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Sean Kelly
SIGNWORLD: Great Opportunity or Ripoff?
Signworld delivers what they promote: a business that has the potential to be a lucrative enterprise.… Signworld is a great investment… It’s a fun and profitable business… Signguy1 (Unhappy Franchisee)
SIGNWORLD is a huge ripoff… If you feel compelled to spend well over $250K in capital, I recommend that you convert it to dollar bills, pile it up at a camp site, light it on fire, and gather the kids around for a good old fashioned marshmallow roast rather than waste your time with Signworld. RK of Spokane (SIGNWORLD Complaints)
According to its website, “Signworld is a national organization with more than [...]
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GEEKS ON CALL: Franchisee Applauds HQ Move
Comments posted here and on Unhappy Franchisee reported that the franchisor of Geeks on Call had closed the corporate office. (Read GEEKS ON CALL: Latest Franchise Rumors, Allegations, GEEKS ON CALL: Franchise HQ Closed?)
Shep Bostin, Chairman, Geeks On Call Franchise Advisory Council and Franchise Owner and Managing Geek, Montgomery and Frederick Counties in Maryland, quickly posted a comment that there was nothing suspicious or negative about the office closing, that it was both pre-announced and a responsible cost-cutting measure.
Shep Bostin wrote:
The comments above, which may very well be from the same person under a variety of pseudonyms, are almost certainly [...]
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FTC’s Guide to Janitorial Franchises
Interested in Janitorial or Commercial Cleaning franchises?
The FTC and the Maryland Attorney General’s Office jointly produced the Buying a Janitorial Services Franchise guide reproduced at Unhappy Franchisee.
While it was published in 2001, it is just as valid today. Also read:
Buying a Janitorial Services Franchise
JAN-PRO: Janitorial Franchise Warning
JAN-PRO Franchise Complaints
CHAMPION CLEAN Using Bogus Franchise Statistics
WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
logo: Federal Trade Commission
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GEEKS ON CALL: Franchise HQ Closed?
[Geeks on Call CEO Richard] Cole said he expects the company to be cash-flow positive in 2009 and that the company will turn a profit. In other words, he is optimistic.
Inside Biz, January 12 2009
In the January 12, 2009 story in Inside Biz, Geeks on Call CEO Richard Cole stated both his optimism in the turnaround of the troubled chain, and his committment to the success of his remaining franchise owners:
…despite the recent tenuous relationship with some of its franchise owners given the lawsuits, Cole maintains that franchisees are still his priority.
“Some people don’t get this about the franchise world. [...]
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CURVES FRANCHISE: Negotiating Closing Fees
Struggling, failing, soon-to-close and closed Curves franchise owners regularly share information, advice and mutual support to each other on the Unhappy Franchisee website.
One of the frequent topics is the club closing procedures, and how to negotiate with Curves International in regard to their demands for a $10,000 “failure fee,” often tens of thousands of dollars for “future royalties,” and the Curves International policy that forbids Curves franchisees from selling their own equipment.
From the post CURVES: Robert Lay’s Story, here’s a recent exchange regarding the $10,000 closing fee:
Donna Submitted on 2009/10/08 at 2:41pm
HELP!!! I have read some of the horror stories [...]
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Mike Baum on the Saturn Legacy
The post SATURN: Sad End to a Great Dream prompted some great comments and insights.
Commenting on the Saturn legacy, consultant Mike Baum of Sophia Consulting LLC wrote:
The revolutionary aspect of Saturn was never really the car – it was the retail experience. It was the first time in automotive history that an American dealership was designed to approach, even in a small way, the customer-oriented retail experience that we expect from practically every other type of retailing.
The traditional auto dealership represents an early 20th-century “push” model that served the interests of the manufacturer, not the customer. Automakers had to move [...]
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Honor Shooting Victims By NOT Shooting
Yesterday’s post (A Meleanie Hain Memorial Shoot? Seriously?) questioning the logic of holding a shooting event to honor of a victim of gun violence drew fire from the group’s organizers and supporters.
The November 1st event, titled the “Melanie Hain Memorial Shoot” will take place at Heberling’s Gun Shop in Prompton, PA.
It will feature hot dogs, hamburgers, and lots of shooting. It’s a fundraiser for the children of pro-gun spokesperson Meleanie Hain. Meleanie Hain gained national prominence by openly wearing a holstered Glock pistol to her 5-year old daughter’s soccer games. Tragically, she was shot to death last week allegedly by her husband [...]
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A Meleanie Hain Memorial Shoot? Seriously?
Q. What’s the best way to memorialize a victim of deadly gun violence? What’s the best way to raise money for orphans of a horrific murder-suicide involving a 9 mm. automatic handgun and a shotgun?
A. Why, get the whole gang together down at the gun store and shoot off a bunch of guns, of course!
If that makes sense to you, don’t miss the Melanie Hain Memorial Shoot Nov. 1st at Heberling’s Gun Shop in Prompton, PA!
No, it’s not an insensitive, tasteless joke (Or is it…?). It’s a real event. The details are posted on the Pennsylvania Firearm [...]
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Mark Golob Battles Franchise Pick
[Pictured below: Pay-per-click ads on Google designed to divert readers away from Franchise Pick posts and comments regarding Butterfly Life founder Mark Golob]
It appears that Butterfly Life founder Mark Golob has launched a pay-per-click Google advertising campaign designed to divert readers before they get a chance to read my posts and the hundreds of comments by Golob’s former franchisees here on Franchise Pick.
The ads appear (as of this posting) as “Sponsored Links” on the Google search engine whenever someone searches the terms “Mark Golob” “Mark Golob Franchise Pick” or related keywords.
Some of the ads contain the name of this site [...]
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How to Open a Halloween Store
I ran across a blog post that has lots of good facts and one huge error about opening a temporary Halloween store. The blog is called The Daily Apple and has been publishing on blogspot since 2004. The blog post is Apple #414: Those Halloween Stores.
I’ll get the error out of the way up front so you know to disregard the sales figures and profitability guesses in the post. The author claims a single Halloween Express store rung up sales of $70 million in 2 months (which is unfathomable). From that he deduces what you can make, conservatively:
Now let’s [...]
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