom 55 Financial that you have a problem with it is 1 advisor. I know that it is a large company and with any large company there are going to be bad apples! I think it is unfair that you are putting the blame on Freedom 55 Financial when it is obvious that it is 1 advisor or a couple of advisors that was the problem. I have a Freedom 55 Financial advisor and think it is a great organization.

[Reply]

Elie Nafekh
April 5th, 2006
7:39 pm

Darren,

I am sorry you had such a poor experience. I am a Freedom 55 advisor and I take great pride in the service I provide. I make sure I understand my clients needs, both short and long term and work with them to achieve their goals. I must admit, I have seen some inadequate people with little or no simple reasoning, but that goes for any company in any industry. Instead of bashing the company, you should be directing your frustration towards the individual. That way no one else will deal with him/ her. I suggest you give someone else in the organization another chance! I realize you are in BC,I am in Ontario, but if you would like I can pass you on to someone that takes their clients needs a little more seriously.

[Reply]

Todd Babcock, CFP, CLU, RHU
April 27th, 2006
10:21 pm

Darren, sorry to read you have had issues with the company. I am a Director for Freedom 55 Financial in BC. It is always unfortunate to see that you have had a bad experience. On behalf of myself and the company, I apologize. I would like to know more about your situation, and what had transpired. Though there are always misunderstanding in any business, I truly believe in the integrity of my eleven years with the company and what it represents. Please feel free to send me an email. Thanks

[Reply]

Alex.
May 22nd, 2006
4:41 am

Hello, I would like to hear more details too. I just applied to work there yesterday!

[Reply]

Jen
May 23rd, 2006
3:52 pm

Darren, I’m applying to Freedom 55 now due to shady dealings by the likes of RBC and AIG. Before I do so however, I’d really like to know more about your experience. Would you be so kind to advise? Thanks.

[Reply]

Sarah
May 28th, 2006
7:18 am

Darren,
I was planning on applying for Freedom 55, but happened upon your site. I am extremely interested in the incident you described, especially after reading the comments posted by actual Freedom 55 advisors. I would really like to know about your experience with them, and your recommendations for an alternate institution.
Thanks for your time,
Sarah- Calgary

[Reply]

sandra
June 7th, 2006
5:43 am

If not them … who?

[Reply]

Jack
June 20th, 2006
3:04 pm

I used to work for F55F. It is a massive pyramid scheme. The goal is to sell you a whole-life policy with a high monthly premium. The commissions on mutual funds are so low that an advisor would need millions of dollars under management to derive any kind of meaningful income. Therefore, most advisors will push the life insurance that garners them the highest commission. They keep a board in the office with each advisor’s commissions for all his colleagues to see. The name of the game is to earn commissions. An advisor’s value is not measured in how effectively he achieves his client’s goals, but on how much commission he earns in a year. Most advisors don’t have finance degrees or any degree at all for that matter. I am now pursuing a law practice in which I sue advisors for breaching their fiduciary duties to their clients by putting them into financial products that do not fit their needs. You would be surprised at how inept most advisors are at steering their client’s assets into the right products. The only way to avoid these pyramid schemes is to find an independent financial planner who works on a fee basis instead of commissions. Under the fee basis he charges you a fee up front to design and implement the financial plan. but you still need to do your own research and understand how he gets paid. Good luck.

[Reply]

Richard Furness Reply:
September 13th, 2009 at 8:36 am

Jack, if you practise in Ontario, and send me your e-mail address, I might have a client for you.

[Reply]

Phong Reply:
September 17th, 2009 at 11:27 pm

umm…wouldn’t this just be more of an issue regarding ethics rather than the business being a pyramid scheme? It’s not like they’re MLM or anything.

[Reply]

Peggy
June 27th, 2006
5:05 am

LADIES - STAY WAY FROM FREEDOM 55 FINANCIAL, LONDON LIFE AND GREAT WEST LIFE!! These dinosaurs don’t know what century we are in!

I inherited a large sum of money and called Freedom 55 Financial for advice on investing it. The male advisor (I’ll call him “Macho”) spent the entire meeting talking directly to my husband. When I asked a question, Macho answered briefly talking to me as though I were an idiot (I have a Masters degree).

Macho recorded details about us in a blue and white booklet. My husband was the “client” and I was the “co-client”. When I pointed out that I was the one who contacted the company and I was the primary investor, Macho replied “it is standard procedure to list the wife as a co-client, we were told by management to do it this way.”

Two days later, I called Macho to ask another question and left a voicemail message with my cell number. Macho returned the call by contacting my husband at his work.

I also wanted to purchase critical illness insurance but could not imagine providing intimate health details to such an ignorant, biased person.

I’m now fully invested and insured with a modern and enlightened company.

Darren, please send me your letter. I want to write one of my own to these neanderthals.

[Reply]

Phong Reply:
September 17th, 2009 at 11:31 pm

I find it funny how you call them ignorant and neanderthals when you’re going to file a complaint that represents the whole company instead of this “macho”…lol

[Reply]

Rick
August 7th, 2006
4:17 pm

I believe that this post is being misleading in a number of different ways. First, advisors through Freedom 55 Financial are all self employed. As with any group on individuals some will be very skilled at what they do and others not so skilled. Second, I work for F55 and no where in our office is there any form of “board” where advisors comissions are displayed for all to see. That is just untrue.

Go ahead and google complaints on F55 and see what you come up with. This is the only complaint.

I have a feeling that the advisor that was being dealt with may have been misinformed and was just doing his best to understand the situation he was dealing with much to the dismay of the client. Certain steps must be followed to insure that the best end result will be obtained.

[Reply]

darren
August 7th, 2006
7:41 pm

Rick: All I did was report my experience as a consumer. Clearly I’m not alone, check out comment #13 above.

[Reply]

Rick
August 8th, 2006
7:18 am

No doubt there are unhappy consumers in every aspect of every busines in the business world. If there weren’t there would be no need for competitors.

In this day of technology and 98% of western civilization having access to the internet I think it would be a safe assumption that there aren’t a lot of dissatified people as far as Freedom 55 Financial is concerned. I see only two on this particular site. Not a bad record I’d say.

It really is too bad that there are any but unfortunatly one cannot control the every action of every employee, be them a representative or an direct employee, under thier banner. There are a lot of good people working under the F55 banner, myself included.

I am truly sorry about your experience and hope that you have found someone that has met your needs.

[Reply]

Gordan
September 29th, 2006
12:08 pm

Dear Darren:

I am reading what you wrote and asking myself if you are complaining because the advisor from Freedom 55 was working harder for you than Manulife? Personally, I would rather deal with a company that takes the time to call me and meet with me, not send me a form and make a phone call. This leads me to beleive that maybe you were not as cooperative as you should have been and did not provide the proper information.

A company does not just offer disability benefits with just a phone call, Manulife would have had to look at past claims experience and gathered some information. Benefits are not done over the phone and you are complaining that the advisor was working too hard and too many companies were working to get you benefits.

There is a lot that does not add up with this story. Companies do not just offer benefits to anyone. Information has to be gathered, then submitted for a quotation, then the quotation is presented to client and finally a contract must be signed and witnessed (face-to-face)

To people reading this, there is something very wrong with this persons story and there is more than meets the eye.

Is is possible you tried to pull a fast one, got caught and now a little bitter?

[Reply]

Gordan
September 29th, 2006
12:16 pm

Darren:

I just noticed an ad for Manulife listing health benefits on this page?

That is kind of a coincidence?

[Reply]

darren
September 29th, 2006
1:15 pm

Gordan: You can speculate and conjecture all you want. That was my experience, and I’ve got the correspondance from Freedom 55 to back it up. I’ve respected the Freedom 55 people’s privacy by not publishing that correspondance.

As for the ads, those are Google AdSense ads published by third parties. They change all the time, and it’s no surprise that Manulife would advertise on a page that mentions their organization. Freedom 55 ought to be doing the same thing (and maybe they are, I pay very little attention to which ads get served).

[Reply]

Mark
November 11th, 2006
4:33 am

Interesting stuff.

I worked at F55 for over 20 years and I can attest to the following :

1) Insurance sales is their key goal because Whole Life insurance product sales for F55 is very , very profitable. No , they do not compensate their reps. very well on investment products because they believe their customers should spend every spare cent on Whole Life insurance. The Agent’s Contract with F55 is very ‘directional’ in this regard.

2) Their structure is ‘pyramid-like’ in nature , with layers and layers of management and administration , all of whom get compensated from the agents’ efforts. This results in products that are way over-priced.

3) Their management style is ‘management by fear’ and it’s either their way or the highway. I chosse the highway because I am now able to offer my clients many more choices via brokerage services. Working for the Nazi’s would have been more rewarding.

Caveat Emptor all ….

[Reply]

Shawn Lariviere, FMA
November 15th, 2006
4:33 pm

Good evening Darren. I just happened upon this site doing a search of my own. I am an Advisor with Freedom 55 and find most, but as is the case with all industries and companies, not all representatives to be qualified to represent a given profession.
It is unfortunate when problems arise but we are all imperfect in more ways than one, myslelf included.
I take great pride in my service and competance, as do most, but in some case we are bound to fall short from time to time - I guess the question then becomes who will admit it an prepare a viable solution.

Thinking out loud.
Best to you and yours. Take care.

[Reply]

Todd Babcock CFP, CLU, RHU
November 30th, 2006
12:19 pm

I find it very interesting that advisors who “worked” for the F55F company bad mouth them but don’t give full name, and the ones who are supporting the company positively, are giving full name, email addresses, etc. It is very easy on the internet to stay anominous and bad mouth people. Or even make stuff up and say this happened to me. At least Darren has given an actual example, and his real name. Our company is not a pyramid scheme like “Jack” says it is. I wish it was because I would be really rich by now after twelve years. Also, our company doesn’t post commissions on a board as it is a violation of privacy to commuicate what someone earns. We do have recognition for advisors; however, it is based on a total of many things we do for clients. For example, if we accomodate a clients portfolio from say ABC Financial, we actualy don’t receive a commission, but do receive recognition for helping a client and doing business. Also, to dispell a myth, we don’t have any quotas for selling whole life insurance. We sell term, universal, and whole life from several different companies. We can have an advisor who sells nothing but Manulife or Sunlife term insurance and we as a company our fine with that. There is no quota for London Life,as per our intercorporate agreement. In fact, there is no quota to sell any type of insurance. We have advisors who make a good living just selling investments and retirement plans. If anyone has questions about our company, I would love to take any calls or concerns. I am a Director in the Vancouver Fraser Valley office. My number is 604-585-2424 Ext 239 or email todd.babcock@freedom55financial.com

[Reply]

Jermaine Williams
January 17th, 2007
1:57 pm

It’s interesting that when similar complaints are made about AIG/Altig (a company with an almost identical business model), employees of said company immediately come to the company and business model’s defence, offering the exact same justifications - “we can’t control our employees”, “you’re bound to get bad apples”, “overall X company is a really upright company”. Yet both AIG/Altig and Freedom 55 Financial are notorious for soliciting job seekers on large job boards. You have to assume that if they were really a company that people actually wanted to work for, and could actually achieve stability at, they wouldn’t have to recruit so aggressively. The whole every-employee-is-a-recruiter model seems very, very poor to me, and the complaints I keep reading about these types of companies confirms this.

[Reply]

brad
January 26th, 2007
3:32 pm

i work for a fortune 500 company and they keep phoning me ( freedom 55 ) to go to work for them. i don’t want to but they just don’t get! i believe you about your experience!

[Reply]

Richard
January 28th, 2007
12:40 pm

Darren

I too am sorry for the bad experience you had with that particular advisor. I am an advisor with Freedom 55 Financial and as much as I do hate to say it, there are a few bad apples in the bunch. But I feel that this is the case with any occupation be it professional or otherwise.

I do have a long list of clients that are quite happy with the service I provide and have a 100% retention rate. I suffice to say that we all take a rather unique approach when dealing with our clients and with that being said I feel that the honest and upfront, not to forget ethical approach is proper.

Again, sorry for your aggravation.

[Reply]

Jack
February 15th, 2007
12:54 pm

Brad:

Freedom 55 Financial has upwards of a 90% turnover rate. They spend so much effort on recruiting because the “career” is a revolving door. That’s why they keep calling you. They even give a $500 incentive for any advisor who recruits a new hire.

They need to spend their time recruiting used-car salesmen, because those seem to be the ones who stick it out. Most of the advisors don’t even have post-secondary degrees. That’s because no one with options would actually waste his time at Freedom 55.

[Reply]

Nathan Garries
March 28th, 2007
4:24 pm

I can understand a lot of people’s frustrations and positive comments with Freedom 55. As an employee of Freedom 55 whose family has worked for the company for 30 years and I am the third generation coming into the company, how come the average client stays with Freedom 55 for 15 years yet the average client stays with a broker and a banker on average only 3 years.

We must be doing something right, and again being under the Power Financial umbrella being the largest financial company in Canada allows us to offer our clients products from any provider not just our “WHOLE LIFE” scam.

By the way on that whole life insurance did you know that London Life is the only company to pay a return every year to its clients for the past 150 years on the whole life insurance. Who else can say that!! You want a scam it takes a banker 10 minitues to sell you a GIC and an hour to actually look at an investment stratedgy. Which one did they sell you???

[Reply]

Val Eybel
April 12th, 2007
6:25 am

I and my husband have been with freedom 55 for some 30 years. We have not had any bad dealings with them. It is now time fro my husband to take an early retirement due to poor health and our Freedom 55 advisor has been working with us and for us to get the best possible financial situation from our policies with them and from other financial businesses including the RBC and where my husband is employed. Yes we have had a few phone calls and visits with our advisor, but to set up the best financial portfolio for us this is necessary. We have nothing but praise and gratitude for this much successful company,Freedom 55. Whereas, we have been taking advantage of with the RBC and our children have had an extremely bad experience with Manulife and will no longer deal with them. They too are considering doing their financial business with Freedom 55.
Perhaps as one other commentor said, you might have been just a bit too hasty in your judgment and not either given the advisor all the information required or given incomplete or misleading information. An advisor can only get what is best for you if he/she has all the correct information to work with. It does take time and phone calls between you and the advisor to make things work and to get results.
In closing, maybe in future be a little more cooperative and less hasty in getting what you want and what is best for your and your family.

[Reply]

Gordon
April 13th, 2007
11:10 am

To be honets and frank with everyone. My experiences with Freedom 55 have been top notch. As a matter of fact it served my family very well after my wife died.
Your comments are quite irrelevant, and you should have also held your own weight (you’re a client, but you still have to dot your I’s and cross your T’s..it’s called responsibility, you must understand everyone is human, and mistakes can happen. You must take steps to ensure your communication is open. You probably were out golfing or something.
I feel be-littled because i have my complete faith in them, and your comments seem to hint that anyone who deals with them are “dumb”.
Write and book and keep your tantrums to yourself. I feel bad for your bad situation, but realize….people’s dreams and security are in these people’s hands, and your one situation should not scare anyone into “panic mode”. Think about it.

[Reply]

Dan
May 2nd, 2007
4:57 am

After reading all of the comments and letters, it leads me to believe that not only did a Darren try and pull a fast one over Freedom 55, but there are a couple of ex-employees that were probably at home playing video games or sending blogs when they should have been working. Therefore probably made a below average income and have decided to blame the company for theirlack ofdrive and inititive. Give it up people and get on with your lives. The glass is half full!

[Reply]

Paul
June 1st, 2007
4:42 pm

I just spent the last 15 minutes reading all the comments for and against F55 and I think Darren is a little off base in his analysis of an entire company’s function. Anyone (yes you Darren) that would prefer to be sold a financial product over the phone in 5 minutes as opposed to having a advisor come take the time to develop a fully fuctioning and diverse financial plan with you face to face obviously doesn’t understand the fine points of the business, and one might go as far to say isn’t that bright to begin with. If I’m going to invest my money in a financial product, whatever it may be, I want to meet with the person that is going to guide me in that regard - not spend 5 minutes on the phone with them and cut a check to a faceless voice over the phone. In our lifetimes we will all meet an endless stream of naysayers and malcontents that do nothing above and beyond grunting and moaning about all the bad experiences they’ve had. It’s much easier to jump on the bandwagon and piss and moan about how you were screwed. The fact of the matter is that you likely were dealing with an advisor that lacked the necessary skills to meet your needs. There are thousands of F55 advisors out there that are fully capable and highly skilled in their profession that would have been more than willing I;m sure to provide you with the services you needed. And it;s true what a few of the other people on here have said - you can’t control every advisor, and if this particular advisor is so inept then it’s fair to say that he’s received further complaints from other clients and has likely been repremanded - as is outlined in the code of ehtics (standard training as any F55 advisor will tell you). In essence, I would have to agree with others on here that are of the opinion that Darren was either not playing with a full deck of cards, or that he wasn’t presenting all the relevant info to the advisor. I’m training with F55 as we speak and I’ve been nothing short of blown away with their competence and attention to every little detail of the business. The bottom line is this: it’s not hard to find an inexperienced, inept, “used-car salesman” to sell you a bunch of garbage policies - you can find them in all areas of the profession. But to go as far to expressly state that the entire F55 company is a racket or scam or whatever is totally offbase. Get your facts straight before going out of your way to defame people that take pride in what they do, which is providing financial services to meet the needs of their clients. And so what if the advisor is receiving compensation or remuneration in the form of commissions on units of product sold - most companies do! Almost all sales firms function in this manner and no one seems to be blogging up a storm crapping all over the entire business sector! Darren, I think you’re a sad litte man with too much time on your hands and a sour taste in your mouth from doing business with a PERSON not a COMPANY that didn’t meet your expectations. Learn the difference between the two and try and be a little more objective in you commentary.

Positve things happen to positve people - keep that in mind!

[Reply]

Mark
August 18th, 2007
12:20 pm

Don’t trust working for a pyramid scheme company like this, where the regional director says he laughs at people who can’t make money in this business.

[Reply]

Mark
August 18th, 2007
12:33 pm

in response to Todd Babcock:

during campaigns, advisors’ names are listed with the amount of sales they do, and commissions are posted.

in discussing business models, directors use plans to ‘tell’ new advisors how much they should be making. they are walked through it.

the Regional Director for western canada says in his welcoming speech that ON AVERAGE, an advisor makes more than “40, 50, 60 thousand” a year.

even my director said later that there is a difference between the mean and the average.

in general this business is a tough one, and one based on sales. it doesn’t matter if you are with aig or clarica.

my comments above are from my own experience at f55 in vancouver.

[Reply]

Karen
September 30th, 2007
10:44 pm

I am very satisfied with my advisor. Duncan has provided both my husband and I with a clear understanding of what Freedom 55 offers and especially the whole life policy.

We are in the process of purchasing one and there are many benefits for couples to look at this option. My husband will be retiring full pension at 52…Our advisor stated that instead of taking a survivor pension, he should take his full pension and take out a whole life policy to off set the need to take a reduction in his pension and in the event of his death, I would receive his insurance policy to cover my needs. After talking with some family members who are in the banking business, they indicated they thought it was a great idea. The premium for the policy is approx $150.00 per month. The loss to him in his pension if he took a survivors pension would be close to $700.00. I would also like to note that insurance premiums are expensive, but if you look at what we pay for car insurance in BC…this is a steal…same thing in our eyes…Thanks Duncan for your wisdom.

[Reply]

Rick
November 2nd, 2007
5:43 pm

Freedom 55 “Financial Advisors” are nothing but glorified sales people!

Unfortunately, I found out the hard way, as I was employed as one of these “Financial Advisors” for 3 years. The organization does not properly support its employees and requires them to subscribe to expensive office space and rental of laptop computers.

Right now, there is something fishy going on because there is money going missing from some of the company’s offices and the blame is being put on some former employees. Having no access to their old client files, these former employees find themselves being harassed to produce some documentation that Freedom 55 won’t help them locate.

Do not invest with Freedom 55 or buy a life insurance policy with them until more information is available about these missing funds (this is a big secret but many at Freedom 55 are aware of this going on).

[Reply]

Rob Scott
November 2nd, 2007
7:37 pm

Re: Darren’s letter sent to Freedom 55.

I am an advisor with a competing company, but feel it is my duty to ‘inform’ the general public of Darren’s obvious ignorance.

Freedom 55 doesn’t even have their own Group Benefits product. Freedom 55’s advisors act as brokers in this area, and have to use other companies products to implement a group benefit plan.

There are great advisors with every company, and there are TERRIBLE advisors with every company….I’m sorry to hear you’ve had an experience with one of the not so great advisors out there.

[Reply]

Ben
January 16th, 2008
3:21 pm

Freedom 55 is a huge scam. They run a shady business with little or no ethics. Although I have had my own negative experiences years ago I want to share the experience my sister had 2 weeks ago. My sister is 30 years old and works as a waitress in Ottawa. She has been investing monthly with F55 for +/- 5 years because a mutual friend joined the company and convinced her to move her business to him. Long story short…he quit after 1 year and she was automatically transferred to someone else. Her new rep turned out to be a dud but she stuck it out. Guess what? He quit too. She was again transferred by default to another rookie. This guy turned out to be totally unprofessional and started sending her random email from his personal account with vacation pictures, etc. She became annoyed and frustrated that she was investing her money with a company that hires fly by night investors who act unprofessionally. She finally decided that she had had enough and transferred her investments (about 10K) to CIBC only to discover after the fact that F55 charged her $800 to do so. The $800 is more than she made in investing her hard earned money over 5 years with F55. She called and called and called but was just ignored or told to get lost.

It is a total scam…buyer beware…at least the big banks are accountable!

[Reply]

wade
January 24th, 2008
10:23 am

haha you guys are funny. This guys just called me for an interview, they seen my resume on workopolios. I am not rooting for the company, because I already have another job. But,yeah, I know financial companies are pricks sometimes, but the majority of you people are basing your hate-on towards the company, ever think that it is that single representative that you delt with?? Your never going to find a financial institution that isnt wanting your money…thats just business..if you have a problem, don’t talk with your advisor, goto his/her boss…that’s only if you want results….best of luck everybody

[Reply]

Larry
March 31st, 2008
7:59 am

Wade, you are totally right! Everyone here talks about a bad experience with a representative. Only few mention the company problems, but if we go to the store, gas station or any other business, idiots are all over,

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Paul
April 1st, 2008
6:19 am

Warning to all thinking of buying any services from Freedom 55. They asked to meet with me for the third interview (the first two interviews they tell me that I’ll be making $250,000 per year and talk to me about when they started their paycheques were astronomical and bought mansions within the second year of working)—if only you all knew how they hire AND LIE(I do not have any degrees of anything I didn’t even finish high school) — in a nutshell they demand that I submit form of literally hundreds of my own contacts so they can figure out if I’m going to generate business for them and then they tell me that if I don’t know anyone then this is not a job for me. Its like being hired onto a car dealership where they want your family to buy a car and if no one shows up you are out the door. They seem all professional but from the looks of it they are far from being that. I would NEVER ask any of my family members OR FRIENDS OR ANYONE THAT I KNOW FOR THAT MATTER to receive services from this company at all b/c they deceive people. I work in my family’s business we own a butcher shop in Woodbridge ONTARIO for close to 23 years I am basically set for life— I just went to see if it was true of what they told me over the phone. There is so much more to say but I don’t want to waste any more of my time and yours. STAY CLEAR OF FREEDOM 55 IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE AND YOUR FAMILY’S LIFE!!!!!!!CRAP CRAP AND MORE CRAP OH AND LIES TOO. ITS A CULT I SAY– A CULT.

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Rick
April 2nd, 2008
5:02 pm

My wife and I have been with Freedom 55 re: the handling of Mutual Funds and GICs for 1.5 years but switched to CIBC because Freedom 55 replaced our Financial Advisor “7″ times within the 1.5 year timespan hence when ever we contacted the company they told us that they would return our call due to a “MINOR SHUFFLE” within the branch. Our call was always returned 5 days later. Everytime we needed to ask them a question he would say “I need to meet with you at your home” When we requested to cancel and break free they demanded to meet with us in person otherwise our request would be denied.
DO NOT GO WITH FREEDOM 55 OTHERWISE YOU WILL RECEIVE MIGRAINES AND LITERALLY GROW OLD BY THE SECOND LISTENING TO THEIR “MEETING WITH YOU AT YOUR HOME” FOR EVERY LITTLE REQUEST. THIS COMPANY WORKS IN A VERY CREEPY WAY ALWAYS UPSELLING IN PRODUCTS THAT NEVER INTEREST US AFTER TELLING THEM FOR THE HUNDREDTH TIME “WE DO NOT WISH TO BUY THAT”.

GO TO YOUR OWN BANK OR ING DIRECT.

Freedom 55 might’ve been a good company 30 years ago but now its a TOTAL SCAM AND OR CULT.

VIAS CON DIOS FREEDOM 55.

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Mary
April 2nd, 2008
5:09 pm

I learned the hard way by being charged lots FEES cancelling my services with Freedom55. The so called Financial Advisors knew absolutely NOTHING and made many many errors during my time with them.

DO NOT GO WITH FREEDOM 55. DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU.

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Bart Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 4:34 pm

Who doesn’t have Fees? Left the Bank for an independent - transfer fee. Left the independent for an ins. co. - trans fees. The advisor at the ins co paid my trans fee and told me in our initial meeting what fees may apply in the future, nobody else did that. Then we signed an agreement together that said if I was unhappy and left he personally would pay my trans fees. The ins co - F55.

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Robert Chu
April 6th, 2008
4:57 pm

Good evening Darren,

I just happened upon this site doing a search of my own as well. I am also a F55 Advisor and it’s sad that you feel that way about our company. Not knowing the whole situation, I can’t really comment on your experience. However you may have heard the saying “The grass is greener on the other side of the fence” situations. While the grass may be greener, often it’s AstroTurf, and all you get is rug burn.

All I am saying is that make sure you compare apples to apples before you make an informed decision, not all Advisors are built the same way.

I would lend out my services to you but judging from the date of your posting and your decision you would most likely decline. Just know that there are some good people that work hard at F55F and my offer to you remains open.

All the best!

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eric
April 12th, 2008
6:16 am

I was reading the post You’d Be Wise to Avoid Freedom 55 Financial”.
The person who wrote this is such a stupid and no brain and foolish. There are over thousound advisors working for Freedom 55. Only one advisor make some mistakes and that cause not be ruin for others. If you are not happy with that person or organization, the reality is do not deal with that person or organization. When you wrote this topic, you become idoit.

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Alyssa
April 16th, 2008
6:28 am

I want to thank this website for helping me with my decision to NOT choosing to go with FREEDOM 55, my husband just recently died and needed guidance re: finances. This DARRENBAREFOOT website is excellent b/c it helps consumers make important decisions about life finances so I truly thank you and ofcourse Canada for FREEDOM of speach -no pun intended.

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Michelle
May 12th, 2008
1:24 pm

I’m a new advisor with F55F and it is truly a great company to work for, the training program they offer is amazing and very rewarding. We were not trained to sell products to reach our comission I was trained to statisfy the needs of my clients, not my own. We live in a society where people are going to do what it takes to get ahead and make more money and those people kind of ruin it for the good ones out there. I take my job serious, my clients are trusting that I’m putting their needs first and I do. Sorry for those who have had a bad experience, I’m sure there are more positive ones then negative.

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trevor macquarrie
August 2nd, 2008
8:30 pm

I was due to get married in oct and my wife to be worked with the board of directors for the eastern regional help line in sydney Nova scotia she worked with the a man named charlie aboud wich also sold polices with freedom 55 so she started working more with him and said he was a good man so my wife to be talked me into getting a life policy with him so thats all she would talk about was him.so i was leary of him and her .so i started to record their phone calls .and sure enough i was rite…she was with him..the recordings tell it all.so guys..he sold me a policy and took my love of my life.one day before i knew about it .she even talked me in to driving her two hours to when he checked hiself into rehab.she said he had to get a check signed.lol.pretty sly guy.

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Altone cardinal
August 21st, 2008
4:50 pm

I know of this man you speak of this Charlie Aboud.This man has lost a great deal of money on lot of good people.due to his battle with his demons within.BEWARE.

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concerned advocate
September 10th, 2008
7:20 pm

These people have given this fine organization that is volunteer driven and was formed on a solid foundation of very passionate people some years ago.But now it has lost it’s purpose.

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helping hand
September 11th, 2008
5:57 pm

I have known this Wendy Hasem from the helpline for many years and what i would like to know is how does someone with her past mental history like hers gets a title like director.Is there no screening process anymore…I suppose If your willing to donate your time,they don’t care who you are or what youv done Shame on all of you.

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Jane
November 5th, 2008
1:33 pm

I was wondering if anyone ever took money out of hte Freedom 55 and was then told that it is a loan and has to be paid back along with major interest?

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Anthony, Investment Advisor ( RR ) and LLQP
November 21st, 2008
12:53 am

The 200 $ a month expense fee you have to pay as and advisor blows.

Its best to be an independent.

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Joseph Reply:
March 31st, 2009 at 7:00 am

You’re saying that the $200 a month blows, and you should be independent? Are you expenses free for being an independent advisor, or do you have to pay rent and bills while having your own office. In the grand scheme of things, $200/month is pretty cheap to own a piece of a franchise!!

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Wei
December 5th, 2008
11:10 pm

I don’t understand why people deal directly with one company for insurance?

Why would you deal with Freedom 55 (who is owned by London Life) and can only sell London Life Products, and not deal with an independent brokers who can find the best, most cost effective, and complete solution to your needs?

When most people buy a TV, do they go to the Sony Store with high manufacturer prices and only one brand, or do they go to Futureshop/Best Buy/Visions with low prices/sales and all the brands out there?

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Buck C Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 4:43 pm

I have a Manulife policy that I bought through my London life advisor. He also showed me Sunlife plan and a London plan but the Manu policy fit my needs the best. I think they can offer policies from many companies just no other company can offer thiers.

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Nick
February 17th, 2009
5:54 pm

My Comment:

I’m not sure why this event is being glorified into a “Macro” scenario. After reading it thoroughly I understand that one person had played an insufficient role in exercising your requests. This is a “Micro” scenario. It is fair to say that the one advisor had failed you. It is not rational to believe that everyone under the London Life umbrella is of the same value. If you are out to flag people or companies problems, I’ve got one for you. There was this guy who wrote in a letter that he felt he was wasting precious time with an incompetent company and he felt he could have been spending this quality time with his own clients. The real hole in my story of this guy is that he wastes piles and piles of time blogging and maintaining a personal website. This guy also had a complaint about being contacted too many times when he feels his thoughts should be indexed in google. Bottom Line: Sometimes people have problems. Sometimes addressing that problem is more costly and more work than the inconvenienceor cost of the problem.

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Davis Reply:
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:56 am

My fiancée is an advisor with F55 and I’ve been impressed by the attention to customer service, honesty, ethics and investing in the client’s best interest that is preached within the organization.

As many have stated above - the organization is made up of multiple advisors who are self-employed agents. They are essentially brokers with a wide array of investment and insurance products available to them. Some within the London Life umbrella and others elsewhere.

From what I’ve seen from the outside, the F55 company seems to do a good job in providing training, encouraging continuing education and mentoring new advisors.

As people have pointed out, there will be bad apples in any organization. It is also likely that some regional offices of F55 may be better than others.

I can say from personal experience, and watching what these people do that a mostly competent F55 advisor puts you head and shoulders above having your insurance and investments kept with a bank. In fact, I would steer very clear of banks for insurance products since they seem to sell products that are only underwritten at the time of the claim, thus you may not actually qualify!

I suspect that if someone sells you insurance that you qualify for after one form and a telephone conversation, then something is wrong and you may not be as insured as you think you are.

Rather than using unsubstantiated and random, anonymous Internet posts to make a decision on choosing an investor, do your own due diligence. Get some referrals either from people you trust, or if you are talking to a representative have them provide you with a reference or two.

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Damien Perodi Reply:
October 1st, 2009 at 9:17 am

Acutally,

they are not ethical…they only care about sales goals, they push advisors to sell leveraged investments where rookie advisors end up making a mess by putting everything in a high risk fund

they are not brokers and are contractually not allowed to deal with other companies outside of their own (under the GWL ownership)

they do a horrible job at mentoring

I am an adivsor, started out with F55 and don’t tell people today where I started out….its embarassing

they don’t try to nurture professional, ethical advisors, but instead breed mediocrity and recruit anyone and see if they stick….see, if you join, they push you to sell to yourself, family and friends, if your gone in a few months, well, they have your family’s business and that makes up for any costs….its MLM under the veil of a well established brand

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Seanna Magee
March 28th, 2009
10:59 am

It does appear Freedom 55 Financial’s integrity is at stake, unfortunately.

I am an advisor at F55F, and while I myself am aware of the major challenges its bureaucratic nature presents, the training, support and people I work with at the Toronto Offices truly make it a worth while place to work, to learn, and help people attain some makings of a financial plan.

It’s interesting the power of media — one blog post –, and the results it has generated.

Darren, you seem very passionate about this topic - I say with that sort of energy, use it. If you don’t like it, change it. I hope something positive comes out of this.

(And also, one of the basics we learn is NEVER tell a client to cancel a policy until the new one has been received, its unfortunate your advisor was not accountable to this)

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Richard Perkins
April 9th, 2009
12:47 pm

Interesting thoughts from everyone. I too was a F55 agent back in the early 90s, when they were London Life and F55 was really just an ad campaign. I think it’s fair to say that they have good and bad employees as there are in every company. They also have people with different education and backgrounds, it doesn’t mean that everyone there is terrible at what they do. I left the company to work on the brokerage side to be able to offer my clients a wider range of options, as at the time there was a stronger emphasis placed on selling whole life products which was evident in their compensation structure. I believe that has really changed and the company has totally restructured since my time with them…not to say I’m heading back!

Darren I have to say I do find it odd that you were able to place your initial Manu policy over a 5 minute phone conversation. I sell employee benefit plans almost exclusively now and this is not normally the way the process works. It’s also fair to point out that most of the companies offering benefits do have concerns over how many people are related to the owner of a business and/or live in the same home. This isn’t an issue on larger cases but for small businesses this does come up from time to time depending on the insurance company and the total number of employees being insured.

I’m glad you were able to find something that worked in the end. It’s a constant struggle to maintain a level of credibility in the public’s eye, so it’s never nice to hear about the difficulties someone had in dealing with our industry.

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Freedom 55 No Longer Just Financial | Senior Money Memos
April 20th, 2009
10:12 am

[...] is some time since Darren Barefoot, that well-known Vancouver writer, suggested You’d Be Wise to Avoid Freedom 55 Financial.  He was somewhat irate about his dealings with Freedom 55 Financial, which is a division of [...]

Sara
April 26th, 2009
5:21 pm

I would really like to know more about what happend. I am doing a project and the details listed above are not sufficient so if you could give all the details of what happened I would really appreciate it

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Rockinon
July 14th, 2009
7:14 pm

I don’t know if you can use this info or not but I posted details of my Freedom Fund account on my blog. In 9 years they have lost 71% of the retirement funds I entrusted to them.

http://rockinon.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/freedom-fund-down-71-in-9-years/

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Freedom Fund down 71% in 9 years! « Rockin’ On
July 16th, 2009
6:25 pm

[...] For anther view on Freedom 55 try this blog by Darren Barefoot. [...]

sean
August 17th, 2009
5:38 pm

dear darren i have juss applied a job with freedom 55 as a financial securities planner - i’m new to hearing about this company and i would like to know more about it can u forward me ur experience to my email account? thnx

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Jack Handy Reply:
August 31st, 2009 at 9:54 am

Be careful. This is really a sales industry. It’s all about commissions, and not about advising. Whatever you do, do not sell any of the products to your family. That’s what they want you to do. Then when you leave, and you will before the clients vest, the local F55F managers swoop in like vultures and divide up you family members’ portfolios amongst themselves so that they can get the trailing commissions.

You have to sell their proprietary funds and insurance. They really push for it. But as you can see from the above post, 71% loss over 9 years, they are really sub par products.

Their training program is not bad. At least you get paid to study and get your funds license and insurance license. They have you sign something that says you have to pay them back if you leave, but I have yet to hear them enforcing that. So take the training, get licensed, and then go work at a bank, of an established CFP that will give you a better platform, and more room for advancement. F55F has somewhere in the range of 90% turnover. So the odds are really against you. But keep in mind, there’s no barrier to entry, you don’t even need a college degree in this business, so it’s similar to being a realtor in that respect.

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Jennifer Reply:
September 17th, 2009 at 9:31 am

Jack - I need to talk to you, as I am a former “employee” of F55, if you could call it that. I’d just like you to elaborate a little bit if you wouldn’t mind. Do you have an email address?

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Matt
October 20th, 2009
7:18 am

I realize I am a bit late getting on on this thread, but I felt the need (as some of the other Freedom people) to clarify some things.

Yes it is a commission based business, so you are going to get some shady pusher that are only interested in their bottom line, not the clients. But there are some of us out there that don’t tote the company line. (And I have never heard anything about always putting the wife as the co-client, I usually make light of client/co-client and let the couple decide who wants to be what.)

I’m sure much to my wife’s chagrin (and my director for that matter), I am not making as much money as I could if I had that wolf mentality but I grew up in a small Ontario town, and it’s instilled in me that I need to be a benefit to society. I’ve had clients that have come to me wanting products that don’t fit their financial goals but would have made me a boat load and I’ve advised them that they should go a different route. They don’t always listen, but my role is to advise. If I give them the advice and then they still want to go the other route, they have made an informed decision.

And as to cancelling your existing coverage before obtaining new coverage, well that would highlight an individual agents incompetence. It is drilled in to us during training that we are never to cancel any policy until a new one issued. You open yourself up for lawsuits if you advise the to cancel without confirmed coverage to replace it.

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terence
November 8th, 2009
9:32 pm

This comment is totally unfair bringing the entire industry down. the entire industry is commission based but it doesn’t mean that all advisors just want money. It you don’t have loads of cash do you think bankers will take time explaining every detail about your financial needs? I don’t think so, they will show you the door after 15 minutes. This comment by the Mr. Darren is all about being machismo, a customer is the king mentality. Everybody makes mistakes, all professionals are prone to that, but it doesn’t follow that the organization is at fault.

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