BUTTERFLY LIFE: Interview With Franchisee Matt Wilson

UnhappyFranchisee.com is sponsor-supported. Sponsored links:

After attending a well-orchestrated sales seminar, Atlanta-area franchise owner Matt Wilson and his wife joined Butterfly Life with the dream of being their own boss, helping women improve their health, and getting a good return on their investment.  Once they opened their club, they claim they received no help or support in overcoming their branding and marketing challenges.  Their club closed in less than a year.

UnhappyFranchisee.com asked Matt to share the lessons of his experience, and his advice for prospective franchise owners.

UF: Matt, what was your background prior to joining Butterfly Life? Did you have industry experience?
MATT: My wife, who owned and operated our BFL franchise, has in excess of 20 years experience in a variety of customer service positions including 10 years with a major cellular communications company. For several years prior to our investment in a BFL franchise she was the office manager for a successful salon. For myself, I have 20 years experience working in a variety of sales, marketing, educational, technical and business management roles. Neither of us had experience in the women’s fitness industry, however, my wife has been a patron of competing club’s and national diet programs having lost 40 lbs as a result.

UF: When did you decide to join Butterfly Life? Describe the process.
MATT: After attending a franchise seminar in August 2006 in Atlanta, GA, conducted by Taylor Golob, Cheryl Hoke and via video conference, Mark Golob. Around the time of the seminar we were actively investigating a Curves franchise and saw a BFL seminar commercial on television. That led us to check out the company web site and sign up for the seminar. Taylor and Cheryl put on a first class, well rehearsed and choreographed sales seminar. Towards the end they incorporated connecting to Mark Golob via video conference, who delivered a rehearsed speech underscoring the points made by Taylor and Cheryl. When all was said and done it appeared the investment was a low risk, high return venture. Especially given that Atlanta was a burgeoning market for the brand and BFL appeared committed to developing the market for the long run.

The appeal for us and we believe with many investors, was with the prospect of being able to help women improve their health while being your own boss. The bonus was there was what seemed to be a good return on the investment. Reality was much different.

UF: How was the company’s training and pre-opening support? Was it a positive experience?
MATT: The short answer is it served its purpose. That is it did a good job to reinforce the sales pitch we had bought into. It did little to prepare the new franchisee for what was in store. Training focused on sales and marketing your club and ways to increase membership, particularly prior to opening. Overall it was a positive experience and left us with the impression that corporate was there to help us in any way all we had to do was ask. That changed very shortly after our first royalty payment.

UF: What marketing and promotional guidance, programs & support were provided? Were they effective? Why or why not?
MATT: Beyond the training conducted at corporate there was a regular direct mail piece published to all clubs and little else. The materials provided by BFL were ineffective at best. Given my background with sales and marketing I conducted a detailed review of our marketplace, competitors, ads, programs and promotions. In one particular case, BFL ran a promotion of “no enrollment fee” and another with three months free. Competing clubs in the area had no enrollment fees, ever and were offering lower monthly rates and more months free. Maybe these were “new” concepts in California, but they were tired ones in Atlanta. As a result we developed marketing pieces that would fit our area better and attempted to have these approved by BFL corporate.

During University training at BFL they had told us getting our own marketing materials approved was not difficult as long as it maintained the brand image. Again reality was much different. BFL consistently stated their materials and programs were working everywhere, except for us, so we must be doing something wrong. They consequently never approved our materials so we were stuck with their tired pieces.

UF: How was your grand opening and your first year as a franchisee?
MATT: Grand opening and that month were great. Signed up 30 members and it looked like we were on our way. Member sales went down from there and the club didn’t last the year.

UF: Was the ongoing support what you expected?
MATT: No. We submitted reports to BFL corporate on a monthly basis reporting on our progress. Marketing efforts, promotions and more importantly new member sales. BFL receives this from all clubs. The fact our membership number were plummeting was in black and white. BFL informed us the clubs around us were doing great and they didn’t know what our problem was. Their district sales manager came to our club on two occasions in our early days of opening to fulfill the obligation of BFL to provide on site support for three days. While she talked a good game, we signed zero new members as a result of her “support”. Ten months after we closed our club, all Georgia clubs (6-8 at peak) are now closed.

UF: Have you tried to resolve your issues with the franchisor? What was the outcome?
MATT: Corporate was unresponsive to input regarding regional marketing programs or materials. Otherwise the “issue” with Butterfly Life was their complete failure to effectively build the brand and ensure the success of the franchise network. Resolving this seemed unlikely.

UF: How has your franchise investment decision affected your life? What is your current situation?
MATT: Strained marriage, emotional distress, depression and financial ruin to name a few. This single decision and the year and a half we were a part of it will take tenfold to recover from. Currently we are pursuing compensation from BFL through our support of the AAFD Butterfly Life Chapter and their arbitration case.

UF: Do you think that the franchise concept is viable? Under what conditions?
MATT: Yes, clearly there are some franchise concepts that are successful. The key is to have a franchisor that is genuinely committed to the success of the concept and franchise network. That requires more that a fancy web site and polished sales pitch. It requires focus on controlled growth and not losing sight of what got the brand to that point.

UF: What mistakes did you make? Looking back, what would you have done differently?
MATT: Not adequate research and due diligence investigating the company, executives and industry. We performed what we felt was a thorough look into the company and employed various business consultants to help guide us along the way, but that did not turn up anything overly alarming.

UF: What advice would you give to prospective franchise owners?
MATT: Do your due diligence on the franchisor and their management, if you see any red flags, dig deeper. Hire an attorney and use him/her on every decision, signature, document, contract and aspect of your start in the franchise world. Don’t give into the hype. If the opportunity really is as good as it sounds, it will still be there next week, month and year. If it isn’t, do you really want to get into it now? Some signs to look for: too fast growth, rapid expansion of area representative network and lots of new staff at corporate.

UF: Was there a positive aspect of your experience?
MATT: To be completely honest, I can’t think of one.

UF: Thanks for sharing your story, Matt.
MATT: Thank you.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

UnhappyFranchisee.com is sponsor-supported. Sponsored links:

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Interview with Franchisee Mike Herber

Unhappy Franchisee is sponsor-supported. Sponsored links:

 

Name: Mike Herber

Location: Richland, WA

Franchise: Cuppy’s Coffee & More

Summary:  Mike Heber decided to open a Cuppy’s Coffee franchise in Richland, WA.  He paid a $32,000 refundable deposit to Elite Manufacturing (the construction affiliate of Cuppy’s Coffee).  The deposit was to be returned if Elite’s lenders were not able to secure financing for the rest of the investment.  When Heber was unable to obtain funding, Elite refused to return $15,000 saying they had paid the $15K franchise fee to sister company Cuppy’s Coffee.  Elite agreed to pay $1690 per month for 10 months, but made fewer than half the payments before cutting off communication with Heber.

In this interview with Unhappy Franchisee, Mike Heber describes the process he went through in investing with Cuppy’s Coffee and the unfortunate outcome of that decision.  Mike Heber also offers advice to help prospective franchise owners avoid the same mistakes he made.

Unhappy Franchisee:  What’s your background, Mike? What were you doing prior to owning your franchise?

Mike Heber:  Prior to this mistake, I worked in retail for 25 years as an Operations/Expense/HR regional manager.

Unhappy Franchisee: When did you decide you wanted to own your own business? How’d you learn about the Cuppy’s Coffee franchise?

Mike Heber:  I’ve always thought about having my own business. My father’s family was in business for themselves and it always was attractive to me. I was just waiting for the right time and opportunity. I looked at several different opportunities after I got out of retail. Many were so expensive though.

I believe I found out about the opportunity from an ad I saw in a franchise information site. It listed all types of franchises and their investment, etc. I was immediately drawn in by their attentiveness toward my contact them, promptly returned calls, VERY friendly staff and fellow franchise holders, lots of information from corporate. Cuppy’s seemed like a more reasonable investment. They were just getting off the ground, so it seemed that the time was right.

Unhappy Franchisee: What really sold you on Cuppy’s Coffee?

Mike Heber:  I was attracted by their openness and willingness to communicate and pass along information. Everyone was very friendly and went out of their way to help and answer questions.  I  began talking with a tenured franchisee who was very nice. Welcomed my questions and had a very favorable answer to every inquiry. I talked with Theresa St. Claire at Elite several times as well; again very nice…at first.

They seemed very approachable and helpful; all this BEFORE they got my money. Everything changed after that.

Unhappy Franchisee: So when - and how much - did you pay them?

Mike Heber:  I paid $32,000 in October 2006; this was stated to be an advance deposit for my Elite build-out of a Cuppy’s Café.   By making this deposit, my $15,000 franchise fee would be "waived" and paid for by Elite.

Unhappy Franchisee: Did things change once they had your deposit?

Mike Heber:  Everything was positive, until my project went to Funding Solutions for credit approval. Soon after I sent in my deposit and my project went to Funding Solutions things started to go downhill. No calls returned, no information, things slowed way down, more “problems” and “challenges” appeared.

My credit and funds available never changed from the time I first started communications with Elite/Cuppy’s. Soon however, they wanted more down than my P.O. stated and it went downhill from there. They admitted mistakes were made in my paperwork, and things just unraveled.

Unhappy Franchisee: So then you asked for you "refundable" deposit to be refunded, as agreed?

Mike Heber:   Yes.  Originally, Elite had said that with that the $15,000 Cuppy’s franchise fee would be "waived" and paid for me by Elite.   However, when my “deal” fell through, they said $15,000 of the $32,000 was paid to Cuppy’s as the franchise fee and was not refundable under any conditions. Beginning in May 2007, they agreed to pay me $1690 a month for 10 months.

As part of that agreement, I had to agree not to say or write anything negative about Cuppy’s Coffee, Elite Manufacturing, or any of the people involved.

Unhappy Franchisee: Did Elite Manufacturing honor their agreement?

Mike Heber:  It has now been 16 months and I have only received a little under half my money back.

Unhappy Franchisee:  What is your current situation? What would you like to see happen at this point?

Mike Heber:  I want the rest of my money back; this, as with many other investors, was my life’s savings. All I want at this point is to get my money and for the business to dissolve.

Unhappy Franchisee: How has your franchise investment decision affected your life?

Mike Heber:  I’m frustrated, very angry, and now totally disillusioned with the American Dream, government’s ability to protect innocent people from these scams and what a contract means (basically nothing, if from a business).  I never expected to get ripped off and taken advantage of such as I did with Elite. Why they have been able to continue this scam and deceit is beyond me.

Unlike some, I haven’t lost my home. I have however suffered a separation and divorce through the ordeal and my son has been unable to go to college because the balance has not been returned to me. The decision to join the Cuppy’s/Elite family has only had negative consequences on my life.

Unhappy Franchisee: What mistakes did you make? Looking back, what would you have done differently?

Mike Heber:  I did some on-line inquiries, but at that time, Fall 2006, not much negative had happened that I could find. I even visited a franchise owner in Arizona. Everything seemed too good and I should have followed my instincts to maybe walk away from this opportunity that seemed too good to be true.

Unhappy Franchisee:  What advice would you give to prospective franchise owners?

Mike Heber:  Research, Research, Research. Then more research.   Do your homework. Travel and look at several different locations and franchisees. Scrutinize paperwork and documents for any inconsistencies. Ask for franchisee references and question exhaustively.

Unhappy Franchisee: Thanks for your time and your insights, Mike.

Mike Heber:  Thank you.

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Unhappy Franchisee is sponsor-supported. Sponsored links:

SMC Specialty Merchandise Corporation: Start a Business for $25?

Unhappy Franchisee is sponsor-supported. Sponsored links:

Have you had any experience with the heavily hyped and infomercialed SMC Specialty Merchandise Corporation business opportunity?  The infomercial stars pitchman huckster Tom Bosley, who was the father on Happy Days.  They boast that you can start a business for only $25 and make thousands your first week or even day.

What do you think?  Leave a comment below.

Here’re a few comments from unhappy SMC investors:

I also fell prey. To this very well orginized scam! This is what they pulled on Me. First SMC withheld the starter kit. Till My electronic check cleared, The transaction was complete and posted in My bank. The follwoing day. I received My kit 27 days later. Called to let them know and schedule thier appointment. Three days later they called. Two days after the scheduled date. Then the following day. Smc took another $39.95 out of My account. So I called them they said, ‘Don’t worry we didn’t set Your start date yet’. I was lied to again right then, They did start it The day they cashed the check!. So even when I did cancel My membership. They called My house to inform Me. I still owe them $400.00. I don’t think so. They aren not getting another penny from Me. Stay away from this scam company!!!!!!.  John  Round Lake Beach, IL

The 30-day trial is a scam. They start the trial on the date that the ship the membership kit. By the time you get the kit, and finally get your ‘business coach’ on the phone, you already lost 15 days of your trial time. Then if you want to cancel before the trial is up, they make it a TOTAL NIGHTMARE. You even have to send back the promotional literature, and the catalog. They tell you that your free ‘gift card redemption’ site will be automatically cancelled but thats not true either. You have to call up eMerchantClub and cancel it manually because they will contiue to charge you $29.95 a month for the stupid, free cookie-cutter site they give you when you sign up.
SMC’s entire deal is about selling you a $1,500.00 website that only sells to people who either buy gift card from you, or register on the site and receive a ‘free’ $10.00 gift card, that of course you have to buy in advance. Either way, you pay. The kicker is that they refuse to give permission for you to build your own website and host it yourself, because they want to charge you $29.95 a month to host the useless $1,500.00 website.
SMC’s product line is some of the worst junk I’ve seen in any mail order catalog. Its all stuff no one wants. If anyone wanted this crap, SMC wouldn’t have warehouses full of it.
The testimonials on their website are obviously fake. They actually have different people with the exact, same word-for-word testimonials, bragging about the exact same amount of money they supposedly made over the exact, same period of time. Its like they take the same testimonial, paste it all over the page, and just change the picture.
Our coach was annoying and rude. As soon as she realized we weren’t stupid enough to go for the $1,500.00 website, she shut up and wouldn’t go any further with us, even after we told her we wanted to do other, non-internet programs that they offer. She actually tried to have us set up another appointment to talk to her a week later, so that our trial period would expire, and we’d be locked into paying the membership for a year. We began the cancellation process immediately.
If you want to make some money drop shipping on the internet, there are lots of drop-ship suplliers out there. All you have to do is some research, and stay away from the ones that offer you a website.  Eb,  New York, New York

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Unhappy Franchisee is sponsor-supported. Sponsored links:

CORK & OLIVE: Ex-Employee Has no Sympathy for Franchisees

Unhappy Franchisee is sponsor-supported. Sponsored links:

Responding to the post Cork & Olive’s Probst Abandons Franchisees, Cork & Olive ex-employee "H" states that it is karma, not failed franchisor Michael Probst, that’s to blame for the woes of Cork & Olive franchisees.

"H" contends that the very idea of the Cork & Olive wine store is a sham designed to use upscale decor and salesmanship to trick vino newbies into overpaying for cheap wine.  "H" claims that Cork & Olive franchisees are hypocrites who pirate copyrighted music and hoodwink unsophisticated customers, yet are morally outraged to find that they’ve been bamboozled.  What do you think?

Writes "H":

As a former store-level employee, I have a hard time feeling bad for the franchisees. Sure, you were ripped off in the worst of ways, but I’d have to say that the responsibility for not spotting a fraud falls on you. Working in the store, I knew things weren’t kosher from the very beginning when I noticed that our official store play list included original Beatles recordings. Nobody can afford the licensing for that, not even major motion pictures like ‘I Am Sam.’

Our markup was astronomical, completely unprecedented, and basically unfounded. Our pricing was entirely random, based solely upon Stephanie’s opinions of what people would pay. Stephanie, a woman with literally no knowledge of wine, has no business guessing such things. The average cost to the company was $3 - $4 per bottle. We sold some bottles for $9, most for about $15, and some for $30 or more. This was absolutely inexplicable. There was no standard percentage for the markup, just whatever we thought we could get.

How one $3 bottle of wine seems worth $32 while another is worth only $8 is beyond me, but it should have raised serious concerns among people considering the $300,000 price tag for one of these stores. With a little research, you would have found that the average wine shop shoots for around a 33% profit margin per bottle while we were aiming for 70% or more on AVERAGE!

This might have seemed like a really great way to make a lot of money, but if you weren’t buying a business you knew nothing about, you would have realized that it actually equates to selling a low quality product at the price point of a high quality product. In other words, you’re hoping to prey on the average consumer’s lack of knowledge about the difference between cheap wine and fine wine. You made them feel like they were purchasing a quality product by showing them a pretty store with a neat layout and free samples, but now you’re mad that Michael and his goons swindled you with a similar set of smoke and mirrors. Excuse me if I’m not overwhelmed with sympathy, but it seems an awful lot like karma to me.

I know nothing about cars, so I’m not going to go into business as a mechanic. I don’t understand the stock market, so I’m not going to set up shop as a financial advisor. Wine novices have no business running wine shops, and if they choose to do so, they shouldn’t be mad when things go poorly.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Sponsored links:

BEAR CREEK COFFEE: Another Cuppy’s Nightmare?

A post on Blue Mau Mau by an unhappy licensee of Bear Creek Coffee sounded eerily familiar.  Could it be that the Java Jo’z & Cuppy’s Coffee fiascos were just the tip of the iceburg?  What is it with these coffee companies?

Here’s an excerpt from the comment by carlisme on Sun, 2008/09/14… enough to send shivers down the spines of those who have followed the Cuppy’s story unfold.

I am a licensee with Bear Creek Coffee….

I contracted with Bear Creek a year ago and was assured by the Sales Director, Pete Lambros, that  the average time to open was between 3-6 months. A year later, I just now received my modular building.

All was well until Bear Creek received my final payment. After that, things really went south. My building was to be produced by a manufacturing firm in Oklahoma. I kept tabs on the process by calling the CEO of Bear Creek, Jeremie Johnson. It seemed as if there was one problem after another (parts for the building on back order, ect). After a while when I started getting a bit upset, Jeremie told me that a tornado had hit the manufacturing plant and that had put production behind schedule. A couple of months later after almost daily calls from me to Jeremie, he told me that the manufacturing plant had been deceiving him about the building and that the plant had “money troubles”. He told me that Bear Creek had broken off business relations with them and was moving my building to another firm and another two months would be required for completion.

Well, I spoke with the vice president of that manufacturing plant in OK yesterday, and the “money troubles” are on the side of Bear Creek. In other words, the money I paid Bear Creek was not forwarded to the manufacturer. Where did it go?

*  *  *  *  * 

The bottom line: in my opinion, this company uses unethical business practices, has no regard for honoring contracts and I question their solvency.

Here I am, a full year after contracting with Bear Creek Coffee and all I have is a building that isn’t even the same size as the one I paid for and a bunch of empty promises and worthless contracts. I have never been a business owner before and did the best due diligence I was able. If I had it to do over, I would have NEVER contracted with them. Future licensees, enter at your own risk!

 

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH BEAR CREEK COFFEE?  WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW… OR SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE FUTURE COMMENTS.

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Established in 2008?

 

The NEW Cuppy’s Coffee has newly redesigned website that reflects some interesting changes:

Cuppy’s Coffee:  Established in 2008

The new ABOUT US text has some startling revelations, including the fact that Cuppy’s Coffee was established in 2008.  According to the new website:  "Welcome to Cuppy’s Coffee & More, where we pride ourselves on being fast, fresh and FUN! Established in 2008, Cuppy’s Coffee is a young coffee and smoothie franchise on the go…"

We’re Franchising.  We’re Not Franchising.

According to the new home page, under the heading "Join the Cuppy’s Family":  "We invite you to talk with a franchise recruiter and find out why we are the fastest growing coffee and smoothie franchise in the United States."

According to the new "Franchising" page:  "We sincerely appreciate your interest in our business. We know that choosing the right franchise to fit your needs can be overwhelming.  Cuppy’s Coffee is not currently accepting franchise applications, nor are we soliciting franchise sales.  You may still submit your contact information if you choose to be contacted when franchise opportunites [sic] become available. Please direct all inquiries to info@cuppys.com."

Location List Disabled

The newly redesigned website has the location list disabled so that you can search locations by zip code, but no longer view a list of the ever-changing list of locations.  The employment listings include stores that have gone on to that great pad site in the sky, like Copperas Cove, TX.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT.

CURVES FOR WOMEN: Franchisee a Victim of Fraud?

UnhappyFranchisee.com is sponsor-supported. Sponsored links:

An anonymous commenter wrote that they were induced to buy an existing Curves for Women franchise club with fraudulent member and sales numbers.  She claims that the Go figure software prevents her from checking historical member numbers.  Curves clubs have been closing in large numbers around her and they are losing money every month.  If she closes her club, Curves International will demand a $10,000 fee.  She has an interested buyer, but one that’s only willing to pay less than half what she and her husband paid for the Curves franchise.

Anonymous Curves Owner writes:

We bought our club on false pretenses from a previous owner who lied about member numbers.

Curves did not give us the correct figures either.

Go Figure software makes it impossible to go back and look up member numbers. We paid over $90,000.00 for our club and were possibly selling it for less than half that. We have to incur the rest of the business loan via credit cards.

We cannot sell the business or shut it down while the bank still holds the note cause there is a lien on our business assets. Clubs around us have been shutting down everywhere. When we tried to contact our area director, it has been hard to get a response. I have had to write several emails. Lately, since we have been talking about shutting it down, our area director has been telling us that Gary is now letting people out of their agreement and it will be easy to get rid of the equipment.

But Curves wants to charge us 10,000.00 to close our club! Who the hell has that kind of money just lying around? The last two years have been an absolute nightmare. My husband and I have many times made comments about Gary being this “CHRISTIAN” He tell franchisees it’s all on us and before pointing fingers at him, we should point two fingers at ourselves. We have resorted to putting out own personal monies from our full-time jobs into this albatross.

We are VERY interested in this class action suit and would like to know more. There is a sale pending so we would like to know as soon as possible. If we can get involved, then obviously we would back out of the sale. No paperwork has been signed yet.

We always thought there was a case against Curves but did not know how to go about it. Since we bought Curves two years ago, we have lost over $40,000.00.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  ARE YOU A CURVES FRANCHISE OWNER, EMPLOYEE OR MEMBER?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

UnhappyFranchisee.com is sponsor-supported. Sponsored links:

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Lawsuits Mounting Against Medina, Elite

 

Case Number: 2008 CC 002961 S
Judge/Magistrate:  PATRICIA GRINSTED
File Date: 8/29/2008  Case Status: PENDING

Defendant  MEDINA ENTERPRISES INC                 

Plaintiff  GMKP PROPERTIES LLC                  Attorney: AARON B WENTZ

5 DAY SUMMONS SERVED: MEDINA ENTERPRISES INC 9/4/08  9/5/2008

5 DAY SUMMONS ISSUED: MEDINA ENTERPRISES INC Receipt: 96380 Date: 09/02/2008  8/30/2008

COMPLAINT FOR EVICTION-NON PAYMENT OF RENT  8/29/2008

EVICTION-POSSESSION Receipt: 96380 Date: 09/02/2008  8/29/2008

 

Case Number: 2008 CA 004555 S
Judge/Magistrate:  THOMAS REMINGTON
File Date: 8/19/2008  Case Status: PENDING

Defendant  ELITE MANUFACTURING LLC A FLORIDA LIMITED LIABILIT                 

Plaintiff  HASSAN BOUQFA           Attorney: RICHARD S JOHNSON

SUMMONS ISSUED TO: ELITE MANUFACTURING LLC Receipt: 96171 Date: 08/27/2008  8/26/2008

CLERKS LETTER AS TO FEES DUE  8/21/2008

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES  8/19/2008

 

Case Number: 2008 CA 002982 S
Judge/Magistrate:  THOMAS REMINGTON
File Date: 5/30/2008  Case Status: DISPOSED BY JUDGE

Defendant  ELITE MANUFACTURING LLC                 

Plaintiff DANIEL     HARRIS           Attorney:     DYE, JAMES LEE

AFFIDAVIT OF DEFAULT ON CONDTIONAL JUDGMENT  9/11/2008

COVER LETTER TO THE COURT WITH ORDER  7/25/2008

CONDITIONAL JUDGMENT  7/25/2008

STIPULATION FOR CONDITIONAL JUDGMENT  7/21/2008

SUMMONS ISSUED TO: ELITE MANUFACTURING LLC  6/2/2008

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES  5/30/2008

 

Case Number: 2008 CC 000500 S
Judge/Magistrate:  PATRICIA GRINSTED
File Date: 2/7/2008  Case Status: PENDING

Defendant  ELITE MANUFACTURING LLC                 

Plaintiff  SHREEMATEE DEONARAIN,  ENRIQUE PREGIGUEIRO    

 

Case Number: 2008 CA 003109 S
Judge/Magistrate:  WILLIAM STONE
File Date: 6/5/2008
Case Status: PENDING

Defendant  ELITE MANUFACTURING LLC                  Attorney: RUDOLF   HARPER

Plaintiff  ADVANTAGE LEASING CORPORATION                  Attorney: ROBERT J SCHAFFER

 

Case Number: 2008 CA 003401 S
Judge/Magistrate:  G BARRON
File Date: 6/18/2008
Case Status: PENDING

Defendant  CUPPYS COFFEE & MORE INC,  ELITE MANUFACTURING LLC   Attorney: RUDOLF   HARPER

Plaintiff  RICHARD     KYLE           Attorney: H WESLEY REEDER

 

Case Number: 2008 CA 004922 S
Judge/Magistrate:  THOMAS REMINGTON
File Date: 9/8/2008
Case Status: PENDING

Defendant  ELITE MANUFACTURING LLC                 

Plaintiff  TALINE HASHOLIAN,  MINAS HASHOLIAN   Attorney: PHILLIP S HOWELL

WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT.

CUPPY’S COFFEE: San Gelato Sues Nabors, Morgan & Medina Starpoint

San Gelato Franchising Group has filed a lawsuit in Okaloosa County against Robert C. "Morg" Morgan, Dale Nabors & Medina Starpoint LLC Can anyone share the details of why San Gelato is suing, what they allege and what damages they’re seeking?

Case Number: 2008 CA 004819 S

Judge/Magistrate: THOMAS REMINGTON

File Date: 9/2/2008

Case Status: PENDING

Defendant

ROBERT C MORGAN

DALE NABORS

MEDINA STARPOINT LLC

Plaintiff SAN GELATO CAFE FRANCHISING GROUP LLC

Attorney: MARTIN W LESTER

SUMMONS ISSUED TO: DALE NABORS Receipt: 96736 Date: 09/09/2008

SUMMONS ISSUED TO: ROBERT C MORGAN Receipt: 96734 Date: 09/09/2008

MEDIATION AND SCHEDULING ORDER 9/4/2008

SUMMONS ISSUED TO: MEDINA STARPOINT LLC Receipt: 96564 Date: 09/04/2008

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES CIVIL DOCKET SHEET FILED

SHARE A COMMENT BELOW

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Is VP Amy Hiller Threatening Bloggers?

Thanks for visiting sponsor-supported Unhappy Franchisee. Sponsored links:

Some contend that the recent email distributed by Cuppy’s Coffee VP Amy Hiller is a carefully worded threat warning blog commenters to shut their pie-holes if they want to get paid.  What do you think?

In her email, Hiller writes:  "Corporate is working diligently with strategic partners to put long-term financing in place. Negative press (blogs and emails) is preventing these relationships from moving forward in a timely manner and therefore making it difficult to fulfill financial obligations (paying employees or building out stores)….  Anyone who has interest in this company succeeding, such as…A past employee who wants to receive their last paycheck… A franchisee who wants their store built out… A franchisee trying to keep their store open and successful must be patient and offer support to allow these relationships to solidify."

Here’s the post from Guest in its entirety:

Amy Hiller— Some exemployees rec’d this email from Amy Hiller - Sounds like a threat to me! What do you think?

—– Forwarded Message —-
From: Amy Hiller
To: Amy Hiller
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 1:19:58 PM
Subject: Update

The Latest from Medina:

As you know, the last payroll has not yet been issued. Issuing payroll checks is the top priority.

Corporate is working diligently with strategic partners to put long-term financing in place. Negative press (blogs and emails) is preventing these relationships from moving forward in a timely manner and therefore making it difficult to fulfill financial obligations (paying employees or building out stores). More specific information about these partnerships will be made available as soon as it is finalized.

Anyone who has interest in this company succeeding, such as:

· A past employee who wants to receive their last paycheck

· A franchisee who wants their store built out

· A franchisee trying to keep their store open and successful must be patient and offer support to allow these relationships to solidify.

We are aware that many of you are already providing us with the support needed to be successful and we are very thankful. We ask for your continued support.

If you have not provided the corporate office with your forwarding email address (as a past employee), please send to updates@cuppys.com if you wish to receive future correspondence.

Amy Hiller
VP of Operations
Cuppy’s Coffee & More
888-241-4324 ext. 376
amy@cuppys.com

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  IS VP AMY HILLER WARNING EMPLOYEES & FRANCHISEES TO KEEP QUIET… OR ELSE?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Sponsored links:

Next Page »